Festival of Phimai 

... quoted from International Herald Tribune ...
Question: Where does Buddhism stand on the subject of tattoos?

Answer: One way that a Buddhist may determine whether something is right or wrong is to consider whether it has detrimental effects on oneself and/or others. The only way I can think that tattoos may be wrong is if the image or message they contain is offensive. For example, a tattoo that had a racist message would be wrong but it's not tattooing itself here that is the problem. Therefore, from a Buddhist perspective, I can't see that tattoos are anything more than a form of bodily decoration.

One of the strangest events in the Buddhist calendar is the annual tattoo festival which is held at Wat Bang Phra, a Buddhist temple in Thailand, in March. The temple is situated 30km from Bankgok in Nathorn Pratom province. Each year thousands congregate here, some to have designs tattooed freshly onto their bare flesh, others to have their existing ones blessed.