Notes On "Right Development" And Santi Asoke

[Xangsamhua]

Notes on Juliana Essen: "Right Development": The Santi Asoke Buddhist Reform Movement of Thailand. Lexington Books. Oxford. 2005.

Three books to my knowledge have been published in the past decade on Buddhist reform movements in Thailand. I am referring to Rachelle Scott's on the Dhammakaya movement, Rory McKenzie's on Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke, and Juliana Essen's on Santi Asoke, or more specifically on Srisa Asoke, the Santi Asoke community in Amphur Khantaralak, Sisaket Province.

The Finnish scholar, Marja-Leena Heikkilä-Horn, wrote a small book (Buddhism with Open Eyes) published by Santi Asoke in 1997, but while useful, it is now a little dated and focuses on the bigger picture as it was at the time, in contrast to Juliana Essen's book, which is an ethnographic study of a small, rural Asoke community. Duncan McCargo also discussed the Asoke movement in his 1997 study of Chamlong Srimuang.

Rachelle Scott's Nirvana for Sale? (2009) about the Dhammakaya movement is the most recent of these texts. I have posted some notes on this book in another thread on this forum. Rory MacKenzie's New Buddhist Movements in Thailand (2007) I have not yet read. It is very expensive, but it is available to read online at Google books. I recently finished Juliana Essen's 2005 book on the Asoke movement, and Srisa Asoke in particular, and would like to record some notes on it here.

Juliana Essen's main interest is not so much in Buddhist reform as such, but in the Asoke model of development. As the book's title implies, she sees Asoke's approach to development as a manifestation of the "8 Rights" (my term), i.e. the Eightfold Path. So the primary focus is on how the Asoke model of individual, community and national development reflects Buddhadharma as a religious way of life in the Thai setting.

Being a posting (though a long one), not an article, I shall briefly note a few things that Juliana says about the Asoke movement from her ethnographic research at Srisa Asoke and some research supported by Santi Asoke in Bangkok. She is a former Peace Corps development worker in rural Thailand and fluent in Thai. She now teaches at Soka University in California. This book is based on her PhD dissertation, which included a total o ftwelve months living at Srisa Asoke between 1999 and 2001. During these times she participated in the life of the community and as far as possible adhered to the rules and expectations of Srisa Asoke villagers – vegetarian diet, early rising, one meal a day (she did not always adhere to that), long hours of physical labour (sometimes heavy, sometimes light), attendance at meetings, Dhamma talks, morality-check sessions (not as Red Guardish as it sounds), self-development training camps, school functions and the like. The book contains her observations and personal experiences, accounts of interviews, shadowing of volunteer people during some days, testimonies and opinions of Asoke members, extracts from Asoke publications, and in the last section a discussion of Asoke's model in relation to other development models sponsored by governments, NGOs, academics and activists.

Here are some things she says (quotes in italics) and observes:

1. Divergent conceptions of development may stem from religious beliefs, as illustrated by the Asoke development model. The Asoke group's aim is not a Western ideal – to accumulate high levels of material comfort – but a Buddhist ideal – to release attachment to the material world and attain spiritual freedom.(155)

2. Asoke communities work towards a "sufficiency economy", but the surplus is sacrificed to society for "spiritual progress" (156). She describes elsewhere the annual "noble market" (talaad ariya), conducted by Issan Asoke communities, at which goods produced by members are sold at cost or even at a loss. The "Goodwill" (Bunniyom) stores conducted in all Asoke communities sell products at a maximum markup of15%, the margin shown on the product label.

3. The Asoke development model is as much about building and securing a "right livelihood" as it is about spiritual advancement. (162)

4. She notes that, although the Asoke way of life is a development approach that is culturally/locally situated (i.e. not imposed from outside like some other macro-models), focused on livelihoods instead of economic growth, environmentally sustainable and endogenously inspired, implemented and maintained (all desirable features of an authentic development model) … [it] is not intended as a new meta-strategy for global development, nor even one that may be readily duplicated throughout Thailand. (169) It is clearly a model based on dhamma and the wish of members to lead lives according to their understanding of dhamma as taught by Samana Bhodiraksa ("Phra Photirak"/"Phor Than").

5. Laypeople and monastics are attracted to a community like Srisa Asoke because they are looking for a way of life that (1) follows the teaching and intent of the Buddha, (2) is a physically and morally uplifting one, and (3) serves as a counter-example to the materialism, consumerism, competitiveness and addictiveness of contemporary life in the mainstream Thai community (referred to as "outside" in conversation among Srisa Asoke residents. The origin of Srisa Asoke is found in a small group of monks living in a cremation ground not far from the town of Khantarak in the mid-70s. They were supported by and eventually joined by lay people who then over time acquired land and began to build their model "intentional" community close by.

6. Criticism of the Asoke movement and Phra Photirak is noted (18) but the author does not take up the issues. They are not her concern in an ethnographic study of this community. However, individual Sri Asoke residents are quite happy to voice their personal views, some of which conflict with what may be seen as the "official" view. The comments often reflect the individual's background and motivation (e.g. the Mormon teacher from Bangkok with a Master's degree from the US – he felt the general view of modernity and the US was uninformed and excessively conservative). Sometimes they were the natural kind of disagreement, especially over process, that one would find in any community, whether authoritarian or consensual. Some, especially younger residents, had ambitions outside the community, for a career, for marriage, for possessions, though they mostly adhered without complaint to the discipline and expectation of the community. There was no criticism that I can remember of Phra Photirak or his teaching. He is universally admired among the people of this Asoke community (and, presumably, throughout the Asoke movement of about 9000 [in 2005] 5 to 10-precept people resident in Asoke communities, and of course the Asoke monastics).

7. Together with self-development, sacrifice for the sake of the community, locality and nation is a core ethic of Asoke communities and is reflected in Srisa Asoke. Having cast off attachment to the usual attractions of life in modern Thailand (accumulation of wealth, personal accoutrements such as jewelry, cosmetics, fashionable clothes, hairstyles etc., alcohol, tobacco, meat, fish, eggs and dairy, three meals a day, snacking, sexual adventure and so on), Asoke people do not need much to meet their needs; hence their surplus can be made available at cheap or cost prices. This helps local people, especially in poor areas like Issan, and serves as an example of what can be done when a healthy and non-attached lifestyle is led.

8. Santi Asoke is an Engaged Buddhist movement and is criticized for its involvement in political matters, such as the PAD's campaigns to oust Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and to reject and rewrite current agreements with Cambodia and gain the release of the two Thai political prisoners in Phnom Penh. Juliana Essen does not address that kind of social engagement (her book is pre-PAD). She sees Asoke's Buddhist social engagement as an effort to arouse awareness among Thais of the importance of Right Livelihood, in particular, and the need for leaders and politicians and civil servants to lead, represent and administer according to dhammic principals. She refers to Phra Photirak's belief that the Prime Minister (and other Ministers?) should not receive a salary, but does not discuss it.

9. At the end of her stay at Srisa Asoke she asked people to talk about one thing that they feel strongly about Srisa Asoke and/or the Asoke movement. Some did so; others left her with an "entrustment", which placed alongside each other are quite moving and exemplify the good-heartedness of so many Thai people, especially those who have not been led astray by the baser attractions of contemporary life in both urban and rural Thailand. I shall finish this (long) post with an example of a comment and one of an entrustment. They are extracts.

The most important and interesting thing about Asoke is to know that Asoke is not perfect now. The world has nothing perfect. Asoke is just on the way, practicing ourselves. So don't be hopeless when we have some mistakes. I think if everyone knows and believes the thought of Asoke – the target of Asoke – and can do it, Asoke society will be perfect – in 500 years! [He laughs.] (Ah Wichai)

I entrust you [with a message] to Americans, to look at every country of every level to be the same people: ones who are proceeding to fight difference just the same, ones who will come to be friends in old age, sickness and death, all the same. Therefore we must depend on each other; then everyone will find happiness. (Ah Jantima)

[lungmi]

My answer.

http://www.thaibuddhism.net/pdf/parnwell-seeger.pdf

[Xangsamhua]

My answer.

http://www.thaibuddh...well-seeger.pdf

Oh dear, Lungmi. I still have the 97-page printout of this article on my desk since the first time you recommended it. I will read it. It looks interesting, but surely you don't expect people to read a 97-page article in order to know what your answer is.

And what was the question?

Metta

Xangsamhua

[Xangsamhua]

Parnwell, M. and Seeger, S. The Relocalization of Buddhism in Thailand. Journal of Buddhist Ethics. n.d. http://www.thaibuddhism.net/pdf/parnwell-seeger.pdf

This is a very interesting and informative article based on interviews with reforming monastic leaders in Yasothorn Province in 2005. Although downloaded it adds up to 97 pages it is easy reading. The narrative flows and one imagines oneself in the settings where the monks were interviewed and the kind of men they were – their voice, expression, body language, posture, and so on. Perhaps I did this because they were introduced and described as a certain type of monk and they address their chief concerns with commitment, concern (both for and at) their communities, frustrations and expectations (both optimistic and pessimistic). The three men are strong leaders and exemplary representatives of their kind.

All three monks are from Yasothorn Province; all are located within a few kilometres of each other, and all, despite the different ways in which they carry out their vocations, are in amicable communication with each other and with other monastic communities in the province.

I won't say much about the article, as it is readily accessible (unlike Juliana Essen's book, which is expensive and not available online) and Lungmi (previous posts) is right to encourage people to read the article rather than a potted version of it. I thought that was a bit tough at first, but in fact found the article very enjoyable and it was often quite uplifting reading the stories, presented in both the third and the first person, of these men and their work in relocalizing and revitalizing Buddhism in their province.

Michael Parnwell and Martin Seeger, from the University of Leeds spent two months in July, 2005 with the three monks at their locations (two local temples [wat ban] and a monastic centre [samnakbuddhadhamma]), recording interviews with them about their approach to the monastic vocation, teaching of dhamma and development work with their local communities. They also garnered the monks' views on popular/folk Buddhism, their role as teachers and exemplars of dhamma in folk Buddhist contexts, engagement in social and political life, meditation and its place in dhamma practice, and the past and future of Buddhism in Thailand, including the function of monastic communities and their current and future moral standing and general state of health.

One of the monks an older man, is an exemplar of the "Development monk"; another is closer to the pattern of "Forest monk", and the third is a "Fundamentalist" monk, very close to the teaching and practice of Samana Photirak and the Asoke movement. Two are abbots and the third (the "forest monk") is the leader of the monastic community at the samnakbuddhadhamma.

Suffice it to say here that the interviews and the authors' introduction and analysis address the questions of

(i) whether Thai Buddhism is in crisis,

(ii) whether a monk should focus on renunciation or give more time to community development, and how much,

(iii) whether dhamma teachers should compromise their teaching with people (the majority of villagers) who look to mantras,

amulets, holy water, interventions for karma reversal,etc, to help them through their lives, and

(iv) whether monks should engage in or encourage their supporters in political interventions.

Although all the monks see progress in the understanding and wellbeing of people in their communities, and to some extent (the "development monk-abbot" with difficulty) maintain high standards among the monastics in their charge, there is a mixture of optimism and pessimism in their projections for Thai Buddhism in the future. The development abbot is most pessimistic, seeing the good work as largely dependent on his own initiative and charisma, and fearful of what will happen when he is no longer there. Parnwell and Seeger echo these mixed feelings. Like P.A. Payutto, they see the work of these men as evidence of an exciting diversification of Thai Buddhism – relocalized and revitalized; however, they are conscious of the significant role played in this by individual monks of great commitment and leadership ability, and that can only be replicated in unpredictable and idiosyncratic ways.

They do not say it, but the dependence on charismatic individuals for revitalization in Buddhism does not always lead to benign outcomes. There is a role for central institutions in leading reform. P.A. Payutto is recorded as saying that in Thailand, reform always comes from the periphery, but I wonder where that places the reforms to the Sangha in Rama IV and Rama V's time. Perhaps one could argue that they led to the Sangha's current critical condition, but they seemed like a reform at the time.

[khaowong1]

My answer.

http://www.thaibuddh...well-seeger.pdf

I agree with Xangsamhua, could you break this down for us? I started reading it and nodded off.

[Xangsamhua]

My answer.

http://www.thaibuddh...well-seeger.pdf

I agree with Xangsamhua, could you break this down for us? I started reading it and nodded off.

Perhaps go straight to p.104, KW. There's a couple of pages setting the framework for the interviews and reference to Buddhadasa's and P A Payutto's views, then it goes straight in to the interviews and portrayals, starting with Phra Khru Supajarawat (the development monk) on p.108.

Or just starting at p.108 would be OK, too. The body of the article finishes at p.154, so it's not so long really. The remaining pages are taken up with Notes and Bibliography.

Regards

Xang

[lungmi]

My answer.

http://www.thaibuddh...well-seeger.pdf

I agree with Xangsamhua, could you break this down for us? I started reading it and nodded off.

Perhaps go straight to p.104, KW. There's a couple of pages setting the framework for the interviews and reference to Buddhadasa's and P A Payutto's views, then it goes straight in to the interviews and portrayals, starting with Phra Khru Supajarawat (the development monk) on p.108.

Or just starting at p.108 would be OK, too. The body of the article finishes at p.154, so it's not so long really. The remaining pages are taken up with Notes and Bibliography.

Regards

Xang

Oh, good job, Xang, the job of the " Menschenfreundlichen , designed with the needs of people in mind" . (Bertolt Brecht)