In many parts of Thailand, it is considered good luck to lie in a coffin. And, at a new cafe in Bangkok, it can also earn you a discount on your coffee.
Intended as an antidote to the often-hurried routine of life in Thailand's largest city, the Kid Mai Death Awareness Cafe offers a unique opportunity for their customers. Along with special coffee drinks named "birth", "death", "old age", and "suffering", customers can also try out the white coffin on display. Surrounded by chairs and floral scepters, the coffin also has a heavy lid that staff can close if the customer wants to have the full coffin experience. And
Even for those customers who aren't quite brave enough to try the coffin, the cafe also features numerous paintings on the walls, all of which have philosophical questions built into the frames. As well as contemplating questions such as "Are you happy with what you do?", "Is there someone waiting for you at home?", and "What is your goal for which you work so hard?", customers also have the opportunity to write down their thoughts on life and death.
According to Veeranut Rojanaprapa, who opened the cafe in January, the main goal of the cafe is to "convey the Buddha philosophy based on the teaching that having an awareness of death decreases greed and anger." Customers are free to stay in the coffin for as long as they want so that they can muse on life and death in complete darkness. The cafe also has a special scrapbook next to the coffin where customers can share their thoughts on what they experienced in the coffin.
And some of these thoughts seem rather profound. One customer writes that "Death is a wise counsellor, there is only one life and therefore we must overcome our fears and abandon our pettiness... Without awareness of death everything is trivial, ordinary." Other customers take time from drinking coffee to plan their own funerals, describe their last wish, or else write a letter to themselves that the cafe will pass on to them in ten years time.
While not everyone is enchanted by the presence of a death-oriented cafe in Bangkok (some neighbours have complained), belief in life after death is an intrinsic part of Thai culture. But everyone who enters the cafe, whether for coffee or coffin time, can appreciate the ultimate theme of the place, formally enshrined in a floral wreath on the coffin : "Eventually, you can bring nothing".
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