Abstract
This chapter examines how Theravada Buddhist monks have survived in the rapid social changes that resulted from modernization in contemporary Thailand from an anthropological perspective. The chapter focuses on the recent phenomenon of network construction among the Buddhist monks in the country with particular attention to the “Community Development Monks’ Network in Northern Thailand (khru’akhai phra nak phatthana chumchon phak nu’a),” which was founded in Chiang Mai in 2001. In the north, many Buddhist monks have engaged in social work such as road improvement, credit union, buffalo bank, HIV/AIDS care, and environmental conservation. However, the areas of work in which they engage now range widely throughout the country. These monks have been called phra nak phatthana or development monks since NGO-led alternative development became influential in Thailand in the late 1970s.
As the cases presented in this chapter indicate, however, “development monks” not only are engaged individually in community development works based on the local context of temples and communities but now also start to construct networks among them. The network, whether its size is large or small, brings the opportunities for the monks to assemble together at one place for the purpose of exchanging knowledge and experiences on community development. Here, a new communality has been built among individual monks who share a close interest in community development beyond localities. This communality is based on a horizontal relationship among the monks, which is distinguished from a vertical and hierarchical relationship within the Sangha. The monks have sought for the meaning of their existence through network construction among them in the ongoing rapid social changes in contemporary Thailand. The issue further raises the need to reconsider the identity politics of monks in the context of increasing fragile and globalizing modernity in the world.
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Notes
- 1.
For example, the Sekkhiyatham group (klum Sekkhiyatham) was originally founded in 1989 among development monks in northeast Thailand with the total support of Sulak Sivaraksa and “Inter-Religious Committee for Development” by Sulak’s initiative. Then the leader of Sekkhiyatham group is Phra Phaisal Visalo.
- 2.
My fieldwork can be divided into three periods as follows: (a) preliminary research in Chiang Mai City and around Northern Thailand for the 5-month period from October 2004 to March 2005; (b) intensive fieldwork in Doi Saket (a suburb about 20 km far from, Chiang Mai City) for the 13-month period from May 2005 to May 2006; and (c) additional research intermittently conducted to date.
- 3.
These elementary data are obtained both by conducting personal interviews with people related and by collecting original publications such as Muangmit’s report book (Muangmit 2004).
- 4.
These monks are based in the provinces of Chiang Rai, Phrae, Nan, Lamphun, Lampang, and so on.
- 5.
In this study, a proper noun such as a person’s name is written in an assumed name for the purpose of protecting one’s privacy.
Monk I (40 years old) was born in Shan State of Myanmar in 1973 and then moved across the Myanmar-Thai border to settle in Chiang Mai’s Wiang Haeng District. Soon after elementary school education, he was ordained as a novice in Wiang Haeng. With the relative’s support, he moved to Wat D in 1989 soon after junior high school education. Although he graduated from and entered into the master course at Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University, Chiang Mai Campus, he finally did not obtain the master degree because he did not submit the thesis.
- 6.
At that time, Wat D was becoming famous for its practical education for young novices and high ratio of successful Pali examinees. The school for novice education of Wat D, which was founded in 1977 by Monk W on the model of Wat Buppharam in Chiang Mai City, boasted of the most numbers of successful Pali examinees in Chiang Mai Province for 3 years during 1986–1988.
- 7.
Monk P (68 year old) was born in Nan Province of Northern Thailand in 1945. He was ordained as a novice and a monk in Nan and then moved to Wat Buppharam in Chiang Mai City to pursue educational opportunities. Since that time, Monk P has been one of the disciples of Monk W, who has discharged his duty as the abbot of Wat Buppharam.
In fact, Monk W has been famous for a variety of his community development activities around Chiang Mai and Doi Saket in particular from an early period in the 1970s (Gosling 1981, 1983). He had been the head of Chiang Mai Provincial Sangha of Maha nikai for a long time until 2009. The case of Monk W indicates a quite interesting point that there were two outstanding Buddhist monks active in the field of community development in Chiang Mai, one Monk W of Maha nikai and the other Phra Thep Kavi of Thammayut nikai. See Wonguthai’s master thesis for the details about Monk P and Darlington’s work for Monk W (Darlington 1990; Wonguthai 1999).
- 8.
Monk K passed away on July 2011. He was born in Tak Province. He was a Lisu. He ordained as a monk in Tak 1992 and soon moved to Wat Sri Soda in Chiang Mai City the next year. He kept going back and forth to Tak and Wat Sri Soda often and then had dwelled at Wat Sri Suphan in Chiang Mai City. During his study at Chiang Mai University, he got to know many people who were interested in NGO, and he also started his community development activities in his own village and around in Tak for a few years. He was selected as Ashoka fellow and had many connections with development agencies. Finally, he was disrobed in 2004.
- 9.
Monk I is a committee member, and Monk P, the abbot of Wat D, is an advisory board member.
- 10.
Monk B has been released of this post and has been a lecturer at the university since 2011.
- 11.
The participants’ list of this meeting indicated 28 monks from 4 provinces: Chiang Mai (10), Chiang Rai (1), Phrae (2), and Nan (13). The numbers inside (·) means the number of monks. At this meeting, the author founded about 40 monks including the 28 monks referred above.
- 12.
He is highly famous for his earnest forest conservation activities such as “ordination of tree” (buat ton mai).
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Acknowledgments
An early version of this chapter was presented at the 11th international conference on Thai studies held at the Siam City Hotel, July 26–28, 2011. I would like to express my special gratitude to all the attenders, especially a few questioners who helped to stimulate my thought on this chapter.
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Okabe, M. (2014). Beyond Localities: Community Development and Network Construction Among the Buddhist Monks in Northern Thailand. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Contemporary Socio-Cultural and Political Perspectives in Thailand. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7244-1_5
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