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The monastery and the village
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The monastery and the village
The majority of Thailand's 27,000
Buddhist monasteries are in the countryside.
Usually located on the village outskirts, a monastery is
composed of a treeshaded, walled compound enclosing a
cluster of simple, steeply sloping, multiroofed buildings. Although the monastery's
prime function is to aid aspirants in their
search for Nirvana, it has traditionally
served as the village hotel, a village news,
employment and information agency, a
school, hospital, dispensary or community center and a recreation center, place
of safe deposit and refuge for the mentally
disturbed and the aged.
In large towns, the monastery offers
hostel accommodation for students from
the outlying villages. In others, orphans
and children from poor families are admitted for free board, lodging and basic
education and, occasionally, juvenile
delinquents are sent to live in monasteries
to be reformed under the benevolent influence of elderly monks.
Devout Buddhists in Thailand regularly uisit the
monastery to listen to the teachings of
the Buddha, as taught by the monks.
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As in medieval Europe, most early
Thai scholars were clerics whose major
monastic activity was to teach the unlettered. Behind the quiet facade of monastic life, many village boys learned the
rudiments of reading and writing Thai
and Pali, simple arithmetic and the Buddhist precepts. Education was primarily
concerned with ethical and religious instruction. Because most early Thai
literature concerned religion, literacy allowed
greater participation in religious life.
Although the Department (later Ministry) of Education was founded in 1887,
monasteries remained centers of basic
education until nationwide primary education became compulsory in 1921. In
some remote areas today, monks conduct daily classes for village children.
A vital village 'monastic service' is
counseling. Abbots and senior monks
are often requested to arbitrate local disputes. Their monastic prestige is
considered sufficient guarantee that equitable
resolutions will be forwarded and accepted.
Before ordination, many senior monks
have led active secular lives raising their
own families and farming. Thus, familiar
with temporal problems and able to empathize, they are uniquely qualified to
fashion and maintain social harmony,
employing their considerable moral authority, if necessary, to gently admonish
miscreants before minor disputes escalate.
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