Questions of Purity

One of the graduate classes I took last semester was Buddhism in Thailand, which is a course that covered a wide range of subjects, from art and culture to the laws of the constitution (state laws help govern Buddhism in Thailand). At the end of the course, we had a guest speaker who discussed rituals such as funerals, ordinations, and blessing ceremonies.

One such ritual involved statue making. This particular ritual happened to have brahmins present (brahmins are Hindu priests) and the speaker asked me a very interesting question. He said his American friend witnessed one such ritual and declared that there was no pure Buddhism in Thailand, and if I had anything to say about that. I responded that this person didn't know what he was talking about. The speaker seemed taken aback and reassured me that his friend did, in fact, know what he was talking about. This led me to wonder about my response. Was it too harsh? Was there really an issue with the purity of Buddhism in Thailand? At first I thought I had no right to even consider such a thing, but then I remembered that an American said there was no pure Buddhism in Thailand. At the very least, as an American, I could respond to him.

First of all, one must understand that Thailand used to be a culture of animist belief, then it was under the Khmer empire where the religion became Hinduism. Many of these traditions are still relevant today. Not only brahmins being present at rituals. There are many statues that seem to depict Hinduism as well as traditions that have roots in both Hinduism and animism, such as offering gifts to trees. Instead of seeing these cultural norms as a threat to Buddhism, I suggest looking at it is a preservation of  community.

Thailand was the only Theravada Buddhist country that was not colonized, it was also the only one not ravaged by war. Thailand literally gave Buddhism back to Sri Lanka; as Sri Lanka had lost many monks, Thai monks came to help teach novices and ordain new monks. Thai monks also brought copies of the Pali Canon, the scripture of Theravada Buddism, as most had been lost or destroyed. Part of the reason Thailand was such a strong nation for Buddhism may be due to the fact that Thailand was such a strong nation culturally, never forgetting its roots.

This issue demands further study and writing, and this post is in no way an attempt to resolve the issues a statement like that raises. However, as an American responding to an American when confronted with the question of whether or not there is  pure Buddhism in Thailand, I say that this is the wrong question. The right question is whether or not Thai Buddhism is pure. Of course it is. Or rather, as pure as anything else in this world.