buddhism and spirit cults of north-east thailand chapter 3
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
1/11
} ·
.:
t
¥
i
Cosmology
in Ceylon around 20 B.C., and was accepted as the true scripture in Burma,
Siam
and
Cambodia. ·
f
t Pitaka (which includes the core Patimokkha rules of discipline); Sutta
Ji ~ P i t a k a (the sermons and discourses
of
the Buddha); and Abhidhamma,
The Pali Canon, known as Tripitaka (three baskets), consists of Vinaya
C SM G Y
f:
which is later than the
Sutta and
consists mostly of a complex arrangement
.
f.
and commentary on the discourses.
1
Rather
than
begin
the
exposition
of Buddhism
by
discussing
doctrine t It
is clear
that the
components of
the
Pali
Canon
were
not
composed
I shall begin with cosmology'. But
what
is the difference bet ween doctrinef
s i m u l t ~ e o u s l y
..
Lines of
g r o ~ h are visible in the Vinaya and the Sutta.
and cosmology, and how are they connected? And why do I choose t ~ f A c ~ o r d m g to. Smhal7se t r a d 1 ~ 1 0 n however, the Canon \.Vas fixed at the
unorthodox path? J Third Council held m
the
reign of Asoka c. 272-232 n.c.). The author
Bishop Copleston, who
in
some respects was a more sympa theti c com-t of The Questions ofMilinda, which book was composed by the beginning
mentator
on
Buddhism
than
most of his Christian contemporaries, gave[. of the Christian era, knew
the
Canonical books
by the
names they bear
an unexpected answer to a question he posed: to what extent does the[ now. Thus apparently nothing discredits the conclusion that the Pali
content of the Pali Canon serve for a description of Buddhism in Ceylonf Canon was subs tantial ly fixed in Asoka's time, so far as
the
Vinaya
and
today (i.e. 1890s)? He first divided the contents
of
the classical l i t e r a t u r e ~ · the Sutta discourses are concerned. Thus it can be said that, despite the
into two groups:
that
which dealt with the mora l system [and] thef accretion of commentaries which,
in
any case, must
refer
to the original
human life on which it rests , and that which was composed of 'the[ text , doctrine as such has been transmitted in the southern school
legendary histories
and
the
theories
of
cosmogony
and
geography'.
He '.
relatively unchanged.
then gave this answer: The whole being divided into these two groups
1
t
In
contrast
it
is said that Buddhist mythology and cosmology have
we may assert that the first, the moral, is held now with little alteration;j grown lush
and
unrestrained like a wild creeper. It is, however, interesting
but
that the second, the mass of legends and cosmogony, has been
so{ to
note that the seeds of the full-blown beliefs, myths and cosmologies
greatly developed and raised
to
so much greater prominence, as to makef of a later period are
found
in
the
Pali Canon.
The V£naya and
Sutta
the later Buddh ism differ widely from the Pitakas' (1892). ' Pitaka have many references to supernatural beings and occurrences.
Curiously, the first half of
the
answer,
though
unorthodox, is probably '. The Khuddaka Nikaya of
the
Sutta collection contains the Jataka stories
true; and
the
second half, which is conventional, is unduly exaggerated/ · in verse form which are
the
kernel for
the
later prose elaborations. Similarly
Where the
Bishop was right
in
a novel way-against those who saw[' the skeleton of the pantheon and
the
framework of the cosmology are
a vulgarization of doctrine over time,
and
in repudiation of
the
arrogantf clearly perceived in
the
Vi naya
and Sutta
2
(e.g. Atanatiya
Suttanta
(Rhys
claim of some nineteenth-century
European
scholars that the S i n h a l e s e ~ Davids, Part III, 1957, Ch. 32) ).
have
been content
to
relearn
their
own religion' from
them-was t h a t ~
With
the
passage
of
time,
the
elaborations
in
tl1e
realms
of
cosmology
the major conceptsand assertions of he Buddhist doctrine cannot r a s t i c a l l y ~ and mythical history have been fantastically ornate.
The
life story of the
change. Where the Bishop exaggerated
in
a conventional manner was tOfi Buddha has been enlarged and embellished with many incidents unknown
think that a vast gap separates the wild jungle of cosmology
and
y t h o l o g y ~
to
the Pitaka: The details of the Buddha s birth and of his renunciation,
from
the ploughed fields of doctrine: such a view is possible only i it isk
thought that doctrine and cosmology have no affinity or similarity
off
message contents whatsoever.
There are many versions or Canons of
the
Buddhist Scriptures-such
the Sanskrit Canons, Chinese and Tibetan Canons, ~ t c . b u t I am c o n · \ ~
cerned here primarily with the Pali Canon, or more accurately with thatf;
particular recension
of the
Scriptures of the ancient sect
of
Vibhajjavadimf
that
was set down
in
writing at
the
Mahavihara monastery
in
Anuradhapura :
32
f'
1
The Vinaya Pitaka i n ~ l u d e s
in
addition to the PatimoMha,
the
111.ahavagga and
Cullaoogga (which deal
with the rules of
admission to
the order give
the
occasion and
circumstances when the Buddha made the rules, and give b i o ~ r a p h i c a l detni s
of
the
Buddha). The Butta Pitaka is divided into
four prose
collections called the Nikaya
(Digha, Samyutta,
Majjhima
and Anguttara) and a fifth section mostly
in
verse
form
(Khuddaka Nikaya);
this last
includes the Dhammapada, the Them and Theri-gatl1a
(devotional songs) and the
ataka
stories in verse form. See Eliot (1954) for information
on the contents of the Canon.
1
In
a
subsequent chapter we
shall see
that the
paritta (verses chanted for protection)
also have
their
final
authority or
source
in
the
Canonical
literature.
3
33 TB
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
2/11
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North east Thailand
.
r
Cosmology
of his visit to his mother in heaven,
and
of his visits to Ceylon, camel· samsara(cycl eofrebir ths),nirvana(finalextinc tion),dukka(suffe ring), etc.,
actually to take precedence, in interest and
in
the poetical wealth l a i d ~ which are alleged to explain man s predicament and to direct his religious
out upon them, over the more authentic incidents in the Vinaya (Copleston·I·· action, are also embedded
in
the cosmology (and its associated pantheon).
1892, p. 422).
The
theory o f a succession of previous Buddhas, which had: But what is the advantage of the aid of cosmology in studying religion?
its nucleus
in
the Canon, was developed
in
time into elaborate accounts
In
this monograph I approach religion through ritual and I would like
of
their
lives. Perhaps the
most
important elaboration
in
respect
of.f
to suggest that there is a close connection between cosmology and ritual.
c ~ n g r e g a t ~ o n a l interest and usefulness for
i n s ~ r u c t i o n
are the
55of;
Cosmological
and
supernatural categories are embedded
in
the rituals
birth stones of the Buddha, the
Jataka
collection. Fmally there has beem. I shall describe; they chart the geography and define the architecture
of
the boundle ss field of cosmogony/cosmology which, with its cycles
oft
sacred space and are expressed
in
the material symbols that are manipulated
ages, multitude of universes, concentric circles of oceans and cataclysmicf in the rituals.
In
the rituals we see cosmology
in
action.
cosmic changes (both big bangs and steady states), has appeared at
first;.
f one may allow oneself
the
luxury of some aphorisms, it may be said
sight to be mere fantasy
run
wild
and
away from religion. t that ritual is for the practical man what ,philosophy is for the thinker.
But is Buddhist cosmology (and its related mythology) really simplyf If the saint and
the
ascetic act
upon themselves-their
minds and bodies,
the systematizing
of
the imaginary which is the bese tting intellectualf and inner states-the layman acts upon the world with the external things
sin of India and the Orient?
Is
it quite unrelated to the doctrinal andi
of
the world. For the layman ritual acts are outward symbols of interior
ethical idea8 of Buddhism as most commentators appear to think? t state; the ascetic on the other hand performs disciplinary acts directed
The Encyclopaedia Britannica
describes cosmology
in
the broades t sensef inwards upon himself so that he can gain mastery over the outer world.
of the word as that branch of learning which treats of the universe asf Forallthereasonssetoutishallnottreadtheconventionalpathbystarting
an
ordered system .
The
name is derived from
the
Greek kosmos
(
r d e r , ~ with the definition of basic ethical
and
doctrinal concepts of Buddhism,
harmony , the world ) plus lo os ( word , discourse ). Cosmology isj but rather describe first its cosmology and the implications thereof.
that framework of concepts and relations which man erects or the} The cosmology that I present is an abbreviated version of ideas that
purpose of bringing descriptive order into the
wor-ld
as a whole, including):
are
prevalent
in
Thailand, Burma and Ceylon and are reported
by
several
himself as one
of its elements. It describes
the
world in terms of space,£; writers (e.g. see
De
la Loubere 1693, Alabaster 1871,
Hardy
1880, Yoe
time, matter, motion and causality. (The related questions of inner
nature{,
1896, Monier-Williams 1890). No villager in Baan Phraan
Muan
is able
and
purpose are usually relegated
to
the branches of cosmogony, ontology,f
to
present
the
details of the total picture in the way I do.
But
fragments
e s c h ~ t o l o g y ,
etc.,
but
I shall include them here under the c o s m o l o g i c ~ ~
of
and allusions
to
the traditional cosmology appear in many myths and
rubric.)
;
rituals, and the ritual experts
in
the village can
in
such contexts expound
I would like to suggest that, contrary to the normal practice of ignorind relevant portions of the lore to the inquirer. Parts of the cosmological
Buddhist cosmology or relegating it to footnotes, it be seen as providingt scheme will come to life
in
some of the rituals and myths documented in
a nice entry into
the
universe
of
religion.
It
has many facets:
it
first of
l l ~
later chapters.
gives a picture of the universe in terms of space, time and matter;[ Thailand itself is the home of a cosmological treatise written in 1345
secondly, it translates this physical universe into a pantheon of d e i t i e s , ~
by
the heir apparent to the throne of Sukhodaya (who later became
humans, animals and demons to which can be attributed ethica l andr King Lut ai). This work entitled Trai bhumikatha ( The History of the
moral qualities; finally, the cosmology gives a dynamic picture of
thef;
Three Worlds ), while written
in
Siamese, was entirely based on Pali
nature, workings and purpose of the universe in terms of the motiont
works
(Coedes 1957)·
I t
brought together, however, various fragments
of the personifications in the pantheon, this motion up and down
and?;
and passages
in
a single work which appears to have been the first syste
bursting out of the universe altogether) being conceived
in
terms o t· matic treatise on Buddhist cosmology.
t
not only contained the traditional
ethical and spiritual force and energy.
Thus
it might be said that t h e ~ cosmology
but
also used
it
as a vehicle for moral dissertations and to
cosmological scheme says figuratively and
in
terms of metaphorical
imagest·
present a picture of o n r c h y ~ c o n f o r m i n g to Buddhis t ideals.
the same kind of thing which is stated in abstract terms in the
d o c t r i n e . ~
Again, in 1776, Phya Tak, who recovered Thailand from the Burmese,
The
basic doctrinal concepts
of
Buddhism such as
karma
(ethical causation),
t
compiled a sta ndard Siamese work
on
Buddhist cosmology.
It
was called
34
f
35
3-2
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
3/11
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand
r
r
f·
Traiphoom,
ran to sixty volumes, and was no doubt based on classical
Cosmology
sources (Thomps on
1941,
p. 624 . l The six heavens ( deva loka )
Although the Buddhist· cosmology in its broad outlines shows much t The first heaven is below the summit of Mt
Meru
and is the residence
simi Iarity to the Hindu version, it expresses variations and systematization g of the four guardians of he world ( okapala . The second heaven (Tavatinsa/
in
terms of Buddhism s own religious world view. Hence it should be
f
Tawutisa) is on the summit of Mt Meru, over which presides god Sakka
treated in its own right. f
or
Indra. These two heavens must, in fact, be taken together because
According to Buddhist cosmology, the re are innumerable world systems f Indra presides over the four guardians; and together they impinge on
or
galaxies. Each system has its own
sun
and moon,
and
its ear th containing
J
the world
of men and
animals. n myth and ritual
Indra
always appears
continents and oceans, with a mountain
in
the centre called
Mt
Meru.
j
as the presiding deity.
Upwards from the mountain extend the heavens, downwards the hells.
t
Around and
just
below Indra s abode at the summit of Mt Meru are
These world systems are periodically destroyed and re-formed in cycles V the four mansions of the world guardians.
1
The palace to the east is that
of vast stretches of time kalpa)-in modern astro-physics this charac-, of Dhrita-rashtra (Dhratarashtra), King of the Gandharvas (choristers
terization would be called the theory of the pulsating universe. . r and musicians) who guard the eastern domain of the world and minister
The world system consists of thirty-one planes of existence divided l to the pleasure of all gods. They wear white garments and are mounted
into three major categories: kama loka (in which there is form and sensual f on white horses and wield swords and shields of crystal.
On
the south is
desire (pleasure and pain)); rupa loka (in which there is form but
n o ~
the palace of Virudhaka (Virudha) whose attendants are
the
Kumbandas,
sensual enjoyment, only a kind of intellectual enjoyment); and the arupa i monsters of immense size and ugly form. They wear blue garments, are
loka (in which there is no perceptible bodily form and no sensation). The f mounted on blue horses, and their swords and shields are made of sapphire.
order
in
which they are presented here is hierarchical from the lowest
f
They guard the southern division
of
the world.
The
palace
of
Virupaksha
to
the highest. We may note
that
the scheme is based on a
p r o g r e s s i o n ~
stands in the west
and
he is the King of the N agas. Their colour is red;
from corporeality to incorporeality, from body to intellect. fr they wear red garments, ride red horses, carry weapons of coral and
These three major planes of existence subdivide into the thirty-one? flaming torches. They are the guardians of the western portion of the
more specific planes in a complex manner. And in order to describe the \ world. The northern division belongs to Kuvera or Vaisravana (Vessavano ),
ordering we must start from the centre of the world system. f: who rules over the Yakshas; they are adorned in golden garments, ride
Mt Meru stands in the centre of the earth, and it is the pillar of t h e ~ horses that shine like gold, etc. The Y akshas in the classical descriptions
world. Between Meru and the great rocky circumference which is
thel are
not as malevolent as they have come to be in modern Ceylon. (See
wall of the earth are alternating concentric circles of seven mountain f, Hardy 1880,
PP·
45-J). The Thai represent them in their temples as
ranges
and
seven oceans.
A
last (eighth) great ocean adjoining the rimf. enormous
and
horrible, though recognizably
human
in form. .
contains four continents at
the
cardinal points; the southern continent
n
Buddhist mythology the Yakshas and Nagas appear frequently.
Jambudvipa (which is ours).
It
is
the
most sacred
in
the time cycle
inf
In
Ceylon
the
Yakshas,
ruled over by Kuvera
the
god of wealth, have
which Gotama Buddha was born. { been elaborated
on
and transformed into the much-feared malevolent
f: demons. In Thailand, on the othe r hand, it is the N agas who have
a
special
. place.
KAMA LOKA
t
Th
. e Nagas will fig\}re importantly in this study of Thai religion. A brief
The kama loka plane
of
existence expresses the cosmology that is directly@ introductory note on them is therefore appropriate. They are thought
relevant for our study. This plane of bodily form
and
sensual
f e e l i n g s ~ to
reside under the rocks that support Mt Meru and under the waters
is divided into eleven
loka:
six are heavens inhabited
by
gods
(deva loka ;
of the earth. Their bodies take
the
shape
of
serpents. They
e11joy
the
five are worlds, four of which are inhabited by human beings, animals, t status of demi-gods , and in Buddhism are usually represented as favour
ghosts, and demons. The fifth world consists of eight major (and other u ~ € able to the religion and its adherents. At the same time they are considered
sidiary) hells, situated in the interior of
the earth, in which intense
o r m e n t ~ ·
1
In Thai the four guardians
(thao lokaban)
are called: Thataret, Wirulahok, Wirupak,
and pain are experienced. }
··
and Wetsuwan.
37
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
4/11
-
- - - - ~ ~ ~ - - - - - = = = = = = = = = ~ ~ - -
..
.
t
'
o be formidable enemies when th eir wrath is aroused. They are associated r
with rain
and
fertility. ·
f:
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand
Beyond
and
higher
than the
second heaven of Indra are four other l
heavens
that
fall within
the
definition
of kama loka.
Of these, only one
l
need be mentioned here, the fourth called Tusita in w i ~ resides thel
all-compassionate
bodhisatva
(Buddha-to-be) Maitreya, awaiting
the t i m e ~
when
he will come down into
the
world
of men
as
the
next Buddha and
l
saviour. The
Tusita
heaven is regarded as
the
most delightful
of
the
l
heavens,
in
which all desires are satisfied. n it grows
the
kal,pavriksha
f
tree (in Thai, Karaphruk or Kamaphruk), which produces fruits of gold, J
silver, jewels, etc., that gratify all desires.
The
tree appears frequently
f
in
Thai
rituals and will greet us with its promises at many places in
f
this book.
l
The five worlds l
The four lower worlds
of
men, animals,
asuras
(demons),
and
ghosts J
preta)
stand
in
contrast to
the
heavens. While life
in the
heavens
is
r
unadulterated
p l e a s u ~ e
the lower worlds are increasingly painful. Human
l
beings and animals as forms of life are self-evident
and
require no com·
mentary at this stage, but the others do. f
The asuras
are
in
Buddhist (and Hindu) mythology the arch opponents f
and
enemies of
the
gods. They are demi-gods themselves
and
are
of
the f
underworld, living
under Mt Meru.
They have
had
repeated contests
f
with the
gods
of Indra s
heaven,
and the
great representation
of
this
{
contest is
the
churning of
the
ocean for the nectar of life which
the
gods
t
successfully took away from them.
This
story is represented
in
both
J,
Hindu and Buddhist architecture, notably in Cambodia at Angkor. The
p
asuras were finally su bdued by
Indra,
and it is
the
task of the four guardians { _
to conti nue to ward off their attacks. Rahu and
Ketu
are
the
much-feared
i
asuras
which swallow the moon
and
cause eclipses.
The asuras
as
t h e ~ -
classical opponents
of the
deities have found other expressions
in
con-
r
temporary South-east Asian countries:
devas
versus y kk in Ceylon, t
versus nats
in
Burma, versus phii in Thailand. [
While the asuras are a permanent category of supernatural being, the}
pretas
are
of
a different status.
They
are ghosts of dead humans who had
{
recently inhabited the earth.
They
are condemned to live
in
a kind
ofl
b
hell
or
may wander about on earth, haunting
the
places they formerly
f
lived in. Although in themselves not harmful to man, their appearance
C
and
attributes are disgusting.
They
are of gigantic size, they have dried
up
limbs, loose skin, enormous bellies. They continually wander about,
l
consumed with hunger and thirst, yet are never able to eat
or
drink
f
k
~ : .
Cosmology
because of their small mouths, constricted throats
and
the scorching,
boiling heat
that
emanates from thei r bodies.
Some writers have seen
in pretas the
inversion of the Buddhist 1nonk
(Yalman 1964).
It
is also apposite to point
out that the preta
condition
of perpetual hunge r
and thirst
may possibly signify
the
extreme punishmen t
for withholding food from monks
and
fot being stingy in merit-making.
Despite their. sinful condition,
it
is felt
that
relatives can
and
should
transfer to the
pretas
some
of the
merit accrl,ling from their merit-making
acts (such as donating gifts of food
and
other items to the monks).
Finally,
the
eight major hells of the fifth world are fiery places of
intense misery
and
pain. One has only to see the murals
on the
walls of
Buddhist temples in Thailand and Ceylon to understand that hell is no
mere abstract concept hut is imagined
in
all its hon-or
and
sadism.
n
heaven handsome
men and
women embrace and walk around in a garden
of wishing trees
kal,pavriksha)studded
with diamonds and other gems;
in
hell one
burns
in raging fire
and
one s sides are pie rced wi th ·weapons
by
demons. A Siamese law book
Book of Indra)
gives the following
description
of
heaven (Alabaster 1871, p. 294):
There is a celestial abode in the Dewa heavens, an aerial dwelling covered with
gold and gems with roofs shining with gold and jewels, and roof points of
crystal and pearl; and the whole gleams with wrought and unwrought gold
more brilliant than all the gems. Around its eaves plays the soft sound of
tinkling
golden bells. There dwell a thousand lovely houris, virgins in gorgeous
attire
decked with the richest ornaments, singing sweet songs in concert, with
a melody whose resounding strains are never still. This celestial abode is
adorned with lotus lakes, and meandering rivers full of the
five
kinds of lotus,
whose
golden petals,
as
they
fade fill
all the air with sweet odours. And round
the lakes are splendid lofty trees growing in regular order, their leaves, their
boughs
their branches, covered with sweet-scented blossoms, whose balmy
odours fill
the surrounding air with heart-delighting fragrance.
THE RUPA LO.,KA
1
AND ARUPA LOKA
1
( BRAHMA LOK.A )
Whereas the six lower
deva
heavens belong to the domain of form
and
sensation
kama loka),
there are twen ty other, high er heavens.
The
next level upwards is
that
of
the
rupa loka, consisting of sixteen
heavens where there is form but no sensual enjoyment. Beyond them
are the four
arupa
heavens with no form
at
all. These last are
of
minimal
significance
in
village
myth and
ritual.
This brief outline
of
classical Buddhist mythology contains a
number
of significant ideas
that
are essential to
the
understanding of Buddhism
'. O
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
5/11
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand
Cosmology
,as a religion that is not only thought but also lived. One vital conception':'
;fayman
(i.e., one who is not a monk) reaching
nirvana.
While normally
it
is that all the orders of being described are fundamentally homogeneous;
f s·
a monk alone who may reach the final state, should a layman be on the
or of one ·kind. There are six forms of existence-god, demon, p i a p . ~
2
· threshold of nirvana he should either become a monk or immediately
animal, ghost, soul in hell-whose distinctions are only of temporary· .. pass into
the
state
of
death pannibbana).
Thus
the whole cosmological
duration and through which all human beings (except those who
have• .•
.· system focuses on man as
the
moral agent, and
it
holds
the
possibility
entered the path leading to salvation) may at one time or other pass. The·. : r.>f a complementary relation between man and god on the one side, and
god may be reborn as demon and an animal as man, etc.; a change
of
• between
man
and
the
dark agents
on
the other.
Man
can transfer
the
condition is a realistic possibility depending on one's karma and ethical.> fruits of his merit to them; in turn,
he
can be affected for good or evil
status. At any one point of time, the stratification is a statement of
a. i
by them.
The
way is thus open
in
ritual action for manipulating
the
gradient of pur e bliss and tranquillity enjoyed by the gods to black torment· · .categories and achieving a change of moral state.
suffered by those
in
hell. The gods, especially those
in
the six lower heavens;·: < While the total cosmological scheme is integrated
in
this manner, the
exist in subtle corporeal forms. Although they are not omnipotent, they :(scheme also contains a tension or inconsistency or opposition of ideas.
are capable of beneficial acts towards human beings. They, too,
are
{This tension derives basically from
the
philosophical and doctrinal fo rmu
subject to the universal law of dissolution and rebirth. They appear ill. .: lations and can be simply put thus: if the doctrine of
karma
gives an
the cosmology mainly as protectors of the faith, ready to help believers or, . explanation of present suffering and squarely puts the burden of release
to testify to the true doctrine.
In
turn, the other orders
of
existence can on individual effort, then the doctrine that supernatural agents can cause
descend
or
go upwards. The ghosts and demons are not perpetually . or relieve suffering and that relief can come through propitiating them
condemned; they may
harm
men
but
they are also subject to
the
law
of·.
contradicts
the
karma
postulate. Some writers,(e.g. Spiro 1967 concerning
rebirth and can change their status for the better. .. : Burma) see this tension as a basic inconsistency between Buddhism and
This is essential for grasping the Buddhist notions of 'this world'
a n d ~ .
supernaturalism (or animism). While I recognize that this categorical
the 'other world',
laukika
and
lokottara.
All the levels and forms oU opposition is present n Thailand, I see it as one which operates within
existence so far described belong to 'this world': the heavens, the earth; '\_iqotal field- that e x p r e s s e ~ other relations as well of complementarity and
and the hells; gods, men, beasts, and demons. Canonical Buddhism's' ' hierarchical ordering bet\yeen Buddhism and the spirit cults. To emphasize
conception of 'otherworldliness' is
nirvana,
the salvation of extinction one aspect at the cost of others seems to me to be a partial analysis; to
from rebirth and existence. Otherworldliness does not simply mean· go further and assert that there are,
in
fact, two contradictory religions
concerns which transcend the present existence, or rebirth, or existenee, in uneasy co-existence appears to me to be a misunderstanding.
in
the heavens of
devas,
but a liberation from sentient existence.
Lokottara
While we must await
the
presentation of the Thai data in later chapters
means 'hypercosmical . I emphasize the point
b ~ c u s e
some anthropolo-· to see that another way of looking at the religious system is possible,
gists have mistakenly assimilated 'rebirth' and the 'next' life to
the
I should like to make a point regarding analytical orientation which
notion of 'otherworldliness'. ·
/:; may
have a bearing on the question.
A second fundamental idea embodied in this cosmological scheme
s
Some analysts may take as their point of reference the postulates of
that
n
the dynamic hierarchy o sentient existence it is man
in
h i ~ · ·
~ · . doctrin l
Buddhism s the essence and re lity o Buddhism and tl1erefore
human condition living on this earth who is the fundamental acting ',; also the base line for studying popular Buddhism. This orientation dictates
agent. It is said that in order
to
attain nirvana any order
of
being, even: · itsmethodology and shapes the final conclusions, for the analyst accordingly
a god, must be born of a woman in a human s tatus in his last life. Central, .. eeks to see how' non-doc trinal' facts are adapted, modified and rationalized
to
the
Buddhist doctrine is that to be born as a human being is a privilege:
;; in
relation to
the
'doctrinal' ideas. The question is thus prejudged.
because it offers the only opportunit y for betterment and final liberation ' _Another method is possible and
it
is more open. While being mindful
through one's decisive effort.
It
is
in
a human status that new
karma and
. ; Qf the doctrinal and mythological heritage, we can pay attention to the
increment to it can be made. A god can merely enjoy the fruits of previous total ar.ray of religious ideas and rituals as they present themselves and
karma
and must be born a human to ascend higher.
;J see
the internal relations and distinctions i n thi s total field.
The
doctrinal
A
~ r a n s f m m a t i o n
of his relatio:
0
is
expr d
again
in
respect
of
• .j
.•pproach is especially
m i s c h i e v o u s
as in
Spiro's study of Burmese
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
6/11
- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- ; ; ; ;; ;: :: :: ; : := -
........
Buddhism and the spirit cults
n
North-east Thailand
i.
Cosmology
supernaturalism,
the
Buddhism contrasted
with the n t
cults
and
exorcism) particular interest because they are reflected
in
one way or another
in
rituals (which are analysed in detail) is not that of the ideas and
activities :;
the religious life of Thai villagers:
of the
village Buddhist temple
and
its monks
or
the rituals performed by
; .
the Buddha manifests
the
remarkable faculty of remembering past
monks (which are conspicuous b " their virtual ~ b s e n c e his book), ?ut births, which is at? ibuted
to h i ~
clear discernment of
truth
through
a
set
of tenet s drawn almost exclusively from doct rme stated m
the
Canorucal ;' personal effort
and
is also a revelation from the gods;
texts. Furthermore, it is not
at
all clear whether the alleged inconsistencyl · a Buddha, before
he
makes his appearance in human form, exists as
of
the
two religions is a product
of the
ai:throp?logist's
w n . u n d e r s t a ? ~ g J
a.bodhisatvain
the
h e ~ v e n
of delight and
at the
proper
time
descends into
of
what
true
Buddhism really is, or is
an
irresolvable mcompatibih ty[ his mother's womb mmdful
and
self-possessed;
reflected in the ideas
and
actions of the actors themselves. The Burmeset
in
the biography of Vipassi-which was later transferred to the Buddha
evidence is unclear;
at
best it would appear
that
sophisticated Burmeser
himself-it
is stated
thathe
was
born
of royal status, endowed with
the
thirty
are at one level aware of a con.tradiction, but
it
is startling to read t h ~ t · ; · ····two marks of the Great Man, and that there were two careers open to him:
None of the villagers, however, showed any awareness of the basic ' f he live the life of the House, he becomes Lord of the Wheel, a righteous
inconsistency (Spiro 1967, p. 46); However, one should not throw ,
Lord
of the Right, a ruler of the four quarters, conqueror, guardian of the
out the
baby with
the
bath water. Distinctions, oppositions, c.ompie:r:ien'.i
people's good,
owner of the Seven Treasures But if such a boy go forth
tarities, linkages and hierarchy do exist in
the
arrangement of
d e a ~ ,
r1tuall from the Life of the
H ~ u s e
into the 1:omeless state, he
?e.comes
an Arahant,
idiom, techniques and roles of
the
practitioners,
and
the behaviour o f ~ ~ a Buddha Supreme, rolling
back
the veil from the world
tbzd.
p
13).
villagers according to context
and
situation'.
an
exploration
of
these isf Thus
it
is stated
that
a world conqueror
and
a world renouncer are two
a
m ~ j o r
task of this book.
The
a n t ~ r o p o l o g i s t must
find .a new way ofl] sides of
the
same coin;
relatmg
the past to the present, classical dogma to present ideas. the biographies also state, in terms of a time scale, the progressive
f
shortening of human life
and by
implication also its degradation. Thus
THE BUDDHA
BODHISATVA AND ARAHAT i; while the length of life at
the
epoch in which Vipassi was born was
' . . . t 8,ooo years, in this aeon
the
length of life diminishes successively from
Those who have broken through
the
v a n o u ~ orders of sentient ex1Stencef 4,000 years at the time of Kakusandha to 100 at the time of Gotama.
and have reached (or are about to reach) the liberated state are the u d d h a . n ~ This fateful decline, however, is counteracted
by
the idea
that
a Buddha
and
certain lesser others who have entered
the path
to
nirvana. I
appears from aeon
to
aeon under similar circumstances to preach a similar
Three
kinds of persons who have attained a supreme religious statel; faith, which hopeful message is represented most importantly for con
appear significantly
in
ritual
and
worship. They are
the
Buddha, who hast: temporary villagers
in the
beliefs centring around l\/Iaitreya,
the
next
reached nirvana, the bodhi satva who is an embryo Buddha or a B u d d h a - t o · f ~ Buddha to come.
be, and the arahat,
.
an ascetic who has entered the path and is credited f The most important Buddha is, of course, the historical Gotama who
with miraculous powers.
l
m b o d i e s the i d e ~
of all Buddhas. And
the o ~ i e n t a t i o n s
to this Buddha
if .m
popular Buddhism are complex
and
paradoxical.
The Buddha
r One puzzle is
the
relation between
the
Buddha
and
the gods
in the
The a c h i e v e m e ~ t of B u d d ~ a - h o o ~ .was not unique
to
the
historicalf Buddhist pantheon. The
Pitaka
(Pali Canon) characterize the Buddha
~ o t a m a . Accordmg to Buddhist tradition there a v ~ been severa:
B u d d h a s £ ~
as omniscient
and pure
but do
not
suggest
that
he is a god; however, they
m t ~ e past,
and
some twenty-four have appeared m
the
precedmg
cycles· '.
d o represent
him
as instructing the devas
and
receiving their homage.
of time.
In the
present aeon or
kala,
Gotama was
the
fourth
to a p p e a r , } ~ .
Two transformations took place
in
institutionalized Buddhism which
He was preceded
by
Kakusandha, Konagamana and Kassapa. t can be expressed in terms of
the
pantheon.
In the
Mahapadana Suttanta (Rhys Davids, Vol.
m, Part II, 1 9 1 0 , ~
. . . . f h
t
H a Buddha cannot be called a Deva rather than a man, it is onlv because
Ch.
14) Gotama Buddha is said to have related the histories o t e asti·:.·.h . h' h th b th
It
· thi tr
·
f th ht
tl
t
l
d
[
· ] 1 t B d II· t
. . . . . . s
f
e
s
ig. er an .o . is s
ain
o
o.ug la ea
sic
a
er u (
ii:i
s
seven Buddhas, startmg with Vipassi
and
takmg m the four Buddha
0
to call hlil Devatideva, or the Deva who is above all other Devas
(Ehot
this aeon including himself.
In
this account
the
following features are
ol:
1954
,
p.
J4.0).
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
7/11
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand
Cosmology
A parallel change took place in respect to
the
gods. The Canonical . The problem of
the
inconsistency of worshipping an extinct being
and
doctrine
of the Dhamma had
very little to
do with the devas in the
sense • of soliciting
the
aid of
an
external agent
in
a religion which doctrinally
that the truths
of religion
did not
depend
on
them although
their
existence :main tains
that
salvation is the
product of
a personal quest
and
striving
was granted; for example,
when the
Buddha preached
in
Magadha
the
•
is
a classical one. It was one
of the
dilemmas dealt with
in The Questions
local deities were
not
considered
the
personifications of cosmic forces
of Ki ng
Milinda written
at the
beginning
of the
Christian era.
or the
revealers of truth.
(In the
Kevaddha Sutta, for instance,
the
Buddha The quest ion posed
by
King Milinda to Nagasena was
that if
the
belittles Brahma
and the
gods as being ignorant of the answers to certain Buddha accepts gifts he cannot have pas.sed entirely away, he
must
be
basic metaphysical probl ems; the Digha Nikaya also contains
the
ironical>
still
in union with
the >:Vorld. On
the other hand,
if
he has escaped from
account of the origin o f gods as being a progressive descent from superior
.. all
existence
and
is unattached to the world, then honours. could not be
worlds, while
the
gods (especially Brahma) have illusions of being
the
ioffered to him.
creators.) The critical change incorporated in the cosmological scheme is: Nagasena s answer, if.sophist ic, i s yet fascinating, for it invokes some
the
conversion of deities into protectors of
the
faith, who take their:·
incisive
analogues.
The
Blessed
One
is set entirely free and therefore
place in the karmic scheme. In the Jatakas for instance, Indra (who, in accepts no gift. Nevertheless, acts done to him, notwithstanding his having
the Hindu
Vedas, is a demon slayer) is depicted as
the
heavenly counterpart/ passed away
and
not accepting them, are of value and bear fruit.
f
gods
of a pious :Quddhist king, protector of
the
religion whose throne grows, or men put
up
a building to contain the jewel treasure of
the Buddha s
hot when a good man is in trouble. From being autonomous powers . relics, the devotee attains to one or another of the three glorious states
by
gods had now become mediators. · i virtue of the supreme good which resides in the jewel treasure of the
Another
puzzle-which
is probably of more direct concern to us-is - Buddha s wisdom.
the
dual orientation to
the
Buddha.
On the
one hand,
the
Buddha, A great and glorious fire
that
has died
out
would
not
accept any supply
human
being, is dead and has reached mrvana. This being so he cannot
of
dried grass or sticks; but men
by
their own effort can produce fire.
directly affect human beings or influence their future status,
becausel,.-.•
Agreat and mighty wind, were it to die away, cannot be p roduced again;
salvation is a personal quest.
On
the other hand, the Buddha has been but men, oppressed
by
heat or
tormented
by fever, can produce wind
credited with supernatural
powers-when
alive
he had
extraordinary( by means
of
fans
and
punkahs.
The
broad earth does not acquiesce in all
markings and qualities,
and
after his death his relics,
mahadhatu
(whichf
kinds
of seeds being planted all over it; yet
t
acts as a site for these seeds
significantly include jewels, ornaments and
the
holy texts) have spiritualn and as a means
of
their development.
power; so do consecrated images. Thus these o_bjects a_re
c o ~ c e i v e d . .
The
e ~ s a g e
conveyed .by this argum ent is
that
the Buddha s
t t ~ i n n ~ n t
magical power stations
and
have been associated with r a m m a k m g ~ i S symbolized
by
the relics,
that
when
men
pay homage
and
give gtfts
ceremonies
in
Ceylon (Geiger 1960) and Thai land (Wales r93r).
· to
the Buddha, goodness is caused to arise within them, that
in
fact
the
The following facts drawn from the literature on Buddhist traditionsf s ~ b o l s of the Buddha act as a field of merit and men by their own
might help
in the
solution of this problem. A passage written
by Hardy1··
• ethical efforts can plough,
plant and
produce fruits
in
it.
(1860) vividly describes the worshipper s relation to the Buddha; t h e ~ : What is lacking in Nagasena s argument is any statement of
the
spiritual
description is as valid today as it was for
the
last century; it could apply {Power emanating per se from the sacred objects which commemorate the
equally well to Ceylon, Burma,
or
Thailand.
·
;, Buddha. According to popular tradition,
the
Buddha told his disciple
. . .
Ananda
that the objects that may be properly worshipped are relics of
The people, on entering the wihara, prostrate themselves before the una · hi b d hin d . . . .
of the Buddha, or bend the body, with the palms of the hands touching each s.
0
y,
gs erecte m commemo ration of.
him
(e.g
.
mages),
and
other and the thumbs touching the forehead. They then repeat the
threefold articles
he possessed,
such
as
the
alms bowl, girdle, bathmg robe, etc.
formulary of protection, called
tun-sarana
stating that they take refuge
n
.·The sacred ho tree
under
which
he
attained understanding has come to
Buddha, in the Dharma, and
in
the Sangha, or they take upon themse be an object of reverence. So have
the
sacred books which contain
the
a certain number of the ten obligations, the words being first chanted in doctrines that the Buddha taught .
by
a priest, or in his absence by a novice. Some flowers and a little rice are . All these objects are called
cetiya
on account of
the
satisfaction they
placed upon the altar, and a
few
coppers are thrown into a large vessel placed produce
in
the mind.
to receive them (p.
209).
45
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
8/11
t
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand
l
Cosmology
The
religious monument that has attracted special comment by writers f arrive to bring salvation to the world. Maitreya is revered by all Buddhist
(e.g. Leach 1958, 1962; Yalman 1964) is the
dagoba (dhatu garba =
relicl sects as the coming saviour, and his name signifies one who is full of love
womb), which brings together and transcends the polarities of death and ( toward all beings,
life, impurity and purity, dissolution and fertile creation. . · It is believed
that the
Buddha himself elected Maitreya as his successor
Similarly, it could be argued that certain religious objects and persons . and that Maitreya now resides in the Tusita Heaven (Dusit in Thai), the
bring together and synthesize the notitms of spiri tual and political heaven
of
contented beings, from where he watches over and promotes
sovereignty. These notions are eminently symbolized in the person of
..
the interests of Buddhism.
He
awaits the time when he will appear on
the
king as chakravartin (universal ruler) and as bodhisatva (Buddha-to-be). earth as Maitreya Buddha.
1
Tradition has it
that
the Buddha predicted
The relation of the sacred tooth relic in Ceylon and the Emerald Buddha that his teachings will last for
5 000
years, at the end of which they will
image in Thailand to the institution of kingship (and statehood) under .. no more be respected or even remembered because of the world s cor
the umbrella of Buddhism is well known. Perhaps less well understood · ruption and degeneracy.
is the symbolism of Buddha s footprint on the top of the mountain e.g. According to the
Vinaya,
the Buddha
had
fixed
a
time limit of
500
years
Adam s Peak in Ceylon, Phrabat in Thailand, and
Mt
Popa in Burma), starting from his death during which the Law would last. The same period
Just as the cult of the spirit of the mounta in was traditionally associatedf:
is
confirmed by Nagasena in his dialogues with King Milinda.
t
appears
with political unification and centralization under a king, so does thef that Buddhagosa in the fifth century A.D. extended the duration
of
the
footprint on the mountain top declare that the people and the territory[ message in this world to 5 000 years. He foresaw five successive steps of
in question are the inheritance of the Buddha. These associations lead 1i retrogression, at intervals of one thousand years: first, the disappearance
us back to the sacred mountain of Meru at the centre of the universe, I of the acquisition of the degrees of sanctity, then of the observance of the
often artificially reproduced in
the
centre
of the
royal cities of South-east;( precepts,
of the
knowledge of the Scriptures,
of the
exterior signs of
Asian kingdoms. . . . . . J religion, and lastly of the corporeal relics of the Master which would be
So we return tQ the puzzle: What 1s
the
ordmary Buddhist s orientation[ gathered together and cremated at Bodhgaya (Coedes 1964). Apparently
to the Buddha and his material embodiments and symbols? It is uncon-f
this
prophecy motivated,
at
various critical dates in the reigns of famous
vincing to say that what has been described are aspects
of
m a g i c a l ~ kings, the holding
of
convocations, writing of Scriptures
and
revival of
Buddhism which are meaning-rais ing devices (Ames 1964). This inter-f religious enthusiasm. The most recent manifestation in our time was the
pretation is that of a theologian and not of an anthropologist. More f;
2,5ooth
year (Buddha Jayanthi). The Siamese cosmological treatise, the
convincing are interpretations which see the resolution of the polarities r
Traibhumikatha,
was produced long ago under similar inspiration.
of pure-impure, death-fertility in the relics of the Buddha. This is for l To this pessimistic prophecy, however, Buddhist tradition has joined
me a start ing point for unravelling the problem of conversion and transfer. · an optimistic messianic one. Maitreya, the next Buddha, will descend at
f by one criterion the pure entities are remote and inaccessible, and i
y
[
the
end of this decline. Religion will wax again, arahats will arise, men
another, relics
and
texts (and jewels and gold) ar e invested with power,
i t t
will
be freed from toil and care, hunger, old age, and sickness.
vVe
shall
is the final bringing together of power plus purity, the inaccessible n d ~ see later that Buddhist ritual
in
the village dramatizes with great expecta
the accessible, as constituting a primary problem in religious technologyJ:
tions
the coming of the next saviour.
It
is therefore relevant to compare
that has to be explained. f; Maitreya with the Buddha. The Buddha belongs to the past; his teachings
• exist but he is extinct; it is possible that he is not in direct contact with
The bodhisatva
f this world. Maitreya lives in heaven, is interested in the present order
The traditions relating to
bodhisatva,
those who are on the threshold ofl of things
as
well as in the future, and his descent into the world from
becoming Buddhas, are manifold. One destined to be a Buddha m u s t ~ heaven is imagined to bring collective salvation and benefits to those
finally be born as a man, so the bodhisatva does not tarry for long in the I
1
The Tusita
is the fourth heaven
in
the
sensual deva lolw.
Alabaster (1871) makes
heavens o f delight. the interesting statement
that
when he asked the Siamese why the embryo Buddha
Th b h · t h · h · · · d h Id h t t · occupies a low sensual heaven instead
of
the highest heaven of the
brahmas, he
was told
e o isa v W
0
stirs t e imagmatton an ° s t e greates f that s i n ~ e
the
term of life allotted to one in
the
brnhma loka is vast beyond imagination,
promises for the
Thai
villagers is
:aitreya,
the next Buddha who
willf;
the commg
of the
next Buddha would be
delayed
if
he were
to live there (p.
177
).
47
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
9/11
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand
Cosmology
who will be fortunate enough to see him at that time in the status
of
: Ariyan path and has reached its end, and consequently possesses the
human being. knowledge of emancipation. By the exercise of meditation (dhyana), the
However, it is not in the countries of Theravada Buddhism
but in h o s ~
~ p e r f o r m a n c e of certain ceremonies, and
the
observance of the prescribed
in which the Mahayana form prevails
that
the concept
and
cult of
the
~ . c o u r s e of moral action, the arahat has entered the path of salvation and
bodhisatva
has been greatly elaborated. There
bodhisatvas
abound-the ,
his
niind is therefore free of desire for, and cleaving to, sensuous objects,
most glorious of whom are Manjusri, Avalokitesvara and Vajra-pani. ·and free of the accompaniments of sorrow and pain.
At
his death he
They
are imagined
to
be permanently
in the
celestial worlds
in
benevolent
«
reaches
the
state
of
nirvana.
relationship with humanity. Mahayana Buddhism, it would seem,
has
Now the notion of iddhi (or siddhi) is ancient in India, and Buddhism
systematically incorporated the existing gods into its pantheon and trans- ,accepted and confirmed its existence and reality.
The
mystic powers of
formed them into benevolent mediators and future Buddhas who
will not ~ i d d h i
are not miraculous
in
the Wes tern sense of interference by m outside
necessarily descend to earth as human Buddhas. , :,power to contravene known laws of nature,
but
are special powers in
These Mahayanist developments are echoed in the so-called Hinayana , conformity with nature possessed by certain people who are able to
countries, which have at various times been fertilized by Mahayana ·accomplish acts beyond the powers of ordinary men. Typically they are
influences. We have already noted
that
Sinhalese, Burmese and
Thai
; gained by ascetics. .
kings were· elevated to the status of bodhisatva.
In
certain situations,· The Buddhist suttas enumerate the iddhi powers in several places. For
messianic Maitreya status may be claimed by charismatic leaders .
f
··instance in the Samanna-Phala Sutta the Buddha enumerates the five
popular rebellions against established kingship (Mendelson 1963). In , .modes of mystical insight that an
arahat
possesses:
Ceylon the protective guardian god Natha has been identified . withl the practice of
iddhi- beiri.g
one he becomes many, or having become
Maitreya, and others like Saman and Skanda are regarded as
bodhzsatvatmanybecomes
one
~ g a i n
he becomes visible or invisible; he goes, feeling
whose r o ~ e is to guard and protect both ~ h e B u d d h i s ~ r.eligion a:id t h e ~ n? obstruction, to
the
u ~ e r side of a 7 all
or
rampart hill,
as.
if through
secular kingdom. P a r ~ l l e l s C:a :1 found m
o ~ h e r
societies;
but
m s ? f ~ 1 . a 1 r . . .he walks on water :v1thout breaking through, as if on sohd ground;
as
we.
are concerned with
rel:g1.on
m .the
Thai
village
of h r a a n
Muan
isi
he travels cross-legged
m.
the
.sky . . .
even
the
moon. and the sun, so
sufficient to remember that it 1s Maitreya alone who enjoys the adulat1onf.potent . . . does he touch with his hand . . . (Rhys Davids, Vol. n, 1899,
and the anticipations
of
a bodhisatva. f, .pp. 88-9);
f the heavenly ear-the ability to hear sounds, both human and
cele:.:;tial,
The arahat and his
mi raculous
powers lwhether far or near·
, r
While the Buddha is a personage
of
the past who has reached nirvana,
f
knowledge of others thought s;
and
Maitreya is the coming Buddha, the arahat is a lesser personage
off
memory of his own previous bir ths;
both
the past and the present,1 who is inferior to the other two
but
ist
the heavenly
eye-the
knowledge
of
other people s previous births.
nevertheless on the
path
to salvation. The attributes of an
arahat
are ofr What is of special interest in respect of the concerns of this book is
interest to us because they have relevance for understanding certainlthe relation between
the
achievement
of
arahatship and the possession
village rituals, especially those connected with
h e a ~ n g
and exorcism.,;and employment of these mystic powers.
In
the Samanna-Phala Sutta
Their
bearing on these rituals nevertheless is not readily apparent. · ·:the Buddha has listed The Fruits of the Life of a Recluse and in this
Buddhism poured new content into an old word.
The
term
arahat
:list the mystic powers of iddhi rank high, superseded only by the higher
was previously applied to persons with honorary titles and of worldly ~ a c h i e v e m e n t of the destructionof ignorance, rebir th and the sure knowledge
position who were entitled to receive gifts, and also to ascetics whofii.;..pf emancipation.
subjected themselves to self-mortification (tapas).
The
Buddhist
o n c e p t i o n , ~ · ,
Thus a remarkable feature
of
the arahat is that in the course of his
applied more narrowly to the ascetic man of religion who has entered the.
~ i n e n : a t
and spiritual progress he naturally_ attains extraor.dinary povYers.
1
According to the post-Canonical Buddhist writers,
arahats
belonged to the past and ~ B u t m the Kevaddha Suttanta (Rhys Davids, Vol. II, 1899, Ch. I I) the
the world has been bereft
of
them for over 2 0 0 0 years. But with the corning
of thet::Buddha
is said to have taken a definite stand regarding their exercise.
Messiah Maitreya there will
be arahats
again. ·
i:On
being urged by Kevaddha, a young householder, to perform mystic
48 JC
4
J.Q
· •·n,
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
10/11
Buddhism and the spz'rit cults in North-east Thailand
Cosmology
wonders so as to make the people of Nalanda more devoted to the Exalt : way is therefore open for someone to take to the ascetic and meditative
One, the Buddha, while conceding that he has himself realized the powe · discipline in order to acquire them. An example that springs to mind is
of
iddhi
(the 'mystic wonder' and the wonder of manifes tation') assert the Burmese
weikza,
who is regarded as possessed of supernatural powers,
strongly that he loathed their practice, and that a greater and bett long-lived and on the path to nirvana (Mendelson 1963).
The
possibility
wonder, which he had realized and recommended, was the wonder o
s
also there for someone to use the vehicles of inner
transformation
education, that is, the system of self-training which culminated in
arahatshi
chants and
spells-
without actually undergoing the mental transformation
The
doctrinal position
thus
is that while
it
is
inevitable that,
at
n
in
the Buddhist meditative sense.
Thus
come about hierarchical distinctions
advanced stage in his progress, the searcher attains mystic powe between ritual specialists and practitioners in respect of their ethical
which are in fact a mark of his progress-the exercise of these powe ;. status and endowment with spiritual power
rit
in Siamese). The actual
is dangerous both for the monk, who may
be
seduced into a vain magi i results of these possible developments we shall see later in Chapter 18,
mastery
of
the world, and for the laymen, because
it
may cause confusion which deals wi th exorcism.
in their minds and give opportunity for unbelievers
to
degrade the mystic{.. .
powers of the recluse and equate them with the efficacy of base charms.f; .
• • •
THE
BUDDHA AND MARA
The Buddha therefore forbade the monk to exhibit his powers
befor
non-initiates,
.111d
the following
s t r i c t u r ~
is e m e d ~ e d in the Canon.i. - T ~ e
p a r a d ~
we have so far w i t : 1 1 e s ~ e d of the grand
B ~ d d h i s t
prot.agonists
Law of the Vinaya:
You
are not, 0 Bhikkus, to display before the l a i t y ~ ·
will
be senously unrepresentative
if
we
do
not also give a place, if not of
the
wonders of
iddhi,
surpassing
the
power
of
ordinary men.
W h o s o e v e r ~ .
honour then of a conspicuous nature, to Buddha's great antagonist,
does so shall be guilty
of
a wrong
act
dukkata).
l
Mara.
This
demon antagonist appears in village myth and ritual frequently,
While Buddhist commentators and expositors state the above
as
t ~ j
for
he
is to the Buddha as
baab
(demerit) is to
bun
(merit).
Buddha's position on this issue, a measure of ambiguity and contradic ti]'. Mara is generally regarded as the personification of death; he is
the
is introduced in the Patika Suttanta (Rhys Davids, Vol.
IV,
Part
III, I957ili:
Buddhist counterpart
of the
principle of destruction.
In
1nore philosophical
~ h .
24), w ~ c h
~ e l o n g s
to the same
h i ~ t o r i c a l
period as the suttas
alreadyf
terms he can equated with the ;hole .world of .sensuou.s existence and
cited. In this dialogue the Buddha claimed to have worked wonders of ant
•
the realm of rebirth, as opposed to hberatrnn and
nirvana:
for such a world
amusing and magical nature to vindicate his superiority over othe r s c e t i c s J ~ is under the sway of desire and death. And in the thought of the
Pitakas
I am not concerned here with sifting out. the true doctrine
but
tt there is a clear connection between desire and death.
For
the world built
pinpoint a phenomenon dealt with in classical Buddhist doctrine ant, on desire waxes and wanes, flourishes and decays; hence the ruler of
which serves as a point
of
reference for certain kinds
of
cults and practif
worldly
desire is also god of death. But Mara is not the ruler over hell.
tioners one meets
in
the field today. The function of judgment and punishment is assigned in the Buddhist
The
powers of iddhi itthibat
in
Siamese) as set
out
above are
notf
pantheon
to
Yama,
the
god
of
the dead.
peculiar to Buddhism alone; they are for the most part stereotyped
a n ~
The Buddhist texts refer extensively to the various encounters between
occur in all the ascetic and mystical literatures of Indi a (Eliade 1958). [ the Buddha and Mara the tempter; Mara's temptations also extended to
The supra-normal powers of the
arahat
thus have an indirect b e a r i n ~ monks, nuns and laymen in order to lure them from the path. n the
on contemporary religion
in
so-called Buddhist countries. Strictly p e a k i n ~ [ Padhana Sutta Mara is represented as visiting Gotama on the banks of
i1:
t ~ e . Buddhist discussion. of the. problem, it is b virtue of mentall; the Neraiijara, where he was practising austerities, and tempting him to
disc1plme
and
by undergomg an
mner
transformation
that the ~
abandon his endeavour.
But the
most important encounter-greatly
gains the mystic powers, and it is because their indulgence and exercisef: elaborated in later books and chronicles, and constituting today a lively
would stall his progress to the final goal
that
Buddha forbade their
displaJt: part
of village
lore-is
the attack on
and
temptation
of the
Buddha by
as dukkata
(evil deed). To make false profession of the attainment Mara, as the Buddha sat
under
the ho tree immediately before his enlighten
arahatship
one of the four crimes that result in permanent exclusio1.
Ii···
ment. This encounter not only is recalled in some village rituals but also
from the pnesthood. gives mythological legitimacy to a ritual act performed widely
and
But
the
possibility
of
acquiring
: :s tic
powers is not denied. And ,
habitually-yaadnam, the
pouring
of a t e r
on the ground when transferring
-
8/8/2019 Buddhism and Spirit Cults of North-East Thailand Chapter 3
11/11
Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand
merit. I shall relate the bare details
of
this great encounter between
good
and evil
in
Buddhist folklore:
PRIM RY
VILLAGE CONCEPTS
The previous section on cosmology and Buddhist traditions was designed
to
serve a dialectical function
in
relation to the ethnographic data. The
classical ideas will sometimes guide the ordering of the ethnography, just
as
much as the categories and relations that emerge from the ethnography
will sometimes serve to clarify the classical formulations.
n this chapter I deal with primary concepts that emerge from
the
observation of thought and deed
in
the village.
When Gotama sat under the bo tree engaged in his final effort to attain 5
Buddhahood, Mara, whose nature is sinful, determined that he must at ;
once destroy the man who was about to pass beyond his power. He
first ·•
sent
his
three
daughters Raka (raga
=love),
Aradi (arati discontent),[:
and Tanha
(trichna
=
desire); beautifully
e d e c k ~ d ,
t?
ter:ipt. him. Gotama.f:
drove away these women who wanted to cham hrm m the fetters off
concupiscence.
Then
King Mara, in fury, assembled his generals and his.
fearsome army and decided
to
make war on the bodhisatva so that he
might flee in terror. At Mara's approach all
the deva
gods, the
Nagas ·,
and other spirits who had gathered round the bodhisatva to pay him homage [
and sing his praises, took unceremonious flight, except the earth goddess. ·
Mara employed all his miraculous powers to hurt the bodhisatva-from
the
brandishing of weapons by hideous forms, the causing of thunderstorms ;
and violent gales, to ·the final hurling of his powerful thunderbolt, whicht Bun and baah (ethical norms) and their implications or merit-making
however stood over the Buddha like a canopy of flowers. U n d a u n t ~ d t
Bun
(merit) and
baab
(demerit) are verbal categories frequently used by
Mara challenged the Buddha to prove that the seat, the throne on which {
the
villagers. These concepts-especially the
former-constitute
the major
the Buddha sat, was his by right. Mara proved his own claim to that
f
ethical notions by which villagers conceptualize, evaluate, and explain
throne by
calling on his generals to affirm his might. , \ behaviour. They derive, of course, from philosophical Buddhis1n, but
H ·
ere we
~ u s t
let Alabaster
(1871,
pp.
154-5)
present to
us
his t r n s ~ · ~ · , • . : : .
village
formulation deviates from the strict doctrinal one and must be
lat1on from Siamese sources: ·• , . understood in its own terms.
The Grand Being reflected. Truly here is no man to bear me witness; bur: The words
tham bun
(to make merit) and
aw bun
(to take
merit)-used
I will call on the earth itself' Strikin.g forth his
~ a n d
he thus in;oked the"f;.
as equivalents-refer to
the giving of gifts to
the
Buddhist monks
and the
earth: 'O holy earth I who have attamed the thirty powers of virtue, a n d ~ Buddhist wat.
The
second expression highlights the Buddhist attitude
performed the five great
alms,
each time that I have performed a great act ; that meri t is made not
by
giving per se but is acquired
by
the willingness
I have not failed to pour water upon thee. Now that I have
no
other witnes.s,
of
the monks to receive. (The sociologist may phrase the transaction
I call upon thee to give the testimony.
f this
throne was created by my merits, F thus: the gift-taker in this context is superior
and
is capable of transferring
let the earth quake and show it; and if not, let the earth be still ' ·
t
And the angel of the earth, unable to resist his invocation, sprang from thef some kind of spiritual grace to the giver.) The concepts make merit and
earth in the shape of a lovely woman with long flowing hair, and standing,f-. 'take merit express a double relationship in which the transaction is
before him, answered: f • given a particular ethical twist.
O
Being more excellent than angels or men it
is
true that when you
e r f o r m e d ~ ·
Performing acts of merit
and
avoiding acts of demerit are directed to
your great works you ever poured water on my hair.' And with these
w o r ~ the
achievement of certain results.
The
value of merit-making is discussed
she wrung her long hair, and a stream, a
flood
of waters gushed forth from it
It
by villagers under two aspects: first,
it
is said. that one's fund of merit
Onward against the host of Mara the mighty torrent rushed'. ..
a ).d
his{'
whole army
fled
in utter confusion, amid the roarings of a terrific earthquake, accumulated
in
this life will ensure a rebirth blessed with happiness,
and peals of thunder crashing through the skies.
i
prosperity and wealth.
(The
achievement of salvation
or
final extinction
The Thai villagers of today, whenever they have done an act of meritf nirvana) is not usually stated as a goal nor for that matter does
it
have
· any personal relevance for them.) While merit-making is thus given
which is rewarded
by
blessings chanted
by
monks, transfer some
of
thisX
t ideological· direction in terms of somehow immunizing the consequences
merit
to the dead, to
the
gods, to other humans,
by
pouring water upon i
.
of
death and ensuring a prosperous rebirth, villagers also say
that
it has
the
earth, thereby calling upon
the
goddess
of the
earth, Nang Thoranee,
t
certain consequences
in
this life:
the
giving
of
gifts to monks produces
to witness
the
act.
l
5z t 53