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LAST UPDATE: Thursday October 23, 2003

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Buddhist Culture in Thailand

Southeast Asian Buddhist Kingdom
 

Buddha image in Thailand [15706 bytes]Thailand is one of only two Buddhist Kingdoms remaining in the world (Cambodia is the other), and evidence of both its royal status and its Buddhist faith is everywhere. Fanciful, brightly coloured Buddhist monasteries are the overwhelming visual icons of the country, along with the brilliantly attired monks who are most noticeable in the early morning when walking the streets for alms.


Monk is teaching Thai kids [15762 bytes]Buddhist festivities dominate the annual calendar of holidays and cultural events. The daily routines of Thai life are interwoven with Buddhist duties and ceremony, including regular offerings of alms to monks and visiting the monasteries for a score of reasons ranging from visiting a monk relative, listening to sermons, seeking personal advice or enjoying evening entertainment.

Of the two major streams of Buddhism, Thais follow the Theravada, or ‘Smaller Vehicle’ branch. This came to Thailand via Sri Lanka some 1,000 years ago, and indeed, today, Buddhism in these two distant nations remains closely affiliated. The Buddhism of East Asia - China, Japan, Korea and Tibet - the Mahayana sect (the Big Vehicle) - incorporates many more mystical features and bears little physical resemblance to Buddhism as found in the four Hinayana countries of Southeast Asia: Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Laos.


One of the big Buddhas, seen everywhere in Thailand [13754 bytes]Before the arrival of Buddhism in Southeast Asia the populations here were animists, believing in and worshipping spirits in all kinds of natural phenomena. Interestingly, many elements of animism remain strong in Thai’s multi-layered belief system today. Evidence of Thais’ pervasive belief in spirits is seen in the little temple-like shrines erected in the compounds of virtually every house and building in the country. High-rise office blocks and major hotels erect large, fancy shrines in prominent positions, often housing Hindu gods in them. Just about the only structures in Thailand not under the protection of spirit houses are Muslim owned - or are Buddhist temples, from which they are banned.
 

Praying of wishes in front of temple [12897 bytes]The essence of Buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion in the Western sense, and as such it does not forbid belief in other faiths, as both Islam and Christianity do. When Thais adopted Buddhism they simply added it to a foundation of animist superstitions and traces of Hinduism. Buddhism is firmly at the head of this animist-religious pantheon, with images of the Buddha always placed higher than any other images in a room or present at a ceremony.


Woman praying with lotus flower [6374 bytes]Fully 96% of the population consider themselves Buddhist, with the rest Muslims and a few Christian. Christian Missionaries have worked Thailand heavily for the past two centuries, but have made extremely few converts from the mainstream Buddhist population. Today their efforts at conversion are directed mainly at the hilltribes of the north, where they enjoy some success.
 

Buddhist related feature stories, with photographs, from Phuket Magazine that can be found on individual pages include: