Iva Roze SkochFebruary 9, 2012 09:53

Welcome to Thailand: The penis shrine

Tucked behind the Swissotel Hotel in Bangkok is a fertility shrine with hundreds of phallus carvings.

It’s been a while since I got anywhere near a seven-foot penis.

The last time that happened I was in Bhutan, where I reported on the Buddhism-inspired phallic imagery locals there paint on their houses to ward off evil spirits.

You'll find similar phallic warship rituals in Japan, too, as reported by GlobalPost in a story and photo essay on penis and vagina festivals.

Since it’s almost springtime, it was about time I made another pilgrimage to pay my respects to the penis.

After all, if it weren’t for a global fascination with the phallus, I would have to find another way to make a living.

So today I went to the “penis shrine,” as the Lingam Fertility Shrine in Bangkok is colloquially called.

It's a small wooden structure tucked behind a giant glass building of the Swissotel Hotel. I found myself in this secluded spot, in the shadow of banyan trees, surrounded by some three hundred wooden phalluses ranging from lifesize to seven feet long.

The Lingam Fertility Shrine, if the name isn't obvious, is the place locals come to pray so that they can conceive children.

The setting is surreal. If I was a marketing director for Swissotel, I would capitalize on the hotel’s location and design a special “penis shrine view room.” You could set up couples with champagne and charge them as much as an average IVF cycle.

The shrine was originally dedicated to Chao Mae Tuptim, a female animist spirit who — locals believe — has been residing in the banyan tree next to the shrine for centuries. One day, the story goes, a woman came to the shrine asking for help from Chao Mae Tuptim because she couldn’t get pregnant. Nine months after visiting the temple, she gave birth to a healthy child. She was so grateful, she came back and left a giant wooden carving of penis as a way to thank the universe.

Over the years, others have followed in her footsteps. If you visit today, you will see hundreds of phallus-shaped objects, made mostly from wood and stone.

Some have bows tied around them for protection, others are dyed bright red, blue or green. All of them, however, are here with the same premise: You offer up a penis, and you, too, may undergo the miracle of conception.

China vs. India: the battle for Buddha

Jason OverdorfJanuary 19, 2012 07:32

LUMBINI, Nepal — For the past several months, a curious mystery has unfolded around Lumbini, the latest beachhead in the quiet battle for Buddha.

Kathleen E. McLaughlinJanuary 11, 2012 12:10

China: Dalai Lama encourages suicide, says paper

Communist newspaper says the Buddhist leader has benefited from Tibet's spate of self-immolations.

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Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visits the Mahabodhi Temple on his way back after the conclusion of the Kalachakra Festival in Bodhgaya on January 11, 2012. Kalachakra 2012, a festival of teachings and meditations will take place from January 1, 2012 for ten days in the northern Indian state of Bihar and will be attended by Tibetan Spiritual Leader The Dalai Lama. (Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images)

Speaking of suicide as a bargaining tool, China's nationalistic Global Times newspaper is accusing the Dalai Lama of that very thing.

In an editorial on Wednesday, the newspaper scolded the Tibetan spiritual leader over the latest spate of self-immolations in the Tibet region.

Last weekend, three more people reportedly set themselves on fire in Tibetan areas of China to protest Chinese rule of Tibet. Those three deaths are only the latest in a series of protests by fire across the Tibetan plateau since late last year.

More from GlobalPost: What compels a Buddhist nun to burn herself alive?

The Global Times, often known for its vitriolic opinion pieces, heaps scorn upon the Dalai Lama, referring to "the Dalai group," and unsubtle reference to Chinese government assertions that hostile foreign forces aligned with the Dalai Lama are behind all unrest in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama hasn't set foot in China in decades, but he remains a polarizing figure for official China.

"The Dalai group has become an interest group outside China. They are exiles, but they need to survive. Therefore, they sell themselves to the West to help against China. If they only prayed and delivered sermons in foreign countries, their lives would be much worse," the newspaper wrote.

"The selfishness and ruthlessness of the Dalai group are carefully packaged by the West. The so-called 'Tibetan independence' or 'high degree of autonomy' that the Dalai group is pursuing are unreachable. They know this very well. But what they really care about is not the results but the slogans to help the West interfere in China's domestic affairs. The slogans also helped the Dalai Lama win the Nobel Peace Prize and gain considerable sums of financial support from the West."

Kathleen E. McLaughlinJanuary 11, 2012 11:54

Richard Gere calls China "largest hypocrisy in the world"

The actor says that China will never be able to break Tibet's spirit.

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US actor Richard Gere speaks at the unveiling of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's new book 'Beyond Religion' during the last day of the Kalachakra Festival in Bodhgaya on January 10, 2012. Kalachakra 2012, a festival of teachings and meditations will take place from January 1, 2012 for ten days in the northern Indian state of Bihar and will be attended by Tibetan Spiritual Leader The Dalai Lama. (Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images)

Leave it to Richard Gere to not mince words on China and Tibet.

Gere, a longtime outspoken supporter of the Dalai Lama and critic of China's repressive rule of the region, called China "the largest hypocrisy in the world right now," in an interview with Indian television.

The Hollywood Reporter has the choice bits of the actor's takedown of China.

“Are we more interested in money or are we more interested in the truth?", Gere said during an interview with English-language channel NDTV 24x7.

"Eventually you have to bow to the will of the people and especially as their progress as an economy, education also gets higher; their interactions with the world and other people's functioning in the world, and the openness of self-expression. No one wants to live in hypocrisy, and China is the largest hypocrisy in the world right now. ”

Body of self-immolated Tibetan monk 'publicly paraded' in China

Jessica PhelanJanuary 9, 2012 07:42

According to witnesses, angry Tibetans demanded that police return the monk's charred remains, which they then carried through the streets.

2011: year for self-immolations

Sara SchonhardtJanuary 1, 2012 09:37

JAKARTA — On Dec. 10, an Indonesian student died from extensive burn wounds suffered after he set himself on fire, the latest victim of an extreme form of protest that gripped the world in 2011.

Emily LodishDecember 9, 2011 17:33

Another Tibetan monk dies after self-immolation

Of the 12 self-immolations this year in protest of China, this is the first in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Is the phenomenon spreading?

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A Tibetan Buddhist monk walks on the Potala Palace square on June 19, 2009 in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Traditionally, Lhasa is the seat of the Dalai Lama, the capital of Tibet and is the highest capital in the world. The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, in 1959. (Feng Li)

Tenzin Phuntsog, a 46-year-old Tibetan and former monk, is reported to have died Dec. 6 from burns he suffered while self-immolating on Dec. 1, according to rights groups.

BBC reports that he died in Chamdo (called Chengdu in Chinese) hospital, located in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

More from GlobalPost: Tibet is burning

Tenzin Phuntsog is the 12th monk or nun to have self-immolated this year in protest of China's grip on Tibet. Seven of the 12 have died.

He is the first, however, to have self-immolated in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Is the phenomenon spreading?

The majority of the 12 have self-immolated in or near Kirti monastery in neighboring Sichuan province, home to many ethnic Tibetans.

The story of these Tibetan Buddhists and the apparent psychological rupture that has occurred in their community, prompting a spate of self-immolations has just been named the year's most under-reported story by Time magazine.

Video: Outcry over Tibetan self-immolations (GRAPHIC)

Emily LodishNovember 17, 2011 13:18

Tibet: What can other countries do?

Q & A Part two: Robert Barnett, Columbia Univ. Modern Tibetan Studies director.

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A lone protester is dragged away by Indian police moments after he tried to set himself on fire in front of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi on Nov. 4, 2011. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 11 monks and nuns have set themselves on fire this year in condemnation of China's repressive policies in their homeland.

Is it an effective form of protest? Will China change its policies?

Not likely, without clear and consistent pressure on the international stage, argues Professor Robert Barnett, director of Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia University.

Self-immolations spread from Tibet to the diaspora

Jason OverdorfNovember 14, 2011 08:26

NEW DELHI — There's a grim reason for the mounting tide of self-immolations in the homeland they may never see. Now, perhaps more than ever before, China is winning the battle for Tibet.

Emily LodishNovember 16, 2011 14:20

What should the Dalai Lama do?

Q & A with Robert Barnett, director of the Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia Univ.

Tibet dalai lama self immolations 2011 11 16

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Tibet's exiled spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama at an open public talk in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)

Self-immolations are in the news. Besides reports today of a Chinese man who set himself on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, China is also facing a wave of self-immolations in eastern Tibet.

At least 11 monks and nuns have set themselves on fire this year in protest of China's grip on their homeland. Last week, the Dalai came forward and blamed China for the spate of tragic acts, saying its approach in Tibet amounts to "cultural genocide."

For some, it was a welcome message from a figure who, inevitably, is at the center of any news out of Tibet. For others, it began the well-worn cycle that starts with the Dalai Lama condemning China, moves to China condemning the Dalai Lama, and ends without much changed.

"It's hard to see new ways to describe the situation. But we have to keep on trying to describe it," said Robbie Barnett, director of the Modern Tibetan Studies program at Columbia University.

GlobalPost spoke with Barnett about the likelihood that China will make some changes, what the Dalai Lama can really do, and why no one is an idle commentator on this issue.

GlobalPost: The majority of Tibetans who have self-immolated this year have died. It's clear these deaths are the result of more than a decade of repressive policies in Tibet. What is a helpful frame to make sense of this in the West?

Professor Robbie Barnett: We would have to imagine a government here treating universities as, let's say, mafia centers or criminal cults that have to be repeatedly invaded by police. That's roughly how the major Tibetan monasteries are being viewed now in China.