The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia Donald K. Swearer Newest Edition 2025
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Donald K. Swearer
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The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia
SUNY series in Religious Studies
Harold Coward, editor
The BUDDHIST
WORLD of Southeast Asia
Second Edition
Donald K. Swearer
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 State University of New York Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of
Kenneth K. S. Ch’en and Singkha Wannasi,
mentors and friends
This page intentionally left blank.
Contents
ix
x the buddhist world of southeast asia
both gender distinction and the historical diversity of roles played by Bud-
dhist almspersons.
Dramatic changes have occurred in the Buddhist world of Southeast
Asia since the first edition of this monograph appeared in 1995. The perva-
sive effect of globalization has further intensified the transformation of the
world’s political economies, cultures, and societies. Mainland Southeast
Asia (Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos) and Sri Lanka, which share
the teachings, practices, and monastic institutions of Theravada Buddhism,
have also been transformed. Despite the significant differences that pertain
among these countries where Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion,
Buddhism continues to be a major factor in their politics, economies, and
cultural identities. The neo-Marxian and secular-liberal predictions of the
withering away of religion have been proved false, whether the reference is
Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, or—in the case of this monograph—Theravada
Buddhism in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. For example, Buddhism is being
revived in Cambodia; new monastic and lay movements are flourishing in
Thailand; Buddhist monks are actively involved in the political conflict
current in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. These are hopeful signs of a vigorous,
vital Buddhism, not of a moribund religion.
Hopeful signs notwithstanding, overall Theravada Buddhism in Thailand,
Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka faces an uncertain future. Will
the Buddhist institutions in these countries, their teaching and practices,
continue to inform the cultural identities of the Thai, Burmese, Lao, Khmer,
and Sinhalese, or will they fail to adapt sufficiently to the changing material
realities of their increasingly globalized societies and, hence, become largely
irrelevant to daily life’s circumstances? The complexity of the many worlds
of Theravada Buddhism defies any easy generalization about its future and
challenges any predictions. As this monograph demonstrates, Buddhism
is not one “world” in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka,
but many different worlds. It is this very diversity and adaptability that has
contributed to its enduring influence. What will the future hold? Certainly
for its continuing viability, it will require an even greater degree of flexibility
xii the buddhist world of southeast asia
and adaptability while at the same time retaining those principles and values
that have informed, inspired, and challenged the lives of its adherents.
This revised and expanded edition of I]Z7jYY]^hiLdgaYd[Hdji]ZVhi6h^V
includes numerous additions and changes. Part 3 has been greatly expanded
to take into account some of the most significant developments that have
occurred within the Buddhist world of Southeast Asia since 1995. Major
additions have also been made to the Ideal Action section of part 1 and
the Modern Nationalism and Buddhism section of part 2. Furthermore, in
this edition the focus on Buddhism in Thailand has been further enhanced,
especially in part 3.
Donald K. Swearer
Center for the Study of World Religions
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Acknowledgments
The 1995 edition of this monograph was made possible by a sabbatical leave
from Swarthmore College in 1994 and through the support from the
Fulbright-Hays Program and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. I
wish to thank Dr. Chayan Vaddhanphuti, director of the Social Research
Institute, Chiang Mai University, where I was a research fellow, and Dr. Ratana
Tungasvadi for the gracious hospitality of her Chiang Mai home. Thanissaro
Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff ), abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in
Valley Center, California, read and commented on the entire monograph;
Dr. Nancy Dowling, professor of Asian art, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa,
made numerous suggestions regarding part 2.
In the decade since the publication of the first edition of T]Z7jYY]^hi
LdgaYd[Hdji]ZVhi6h^V I have received invaluable assistance from colleagues
in Chiang Mai, especially Sommai Premchit, the late Mani Payomyong, and
Phaithoon Dokbuakaew. Over many years my research in northern Thailand
has been greatly facilitated by the friendship and support of John W. Butt,
Senior Advisor at the Payap University Institute for the Study of Religion, Cul-
ture, and Peace, and Martha Butt, Emeritus Vice President for International
Affairs at Payap University. Eric Braun, a specialist in Burmese Buddhism at
Harvard University graciously commented on my discussion of Buddhism
in Myanmar. Dr. Louis Gabaude of the École Française d’Extrême-Orient,
Chiang Mai, has shared with me over the years not only his rich archival col-
lection but also his unsurpassed knowledge of Buddhism in northern Thailand.
I am particularly indebted to Nancy Chester Swearer who copyedited the
entire manuscript and prepared the bibliography and index.
xiii
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Introduction
xv
xvi the buddhist world of southeast asia
find the truth of a religion. Religious belief systems may appear to have an
atemporal character, but historical, cultural, social, economic, and political
contexts cannot be divorced from a religion any more than an individual’s
profession of faith, be it Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, can
be separated from his or her personal, subjective experience.
In the following pages we shall study Theravada Buddhism within the
many cultures and against the historical backdrop of Southeast Asia and Sri
Lanka and three differing social and political contexts: the traditional village;
the state; and the modern urbanized environment. Each context provides
a background for examining distinctive features of Buddhism in Southeast
Asia: the integrative and syncretic nature of traditional, popular religion; the
role of religion in state formation; and the challenge to traditional Buddhist
thought and practice by the forces of rapid change associated with urbaniza-
tion and modernization.
This monograph introduces the study of Theravada Buddhism and society
within the cultural setting of Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Thailand.
In a broad sense, it is an examination of the interaction of a religious world-
view and a cultural ethos, and the ways in which the peoples of Southeast
Asia have organized and expressed their lives in meaningful patterns.1 Each
part of this book will examine these patterns for their coherence as well as
their rich and fascinating variety.
PART 1
1
2 part 1
or hVc\]V"kVhV for the study of the dhamma, but also the “Buddha’s place”
or WjYY]V"kVhV where the Buddha is made present and venerated in images
and enshrined relics.
In the following section I shall explore popular Buddhism in Southeast
Asia with a focus on Thailand, in these contexts: rites of passage, festival
celebrations, and ritual occasions, beginning with ideal behavior or life
models personified in traditional myths and legends. The two underlying
themes will be: the syncretic nature of popular Buddhism as part of a total
religious-cultural system; and the role of religion in enhancing life’s meaning
through the integration and interpretation of personal, social, and cosmic
dimensions of life.
Ideal Action
Doctrinally, ideal action in Theravada Buddhism can be described as
meritorious action (ejV-`VbbV) or action that does not accrue demerit
(eVeV-`VbbV). At the highest stage of spiritual self-realization, the state
of arahantship, one’s actions are totally beyond the power of kamma and
rebirth (hVbhVgV). Terms used to characterize ideal behavior and attitudes
are truthfulness (hVXXV), generosity (YVcV), loving-kindness (bZiiV), compas-
sion (`VgjcV), equanimity (jeZ``]V), wisdom (eVV), and morality (h^aV),
to name a few. In both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism these virtues
are referred to as “perfections” (eVgVb^ or eVgVb^iV) of character associated
with the person of the WdY]^hViiV (Sanskrit, WdY]^hViikV), one who is on
the path to Buddhahood. These perfections are depicted in various ways
appropriate to audience and context. They are exemplified in the narratives
of moral exemplars, such as Vessantara and Sama who appear in the last ten
of the 547 Pali _ViV`V tales, other late canonical texts such as the 8Vg^n°"
e^V`V, the fifth century commentaries of Buddhaghosa and Dhammapala,
vernacular narratives, and most important, in the life of the Buddha.8 Such
stories are well known and are one of the principal means through which
ideal life models are taught.
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