1.2. Buddhist Monks and Monasteries

The Buddhist brotherhood is composed of four assemblies^[1] of Buddhists, namely, monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. Monks and nuns from the monastic section the lay section. The two sections follow the path of the Buddha at different levels. The Monks are more devoted to spiritual development than the laymen. To minimize personal fares and worries, they shave their heads, wear only three robes and possess only a few basic necessities. They depend on the laymen for such material necessities as food, clothing, lodging and medicine, and give them spiritual advice and guidance in return.

To maintain the moral standards of the people and to make their own life favorable to spiritual devotion, the monks keep strict discipline. Although the rules are very strict, the monkshood is not separated from the lay world because the monasteries are always open to anyone who wants to retire there, either permanently or temporarily. In Thailand, it is even a custom for every young man to stay for a time, long or short, in the monastery and acquire a religious training.

The present King himself entered the monastery had his head shaved and lived by alms like the other monks. This tradition is a factor, which leads to the stability of Thai Buddhism and the continuing increase in monks and monasteries. Thailand's area of 200,000 square miles is thus dotted with 28,196 Buddhist monasteries where 339,648 monks and novices live. (2016).Travelers from foreign countries have been impressed by these large numbers of monks and monasteries that they often call Thailand the “Land of the Yellow Robe”^[2]. Monks form the Sangha, the third principle of Buddhism, the others being the Buddha, the Enlightened One, and the Dharma, his teachings^[3]. The monks follow the three main virtues of the Buddha: wisdom, purity and compassion. Compassion is interpreted as social responsibility. Through this virtues and through mutual dependence for material and spiritual life, the monks and the laymen have been in close relationship since the beginning, and the monasteries have been centers of spiritual and social life of the people throughout the history of the Thai nation.

Today social roles of the monks are more obvious in the rural life of the villages than in the urban life of the capital, towns and cities. It is usually the villagers themselves who build the monastery for their own community. They feel themselves belonging to the monastery and the monastery belonging to their community. The village monastery serves as the center of social life and activities of the village, for village social life follows the Buddhist holy days, temple fairs and merit-making ceremonies.

The villagers also feel very close to monks in the local monastery as the monks are in daily contacts with them and are constantly draw into their problems, both secular and spiritual. When a villager is in distress, when he has a dispute with his neighbor, when he seeks council or when he simply wants to learn, he turns to the monastery and the monks. Boys too difficult to handle at home are taken in and orphans are cared for. The temple grounds are usually the most natural location for a movie to be shown, for a lecture to be given and for polling booths to be set up for a political election.

Some branches of learning have been preserved and continued in the monastery, such as architecture, sculpture, painting, carving, carpentry, and tile, brick and cement making. The monks may offer basic technical advice on these matters and offer help in organizing building projects such as building wells, dams, road and bridges. Many social problems would be passing upon the people in rural society due to the lack of schools, medical facilities, a police and court system, social welfare and community services, if they were not checked by these social roles of the monks and monasteries.

Today, although the spread of the government system of education has brought modern schools to replace the traditional schools, and though fewer monks teach in schools of the new system, most government schools are still housed in monastery building or located in the compounds of monasteries. The abbot is still the spiritual leader of the community in whom the people put full trust and to whom they give hearty cooperation in all activities, both religious and secular. For the people it is still an honor and a means of gaining merit to do such a thing as feeding the monks or giving them other necessities of life Usually each morning the monks still leave the monastery for the morning alms. In the monastery, there is also a special place where the people can make merit by offering their gifts of food, by listening to regular sermons and by performing other meritorious actions.

The condition of the monastery always reflects the economy of the community. Monasteries in the provinces are therefore often small, while those located in the great cities, especially in Bangkok, are quite large. In larger monasteries there are many structure for the use of monks and sacred buildings containing Buddha statues, Images and other objects of worship. An average or typical monastery contains at least two types of building: living quarters for monks, or dormitories, and an Uposatha^[4] hall in which the monks perform ecclesiastical acts and ceremonies. In addition to these, there may be many other buildings such as a Vihara^[5] or repository of Buddha images, some types of stupas called Chedi^[6] or Prang, a bell tower or belfry, a square building for the Buddha’s footprint, a scriptural library, a museum, a preaching and merit-making hall, a crematorium and buildings for religious studies and those for a public school.

There are usually a number of novices living with the monks is every monastery. In some monasteries there may also be a number of white-robed female devotees living a separate section of the monastery. The numbers of monks and novices are not the same in all monasteries. In larger monasteries the number ranges from 100 to 600, but in smaller ones, especially in the far provinces, there are very few, usually fewer than ten. There may even be only one monk, or one monk and one novice. On the average, there are about eight monks and four novices in a monastery. In the whole country, the total number of monks is 233,978 and that of novices is 105,670. Most of the younger monks are students. Elder monks work as teachers on religious and some secular subjects, as meditation master and practitioners, as preachers, and as ecclesiastical administrators, and sometimes as counselors of the villagers, especially on spiritual matters. Ninety-nine percent of the novice are student under the guidance and guardianship of the monks.

Besides the monks and novices there are also a large number of temple or monastery boys. These boys, including many group men, live under guardianship of the monks, serving as their attendants, and use the monasteries as dormitories in which to live while attending school and universities.

There are two kind of monasteries: the royal and the community or private ones. Royal monasteries are mostly large^[7], having very beautiful and ornate secret building and many other artistic works. Among them are Wat Bho (the Monastery of the Reclining Buddha), Wat Bencha (the Marble Monastery, or popularly called the Marble Temple), Wat Arun (the Monastery of the Golden Mount), Wat Phra Prathom Chedi (the Monastery of the First stupa). Wat Phra Kaew (the chapel of the Emeral Buddha, or the Chapel Royal) is also a Royal Wat, but it cannot be called a monastery in the full sense of the term as it is the only Wat that has no living quarters for monks.

The royal monasteries now number 186, while the number of community monasteries amounts to 28,010. By denomination, all monasteries fall under two groups, namely, Mahanikaya^[8] monasteries, numbering 26,694, and Dhammayuttika nikaya^[9] monasteries, numbering 1,502. of whichever type or in whatever part of the country the monks and monasteries may be, they play important roles in the spiritual and cultural life of Thai society and have played these roles throughout her long history of more than 700 years. Buddhism and the Ancient Thai nation.

According to tradition, Buddhism was introduced into Thailand more than two thousand years ago, when this territory was known as Suvarnabhumi; and was still inhabited by the Monks and Lamas. At that time, one of the nine missions sent by King Asoka of India to spread Buddhism in different countries came to Suvarnabhumi. This mission was headed by two Arahants named Sona and Uttara and they succeeded in converting the ruler and people of the Thai kingdom of Buddhism. The Siamese, basing their claims on the extensive archeological finds on the site of the ancient pre-Thai city on the site of Nakhon Pathom of antiquities of the Mauryan patterns such as the deer and wheel motifs and the quotations of “Ye dhamma hetuppa bhava….,^[10] ” are inclined to believe that Suvarnabhumi was an old name of a city on Gulf of Siam^[11].

Nakhon Pathom was then the capital or one of the most important cities of Suvarnabhumi and became an active center for the propagation of the Buddha’s teaching. A great stupa was erected there to commemorate this great historic event, the adoption of Buddhism, and it was called Phra Pathom Chedi, which means the First Chedi built in this eastern country. Some scholars say that at the time of the introduction of Buddhism into Suvarnabhumi, the Thai were still in the south of China. There also, through the friendly relationship with China in the reign of Emperor Minigti, the Thais were converted to Buddhism. Khun Luang Mao, who ruled over the kingdom of Ailao at the beginning of the seventh Buddhist century, was the first Thai ruler who declared himself a Buddhist and the upholder of the faith.

Later, Mahayana Buddhism flourished in India and took the place of Hinayana or Theravada Buddhism. This new school of Buddhism spread to many countries both in the north and in the south. It was introduced into Thailand by the king of Srivijaya whose capital was in Sumatra and who ruled over the southern provinces of Thailand in the fourteenth century of Buddhism.

To the east of Thailand, the Khmer kings became powerful in Kambuja from about 1002 to 1082 (B>E. 1545-1625). During this period (usually called the Lopburi period), the Khmer empire covered the whole of northeastern and central Thailand. The Khmer were adherents of Mahayana Buddhism, which came from Sumatra and became mixed with their older faith, Brahmanism. But the Mahayana both of the Srivijaya and of the Lopburi periods did not succeed in replacing the Theravada, and the two schools flourished side by side. However, it was during these period that brahmanism and the Mahayana had strong influence on Thai culture. Sanskrit, the sacred language of the Hindus and the Mahayana, took deep root in Thai language and literature, while the Brahmanic influence can be seen even today in many Thai customs and public ceremonies^[12]. In 1057 (B.E. 1600), while the Khmer were still very powerful in the east, Anurudh the Great, the king of Pagan or Pukam, rose to power in the whole of Burma. His kingdom extended to the Thai kingdoms of Lanna and Lanchang^[13]. A different form of Theravada called the Pukam—Hinayana Buddhsm was introduced into these areas and was strongly supported by King Anurudh^[14].

Meanwhile, the Thais, who were themselves Theravada Buddhists, had settled down in Suvarnabhumi and come into contact both with the Mahayana and with the Pukam Hinayana. They became more and more powerful while the Pukam Kingdom broke up after the reign of King Anurudh and the Khmer empire declined. The in about 1257 (B.E. 1800) these emerged the kingdom of Lanna in the north founded by King Mengrai of Cheingsan and the Kingdom of Sukhothai in north central of Thailand, founded by Phol Khun Sri-indradtya^[15]. It was at this time that the continuous history of the Thai nation began and the Thai Buddhism took the present form.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Parisa: the Four Assemblies. (1) Bhikkhu-parisa: assembly of monks; Bhikkhus. (2) Bhikkhuni-parisa: assembly of nuns. (3) Upasaka-parisa: assembly of lay-followers. (4)Upasika-parisa: assembly of female layfollowers). A.II.132.

[2]:

Ishii,Yoneo, “Ecclesiastical Examination in Thailand” Visakhapuja, Annual publication of the Buddhist Association of Thailand, pp.90-93.

[3]:

Rattanattaya: the Triple Gem;, Kh.1.

[4]:

Uposatha: the Observances or precepts to be observed on the Observance Day. A.IV.248.

[5]:

A dwelling-place for monks.

[6]:

A person, or object worthy of worship; reminder.

[7]:

Mostly, the royal temples of the first grade were built in the early Rattanakosin period from King Rama I to Rama V (1782-1910). This is because the successive kings followed the objective of King Rama I who desired to create Bangkok to be as glorious with many majestic temples as the fallen Ayutthaya (1350-1767 A.D.). The royal temples of each reign are listed here; (1) Wat Phra Chetuphon–King Rama I (2) Wat Arun-King Rama II (3) Wat Ratcha-orot-King Rama III (4) Wat Bowonniwet-King Rama VI etc.

[8]:

The Mahanikaya Sect; “Great Sect”; Greater Sub-Order (of the Thai Monkhood).

[9]:

Dhammayutika Sect; “Law-Abiding Sect”; Smaller Sub-Order (of the Thai Monkhood).

[10]:

H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, A History of Buddhism in Siam, p.1.

[11]:

Pitoon Malivan, Savai Malathong, A History of Buddhism, pp.127-128.

[12]:

For details please see; Sirivat Kamvansa, A History of Buddhism in Thailand, pp.18-19.

[13]:

Later there were several other lines of Buddhist missionaries as follows: The second period (after Venerable Sona and Uttara) was about B.E.600 marked by Buddhism being introduced from Southern China by a Thai chieftain named Phor Khun Lermuang or Khun Luang. The third period was the Mahayana School coming from three routes viz. from the East i.e. Cambodia, from Burma and also from Sumatra in the South. The Fourth period was the introduction of Theravada Buddhism from the town of ‘Pukarm’ in Burma, in the reign of King Anurudha, the Great Maharaja.

[14]:

K.L., Hazra, History of Theravada Buddhism in South-East Asia, p.57.

[15]:

Ibid., p.60.