Asoke Buddhism

[Octaviousbp]

Hello all,

I am a graduate student researching (at least trying to!) social institutions in Thailand with respect to development. I am interested in the Asoke sect of Buddhism, because they are considered radical, in political economic terms as well as Buddhist terms I believe, and foster an ideology that is conducive to under-consumption. In short, I am interested in the more radical streams of development in Thailand, and believe the Asoke to be representative of at least one radical way.

My question for those living in Thailand is, how prevalent is Asoke “on the ground” in your opinion? Have you ever heard of it? Is the Asoke sect dismissed by the Thai people as too radical? I have only just started digging in to this now, and I’m curious if the movement is significant enough to warrant further exploration. I am trying to keep my research in the realm of the possible, so I need to move a bit beyond simple ideology.

Thanks for any help!

[sabaijai]

How prevalent is Asoke “on the ground” in your opinion?

It's a relatively small sect whose monks aren't officially recognised as part of the Sangha by the Dept of Religions Affairs.

According to adherents.com:

"The Asoke group has five centres in Thailand: Santi Asoke on the outskirts of Bangkok, Pathom Asoke outside the city of Nakhon Pathom, and Sisa Asoke, Sali Asoke and Sima Asoke in the provinces of Sisaket, Nakhon Sawan and Nakhon Ratchasima, respectively... At the moment the group includes about 100 monks and more than 20 nuns. There are also thousands of volunteers living in the temple compounds. "

I know there's also a centre close to Chiang Mai, so this info may be dated.

Is the Asoke sect dismissed by the Thai people as too radical?

Those who are in favour of Santi Asoke seem to feel a lot more strongly about their opinions that those who aren't. I think many Thais have no opinion one way or the other about it. The ones that don't approve aren't necessarily in the relatively small camp who want to ban the sect.

I assume you've seen Santi Asoke's website

And an interesting appraisal of the movement:

Two Revivalist Movements

I attended a Santi Asoke lecture on vegetarianism in Chiang Mai once. The lecturer, a Santi Asoke nun, interpreted the words of the suttanta to make it look as if they were unequivocally prescribing vegetarianism. Other than that and the usual bio facts about the leader (former actor and spirit medium; kicked out of the monkhood for criticising the Sangha) I don't know much about the sect.

[Plus]

I read just recently that their leader was convicted of impersonating the monk but the sentence was suspended. The thing is, of course, that he is not an officially recognised monk. He changed the color of his robes to brown and stopped shaving eyebrows, and that's about as far as he can go to please the mainstream community.

[Gohonzon]

I know very little about the Santi Asoke movement apart from visiting their 'free' vegetarian restaurant in Chiang Mai a couple of times and following the links that 'camerata' kindly provided in my 'Dharma Army?' thread ( towards the end of this page ).

Afterword

After reading this from one of 'sabjai's' links. I'm quite impressed really.............

"Bodhiraksa has been criticised by Thai Buddhist mainstream followers for being too aggressive in his way of preaching, while at the same time his admirers praise him for telling the truth. Bodhiraksa strongly defends himself against the accusations of the state sangha for being "illegal, ignorant, aggressive and divisive". He emphasises that he was not trying to cause a rift but only attempting to join the positive aspects of both Mahayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism "by going back to the fundamental teachings and practices of ancient times".

Sort of reminds me of Nichiren Daishonin in a couple of respects.

Edited March 14, 2006 by Gohonzon

[Rinrada]

Believe Khun (Gen)Chamlong is a member of Santi Asoke sect.

Wifie recons he has sold out....

[Octaviousbp]

Interesting feedback... I'm in the midst of some "academic" readings regarding the sect. If anyone has any other personal experience with the group... I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

[sabaijai]

Interesting feedback... I'm in the midst of some "academic" readings regarding the sect. If anyone has any other personal experience with the group... I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

We'd love to hear what you turn up as well, Octaviousbp. I would think there would have been a few academic theses written about the movement by now.