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Monks demand Buddhism be designated official religion.
Published on Jun 20 , 2005


About 100 monks and 500 lay followers gathered yesterday outside Parliament to demand an amendment to the Constitution to make Buddhism the country\'s official religion.


Members of the Centre for the Protection of Buddhism of Thailand submitted a list of demands to Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua, who promised to place the issue for consideration before the upper chamber of the House today.

The organisation\'s secretary-general Phra Thepwisut Kavee told reporters his group had gathered 330,000 signatures and that it was calling for 11 amendments to the Constitution. He said the petitioners\' primary demand was to have Buddhism declared Thailand\'s official religion through an amendment to Article 73, which does not grant any religion privileged status.

It states: \"The State shall patronise and protect Buddhism and other religions, promote good understanding and harmony among followers of all religions as well as encourage the application of religious principles to create virtue and develop the quality of life.\"

Phra Thepwisut explained that the Centre for the Protection of Buddhism had unsuccessfully lobbied the Constitution\'s drafters in 1997 with the same demand. \"So here we are again today to call on [senators] to help secure [the privileged status of] Buddhism for the nation, religion and monarchy,\" he said.

\"The world,\" he added, \"already accepts Thailand as a centre for Buddhism so it\'s time for us to declare it our national religion.\"

Suchon promised to place the monks\' demands on the Senate\'s agenda today when the upper chamber reviews a report by a special Senate committee on potential changes to the Constitution.

Suchon said that as a practising Buddhist he was personally in favour of the petition. \"Buddhism is a religion whose teachings can be proved scientifically,\" he argued. \"That said, the Constitution belongs to citizens from all religions so we have to consider the implications of an amendment.\"

Bangkok Senator Pong Leng-ee said he endorsed the declaration of Buddhism as the national religion. \"I don\'t see how democracy will suffer if the Constitution declares Buddhism the country\'s national religion,\" Pong stressed.

A Historical Overview And Prayer Walking Guide

“Protected by the moat, the Old City is filled with monuments that mark the course of change in the City\\\'s seven hundred year history. Generations have trod the narrow lanes that link the quiet neighborhoods to the temples and the markets. Along the main streets, trade has been the lifeblood of the City. But it is the spiritual and artistic striving focused at the temples that has given beat to Chiang Mai\\\'s enduring
heart.”

Historic Monuments
King Mangrai founded Chiang Mai at the location of a small Lawa settlement known as Wiang Nophaburi.
- The site lay between the river to the east and Doi Suthep mountain to the west.
- The proximity of the river was favorable to trade as well as political control of the area.
- Free from flooding, the site also had a good timber and water supply and enough land for rice farming to sustain the population.
- Finally, the omens were favorable, and the city was founded: April 12, 1296 with the name of Nophaburi Sri Nakhorn Ping Chiang Mai.
- The plan called for a square formed by moats and walls that faced the cardinal directions.
- Work began at the Sri Phum corner in the north-east, which is considered the most auspicious of the four corners.

The Old City: Walls and Gates
Earlier Thai Yuan settlements were oval. But the astrological plan for the New City = Chiang Mai called for
- rectangular moats measuring 18 meters across
- with a width of 1800 meters and
- a length of 2000 meters. Earth from the moats formed ramparts. At the center was the city pillar. In Brahmanic cosmology this represented Mount Sumeru, the upward link to heaven at the center of the universe.
- This astrological plan is also mirrored in temples where the stupa—the chedi— stands at the center.
- Chiang Mai walls and moats were oriented to the cardinal points and symbolized the mountains and seas of the outer universe.

The Fate of the City
The fate of the city was believed to depend upon the relationship between the inner center and the outer guardians at the corners and the gates.
To this day ceremonies are held simultaneously at the cardinal points to propitiate these spirits. Chuang Phuak The north of the city, was considered the head of the city and Chang Phuak Gate was used by royalty on state occasions. The south was the rear. Originally only four gates were built, and people would enter the city after crossing the moats on bamboo bridges which could be withdrawn at night. A further gate was later added in the 15th century. This was Suan Prung gate, which King Sam Fang Kaen built to allow his mother to travel easily from her palace to supervise the building of the Chedi Luang. This also became the gate to be used for funeral processions from the city.
As the city prospered, villages located near the outer walls, particularly to the south and west, became extensions of the city. Merchants set up businesses along the roads (now Thapae
Road and Chang Moi Road) from the landings and bamboo bridges on the river, forming the commercial heart of the city. To protect them an outer system of defense known as the kamphaeng din was added some time after restorations to the city walls were carried out in 1519.
During the two centuries of Burmese occupation, there is little evidence of the city\\\'s development. The fortifications seen today were rebuilt by Chao Kawila after he liberated Chiang Mai at the end of the 18th century. To defend against further attacks by the Burmese, he added the bastions at each corner.


The Old City Today
Barring minor restoration, the overall shape of the bastions on the corners are much as Kawila had built them. At some stage earlier this century, the walls and gates between the corners were dismantled to open up the city, and the bricks were used to pave the roads. In 1996-7 archaeological excavations were made before the walls near the gates were extensively renovated. At the north-east corner the excavation site has been covered with a roof and left open. Bricks dated Buddhist Era 2539 (1996) were placed regularly in the new brickwork.
The present gateways were reconstructed in the late 1960s. Reflecting the importance of commerce, the most commonly used gate for city events today is Thapae Gate. The open concourse in front of the gate is used for anything from beauty contests to political rallies. At each of the corners and gates, modern inscriptions in English give information about each place. These may be found facing the road on the outer side of the moats.

The Three Kings Monument and the Old City Center
The Three Kings Statue is in front of the old provincial hall very close to the center of the Old City. At the southwest corner of the square on Inthawororot Road is the site of the former temple and original location of the City Pillar—Wat Sadoe Muang, which means \\\"temple of the navel of the city\\\". According to legend the site was a former grove where Mangrai saw two fearless white deer drive off a pack of hunting dogs. He took this as an auspicious omen for the siting of the City. The only remains of the temple are two chedi. An inscription nearby dates the octagonal chedi back to the 14th century. The Buddha images under the shelter go back to the time of Kawila. Behind the monument stands the old provincial hall. It was converted into an Art and Culture Hall. Across Phrapokklao Road to the east stands the Chiang Mai magistrate court. King Mangrai’s death has never been forgotten. He was killed by lightening from heaven out of a turbulent storm near the City center in 1317—a sudden, violent, pirits-surrounded, inauspicious death of foreboding karma. The spot is still marked today.

The City Pillar: Inthakhin
City pillars located at the center of the muang were common to early Tai communities. In the North Thailand worldview the lak muang, the city pillar, is the navel, the spiritual center of the city—the focal point of spiritual power. Chiang Mai was founded in 1296 AD as capital of Lanna (kingdom of a million rice fields).
King Mangrai centered New City/Chiang Mai over the “place of victory”—a magical power spot that was the site of a former palace of the Lawa people, who were aboriginal to the area.
The city pillars are phallic poles—stylized erect penises. Throughout the animistic worldview, the phallic idol is a visible erection for worship of sensual and fertility longings. Some speculate that this Tai version of the phallic-looking poles represents the shoot of a rice plant, and possibly originates from an early fertility cult.
- Under Brahmanic influence, city pillars took on added significance through association with the cosmological center of the universe.
- In Chiang Mai, the late-coming, syncretistic influence of Buddhism is clearly shown by the standing Buddha image placed atop the pedestal of the city pillar itself.
Mangrai, receiving astrological advice from his animistic counselors, built Chiang Mai according to a horoscopic plan. Accordingly, the City stands almost square within earthen
walls and a moat. Construction of the walls began clockwise from the auspicious northeast corner and was completed in four months by 90,000 men. Each corner and gate is invested
with its own astrological faculty. From earliest times, offerings were made by the Three Kings to the guardian spirits of the City in three parts:
- To the spiritual center
- To the City’s guardian spirit
- To the spirits of the five City gates to be built.
The foundational sacrifice. It was general practice that human sacrifices were made when establishing the walls and gates of a city. The belief common at that time was that the ghost of the person who died violently would protect the city site. King Mangrai followed the Lawa tradition for the Intakhin city pillar. He was killed by lightening near the city center in 1317.
Note carefully, then: if the local practice was followed, Tha Phae Gate was dedicated and established by human sacrifice. Tradition says that a pregnant woman would be regaled for
several preparatory days, and then ceremoniously throw into the foundational hole, face up. The pole of planting was driven through the pregnant woman’s baby-in-the-womb, through
her own body, and into the ground, by public authorities. Thus, violent death, the blood of the baby, and the pregnant woman, forms the foundation of the City’s safety and prosperity.
The city pillar is the home of the guardian spirits, the defending demons, of Chiang Mai. Those spirits must be venerated each year to avert their wrath. The people of Chiang Mai, therefore, make offerings of incense, flowers and candles during the Inthakhin festival, to bring prosperity to themselves and the City.
Inthakhin is peculiar to Chiang Mai. The Inthakhin Festival is held for six full days from the waning of the moon (2002 dates: 29 May–4 June). It begins with a procession of the Phra Fan Saen Ha Buddha image through the streets.
Lanna people believe that a guardian spirit resides in the image, and that bathing the image with lustral water encourages rain.

By Brian Finnan
(This article can also be downloaded with pictures at the \"Downloads\" section.)

Pongpet Mekloy, BANGKOK POST

Bangkok's City Pillars, beside housing the spirits of city deities,also serve political ends.

Housed in a shrine near the northeastern corner of the Grand Palace, the Bangkok city pillars are believed to be the abodes of Phra Lak Muang, one of the guardian deities of the Thai capital. Every day scores of worshippers visit the shrine hoping the revered pillar spirit will help fulfill
their wishes. However, the true power of Phra Lak Muang is more than magic. And as a recent study reveals, the political roles of the city pillars over the past two centuries cannot be overlooked.
According to an outstanding thesis The Changes in the Belief in the City Pillars During the Rattanakosin Period, from 1782 to 1992 by Pornpun Kerdphol, who conducted the research for
her master's degree in history at Thammasat University—these particular wooden structures were initially used by the ruling class for political purposes, and over time their roles have evolved in accordance with changes in the society.
"The tall pillar was the original one. It was built when King Rama I—the founder of the Chakri Dynasty—moved the Thai capital from Thon Buri to this side of the Chao Phraya River more than two hundred years ago. The pillar was built before anything else - even before the Grand Palace," explained Ms Pornpun, adding that the king had the city pillar erected on April 21, 1782, just 15 days after his coronation. Not only did the pillar symbolise the establishment of the new capital, it also contained the city horoscope, which was designed to ensure Bangkok had prosperity and protection from future Burmese invasion. (The shorter pillar, the "new" one, was set up 71 years later during the reign of King Rama IV.) "One interesting thing about the set ring up of the city pillar was that there's no reliable evidence the practice existed before the Rattanakosin (Bangkok) Period," Ms Pornpun
said.
"Records from the Thon Buri and Ayutthaya periods fail to mention anything about the city pillar and Phra Lak Muang. They refer only to Phra Sua Muang, Phra Song Muang and Phra Kal as the guardian deities of those former capitals."
Although it can't be assumed that this lack of evidence from earlier periods means King Rama I's city pillar was the first of its kind, one thing for sure was that it was the first to be documented.
Also, it's only in the Rattanakosin Period that the name Phra Lak Muang began to appear alongside other guardian spirits of the city in royal ceremony incantations.
During the early reigns of Rattanakosin, the Thai kingdom was still not completely safe from Burmese threats from the west. To the east, the situation was even worse, due to a power struggle with Vietnam which was trying, to have influence over Cambodia, at that time one of Bangkok's vassal states.
Therefore, explained Ms Pornpun, as a symbol of Bangkok's power' city pillars were set up in a number of strategic towns—such as Songkhla (which oversaw vassal states in the Malay peninsula) during the reign of King Rama I; Nakhon Khuen Khan (now Phra Pradaeng) and Samut 6 Prakarn. during the reign of King Rama II; and Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi and Battambang (in Cambodia) during the reign of King Rama III.
The pillars and everything needed for the set-up ceremonies were sent to those towns from Bangkok.
Housed in a shrine near the northeastern corner of the Grand Palace the Bangkok city pillars are believed to be the abodes of Phra Lak Muang, one of the guardian deities of the Thai capital.
Every day scores of worshippers visit the shrine hoping the revered pillar spirit will help fulfill their wishes. Within the same compound where the shrine of the Bangkok city pillars is located stands another shrine where the images of all the other city guardian deities are housed.
The two shrines stand side by side and most worshippers
feel they could not visit one shrine without dropping in at the other. An important change took place soon after King Mongkut (Rama IV) took to the throne.
"Having been in the monkhood throughout the reign of his predecessor, King Mongkut realized he lacked the needed political power base, and one of the measures he took to reaffirm his kingship was to replace the original Bangkok city pillar with a new one," said Ms Pornpun. It was accepted
that such a decision was reserved, to be made by the king only.
King Rama IV's pillar contained a new city horoscope, which was adapted from the old one to be more suitable with the changing world—at that time national threats came not from within the region but from European colonists.
As for the old pillar, it was pulled out and put to rest against the shrine wall for more than a century before being officially erected again, next to the new one, during the latest restoration effort in 1986.
Also as an expression of his status as the supreme monarch, said Ms Pornpun, King Mongkut created the image of Phra Sayamthevathirat and designated it as the supreme deity of the kingdom. With the new god, Phra Lak Muang and the other guardian deities of the city became less important.
Since the king's absolute power had been pronounced, the practice of building city pillars in different parts of the kingdom was no longer necessary. The royal power was able to reach out even more when King Rama V introduced the modern, Western-style, governing system in which the roles of local rulers were taken over by government officials who worked directly under the king's central government.
As a result, it took almost a century from the construction of the second city pillar in Bangkok for the tradition of building city pillars to come back to life.
In 1944, Field Marshal Plaek Pibul Songkhram—the third Prime Minister since the kingdom changed from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy had a city pillar built in Phetchabun
7 province, which he intended to develop into the country's new capital. Even though his plan to relocate the capital was aborted by the parliament, the city pillar idea caught on, partly as a result of his government's nationalism policy. "In those days, city pillars were considered a cultural heritage and a symbol of national pride. And building them was in vogue again," said Ms Pornpun. This time, however, such projects were initiated by local officials rather than the central government. So one after the other, more and more city pillars were erected throughout the country.
Finally in 1992—the last year within the scope of Ms Pornpun's thesis—the Interior Ministry issued an order to provincial governors to make sure every province has its own city pillar. City pillars have then become a strong symbol of the Thai state.
As for the Bangkok city pillars, they are taken care of by the War Veterans Organization, which was passed on the responsibility from the now-defunct Fuel Department of the Defense Ministry in 1948. Within the same compound where the shrine of the Bangkok city pillars is located stands another
shrine where the images of all the other city guardian deities are housed.
The two shrines stand side by side and most worshippers feel they could not visit one shrine without dropping in at the other.
These days it seems unlikely the city pillar and Phra Lak Muang will ever again be of political use for the ruling class. Still, it is clear the pillar spirit will never fade away from the commoners' hearts. This thesis looks at the changing role of the pillars in Thai society. Most studies concerning city pillars focus either on the origin of the idea or on its astrological aspects. The thesis by Pornpun Kerdphol, The Changes in the Belief in the City Pillars During the Rattanakosin Period, from 1782 to 1999, however, looks into the changing roles of the city pillars in Thai society that results from changing beliefs about the pillars among the ruling class.
"The research was done with both written and unwritten historical evidence, both Thai and foreign," said Ms Pornpun, adding that some information was obtained by interviews with locals as well as experts in various fields. Asked if she found anything about the myth that live people were buried underneath the city pillars, Ms Pornpun said she found no mention of such human sacrifices in the old Thai documents, not even in the list of things needed for the ceremony to set up a city pillar.
"However, such a thing was written about in an Ayutthaya document by the Dutch merchant Jeremias Van Vliet, who said pregnant women were sacrificed during the construction of the
Ayutthaya city gates. But I can't say if what he described was fact." Ms. Pornpun's work was done under the guidance of a thesis committee led by leading historian Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri. The full text can be found at the central library of Thammasat University.

I have the complete teaching of Dereck Morphew from the Kingdom Conference last November on CD (with Thai translation by Sukit). Contact me if you want to borrow them or have your own copy (10 CDs).
Norbert