Yoga Bound Travel Thailand Buddhist Buddhism Religion in Thailand.

Approximately 95% of the Thai citizenry are Theravada Buddhists. The Thais themselves frequently call their religion Lankavamsa (Sinhalese lineage) Buddhism because Thailand originally received Buddhism from Sri Lanka (previously Ceylon...home of Adams Peak...where depending on your beliefs, Adam first stepped foot on earth) during the Sukhothai period.

Strictly speaking, Theravada refers only to the earliest forms of Buddhism practiced during the Ashokan and immediate post-Ashokan periods in South Asia. The early Dvaravati and pre-

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Dvaravati forms of Buddhism are not the same as that which has existed in Thai territories since the 13th century. Since the Sukhothai period, Thailand has maintained an unbroken canonical tradition and 'pure' ordination lineage, the only country among the Theravadin (using Theravada in its doctrinal sense) countries to do so.

Ironically, when the ordination lineage in Sri Lanka broke down during the 18th century under Dutch persecution, it was Thailand that restored the Sangha (Buddhist brotherhood) there. To this day the major sect in Sri Lanka is called Siamopalivamsa (Siam-Upali lineage, Upali being the name of the Siamese monk who led the expedition to Ceylon), or simply Siam Nikaya (the Siamese sect).

Basically, the Theravada school of Buddhism is an earlier, and according to its followers, less corrupted form of Buddhism than the Mahayana schools found in East Asia or in the Himalayan lands.

The Theravada (literally 'teaching of the elders') school is also called the 'southern' school since it took the southern route from India, its place of origin, through South-East Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia in this case), while the 'northern' school proceeded north into Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam and Japan.

Because the Theravada school tried to preserve or limit the Buddhist doctrines only to those canons codified in the early Buddhist era, the Mahayana school gave Theravada Buddhism the name Hinayana, or the 'lesser vehicle', because it built upon the earlier teachings, 'expanding' the doctrine in such a way as to respond more to the needs of lay people, or so it's claimed.

Theravada or Hinayana doctrine stresses the three principal aspects of existence: dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness, disease), anicca (impermanence, transience of all things) and anatta (non-substantiality or non-essentiality of reality-no permanent 'soul'). These three concepts, when 'discovered' by Siddhartha Gautama in the 6th century BC, were in direct contrast to the Hindu belief in an eternal, blissful self (paramatman), hence Buddhism was originally a 'heresy' against India's Brahmanic religion.

Gautama, an Indian prince-turned-ascetic, subjected himself to many years of severe austerity to arrive at this vision of the world and was given the title Buddha, 'the enlightened' or 'the awakened'. Gautama Buddha spoke of four noble truths which had the power to liberate any human being who could realize them. These four noble truths are:
The truth of dukkha, All forms of existence are subject to dukkha (dis-ease, unsatisfactoriness, imperfection)

The truth of the cause of dukha, Dukkha is caused by tanha (desire)

The truth of cessation of dukkha, 'Eliminate the cause of dukkha (i.e. desire) and dukkha will cease to arise

The truth of the path, The Eightfold Path is the way to eliminate desire/extinguish dukkha.

The Eightfold Path (Atthangika-Magga), which if followed will put an end to dukkha, consists of:

(1) right understanding
(2) right mindedness (right thought)
(3) right speech
(4) right bodily conduct
(5) right livelihood
(6) right effort
(7) right attentiveness and
(8) right concentration.

These eight limbs belong to three different 'pillars' of practice: morality or sila (3-5), concentration or samadhi (6-8), and wisdom or pañña (1-2).

The path is also called the Middle Way since ideally, it avoids both extreme austerity, and extreme sensuality. Some Buddhists believe it is to be taken in successive stages, while others say the pillars and/or limbs are interdependent. Another key point is that the work 'right' can also be translated as 'complete' or 'full'.

The ultimate end of Theravada Buddhism is nibbana (Sanskrit: nirvana), which literally means the extinction of all desire and thus of all suffering (dukkha). Effectively, it is also an end to the cycle of rebirths (both moment to moment and life to life) that is existence. In reality, most Thai Buddhists aim for rebirth in a 'better' existence rather than the supramundane goal of nibbana, which is highly misunderstood by Asians as well as Westerners.

Many Thais express the feeling that they are somehow unworthy of nibbana. By feeding monks, giving donations to temples and performing regular worship at the local wat (temple) they hope to improve their lot, acquiring enough merit (Pali: puñña; Thai: bun) to prevent or at least lessen the number of rebirths.

The making of merit (tham bun) is an important social and religious activity in Thailand. The concept of reincarnation is almost universally accepted in Thailand even by non-Buddhists, and the Buddhist theory of karma is well expressed in the Thai proverb tham dii, dâi dii; tham chûa, dâi chua-'do good, and receive good; do evil and receive evil.

The Triratna or Triple Gems, highly respected by Thai Buddhists, include the Buddha, the Dhamma (the teachings) and the Sangha (the Buddhist brotherhood). Each is quite visible in Thailand. The Buddha, in his myriad, and omnipresent sculptural forms, is found on a high shelf in the lowliest roadside restaurants as well as in the lounges of expensive Bangkok hotels.

The Dhamma is chanted morning and evening in every wat, and taught to every Thai citizen in primary school. The Sangha is seen everywhere in the presence of orange-robed monks, especially in the early morning hours when they perform their alms-rounds, in what has almost become a travel-guide cliché in motion.

Thai Buddhism has no particular 'Sabbath' or day of the week when Thais are supposed to make temple visits. Nor is there anything corresponding to a liturgy, or mass over which a priest presides. Instead, Thai Buddhists visit the wat whenever they feel like it, most often on wan phrá (literally 'excellent days') which occur with every full and new moon, i.e., every 15 days.

On such a visit typical activities include the offering of lotus buds, incense, and candles at various altars, and bone reliquaries around the wat compound, offering food to the temple Sangha (monks, nuns and lay residents-monks always eat first), meditating (individually or in groups), listening to monks chanting suttas or Buddhist discourse and attending a thêt or dhamma talk by the abbot or other respected teacher. Visitors may also seek counsel from individual monks or nuns regarding new or ongoing life problems.

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