Bangkok, Thailand
-- Somdet To is, according to Justin McDaniel
"arguably the most famous monk in Thai history." His image,
picture, chants, biographies, amulets, and pamphlets are
everywhere. Yet you could read everything written on Thai Buddhism
in English for scholars or tourists without noticing his existence,
let alone his importance. In this superb book, McDaniel not only
does justice to Somdet To but suggests a new way of thinking about
"Thai Buddhism" and how it is studied.
Somdet To was born around 1788. There are
many biographies, films, and webpages on his life, but they
conflict wildly and there is little documentary proof. He is known
through many stories. According to one version, he was the son of
King Rama I, sired on a Lao peasant girl during a military campaign
in the North. This story gives him origins that range from the top
to the bottom of society, from centre to periphery. He became a
great Pali scholar, abbot of prestigious Wat Rakhang, and a
preceptor of kings.
But why is he so famous down to the
present? Not for his teachings. Only a few sermons survive and they
are unremarkable. Not for his writings _ a few pages with recipes
for making amulets. Not for any philosophical innovation or reform
movement. His legacy consists mainly of stories about his life
which show him as compassionate, very down-to-earth, ever ready to
mock his great patron, the king.
As with the Buddha, stories of the life
(and previous lives) are a form of teaching by example. But perhaps
the best-known facts about Somdet To are that he meditated on
corpses, exorcised ghosts, and specialised in making protective
devices, especially amulets. He is remembered for his exceptional
powers. Amulets have since become big business and Somdet To's are
among the most valued and costly.
One story about Somdet To gives him a role
in Siam's most famous ghost tale. After dying in childbirth, Mae
Nak refused to abandon her beloved husband and brutally killed
neighbours who told him he was living with a ghost. Somdet To was
called in to quell Nak's spirit and end the carnage. Nak's local
wat (temple), now in the Bangkok suburbs, is thronged everyday with
people begging help from the spirit of this loving but vicious
ghost, from Somdet To, and from a host of other shrines and fortune
tellers.
Somdet To quelled the ghost with a chant,
the Jinpanjara gatha. This rather martial verse is now hugely
popular, available through pamphlet, radio broadcast downloadable
ringtone, or impregnated in sacred water by a statue of Somdet To
enclosing a recorder playing the chant on an endless
loop.
McDaniel's point is that the practice of
Buddhism in Thailand today is all about shrines to legendary
ghosts, amulets related to famous old monks, magical chants used as
ringtones, family outings to theme parks full of statues of figures
gruesomely tortured in hell, and so on.
Scholars have presented an idealised
Buddhism, cleansed and standardised by teachings from Sri Lanka,
reform movements led by kings, and modern legislation. In reality,
McDaniel argues, these efforts have all failed. There is not even a
standard liturgy, a manual for religious performances. Thousands of
monks and wats have produced their own versions. There has been no
policing of the boundaries of what is worshipable. Local spirits,
Hindu and Chinese gods, ghosts like Nak, past kings, and
increasingly famous monks like Somdet To have slipped into the
pantheon. An abbot asked McDaniel for a crucifix because he thought
it would be a good addition to his collection of protective
amulets.
McDaniel resists describing the result as
syncretism on grounds that the practitioners themselves do not see
it that way. The fashionable term, hybridity, does not appear once
in this book. McDaniel also argues strongly against classifying
practices into "pure Buddhism" and other, magical elements labelled
as "tantric" or "esoteric." He suggests that "pure Buddhism" is
something imagined by foreign scholars, particularly those with a
Protestant background (McDaniel is Irish Catholic). In history, the
"pure" and the rest cannot be disentangled. The Thammayut reform
movement, which supposedly began as an effort to purify Buddhist
practice, ended up lionizing forest monks famed for their
supernatural powers. McDaniel delights in pointing out that several
modern-day proponents of "pure" Buddhism also own protective
amulets.
McDaniel suggests that individuals have
"repertoires," meaning menus of religious things they will own or
do. These repertoires can be very varied and very flexible over
time. Fads come and go. Recently Ganesha has had a good run, but
may now be fading. Neither state nor Sangha makes any significant
effort to police what these repertoires may contain. The result is
that "Thai Buddhism" is extraordinarily alive and inventive, with
no sign of dying away like some well-regulated faiths. McDaniel
scoffs at scholars who see the proliferation of cults and
especially of commercialism as a reaction to capitalism,
globalisation, and modern angst. He suggests instead that the
variety and inventiveness is a product of unregulated popular
ownership, and that things have probably always been much the same.
He twits the reformers who wring their hands over crass
commercialism, and would like Thai Buddhism to be all meditation
and good works; their chances of quelling the cacophony of everyday
practice are nil.
McDaniel also tries to define the messages
and meanings of the real-world "Thai Buddhism" that includes Somdet
To's martial chant, Mae Nak's shrine, hell theme parks, and all the
rest. He suggest that besides the well-known Buddhist qualities of
non-attachment, compassion, and enlightenment, everyday practice
involves "a celebration of abundance, a promotion of heritage, a
desire for security, and a rhetoric of graciousness." In short,
people value protection from dangers, worldly success, fellow
feeling, national identity, and more beauty in
life.
Finally, McDaniel suggests that Thai
Buddhism is changing. It no longer looks to India or Sri Lanka as
its source, but sees itself as leader of the Theravada world.
Meanwhile the position of the historical Buddha is shifting. In a
typical wat today, crowds throng shrines to old monks, legendary
ghosts, past kings, and local spirits while the hall housing the
main image is often closed and locked. There is a trend of building
massive statues of famous monks, including Somdet To. There are
even wats where Somdet To's image has the central site and the
Buddha is to one side.
This book informs, entertains, and
provokes. I think this is the first volume on Buddhism which made
me laugh, often. The author intends it to be controversial and
hopefully it will provoke some fierce responses. Currently the
publication is an expensive, academic-targeted hardback. Its appeal
should be wider. Anyone interested in Thailand today, in Buddhism,
in ghosts, or in why CentralWorld was burned down (it was the only
building in the area with no protective shrine), should read this
brilliant book.