The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia , livre ebook

SUNY SERIES IN R ELIGIOUS S TUDIES
H AROLD C OWARD, EDITOR

The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia
S ECOND E DITION
D ONALD K. S WEARER

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Swearer, Donald K., 1934-
The Buddhist world of Southeast Asia / Donal K. Swearer. — 2nd ed.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in religious studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-3251-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-3250-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Buddhism—Social aspects—Southeast Asia. I. Title.
BQ410.S93 2010
294.3'370959—dc22                                                                          2009039613
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In memory of Kenneth K. S. Ch'en and Singkha Wannasi, mentors and friends

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia is the result of my observation and long-term study of Theravada Buddhism. My interest in Buddhism began as a result of personal experience. In the late 1950s I spent two years in Bangkok, Thailand, where I lived in a Buddhist culture and taught at a Christian college and a Buddhist monastic university. Since that time I have spent several sabbatical leaves in Thailand with shorter stays or visits in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. Although my understanding of Buddhism has benefited from the work of scholars from different disciplines, this monograph also reflects my personal experience in Thailand and Southeast Asia. This experience is informed by teaching in the liberal arts college classroom, the primary context in which I have spent most of my academic career. My approach to Buddhism, especially its expression in Thailand, is a multidisciplinary approach integrated with a personal appreciation of its depth of meaning and diversity of expression. This monograph is written for readers who wish to study Buddhism, not simply as a normative doctrinal system, but as a historically and culturally contextualized religious tradition, or to put it another way, Buddhism as a lived tradition.
This study of Buddhism offers a broad, holistic analysis of the Buddhist tradition as it has been shaped within the historical and cultural milieu of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. Diverse forms of Buddhism took root in Southeast Asia, but from the twelfth century C.E. , the branch of Buddhism known as Theravada or “Teaching of the Elders,” with its extensive and diverse scriptural canon written in the Pali language, gradually assumed a dominate religious and cultural role. 1 Historical evidence from major archaeological sites as well as contemporary Buddhist rituals demonstrate the influence of Hinayana, Mahayana, and Tantrayana forms of Buddhism, which also incorporated Brahmanical and Hindu elements. It must be kept in mind, furthermore, that the forms of Buddhism and Hinduism that took root in Sri Lanka and in insular and mainland Southeast Asia, grew in diverse cultural soils already enriched by various indigenous belief systems from the Sinhalese, Burmese, Tai, 2 Lao, and Khmer peoples. We must reject the notion that there existed in mainland Southeast Asia any kind of Theravada Pali “orthodoxy”; this is an ahistorical projection, first constructed by monks of the Sinhalese Mahavihara monastic lineage and subsequently perpetuated in the modern period by both Buddhist adherents and Western scholars. Today, Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia mirrors the rich diversity of its variegated historical and cultural development. In one sense this monograph provides a demonstration of this claim. My use of the term, Theravada Buddhism, therefore, encompasses this sense of the richness and diversity of the tradition.
A problem adheres to the use of the word, monk . Frequently, Buddhist scholars construct the Buddhist monk as a rational renouncer who singlemindedly walks the Buddha's path toward enlightenment (nibbana). They either ignore or are oblivious to the multiple roles played by the monk, not just in the present day, but also throughout Buddhist history. The word, monk, is further problematized because it has been gendered as male, requiring that the female “monk” be identified as “nun.” 3 In Theravada Buddhism the community of Buddhists is divided into four groups—male and female renunciants or almspersons (bhikkhu and bhikkhuni), and their male and female lay supporters ( upasaka and upasika ). Although it is an oversimplification, it may be said that both men and women who joined the Buddha's order or sangha were fundamentally alike in the sense that they shared the common designation of “almspersons.” I shall use monk in this inclusive sense, although in specific contexts, I shall refer to male almspersons, female renuncients, or for clarity, simply monks and nuns. In parts 1 and 3 of the monograph, specific historical and contemporary issues of women and Buddhism will be explored. My use of the word, monk, therefore, acknowledges both gender distinction and the historical diversity of roles played by Buddhist almspersons.
Dramatic changes have occurred in the Buddhist world of Southeast Asia since the first edition of this monograph appeared in 1995. The pervasive 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 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 The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia 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 The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia 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, Culture, and Peace, and Martha Butt, Emeritus Vice President for International Affair