Thai Forest Tradition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Thai Forest Tradition
Kammatthana Yantra.png
Type Dharma Lineage
School Theravada Buddhism
Formation c. 1900 ; Isan, Thailand
Lineage Heads Ajahn Sao Kantasilo, Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta
(c. 1900–1949)
Ajahn Thate Desaransi
(1949–1994)
Ajahn Maha Bua Ñāṇasampaṇṇo
(1994–2011)
Ajahn Chah Subhatto
(see: Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah)
Founding Maxims

The customs of the noble ones (ariyavamsa)

The Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma (dhammanudhammapatipatti)

The Kammaṭṭhāna Forest Tradition of Thailand (Pali: kammaṭṭhāna [kəmːəʈːʰaːna] meaning "place of work"), commonly known in the West as the Thai Forest Tradition, is a lineage of Theravada Buddhist monasticism, as well as the lineage's associated heritage of Buddhist praxis. The tradition is distinguished from other Buddhist traditions by its doctrinal emphasis of the notion that the mind precedes the world, its description of the Buddhist path as a training regimen for the mind, and its objective to reach proficiency in a diverse range of both meditative techniques and aspects of conduct that will eradicate defilements (Pali: "kilesas") – unwholesome aspects of the mind – in order to attain awakening.

The tradition began circa 1900 with Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto and Ajahn Sao Kantasilo: two Dhammayut monks from the Lao-speaking cultural region of Northeast Thailand known as Isan. They began wandering the Thai countryside out of their desire to practice monasticism according to the normative standards of Classical Buddhism (which Ajahn Mun termed "the customs of the noble ones") during a time when folk religion was observed predominately among Theravada village monastic factions in the Siamese region. Because of this, orthopraxy with regard to the earliest extant Buddhist texts is emphasized in the tradition, and the tradition has a reputation for scrupulous observance of the Buddhist monastic code, known as the Vinaya.

Nevertheless, the Forest tradition is often cited as having an anti-textual stance, as Forest teachers in the lineage prefer edification through ad-hoc application of Buddhist practices rather than through methodology and comprehensive memorization, and likewise state that the true value of Buddhist teachings is in their ability to be applied to reduce or eradicate defilement from the mind. In the tradition's beginning the founders famously neglected to record their teachings, instead wandering the Thai countryside offering individual instruction to dedicated pupils. However, detailed meditation manuals and treatises on Buddhist doctrine emerged in the late 20th century from Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao's first-generation students as the Forest tradition's teachings began to propagate among the urbanities in Bangkok and subsequently take root in the West.

The purpose of practice in the tradition is to the ultimate end of experiencing the Deathless (Pali: amata-dhamma): an absolute, unconditioned dimension of the mind free of inconstancy, suffering, or a sense of self. According to the traditions exposition, awareness of the Deathless is boundless and unconditioned and cannot be conceptualized, so it must be arrived at through the aforementioned mental training which includes deep states of meditative concentration (Pali: jhana); and Forest teachers directly challenge the notion of dry insight.[1] The tradition further asserts that the training which leads to the Deathless is not undertaken simply through contentment or letting go, but the Deathless must be reached by "exertion and striving" (sometimes described as a "battle" or "struggle") to "cut" or "clear the path" through the "tangle" of defilements that bind the mind to the conditioned world in order to set awareness free.[2][3]

Related Forest Traditions are also found in other culturally similar Buddhist Asian countries, including the Galduwa Forest Tradition of Sri Lanka, the Taungpulu Forest Tradition of Myanmar and a related Lao Forest Tradition in Laos.[4][5][6]

Thai Forest Tradition
Kammatthana Yantra.png
Ajahns

Dhammayuttika Nikaya

Luang Pu Sao Kantasilo (1861–1941)
Luang Por Mun Bhuridatto (1870–1949)
Luang Ta Maha
Bua Ñāṇasampaṇṇo		 (1913-2011)
Ajahn Lee Dhammadaro (1907–1961)
Luang Pu Waen Suciṇṇo (1887-1985)
Luang Pu Thate Desaransi (1902–1994)
Luang Pu Chanda Thawaro (1922-2012)
Ajahn Suwat Suvaco (1919-2001)
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1949-)

Maha Nikaya

Luang Por Chah Subhatto (1918-1992)
Luang Por Sumedho (1934-)
Ajahn Khemadhammo (1944-)
Ajahn Pasanno (1949-)
Ajahn Brahm (1951-)
Ajahn Amaro (1956-)
Ajahn Sucitto (1949-)
Ajahn Sundara (1946-)
Ajahn Candasiri (1947-)
Complete List
Related Articles

Introduction and glossary[edit]

The mind[edit]

Further information: Ajahn Maha Bua § Some basic teachings on the 'Citta'

The mind (Pali: citta, mano — used interchangeably as “heart” or “mind” en masse), within the context of the Forest Tradition, refers to the most essential aspect of an individual that carries the responsibility of “taking on” or “knowing” mental preoccupations.

This characterization deviates from what is conventionally known in the West as “mind” — while the activities associated with thinking are often included when talking about the mind, they are considered mental processes separate from this essential knowing nature, which is sometimes termed the "primal nature of the mind".[7]

The primary quality attributed to the mind is that it is considered to be radiant, or luminous (Pali: “pabhassara”).[8] Teachers in the forest tradition assert that the mind is an immutable reality and that the mind is indestructible — that the mind simply “knows and does not die”.[9] The mind is also a fixed-phenomenon (Pali: "thiti-dhamm"a) — the mind itself does not “move” or follow out after it's preoccupations, but rather receives them in place.[8] Since the mind as a phenomenon often eludes attempts to define it, the mind is often simply described in terms of it's activities:

The mind isn’t “is” anything. What would it “is”? We’ve come up with the supposition that whatever receives preoccupations—good preoccupations, bad preoccupations, whatever—we call “heart” or “mind.” Like the owner of a house: Whoever receives the guests is the owner of the house. The guests can’t receive the owner. The owner has to stay put at home. When guests come to see him, he has to receive them. So who receives preoccupations? Who lets go of preoccupations? Who knows anything? [Laughs] That’s what we call “mind.” But we don’t understand it, so we talk, veering off course this way and that: “What is the mind? What is the heart?” We get things way too confused. Don’t analyze it so much. What is it that receives preoccupations? Some preoccupations don’t satisfy it, and so it doesn’t like them. Some preoccupations it likes and some it doesn’t. Who is that—who likes and doesn’t like? Is there something there? Yes. What’s it like? We don’t know. Understand? That thing... That thing is what we call the “mind.” Don’t go looking far away. [8]

— Ajaan Chah[10]

Defilements[edit]

While the mind doesn't follow out after it's preoccupations, occasionally the mind the will fall for it's preoccupations while in interaction with them, in which case the preoccupation can darken the mind. This darkness is termed defilement (Pali: “kilesa”), and when there is defilement in the mind, the mind can wrongly assume it is identical with it's preoccupations.[11] Of the list of defilements; greed, aversion, and delusion are commonly identified as roots for the others.

If the defilements are considered entities, the associated mental processes are craving and clinging (Pali: “upadana”). The subsequent assumption on behalf of the mind that it is either identical with it's preoccupations, or that it's preoccupations belong to it, is part of a process called becoming in Buddhism.[12] Becoming is the process which leads to birth in any given lifetime. The earliest cause for both of these events which is identified in the texts is called avijja (Pali: ignorance, unawareness). [for more information, see twelve nidanas]

However, Ajaan Mun — the monk who began the forest tradition, reported that avijja is conditioned and therefore must arise from conditions, and that a mind imbued with delusion co-arises with avijja as it's sustaining condition, and avijja can then in turn act as a sustaining factor for clinging and becoming. When beings are born more karma may be created, which then acts as fuel for further fabrications and cravings. These processes therefore form feedback loops on one another — Ajaan Mun says: “In other words, these things will have to keep on arising and giving rise to each other continually. They are thus called sustained or sustaining conditions because they support and sustain one another.” [13] This assertion that the mind comes first was explained to Ajaan Mun's pupils in a talk, which was given in a style of wordplay derived from an Isan song-form known as maw lam:

The two elements, namo, [water and earth elements, i.e. the body] when mentioned by themselves, aren't adequate or complete. We have to rearrange the vowels and consonants as follows: Take the a from the n, and give it to the m; take the o from the m and give it to the n, and then put the ma in front of the no. This gives us mano, the heart. Now we have the body together with the heart, and this is enough to be used as the root foundation for the practice. Mano, the heart, is primal, the great foundation. Everything we do or say comes from the heart, as stated in the Buddha's words:

mano-pubbangama dhamma
mano-settha mano-maya:

'All dhammas are preceded by the heart, dominated by the heart, made from the heart.' The Buddha formulated the entire Dhamma and Vinaya from out of this great foundation, the heart. So when his disciples contemplate in accordance with the Dhamma and Vinaya until namo is perfectly clear, then mano lies at the end point of formulation. In other words, it lies beyond all formulations.

All supposings come from the heart. Each of us has his or her own load, which we carry as supposings and formulations in line with the currents of the flood (ogha), to the point where they give rise to unawareness (avijja), the factor that creates states of becoming and birth, all from our not being wise to these things, from our deludedly holding them all to be 'me' or 'mine'.[13]

The five aggregates and Nirvana[edit]

The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandas (Excerpt)
"The object of the unmoving heart,
still & at respite,
quiet & clear.

No longer intoxicated,
no longer feverish,
its desires all uprooted,
its uncertainties shed,
its entanglement with the khandas
all ended & appeased,
the gears of the three levels of the cos-
mos all broken,
overweening desire thrown away,
its loves brought to an end,
with no more possessiveness,
all troubles cured

as the heart had aspired."
by Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatta, date unknown[14]

The Five Aggregates (Pali: “pañca khandha”, sometimes “khandas” for short) in Buddhism are a categorical model for phenomena as the mind comes into contact and relates to the world. The fivefold list describes the mind's experience of all mental and physical phenomena for any being in any mode of existence. The aggregates are forms (Pali: “rupa”), perceptions (“sanna”), feelings (“vedana”), fabrications (“sankhara”), and consciousness (“vinnana”).

Scholars in Bangkok at the time of Ajaan Mun stated that an individual is wholly composed of and defined by these Five Aggregates. However, the Pali Canon itself states that the aggregates are completely ended during the experience of Nirvana. This lead to a problem attempting to draw a conclusion about the nature of Nirvana and whether there is experience of anything afterward.

Following from Ajaan Mun's reported insight that the mind precedes mental fashionings, Ajaan Mun further asserted that the mind sheds it's attachments to it's preoccupations yet is not itself annihilated during the Nirvana experience. The mind of one who has attained Nirvana (Pali: arahant, meaning “perfected person”) continues.

However it cannot be stated affirmatively where the mind of an arahant exists or that it exists at all, because describing an arahant's mind in terms of existence would limit it to the confines of time and space, which Nirvana occurs outside of. It would be equally incorrect to say that the mind of an arahant does not exist — the Buddha said that the idea of existence or non-existence “does not apply” to the behavior of an arahant's mind. Ajaan Mun argued all of this by describing a unique class of “objectless” or “themeless” consciousness specific to Nirvana, which differs from the consciousness aggregate.[15]

Kammatthana — The Place of Work[edit]

Kammatthana, (Pali: meaning “place of work”) refers to the whole of the practice with the goal of ultimately eradicating defilement from the mind:

The word “kammaṭṭhāna” has been well known among Buddhists for a long time and the accepted meaning is: “the place of work (or basis of work).” But the “work” here is a very important work and means the work of demolishing the world of birth (bhava); thus, demolishing (future) births, kilesas, taṇhā, and the removal and destruction of all avijjā from our hearts. All this is in order that we may be free from dukkha. In other words, free from birth, old age, pain and death, for these are the bridges that link us to the round of saṁsāra (vaṭṭa), which is never easy for any beings to go beyond and be free. This is the meaning of “work” in this context rather than any other meaning, such as work as is usually done in the world. The result that comes from putting this work into practice, even before reaching the final goal, is happiness in the present and in future lives. Therefore those [monks] who are interested and who practise these ways of Dhamma are usually known as Dhutanga Kammaṭṭhāna Bhikkhus, a title of respect given with sincerity by fellow Buddhists. — Ajaan Maha Bua[16]

The practice which monks in the tradition generally begin with are meditations on what Ajaan Mun called the five “root meditation themes”: the hair of the head, the hair of the body, the nails, the teeth, and the skin. One of the purposes of meditating on these externally visible aspects of the body is to counter the infatuation with the body, and to develop a sense of dispassion. Of the five, the skin is described as being especially significant. Ajaan Mun writes that “When we get infatuated with the human body, the skin is what we are infatuated with. When we conceive of the body as being beautiful and attractive, and develop love, desire, and longing for it, it's because of what we conceive of the skin.”[13]

However, the meditation practice in the forest tradition is not limited to these five themes. Many other themes are taught to be used to deal with certain situations, including but not limited to:

Mindfulness immersed in the body and Mindfulness of in-and-out breathing are both part of the ten recollections and the four satipatthana, and are commonly given special attention as primary themes for a meditator to focus on.

Background[edit]

For more details on this topic, see History of the Thai Forest Tradition.

The decline of the Buddha's Dispensation[edit]

According to Buddhist texts, the Buddha stated that his teachings would only survive uncorrupted for 500 years after his death. After this point, if one wanted to reach nirvana, they would have to tease out the impurities themselves; and fill in the blanks of the aspects of the Dhamma which had been lost through their own efforts.[17]

Over the centuries, a doctrinal tradition has grown in Sri Lanka that states that because of a human's innate degeneracy, the noble attainments have been lost to humankind, and the human realm will have to wait until the next dispensation, wherein the Pali Canon prophesizes that the next Buddha will "open the door" to the noble attainments once again.[17] The primary implication from this tradition, that there are no modern day arahants – saints in Theravada Buddhism who are considered to have reached nirvana, has guided a long-standing doctrinal ethic that the primary aspiration a monk is obligated to is textual study, and any attempt to the training which the canon outlines is a futile pursuit.[18]

Mongkut's Dhammayut reforms[edit]

Vajirañāṇo Bhikkhu, later King Mongkut of the Rattanakosin Kingdom, founder of the Dhammayuttika Nikaya

Before the 19th-century reforms that eventually led the Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao's forest meditation tradition, Buddhism in Thailand consisted of several regional Buddhist traditions. Though certain practices differed from village to village, and some villages had their own local deities, they all had a set of popular Mahayana and Tantra-infused folk magic practices, known in Thai as Khatha Aakhom. These traditions took interpretations of the Buddhist monastic code (Pali: Vinaya) that allowed for certain activities (such as eating food after noon, associating with women, etc.).

When Prince Mongkut (Rama IV of Siam) lost to his brother (Jessadabodindra, Rama III of Siam) in a bid for the throne, he decided to remain a Buddhist monk. Mongkut became dissatisfied with the caliber of Buddhist practice around him, and sought to reform Buddhism in Thailand. Monkgut eventually found better practice among the Mon people in a neighboring area, and decided to re-ordain with this community. Thus the Dhammayut (meaning In accordance with the dhamma) began.

The Dhammayut movement focused on a few key areas: textual study of the Pali Canon, the earliest extant Buddhist scripture; close adherence to the letter of the Vinaya; and revival of the Dhutanga ascetic practices. Mongkut continued to advance his reforms throughout his life, using his influence as prince – and later, as king.[19][20]

The question of modern day saints[edit]

According to Thanissaro, the Dhammayut reform movement, founded by Mongkut, aimed to put claims about the possibility of reaching the noble attainments to the test. Some efforts to meditate and practice the authentic ascetic practices (Pali: dhutanga) from the Pali Canon were carried out. However, the reform movement ultimately became focused around study, and none of the adherents to the movement could make claims to any states of deepened meditative consciousness (Pali: jhana), much less that they had reached a noble level.[18]

Left to right: Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto and Ajahn Sao Kantasilo, founders of the Kammatthana Forest lineage.

Thanissaro asserts the Kammatthana lineage of Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao was focused on addressing the same two matters as Mongkut's reform movement: the matter of overcoming adulterations in the Pali Canon, and the matter of discovering the full accessibility of the noble attainments in modern times. By Ajahn Mun's claim of his own noble attainment he answered the latter of these two questions: "the noble attainments were still reachable, and the primary duty of a monk ordained in the Buddha’s dispensation was to exert every effort to attain them."[18] However, Ajahn Mun agreed with Mongkut that adulterations had accumulated in the Pali Canon over time. Ajahn Mun's methodology to weeding out these adulterations was taken from the Kalama Sutta: If the practice worked to eliminate the defilements of a persons mind (Pali: kilesas), that result then becomes the indicator that the teaching is genuine.[18] And once a practitioner had reached the Deathless (Pali: amata) for themselves for the first time, they would be in a position to immediately tell which teachings are authentic and which aren't, based on a comparison of their own experience of release with what is said in the texts.[18]

The Forest Tradition asserts that because reaching this experience is the entirety of the Buddha's teaching, the implication is that without this direct meditative experience, any attempt to relay the Buddha's teachings to others is entirely speculative. Thus, the forest traditions assertion of the sainthood of Ajahn Mun and his students guide their doctrine, just as traditions that reject the possibility of the noble attainments in modern times guide theirs. The main priority of Ajahn Mun's disciples in this case is to follow the path of practice Ajahn Mun described to reach the elusive Deathless dimension, and only then will a practitioner know which of the texts are authentic – hence the aphorism from Ajahn Mun: "Practice is what keeps the true dhamma pure".[18]

Struggle for niche[edit]

King Chulalongkorn (Rama V)

However, by the time that Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao had begun their monastic careers, Mongkut's original vision for the Dhammayut order had been wiped out in mainstream circles. His successor, Chulalongkorn, strove to do away with all practical applications of Buddhist practice. The Thai Clergy was molded into an educational powerhouse as part of a campaign to prevent Thailand from being colonized.

In the subsequent decades, Thailand would successfully thwart all attempts at colonization – the only Southeast Asian nation to maintain its independence.[citation needed] However, these sangha reforms sought to obliterate all monks' practices which weren't in line with the scholastic ideals of Chulalongkorn's reign, and targeted a broad group of monks both in outlying villages and the wilderness monks that included Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao's students. Crackdowns on homelessness and vagrancy targeted monks who couldn't be easily regulated by the new Dhammayut authorities, and monks in forests and villages were often arrested on technicalities and trumped up charges.

Mainstream acceptance[edit]

The animosity between the Kammatthana lineage and the mainstream Dhammayut ecclesia escalated in 1926, when Tisso Uan unsuccessfully ordered Ajahn Mun's senior student, Ajahn Singh, and his group several dozen monks, nuns, and lay people to disperse. Tisso Uan continued to be hostile towards the tradition for the next three decades, continuing to insist even after Ajahn Mun's death that the latter was unqualified as a teacher of Buddhist doctrine since he hadn't participated in the Dhammayut's formal education program.

The relationship changed in the 1950s when a student of Ajahn Mun's, Ajahn Lee Dhammadaro, taught meditation to Tisso Uan when the latter was sick. Ajahn Lee's biography relates Tisso Uan's change of heart: "I used to live near Ajaan Mun and Ajaan Sao, but I never benefited from them the way I’ve benefited from having you stay with me. There seem to be a lot of surprising things that occur when I sit in meditation.’"[21]

Mainstream popularity culminated in the 1970s, when a cultural fetishism of medallions worn as neckpieces became popular. Busts of popular forest ajahns have been featured, and they are often ritually blessed to provide some supramundane charm to the wearer. Tambiah writes that General Kriangsak Chanaman distributed amulets to his troops, and ordered that white cloths with mystical yantra designs which were blessed by Luang Pu Waen be bound to the Thai National Flag and flown at the top of ship's masts for protection from communist vessels.[22]

Cold War tensions[edit]

Tensions arose between the dictatorial Thai government and a newly formed communist party in Thailand. Several of the major figures in the Kammaṭṭhāna tradition alive at the time were accused of communist sympathies.[23]

Out of a concern for the potential spread of communism, Ajahn Chah Subhaddo, a Maha Nikaya monk who practiced with a community of like-minded Maha Nikaya students of Ajahn Mun, emigrated to the United Kingdom along with his senior student, the American monk Ajahn Sumedho. The two, with a growing circle of senior students in later decades, formed a monastery network that has spanned all over the western world, now known as the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah.

Forest Closure[edit]

Further information: Deforestation in Thailand
Thailand's borders with Laos and Cambodia are reflected by the brown on the Thai side in this true-colour satellite image, which shows the effects of heavy deforestation in the country.

In the last half of the 20th century, the vast majority of Thailand's rainforest were lost. Millions of villagers in the forest were driven from their homes as villages were bulldozed over to make room for eucalyptus plantations. Tiyavanich writes:

The final closure of the forest began after devastating floods occurred in southern Thailand. In November 1988 floods and landslides, triggered by rain falling on denuded hillsides, wiped out several southern villages and killed hundreds of people. For the first time the Bangkok government was forced to face the consequences of uncontrolled exploitation of the forest. Responding to an intense public outcry, the government suspended and later banned all logging activities in the country. It is no surprise that such ecological disasters have struck Thailand. Three decades of rapacious land clearing had wiped out 82 percent of Thailand’s forests, and in places the countryside had become a dust bowl. In this context, many wandering monks decided that they had to hold their ground when they found a suitable forest. They knew that if they retreated, they risked losing it forever.[24]

In the 1990s, Members of the Forestry Bureau deeded tracts of land to forest monasteries in an effort to preserve wilderness. These monasteries along with the land surrounding them, have turned into sort of "forested islands", and constitutes the majority of Thailand's original rainforest still in existence.[18][25]

Save the Nation campaign[edit]

In 1997, Ajahn Maha Bua began a program to underwrite the Thai Currency with gold bars donated by Thai citizens, raising some 12 tonnes of gold bars and 10 million in currency.[1] The government under Chuan Leekpai tried to thwart Ajahn Maha Bua's efforts, and the political fallout from Ajahn Maha Bua's successful campaign would influence the 2001 general election in Thailand, when Ajahn Maha Bua endorsed Thaksin Shinawatra.[18]

Ajahn Maha Bua would appear to have reversed his support in 2005, when portions of a sermon from Ajahn Maha Bua were published in Manager Daily, a thai newspaper, accusing Prime Minister Thaksin of aiming for a Thai Presidency calling his administration a "savage and atrocious power". According to Taylor, Ajahn Maha Bua was incited by an anti-Thaksin group that runs Manager Daily, who presented his words out of context to attack Thaksin's political party in order to posture themselves for a coup d'état in 2006.[26]

Other practices[edit]

Daily Routine[edit]

Ajahn Maha Bua led the monks (in this photo, he was follow by Phra Maha Amborn Ambaro, later the 20th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand) for morning alms around Ban Taad, Udon Thani, in 1965.

Morning and Evening Chanting

All Thai monasteries will generally have a morning and evening chant, which usually takes an hour long for each, and each morning and evening chant may be followed by a meditation session, usually around an hour as well.[2]

Morning Alms Round

At Thai monasteries the monks will go for alms early in the morning, sometimes around 6:00 AM,[3] although monasteries such as Wat Pah Nanachat and Wat Mettavanaram start around 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM, respectively.[4][5] At Dhammayut monasteries (and some Maha Nikaya forest monasteries, including Wat Pah Nanachat),[6] monks will eat just one meal per day. For young children it is customary for the parent to help them scoop food into monks bowls.[27][incomplete short citation]

Anumodana

At Dhammayut monasteries, anumodana (Pali, rejoicing together) is a chant performed by the monks after a meal to recognize the mornings offerings, as well as the monks' approval for the lay people's choice of generating merit (Pali: puñña) by their generosity towards the Sangha. Among the thirteen verses to the Anumodana chant, three stanzas are chanted as part of every Anumodana, as follows:

1. (LEADER):

2. (ALL):

3.

Dhutanga[edit]

Novices meditating under crot umbrella tents.

Dhutanga (meaning austere practice Thai: Tudong) is a word generally used in the commentaries to refer to the thirteen ascetic practices. In Thai Buddhism it has been adapted to refer to extended periods of wandering in the countryside, where monks will take one or more of these ascetic practices.[8] During these periods monks will live off of whatever is given to them by laypersons they encounter during the trip, and sleep wherever they can. Sometimes monks will bring a large umbrella-tent with attached mosquito netting known as a crot (also spelled krot, clot, or klod). The crot will usually have a hook on the top so it may be hanged on a line tied between two trees.[9]

Vassa (Rains Retreat)[edit]

Vassa (in Thai, phansa), is a period of retreat for monastics during the rainy season (from July to October in Thailand). Many young Thai men traditionally ordain for this period, before disrobing and returning to lay life.[citation needed]

Precepts and Ordination[edit]

Main article: patimokkha

There are several precept levels: Five Precepts, Eight Precepts, Ten Precepts and the patimokkha. The Five Precepts (Pañcaśīla in Sanskrit and Pañcasīla in Pāli) are practiced by laypeople, either for a given period of time or for a lifetime. The Eight Precepts are a more rigorous practice for laypeople. Ten Precepts are the training-rules for sāmaṇeras and sāmaṇerīs (novitiate monks and nuns). The Patimokkha is the basic Theravada code of monastic discipline, consisting of 227 rules for bhikkhus and 311 for nuns bhikkhunis (nuns).[10]

Temporary or short-term ordination is so common in Thailand that men who have never been ordained are sometimes referred to as "unfinished."[citation needed] Long-term or lifetime ordination is deeply respected. The ordination process usually begins as an anagarika, in white robes.[11]

Customs[edit]

Monks in the tradition are typically addressed as "Venerable", alternatively with the Thai Ayya or Taan (for men). Any monk may be addressed as "bhante" regardless of seniority. For Sangha elders who have made a significant contribution to their tradition or order, the title Luang Por (Thai: Venerable Father) may be used.[12]

According to THE ISAAN – Life in a Thai-Lao Village: "In Thai culture, it is considered impolite to point the feet toward a monk or a statue in the shrine room of a monastery."[13] In Thailand monks are usually greeted by lay people with the anjali gesture, though, according to Thai custom, monks are not supposed to wai laypeople.[14] When making offerings to the monks, it is best not to stand while offering something to a monk who is sitting down.[15]

Notes[edit]

^ Khatha Akhom (Thai: คา-ถา-อา-คม, Lao: ຄາຖາອາຄົມ, IPA: [kʰaːtʰǎːʔaːkʰom]) – translated as witchcraft, or Wicha Akhom (Thai: วิชา อาคม, IPA: [wíʔtɕʰaːʔaːkʰom]). Components are as follows:

Akhom literally means magic, spell, charm.
Khatha literally means incantation (from Pali: Gatha, meaning verse, as in a verse of the Pali Canon)
Wicha (from Pali: vijja) literally means study, knowledge, branch of study

References[edit]

  1. ^ Lopez 2016, p. 61.
  2. ^ Robinson, Johnson & Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu 2005, p. 167.
  3. ^ Taylor 1993, pp. 16–17.
  4. ^ http://www.hermitary.com/articles/thudong.html
  5. ^ http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/Monasteries-Meditation-Sri-Lanka2013.pdf
  6. ^ http://www.nippapanca.org/
  7. ^ Lee, 2010 & p. 19.
  8. ^ a b Lee, 2010 & p.19.
  9. ^ Maha Bua 2010.
  10. ^ Chah 2013.
  11. ^ Maha Bua 2005.
  12. ^ Thanissaro, 2013 & p. 9.
  13. ^ a b c Mun 2016.
  14. ^ Mun 2015.
  15. ^ Thanissaro 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S40nS_0R9Y&t=2680s.
  16. ^ Maha Bua, 2010 & P. 1.
  17. ^ a b Tambiah 1984, pp. 25–27.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Thanissaro 2005.
  19. ^ Buswell & Lopez 2013, p. 696.
  20. ^ Tambiah 1984, p. 156.
  21. ^ Lee Dhammadaro 2000, p. 61.
  22. ^ Tambiah 1984.
  23. ^ Tiyavanich 1997.
  24. ^ Tiyavanich 1997, p. 245.
  25. ^ Schuler 2014, p. 64.
  26. ^ Taylor 2008, p. 120.
  27. ^ Thanissaro 2003.

Bibliography[edit]

A – C

D – I

K – P

Q – S

T

Z

  • Zhi Yun Cai (Fall 2014), Doctrinal Analysis of the Origin and Evolution of the Thai Kammatthana Tradition with a Special Reference to the Present Kammatthana Ajahns, University of the West 

External links[edit]

Monasteries

About the Tradition

Dhamma Resources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thai_Forest_Tradition&oldid=790082882"