Buddhism in Thailand

Two missionaries were sent by Emperor Asoka, Sona and Uttara, as far back as over two thousand years ago to the Land of Gold (Suvarnabhumi). This new land where the two Buddhist ambassadors landed was thought to be the present site of Nakorn Pathom, because certain archeological objects, dug out at this place, proved to belong to this period.

Nakorn Pathom Temple, to the West of Bangkok, about 60 kilometres away, is therefore supposed to be the most ancient Buddhist pagoda in this country.

It was said that in ancient times, when people were still very superstitious and were accustomed to listening to the advice of astrologers, a king called Phya Kong had a son called Phya Pan. When he consulted the court astrologer about the future of his son, the astrologer predicted that his son would grow up to kill his father. Fearing lest this should come true, the king had his child drifted away on a raft down the river. The baby was picked up by an old lady called Hom, who brought him up to manhood. Phya Pan then went to serve a neighbouring king who sent him on a campaign to annex all the nearby territories. Phya Pan led his army to fight Phya Kong, his own father, and killed him without knowing him. Thus the prophecy came true.

When Phya Pan knew of it, he was greatly distressed and sought the advice of priests as to what he could do to make amends. The priests told him to build a very big pagoda in honour of the Buddha, towering as high as possible up into the sky, and thus the pagoda of Nakorn Pathom was built. The present pagoda is not the same as the old one, for it must have tumbled down and put up again several times, the last time being in the reign of King Mongkut, or Rama IV, when he discovered it while he was wandering about as a priest, when he discovered it in the midst of the jungle.

But Nakorn Pathom over two thousand years ago was not Thailand. It was then the Mon Kingdom of Dvaravati. The Thai emigrated from the south of China to this part of the country only in the 13th century, when they conquered the country from the Khmers and the Mons, and established the Thai kingdom of Sukhotai in A.D. 1238.

Buddhism was at the time flourishing in Ceylon, and there were learned Buddhist monks coming to Nakorn Sitammarat. King Rama Kamhaeng of Sukhotai (1275-1317) had learned that a Ceylonese monk had been invited into Sukhothai from Nakorn Sitammarat to help spread the teachings of the Lord Buddha to laymen. The Kings of Sukhothai fostered the new religion, and one of its kings, Litai, the grandson of Rama Kamhaeng, invited another learned monk from the Mon country to his kingdom. Litai was a devout Buddhist, who also wrote treatises on Buddhism, one of which was on cosmology called: "Tribhumigatha" which still exists to this day.

The Kingdom of Sukhothai gave place to the rise of another Thai kingdom in the South, the Kingdom of Ayuthaya (1350- 1767). The kings of Ayuthaya continued to encourage the study and worship of Buddhism and built many pagodas, so that foreigners coming to Ayuthaya in the 17th century could say that Ayuthaya was full of temples and monks. Many temples were decorated with valuable Buddha images made of gold.

When Ayuthaya fell to the Burmese in 1767, Buddhism declined through the lax of discipline and loss of most of their religious books through the flames. The new kings of Thonburi and Bangkok tried to revive it by collecting the scattered religious books together, purifying the conduct of monks, and promoting a heavy programme of building temples and statues. Buddhism flourishes again during the Ratanakosin (Bangkok) period. The most fervent and enthusiastic king of the present Chakri Dynasty of Bangkok was King Mongkut (1851- 1868) who spent 27 years of his life as a Buddhist priest before he came to the throne. During this period of priesthood, he studied Pali, the sacred language of the Lord Buddha. So learned was he that he was able to read all the teachings of the Lord Buddha in the original Pali language. Then he discovered that so many things in the Buddhist way of life and belief had greatly departed from the practice during the days of Buddha himself. He therefore set to purify the Buddhist texts, conducted new studies, and taught new conducts which would bring the conduct of priests and the teaching back into line with what the Buddha had actually taught in his days.

Many priests followed him in this new revised way of Buddhist life. Thus a new school of Buddhist thought was established as a new force in thailand, differing from the old form of practice. The new school started by King Mongkut was called: Dhammayukti Nikaya, or the school clinging steadfastly to the real Dharma of Law of the Buddha. The old school, being still the majority in the country, was called Mahanikaya ( meaning the greater sect). Thus there are now two Buddhist groups in Thailand. They are not distinguishable from each other except in the mode of putting on the yellow robes, mode of pronouncing the Pali texts and certain forms of behaviour, e.g. the Dharmayukti priest would go about in the streets outside the temple, barefoot, without any sandals. The Mahanikaya priests still wear sandals. In Bangkok (and Thonburi) there are only 30 Dharmayukti temples as against 353 Mahanikaya temples.