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Decline of Buddhism in Thailand
person
Don't believe everything you thinkThe liminal space Veteran
The PBS show Religion and Ethics Weekly this week did an 8 and a half minute report on the decline of monks in Thailand.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/may-24-2013/decline-of-buddhism-in-thailand/16592/
Watching this brought up thoughts of how western Buddhism can be looked down on by more traditional Buddhists. Now these traditionally Buddhist countries are dealing with the consequences of modernity and I feel they may end up looking to us lowly westerners for some perspective on how to deal with these problems.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/may-24-2013/decline-of-buddhism-in-thailand/16592/
Watching this brought up thoughts of how western Buddhism can be looked down on by more traditional Buddhists. Now these traditionally Buddhist countries are dealing with the consequences of modernity and I feel they may end up looking to us lowly westerners for some perspective on how to deal with these problems.
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Comments
@riverflow and I were touching on this lightly last week while
talking at the Temple. Is it the typical generation gap?
Of course. Remember when rock n roll was going to ruin
everything? hahaha.
As with other religions....yes, adaptation needs to happen.
And yes, I do think [we] will end up setting some examples
for how to adapt, but stay with the core teachings. I can
attest to raising children with this religion right down the
street from many malls. Over the years, I needed to get very
creative for certain lessons and lifestyle choices.
Times have and will change....aka...impermanence.
This is a good example of it needs to be applicable.
One of my Thai friends and I spent several days 4 years ago traveling upcountry along the Chao Phrya River from Ayutthaya to Nakhon Sawan, mostly visiting rural temples. In one hamlet there was a particular temple I wanted to see, and we found it deserted of monks. A handful of villagers were working on fixing up the temple, and as we were there during a sort of lunch break, we sat and chatted them for a while. They explained that the temple had been empty of monks for about 3 years, and they were modernizing and fixing up the temple in the hopes of attracting monks back. So you could look at that and think a crisis was occurring in that village, because the temple had closed because there were no monks. But in reality, walk less than 3 minutes to the south along the same road and there was another temple, another a less than 3 minute walk to the north along the same road, and yet another less than 3 minutes walk down over the hill along the river. 4 Buddhist temples in a hamlet of about 250 people. So was there really a problem? Probably not.
I think you also have to look at cultural changes and ask what is the real difference in the way people have changed in regard to the number of monks. Start by looking at Thailand 50 years ago (the 1960s). It was still a mostly agrarian society, with the vast majority of Thais living "upcountry" in rural villages. Most Thai men symbolically became monks for 3 weeks to 3 months. But what kind of monks were they? Again, it was symbolic, a rite of passage. There was no dedication to the monkhood. And what was the sacrifice. Most became monks after the rice planting period and before the rice harvesting period -- during what is called the rains retreat. Today, far fewer Thais are involved in farming, Many more are living in cities, particularly the Bangkok metro area. They have 8-5 jobs and bills to pay every week. It's pretty difficult to take off 3 weeks to 3 months and still support a family. So I suspect that the plunge in the number of monks is more a plunge in the number of "temporary monks". I do think that there has been some change in the number of long-term monks, but I doubt it is anywhere near half. As the video pointed out, today school and making money are a stronger focus for the everyday person than a temporary and symbolic ordination.
The video mentioned that in the old days the temple was the center of both the religious life of a community, and its social life. In Bangkok, in particular, the mall has become, for many, the center of social life. Thailand may be third-worldish, but the mall in central Bangkok are far larger and more modern than most of the malls here in the United States. There are more venues for Thais to congregate, and the Thais love to be out and about. When you see a Thai friend out and about you are likely to ask, "Khun ja bai nai?" (Where you go?). The most common answer is "Pa-teo" (loosely translated as "Out and about" or "Just looking around". They're not the inveterate t.v. watchers we in America are...they want to get out with other people. The temple used to serve that purpose, now, at least in cities, not so much so.
I think another factor is the passivity of monks. Monks are typically busy in the early morning (rounds, breakfast, and a period of chanting/meditation), then lunch around 11 a.m. Then another period of chanting/meditation sometime around dusk. FOr much of the day they pretty much sit around. Go to a temple mid-morning or during most of the afternoon, there's very little activity. As much napping as activity. Easy to chat with monks at those times of the day, because they're not very involved in anything. Ministers in the West are far more involved in a community's life, for more hours a week, than are monks involved with their communities.
And then there's the belief I have, that in many places throughout the world, people are sliding into a more modern concept of faith and belief. That it doesn't all come from the church or the mosque or the temple. That it is within more than it is without. That the walls of a building have little to do with real spiritual belief.
Thanks for posting the video. And it's certain that Buddhism in Thailand is evolving, but I doubt it's a crisis or in actual decline. Just morphing into a more modern form.
I think this has mainly to do with monks behaving badly. It's true what is said in the PBS show. Everyday in the news there are stories about monks misbehaving. It is not uncommon to meet a Thai who says that they lost faith in Buddhism due to seeing how the monks behaved. In my estimate I would say that not more than 30 per cent of monks in Thailand adhere properly to the monastic rules. So I think the problem is less about quantity but more about the quality of monks.
As for the lay community, I would say less than 20 per cent are interested in the essence of Buddhism. Most are just interested in making merit to get financial rewards or good fortune.
Fortunately theres still the Forrest Dhamma order.