Today,
Thailand supports a religious community of some 250,000
monks who reside at an estimated 27,000 temple monasteries
throughout the country. The monastic system is central to
Theravada Buddhism, and aside from a core religious
community, most monks are ordained for only a short spell,
perhaps just a few days but more usually the three months
of the Buddhist Rains Retreat. As in the past, young Thai
men become monks temporarily to earn merit for their
parents as well as for their own spiritual development.
In the
practice of Theravada Buddhism, the aim is to avoid evil
and lead a good life based on self-control, restraint and
meditation. One should adhere to the five basic precepts
of Buddhism (namely: abstention from killing, from
stealing, from sexual misconduct, from false speech and
from intoxicants), and follow the moral and ethical
teachings of the Buddha.
In trying to lead a good life,
everyone has the opportunity to accrue merit which will
ensure rebirth under more favourable conditions in the
next incarnation, as well better conditions in the present
existence.
Ways in which
lay people may earn merit are many and various. Most
typical and most visible in Thailand is giving food and
other offerings to monks who make early morning alms
rounds in cities, towns, and villages. Commissioning the
making of Buddha images, either as an individual or as
part of a community, is also highly regarded as a means of
making merit.
Although the
religious community of monks and nuns, the Sangha, plays a
crucial role in Theravada Buddhism, the Buddha's teaching
is meant for all without distinction of any kind. The goal
of all Buddhists is the cessation of desire and the
ultimate release from the cycle of rebirth.
Monks and nuns may enter the religious order so that they
can devote more time to formal practice. Nonetheless, lay
people practise in daily life, trying to maintain
mindfulness and setting aside time for more formal
practice when they can. Throughout the history of Buddhism
there have been countless examples of enlightened lay
people, men, women and children.
As with other
major religions, worship plays a role in daily Buddhist
practice but there is an important difference. Whereas,
for example, Christian worship involves prayer and a
gesture of submission to a god, a higher, supernatural
being, Buddhist worship is an expression of respect and
gratitude to the Triple Gem of the Buddha, his teachings
and the Sangha.
It is this spiritual expression which, more than any other
single influence, has and continues to mould the life, art
and culture of Thailand.
