How to Choose Sak Yant Master’s
Guidelines for choosing your Sak Yant Monk or Ajarn
Choose Sak Yant Masters that fit's your needs
Who is the best Sak Yant Master? There is no such thing, the Best Sak Yant Master is the one closest to you, is available, affordable and amenable to your needs and desires.
How to Choose Sak Yant Masters
In a Nutshell the Best Sak Yant Ajarn is the one who is available, affordable and amenable to your needs and desires. Following are some of the things you might want to consider before finding which Ajarn to go to.
Here at Sak Yant Chiang Mai, we got all these aspects covered. And really only became aware of them after receiving comments from our guest who had previous Sak Yants and complimented us on how different we are.
1) Who is the Best Sak Yant Master?
There is no such thing. Sak Yant Masters have little or no thoughts of this mostly western concept. There are some Sak Yant Masters who have developed more fame around the world, those who are open more to social media promotions. Some Masters might charge more because of their fame, they might be harder to make an appointment with but none of them will think that they are better than any other Master available.
Needing the “best” of anything is at it’s crudest form a need to fill up a perceived inadequacy within a person life. In the Western culture this is done by following a sports team, or a brand or anything where the object is “If I am part of this … I am winning”. In the East, the idea is a little more simple. If there is a solution, become it, don’t mask it with the qualities of something (or someone) else.
So the Best Sak Yant Masters is the one that is closest to you, affordable to you and meets some of the next few considerations you might like to include in your decision.
2) Monk at a Temple or Ajarn at a Samnak?
Sak Yant tattoos are created by Sak Yant Masters, who may be either Monks or Ajarns. Both must commit to a spiritually disciplined life, which includes daily meditation and adherence to strict ethical principles. Their training typically begins in Buddhist monasteries, where Monks with a particular interest or talent in Sak Yant deepen their knowledge at specialized temples. Most Masters attain their expertise while still in monastic life.
However, not all Monks remain in the monastery indefinitely. Some choose to leave to pursue family life or other callings. Those who depart but still wish to serve the community spiritually often become Ajarns.
Monk Sak Yant Masters reside in temples, balancing their tattooing practice with traditional monastic duties. In contrast, Sak Yant Ajarns reintegrate into society, offering blessings, magical services, and spiritual guidance. Unlike Monks, Ajarns are subject to fewer restrictions, allowing them to engage in everyday activities such as driving, interacting with women, and studying disciplines beyond temple teachings.
For the Ajarns – who earn their income from their spiritual work, it becomes more important especially with westerners to also provide beautiful art work as well as the ritual and spiritual experience you would get from a Temple. You can easily check the social media pages of any Ajarn and see the quality of the work, if this is important for you.
Sak Yant Tattoo by Ajarn
- Former Monks, now full time Shamans
- Females OK
- Less formal and more relaxed situation
- Able to take photos and videos
- Sak Yants for personal desires allowed
- Wider range of Magical skills
- Include Thai Magic as well as Buddhist Blessings
Sak Yant Tattoo by Monk
- Unable to preform Sak Yant on Females at a Temple
- More formal approach, requiring stricter protocols
- Can not take photos of the Sak Yant getting done
- Sometimes busy preforming Monks duties at Temples
- Some designs are off limits due to personal over spiritual magical blessing
3) Does the Sak Yant Master Speak English?
The majority of Sak Yant Masters only speak Thai. They just don’t need to learn other languages (except the ones with ancient spells), as their primary goal is to provide spiritual services to the local community. Some Sak Yant Masters will have an English-speaking staff member, others prefer that you bring along a Thai person or they work with a Sak Yant Service that specializes in guiding you through the process.
4) The Samnak Atmosphere/Protocols
The Samnak is the holy room where Masters make Magic including Sak Yants Tattoos. The experience of each Ajarns Samnak can differ greatly. Some Samnaks will be attached to their home, and some will be separate buildings dedicated solely to Sak Yant. When the Samnak is attached to the home, sometimes the Masters will have the television or radio on, engage in conversation with others in the home, or the noises from activity of others in the home.
For many western people the magical and spiritual atmosphere is as important as the tattoo itself. Some Ajarns will recognize this and have behavioral guidelines in their Samnaks, others will be more relaxed. Sadly finding this out is a little difficult, perhaps looking at reviews and social media posts that relate to the experience rather than the end result could help?
5) The Variety of Sak Yant Designs
In the Sak Yant traditional there is something called the lineage. The lineage is the Sak Yant Masters, and their masters and their masters. Each lineage has their own unique Sak Yant designs and sometimes blessings.
Some Sak Yant Ajarns place a high value on their lineage and will not learn or offer Sak Yant designs from outside of what the lineage taught. Other Masters will enthusiastically gain more knowledge by studying and learning other lineages, designs and magical spells. So one of the things you could ask about or be aware of is the range of available designs. If the Sak Yant Master promotes his lineage, it may come at a cost of limited variety of designs.
6) The Sak Yant Tattoo Design Size
Another aspect to consider is the size of the design. Many Ajarns and most monks will have their designs and tattoos that are made for smaller Thai bodies. Such a small size of design on a western sized person can not only look tiny, the lines will tend to expand over time blurring the detail of the tattoo. Some people may think that increasing the size of the designs to fit the western tourists comes under “being too commercial”, others will appreciate it. Easy enough to ask if the Sak Yant Master is able to change the size of the design or offers a variety of different sizes.
7) The Rituals and Blessings make the experience
The Sak Yant Tattoo experience is more than just the tattoo. It is a spiritual experience. Read the reviews of any Real Sak Yant Master and you will see comments about the experience and spirituality. Many times people will make a point of stating it is one of the best things they did in Thailand – even their life.
Compare this to reviews of a Bamboo Tattoo shop with their artistic imitations which will talk about how well the staff spoke English and how clean the shop was. If there is no ritual and blessing, or you get told you can take your replica to a Monk for a blessing, or the ‘Rituals’ are optional then it probably isn’t a Real Sak Yant. There is a big difference between a Sak Yant Blessing and a normal blessing by a normal Monk. Sak Yant Blessing activate the magical writing in the Sak Yant, this requires specialized knowledge that most non Sak Yant monks but especially tattoo artists do not have.
Looking for which Sak Yant Ajarn you should pick to do your Sak Yant Tattoo? Make sure it is a real Sak Yant Master and not a Tattoo artist in a tourist hotspot. Bamboo Tattoos are not Sak Yants. For further information and a List of Sak Yant Ajarns in certain areas you can find more information ….
How to get a Sak Yant Tattoo in Chiang Mai Link
How to get a Sak Yant Tattoo in Bangkok Link
How to get a Sak Yant Tattoo in Phuket Link