But there is more to this than just words. It goes deeper. Wat Bang Phra’s tattoos come with promises of protection and prosperity. The hard men come in reverence and expectation and the monks etch images of fearsome animals onto their skins, along with prayers and chedis. The Indian monkey god Hanuman makes an appearance, as do tigers, dragons, birds, snakes and eels. The punters later live out their specific possessions in the yard outside. Their attempts to storm the stage are actually a show of respect to the late head of the monastery, Luang Paw Poen. This strange collision of Indian mythology, Buddhism, animism, straightforward superstition and gangster culture is a colourful one, a bizarre mixture of faith and history, of seekers and charlatans, of humility and macho, that has a life all its own.

The monks have several working methods.