Chapter One - Introduction

Summary

Buddhism is recognised as a key social and political institution by all participants in the Thai political system. Speaking from a Thai standpoint, Somboon Suksamran observes,

Buddhism is a social institution which is important in giving meaning to and being a symbol of national unity. It is a source and medium of the culture and traditions of the Thai nation. Speaking generally, Buddhism is like a root of our national existence and of the original social, cultural, and political identity of the Thai nation.(T)

Buddhist teachings provide an explanation of the place of human beings in the natural cosmos and the social world. Since the Sukhothai period in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries this explanation of human existence has also been used to provide a theoretical justification of the forms taken by the political institutions of Thai society. In turn, as the political legitimating function of the religion developed in the succeeding centuries, the sangha, or order of Buddhist monks, became an important social institution in its own right whose continued existence and welfare came to be regarded as essential to the security and survival of the Thai nation as an independent political entity. Buddhist teachings have long been interpreted in Thailand as providing an explanation for the holding and use of political power. By describing the hierarchical structure of traditional Thai society as a reflection of the structure of the cosmos itself, as realised by the Lord Buddha, and by describing each person's place in the social hierarchy as being determined by the impersonal law of moral retribution or kamma, Buddhism provided a common intellectual and cultural identity for the Thai people that encouraged collective allegiance to the social and political order.

Despite significant changes in the structure of the state and in the forms of political relations in the past century, Buddhism continues to fulfil its historical legitimatory function in Thailand today.