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Notes On Early Thai Religion

s I have related elsewhere, the sasana or "religion" of the Thai population is by and large Buddhist, and decidedly of the Southern Hīnayānic School of the so-called Theravāda, or Doctrine of the Elders. But I suggest that it may more properly be considered as Sri Lankan Buddhism, as it donned its early form there in very ancient times among an elite of the island's Sinhalese speakers. It may also be described as Pāli Buddhism for its strict adherence to the Pāli Language literature, however compiled by the ancient Sinhalese from Sinhala translations of earlier Pāli texts. What is more, the Theravāda regards this extensive body of scripture as its paramount ecclesiastical authority. Again, all the same, it needs to be suggested that the Theravāda sect is a historical construction. It is a highly differentiating class of Buddhist faith with the strong propensity for conceiving itself in contradistinction to 1) all things "Hindu," and 2) the perceived state of disciplinary and doctrinal corruption into which all other Buddhist sects have descended.

But for a period extending about nine hundred years before the thirteenth-century arrival of Sinhalese Buddhism, a multitude of religious approaches coexisted in Thailand. These ranged from the Brahmanistic styles of ascetic endeavours to the sundry systems of Śiva-Śakti worship, from the Vaishnava and Krsna bhakti schools to the Pure Land cults of the Mahāyāna. Yet in contrast to the conformity-imposing system of today, the people of Thailand would be well flabbergasted to learn of the great multiplicity of religious forms that flourished in the region before the 14th century. They could hardly accept that there also once existed an awe-inspiring variety of independent religious figures such as shamans, sādhus, yogins and the rishis, that dwelt beyond the pale of any specific community or social convention. These indigenous wisdom-knowers roamed about as free as the breeze and practiced now-vanished forms of asceticism. Such holy men were often skilled healers, as well, and commanded high respect from prominent sectarian leaders.

But today most Thais could hardly begin to fathom the opulent fabric of religious diversity that had formerly been woven between the ancient ruling houses of Tun-sun, Pan-P'an, Lopburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Jaiya (ancient name Grahi),[1] Si Chon, Tambralinga, Sathing Phra, Langakuka, Phatthalung, Pattani, Nakhon Sri Dhammaraj and others. Stretching across a near one thousand-year period beginning as early as the 5th century CE, a broad range of Brāhmanical and Buddhist schools flourished in the independent kingdoms and principalities that once comprised the Central Plains of Thailand and the southerly Isthmus of Kra. Numerous forms of Indian religion had thrived there. Brāhmanic, Mahāyānic, Tantrayānic, Vajrayanic and the Pure Land Amitabha and Avalokitesvara sects flourished side by side throughout the overlapping states. They dwelt in a spirit of mutual appreciation with no one heritage having authority over another. The fifth-century Hindu kingdom of Sathing Phra (present day Songkhla province) is an interesting little-known case in point. This extremely ancient city is one of the earliest and most fascinating kingdoms on record. It was a purely Hindu society and important port and from the 5th to the 8th century. A Hīnayāna Buddhist school prospered there in the 7th and 8th centuries. During the late 9th to the early 11th centuries, Mahāyāna Buddhism from Nalanda and Java took root and flowered.[2]

Indeed, a cursory survey of the Buddhist schools alone is enough to show that, by comparison, the Buddhism practiced in early Thailand was far more diverse than that of Tibet.[3] The existence of multiple Hīnayānic sects is adequately documented. Archaeological data indicate that the Mūlasarvastivāda was the dominant Hīnayānic school. It prospered in Sathing Phra and in Phatthalung in the 7th and 8th centuries right alongside varied Brāhmanic-Hindu cults. Mahāyāna Buddhism had already been introduced into the region at this time. By the 9th century, Vajarayāna Buddhism reached the Śrivijaya kingdom, possibly through Java. Its particular sentiment was brilliantly expressed through highly evolved modes of religious statuary. Chinese records, local inscriptions and archaeological remains show that from the end of the 7th through the 11th century the Mahāyānic Madhyāmika and Caityaka (or Mahāsanghika) schools were especially active along the east and west coasts of the southerly Isthmus. So were the Pure Land cults of Avalokiteśvara and Amitabha, which spread from China southward. The Pure Land cult was dominant there from the 8th to 11th century. Khmer-influenced sculptures of Avalokiteśvara and Maitreya dating from the 7th to 9th century were found further north in Lopburi (an old Mon capital) and in villages around Nakhon Ratchasima and Buriram in the region known today as northeast Thailand.[4]

But alas, the intricate tapestry bequeathed by these states has indeed been rendered tenuous with time. One fact, however, is known for sure. Around the second half of the 13th century, Sinhalese Buddhism entered the Central Plains and the Southern Peninsula region of early Thailand and steadily displaced all other religious traditions.