Wat Mangkon Kamalawat

Wat Mangkon Kamalawat is the largest Chinese Buddhist temple in Bangkok’s massive Chinatown. Founded in the early 1870s, this striking red-andgold-themed temple is also a popular site for the practices of Seam-Si. Alternatively known as Kau Cim or Lottery Poetry, Seam-Si is a divination method that dates to the twelfth century, making it one of the world’s oldest styles of fortune-telling.

At Kamalawat, the practice is identified by hearing a distinct clacking, or by noting the throngs of people grasping bamboo tubes filled with red tipped sticks. The process involves kneeling at an altar with a specific question in mind. A cylinder of red-tipped sticks is shaken like a blessed cocktail until a single stick falls out. Each stick is engraved with a number, which corresponds to a piece of paper held within these drawers at the back of the shrine.

Every fortune is unique—presenting the answer in the form of a short story, poem, revelation, or directive. Interpreters are on hand to parse your particular prophesy.

Like any lottery, Seam-Si results can be viewed as divinely ordained or completely random. And, like with any poem, you may walk away imbued with hope, confusion, or a sneaking suspicion that it’s all just clickety clack.

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