Thai Buddhism   

                     To put it all in context,  some telling quotes from some very wise Thai Buddhism monks follow:

From Phra Ajarn Chah

"Why are we born?  We are born so that we will not have to be born again."

"If your mind is happy, then you are happy anywhere you go.  When wisdom awakens within you, you will see
 Truth wherever you look.  Truth's all there is.  It's like when you've learned how to read -- you can then read
 anywhere you go."

"People who suffer will accordingly gain wisdom.  If we don't suffer, we don't contemplate.  If we don't contemplate,
 no wisdom is born.  Without wisdom, we don't know.  Not knowing, we can't get free of suffering -- that's just the
 way it is.  Therefore, we must train and endure in our practice.  When we then reflect on the world, we won't be
 afraid like before.  It isn't that the Buddha was enlightened outside of the world, but within the world itself."

"Remember you don't meditate to 'get anything', but to get 'rid' of things.  We do it, not with desire, but with letting go.
 If you 'want' anything, you won't find it."

"Everything is uncertain.  Don't cling to anything."
 

From Phra Ajarn Fuang

"Before you say anything, ask yourself whether it's necessary or not.  If it's not, don't say it.  This is the first step in
 training the mind -- if you can't have any control over your mouth, how can you expect to have any control over
 your mind?"

"The breath can take you all the way to Nibbana."

"It's good that most people can't remember their previous lives.  Otherwise, things would be much more complicated
 than they already are."
 

From Phra Ajarn Buddhadasa

"Using metaphors makes it easier for us to understand the matter we're discussing. So we
will make use of them here today. The first prison which you must look for and see is life
itself. If you look on life as a prison, and see the prison that it is, then we must say
that you know the truth of nature quite well. Most people, however, look on life as
something enjoyable, as an opportunity to have fun. They are willing to live for the
enjoyment of life. They then become infatuated with and engrossed in life, which is what
turns it into prison."

"Even the present life does not exist, How could the after-life exist?"
 
 

    Around two thousand years ago the original ancestors of the people who now largely call themselves Thai migrated to the region now known as Thailand.  These Tai tribes from Southeast China mixed over the centuries with local Mon and Khmer peoples as well as Malay, Indian and Chinese immigrants.  Each group brought with them bits of Buddhism from their native lands.  These were the first Buddhist incursions into what was then likely an animist culture.

    Remember,  Buddhism began about 500 B.C. in what is now Nepal, when Siddartha Gautama, who was a prince,  sought and attained enlightment and began to teach. (See -- "Who was Buddha?") &nbbsp; His ideas were based on Hinduism, but entailed a rebellion against the less democratic and egalitarian principles of Hinduism.  (See -- "The Teachings of the Buddha")

    Buddhism spread from India through official and unofficial means.  Traders, who spread throughout Asia, brought with them their beliefs.  In the second century B.C., the great Indian King Asoka sent missionaries through Asia.  This was the first offical expansion of
Buddhism, but it expanded slowly and narrowly.  However, in Ceylon it quickly and permanently took root.

    In the fifth and sixth centuries,  Burma was the first of the Southeast Asian cultures to receive significant Buddhism influence from India due to its geographic proximity.  This Buddhism was a mixture of  Theravada and Mahayana ideas.  On the other side of the continent,  the Khmer and Champa kingdoms (what is now respectively Thailand,Cambodia and Northern Vietnam) were at this time worshipping a mixture of Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu deities.  In the Indonesian archipelago,  the Srivijaya  empire replaced Brahmaism with Buddhism of a Mahayana flavour in the seventh century and around this time on Java, the great Buddhist monument of Borobodur was constructed.

    In the twelfth century, Thailand received another infusion of Buddhism and this one really took.  At this time,  Burmese and Thai monks travelled to Ceylon where they learned much of Theravada Buddhism, which they brought back with them to the mainland.  These new ideas and practices effectively displaced the Mahayana Buddhism which had come earlier.   The great Burmese city of Pagan
grew at this time and at its peak contained within eight square miles thousands of pagodas and temples.    This Buddhism was a populist faith and the monks of Southeast Asia so actively propagated it that by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,  Theravada Buddhism was dominant in Southeast Asia.

    Also at this time in Thailand,  one of the most important early Thai kingdoms,  that of Sukhothai (located just south of Chiangmai)
was ruled by a most enlightened King Ramkhamhaeng who chose to share his throne (mostly symbolically) with the Buddhist monks and acted to propagate this religion through the region.  This king's grandson  carried Buddhism further by studying and rewriting 30 volumes of Buddhist scriptures into one great Thai volume.      Beginning with Sukhothai,  Buddhism influenced all aspects of Thai culture, from art and architecture to the very moral outlook of the people.      Following the decline of Sukhothai, the next kingdom of Ayudhya also witnessed the flourishing of Buddhism, with a great many temples and stupas shaping the landscape.     Today a traveller can wander the ruins of the two ancient kingdoms and appreciate the beauty and history of Buddhism in Thailand.

  Ayudhya was conquered and destroyed by Burma in the late 18th century and the Thai kingdom was re-established in what is now Bangkok.  Most of the kings have devotedly worked to support Buddhism as a foundation of  Thai society.   The very first king of the current dynasty,  King Rama I  helped to standardize the basic Buddhist rules and procedures for temples throughout the country.
It is a custom of Thai kings when they are young to ordain as monks for a brief period of time.  One king,  Rama IV who reigned from 1851-1868,  actually spent 27 years of his life as a monk (an abbot no less) before becoming a king.   As king, he tried to purify Buddhism in Thailand and bring it back to its true essence.  In doing so, he created a second sect of Buddhism in Thailand,   Dhammayukti Nikaya, or the school clinging steadfastly to the real Dharma of Law of the Buddha.   If you are in Thailand and see the monks walking about barefoot, these belong to this sect.

    Today, in this country of 60 million people there are said to be 30,000 Buddhist temples and 300,000 monks.  Ninety percent  of the people profess believe in Theravada Buddhism.    Buddhism is the establishment.
 
 

    Buddhism is everywhere in Thailand today.   A visitor is at once impressed by the many beautiful and grand temples and  stupas and the orange-clad monks so highly visible in the early morning hours.       The national flag of Thailand which consists of a central blue horizontal stripe surrounded by two white horizontal stipes and two red horizontal stripes demonstrates the value of Buddhism.   The two white stripes are said to symbolize Therevada Buddhism.     In Thailand monks receive the highest respect, followed by the king and then teachers.

    Religion is never a static thing and in Thailand this is certainly the case.     A  careful observer of Thai society and culture will notice that many practices and their religious pantheon is not entirely Buddhist.   Nearly every Thai home or shop will have at least one spirit house ,  which is a miniature temple home to local spirits to which Thais will leave offerings of food and drink and pay their respects.  This is clearly an animist practice leftover from pre-Buddhist days in Thailand.     In the center of  Bangkok,  one of the most revered shrines sits outside of the Sheraton Erawan Hotel.  Every taxi driver and most bus drivers and many other drivers will wai and bow their head as they pass this shrine to the Hindu god Brahma.     Most people will tell you that this is for luck.   Many others will light incense and pray before the statue to ward off evil as well as ask for luck.       The Thai people are very practical and so mixing different religious practices does not offend them if it helps them live a better life.      How increased education, communication and globalization will change this is yet to be seen.

    The greatest threat to Buddhism in Thailand today is materialism and consumerism.    It threatens to overwhelm Thailand by the greed, selfishness and cultural and environmental degradation  it engenders.   It has the potential to leave Thai Buddhism a mere hollow shell spouting platitudes that nobody actually takes to heart anymore.

    Buddhadassa Bhikku was the most vehement critic of materialism in the late twentieth century.   He located his temple in the south of Thailand in order to escape what he viewed as the moral corruption of Bangkok.     He even wrote a book called "Dharmic Socialism" which offered an alternative to the unbridled capitalism he believed was destroying Thailand.      His legacy lives on in what is now termed "Socially Engaged Buddhism"  lead by such proponents in Thailand as Sulak Sivaraksa  and Santikaro Bhikku   (Buddhadassa's western disciple who has recently relocated to the U.S.).

    Unfortunately,  Buddhism in Thailand is still a very male dominated institution as women for the most part cannot ordain as nuns as happens in Mahayana Buddhist countries like Korea and Japan.  Their power in Thai Buddhism is limited to being a layperson, one notch up.   This, however, is beginning to change as in 2002 the first Buddhist nun was ordained.

    Corruption is inevitable in any entrenched institution and the Thai Buddhist clergy has by no means been exempt.  Thai senior monks being driven around in Mercedes Benz automobiles donated by followers is a common sight.

    I recently read that half of the 300,000 monks in Thailand smoke.   I have seen monks smoking before on the street or on trains and couldn't fathom how they could be monks and do so as it clearly violated the precept against taking intoxicants.  (And there was no out as with eating meat -- one cannot pick and choose among what one is given as alms.)     Some have suggested it is simply further evidence of the moral degeneration of the Buddhist clergy.   They watch television and listen to radio in the temple,  so smoking simply follows.

    One of the most serious scandals to touch Thailand in recent years had to do with a new sect and temple Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
This temple collected huge sums from many of its followers who believed that the more they gave, the closer they would get to Nibbana.
("Buy your way to heaven" seemed the slogan)   The chief monks of this organization rode around in expensive cars and praised the value of money.

    In recent years there has been a brisk trade in talismans -- amulets usually featuring images of the Buddha or famous Thai monks.
Thais believe that wearing such amulets protect them from evil and bring good luck.   People will pay handsomely for such icons.   The temple of revered monk Phra Kring Chom Thai is said to earn $1.8 million annually from them.    Buddhism thus is corrupted by money.
 
 

    For details of the actual day to day practice,  visit this site,  Buddhism in Thailand  at Mahidol University  as they can explain it better than I could hope to.
 

    Buddhist philosophy in Thailand always impressed me by its straightforward sensibility.   The Thais themselves are not intellectuals at heart, so naturally their religion ought to be useful to the people in their present lives.   At the extreme, I've been told by one fairly educated Thai that the essence of their religion can be summed up as  "Do good. Refrain from evil."   Certainly Thais have taken this to heart.  There have been none of the evil excesses one finds in Cambodia, Vietnam or China.   And Thais are among the kindest, most generous people I have encountered.  The Thai monk Buddhadassa Bhikku (who tended to be one of the most scholastic as well as very down-to-earth) said it best, I  think, when asked what the purpose of life is.  He answered,  "Be peaceful, then useful."   This was very much the wisdom of the historical Buddha, Siddartha Gautama, who after withdrawing from the world for six years in search of peace and understanding, spent the remainder of  his life teaching the wisdom he had found.       

    Most Thais are familiar with meditation based on being aware of one's breath and have practiced before if not regularly.   "The breath can take you all the way to Nibbana" after all.     This keeps one calm and aware.     They also keenly believe in karma and "do good, refrain from evil" certainly accords with this principle.   Every chance a person gets, them will try to "tham boon"  (in Thai -- make merit).     The more merit you accumulate, the better your chance of going to heaven.    This is where Thai common thinking about Buddhism gets a little convoluted.

    The wisdom is counter-acted by the superstition.