Buddhism is still the state religion of Thailand. Under the Constitution, the King, as a symbol of the nation, although protector of all religions, must be a Buddhist. According to the latest census, the total population of Thailand is 48 million. Out of this number, 93.4 percent are Buddhists. Buddhism has had a deep influence in the Thai arts, traditions, learning and the character of the people. It has modelled their manner of thinking and acting. In short, it has become an integral part of Thai life. The charm that has caused Thailand to be called the Land of Smiles undoubtedly comes from the influence of Buddhism over her people. Realizing these facts, the Thai rulers have taken the responsibility for the protection and promotion of Buddhism.

The rulers of Thailand have encouraged and supported Buddhism by building and maintaining monasteries, by providing the monks with material necessities and facilities for performing religious duties, by patronizing their educational activities such as the Buddhist Councils for revising the Tripitaka and having the scriptures translated into Thai, and by reforming the Sangha and appointing able Supreme Patriarchs to govern the Order. Since B.E. 2446 (1903 C.E.) the State has even enacted the laws forming the Constitution under which the Sangha governs itself.

The Department of Religious Affairs has been established in the Ministry of Education to achieve close cooperation between the Order and the Government and to provide a channel through which the Sangha can communicate with government authorities and through, which the State can promote the well-being of the Sangha.

Four Buddhist holy days are recognized by the Government as nationalholidays, namely, the Magha Puja Day, the Visakha Puja Day, the Asalha Puja Day and the Khao Pansa Day. Nearly all state and public ceremonies are blessed by the participation and chanting of senior members of the Order. The people also invite monks to chant the Sutras and protective formulas for their blessing and protection in all household rites such as housewarmings, birthday celebrations and weddings, and especially to conduct funeral rites and memorial services for the benefit of the deceased.

In Bangkok, the skyline is pierced by the spires of pagodas and stupas, especially those of Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) and the Golden Mount. “In the rice lands a traveler is seldom out of the sight of a phra chedi (Cetiya) or stupa towering above the village trees. In the less populous sections of the countries are sacred caves, ”footprints” of Buddha, and on many a steep and isolated hill a greying cetiya visible for miles around.

Buddhism began in Northern India around the year 500 BCE. The Buddhist tradition gets its name from a man known by his followers as the Buddha, or the awaken one. He was born in a princely family in a region of Northern India that now lies in Southern Nepal. In those days it was simply a part of the great undifferentiated geographical entity that we speak of today as the Indian subcontinent.

The Buddha is the very picture of calm and contemplation. And is this image of a calm and contemplative human being that has drawn many people to the Buddha, for centuries in Asia, and of course, in our own environment today. This is the image that conveys more explicitly the experience of his awakening. But the Buddha did not always sit in perfect contemplation.

After his awakening he got up from the sit of his enlightenment and talked about his experience to others on the roads of Northern India. The major events of his life took place in what we call the middle region of the Ganges basin, still the site of Buddhist pilgrimage today. In India itself there were two major reform movements than appeared within the Buddhist community not so long after the lifetime of the Buddha himself:

Buddhism moved North out of India into China in the second century of the common era, carried North by monks and merchants on the trade routes that went out over the mountains of India, into Afghanistan and then on into the great trade routes called the “silk road” that moved across central Asia and into the major mercantile centers of Northern China.

Here Buddhism encountered a sophisticated and ancient civilization. China was a confident and thoroughly civilized region when these early Buddhist monks began to make contact. For Buddhism to become part of China, as it eventually did, it was important for Buddhists to make some major changes in the way they thought through and expressed basic issues.

From China, Buddhism was eventually carried to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. You might put Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese Buddhism together as expressions of this great East Asian strand.

In the eighth century of the common era, Buddhism was carried across the Himalayas from India into Tibet. Today, the Dalai Lama, who is the leader of the Tibetan Buddhist community, is one of the most visible, and I think, one of the most active Buddhist leaders in the world.