The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea

Revival of Khang Bu Ya, Traditional Thai Communal Culture and Principle Role of Buddhist Temples and Monasteries

Suwida Sangsehanat

Paper presented at The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum -Monasticism and Lay BuddhismOctober 27-30, 2010 Seoul, South Korea.

Suggested citation:
Suwida Sangsehanat, (2011). Revival of Khang Bu Ya, Traditional Thai Communal Culture and Principle Role of Buddhist Temples and Monasteries in The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum: Monasticism

and Lay Buddhism, October 27-30, 2011. Seoul, South Korea. Pages 518-523 (English version) (or
pages 524-529 for Korean version).

The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
Revival of Khang Bu Ya, Traditional Thai Communal Culture and Principle Role of Buddhist Temples and Monasteries
1

Suwida Sangsehanat

Abstract
The evolution and development of Thai culture is strongly rooted in Buddhism, and it has a strong communal tradition. Traditionally, a Buddhist temple or monastery served as the centre of the community that nurtured and supported the growth of communal culture. But with modernisation, this traditional Thai culture has gradually eroded, and communalism is abandoned and replaced by individualism, even temple or monastery has lost its role as the centre of the community. Some traditional communal traditions like working together, helping one another in organising and hosting communal activities such as traditional religious festivals and celebrations are disappearing or have disappeared altogether. Communal culture becomes weakened. People become increasingly distant from one another, the spirit of camaraderie of a thriving community disappears. Lay devotees no longer visit the temple or monastery regularly. There is progressive disengagement of the devotees from their temple or monastery and vice versa so that people are no longer effectively exposed to learning Buddhist teachings and imbibing Buddhist values as they did in times past. Their understanding of Buddhism is gradually reduced and this contributes to the erosion of the relevance, importance and significance of Buddhadharma in their daily lives. This paper writes about the revival of such a tradition in Lablae district in the Uttaradit province of northern Thailand, the Khang Bu Ya tradition that disappeared more than thirty years ago. Seven years ago, the people of the Lablae community took up the initiative of reviving the tradition to strengthen the communal culture, the relationship of people in the community, the relationships of the lay people with their temples and monasteries in their district, promoting interactions of the temples and monasteries, and to bring back the principle role and values of Buddhist teachings in the community life.
Keywords: Khang Bu Ya, strength, traditions, communal culture, temple, monastery, lay, devotees, Lablae, Uttaradit, northern Thailand.

Assistant Dean of Bodhivijjalaya College, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand. Email:

suwida.ss@gmail.com

The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
Introduction The evolution and development of Thai culture is strongly rooted in Buddhism and community. It has a strong communal tradition. Traditionally, a Buddhist temple or monastery served as the centre of the community, in which all activities of the community were planned and conducted; in which all decisions and planning related to the community and its development were undertaken; in which such thought as a life apart from the temple or community or the temple apart from the community hardly arose. The community

supported the temple or monastery and the people learned the teachings of Buddha and the values of Buddhism from the monks in the temple or monastery. The communal nature endowed the community with a strong social cohesion and mutually supportive solid base built on the teaching of Buddha and values of Buddhism. But this communal culture that gives Thai communities so much strength has been weakened over the years since the process of modernisation began in 1961. This paper describes the revival of a Thai communal culture, Khang Ba Ya, in Lablae District of Uttaradit Province in northern Thailand. It is based on the authors interview with Mr. Somchai Pongsrichai, a local leader and his materials and a couple of other internet posts as given in the reference list.

Traditional Communal Culture Traditional Thai culture was built on Buddhist values and ethics as the core with the temple playing a significant spiritual guiding role while the community provided the support, each dependent on and mutually strengthens the other as illustrated in the following figure (Figure 1).

Thai Culture Buddhist monastery

Buddhism

Community

Figure 1. The relationship of Thai culture, community, and monastery .

The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
In the past, all the important days and events in our lives and the life of the community were marked in the temple or monastery. These include various milestones and events such as the days of birth, the marking of adolescence as in cutting of hair when one reached nine year-old, events in our careers, wedding, death, transfer of merits to ones ancestors, New Year celebration, midyear celebration, rice harvest festival, etc, in ones life or community. All these celebrations and marking of important days and events of the individuals or community were organised and participated as communal events where everybody contributed and participated together as a community in the Buddhist temple or monastery as the centre of gathering and communal activities. During these occasions, monks would give Dhamma talks and spiritual advice. These were the occasions and times the people learned Buddhist teachings, actively contributed to the monastery, supported Dhamma activities and strengthened the community spirit. Regular communal activities like these held in Buddhist temple or monastery as the centre strengthened the relationships between the temple and the community and the people within the community. However with modernisation set rolling by the implementation of the First Economic Development Plan introduced in 1961, traditional community-supported form of labourintensive agriculture gave way to green revolution or so-called modern agricultural practice that is capital-intensive, relying heavily on monocropping and heavy use of agrochemicals and machineries. Communal culture became unnecessary. People in the community became more individualistic. As communal culture weakens and individualism grows, people become more distanced from one another and from the communitys temple or monastery. The role of the temple or monastery diminished over time. New generations grow up without the benefit of a supportive communal culture and guidance on Buddhist teachings and values as their lives and the community are no longer closely associated with the communitys temples or monasteries. Lacking regular spiritual guidance, present day youths lose their roots in the Buddhist communal culture, and they are now easily influenced by modern western or pop culture to which they are constantly exposed through easily accessible media of all kinds in this globalised world.

Revival of Khang Bu Ya, in Lablae Lablae is a district in Uttaradit Province in the lower part of northern Thailand. Like other parts of Thailand, the communal culture and strength in Lablae has weakened

The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
tremendously. Over the more than thirty years of modernisation, many communal traditions have disappeared. New generations are increasingly distanced from communal life and from the temple or monastery and Buddhist teachings. They are losing the cultural roots and find it easier and natural to follow indiscriminately any modern trends in fashions and life styles that come with globalisation. They easily assimilate pop culture. Seven Years ago, in 2004, the communities of Lablae people began reviving a communal tradition called Khang Bu Ya. This is a tradition in which the people of the communities get together to prepare and make dana (offerings) to the monks of the communitys temple or monastery. A particularly attractive feature of this tradition entails the preparation and presentation of wish-granting trees (like the wish tree of Kuvera, the Buddhist God of Fortune) to the temples or monasteries. These trees would be filled with money and agriculture produces which the people would like to offer to their ancestors. When the preparation of the trees is completed, the trees would be carried in a procession to the temples or monasteries for the ceremony of offering to their ancestors. The tradition teaches people to remember and pay respect to their ancestors, to be humble and ask for forgiveness for their misdeeds. The occasion gives people of the community an opportunity to work together and cooperate and interact socially in meaningful and beneficial ways, and to practice generosity in giving to the temple or monastery. In Lablae district, the local community is responsible for the temples and monasteries in the community. The community organises a roster of lay households to be sponsors (main donors or hosts of the event) of Khang Bu Ya. Each year, there will be about ten or more occasions of Khang Bu Ya. The sponsoring household will organise a team to prepare the wish-granting trees or Khang Bu Ya. This team usually comprises sponsors neighbours and relatives. They gather together and arrange all their offerings on the wish-granting trees. The materials for offering include foods and dessert, books, stationary (writing implements such as pencils, books), local produce such as chilli, red onion, garlic, rice, dollar or Baht bills of any denomination are folded into the shape of a fan or any other attractive shapes and hung on the trees. The sponsors and friends would work and help one another decorate the wish-granting trees, usually a day before the actual day of celebration of Khang Bu Ya. Every other household in the community also prepares and presents Gua-Salaak, a small bamboo basket of produce for offering on that day.

The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
On Khang Bu Ya Day, there will be a colourful procession of the lay people of the community who have come together to help one another in carrying the wish-granting trees and Gua-Salaak from the hosts house to the temple or monastery selected to be the venue for that day. The participants wear local costume and perform Thai dance as part of the celebration. A leader or respected person in the community would be asked to recite a local poem for the hosts and people present. The wish-granting trees would be presented to the monks and the monks would lead the ceremony in sending the wish-granting trees to their ancestors. On this occasion, monks would give Dhamma talks. The event thus gives the monks an opportunity to transmit Buddhas teachings to the lay people. It also gives the lay people a chance to listen to Dhamma, learn the Dhamma, perform and share the merits of their good deeds. In this way, the practice of the tradition helps nurture communal culture and strengthens the community. Apart from the individual households that take turn in hosting the event, every school in the community is also assigned responsibility to host one wish-granting tree every year. Students, teachers and parents work together to decorate a wish-granting tree with all the offerings collected and join the local host in celebrating the event in the monastery. In this way, the new or the younger generations are given the opportunity to learn more about meaningful traditions, the value of communal activities and culture and Buddhist teachings that promote social cohesiveness and celebration of good wholesome deeds for oneself and others. On Khang Bu Ya day, the host temple or monastery invites monks from other temples (usually three to four temples in the neighbourhood) to join the celebration. Each participating temple or monastery will bring back one wish-granting tree. In this way, the monastics from various temples share the dana offered by the lay people. This event thus also promotes, renews or refreshes and strengthens the interrelationships among the various temples in the district and the devotees of the communities in the district. Khang Bu Ya is celebrated during the period between August and October of each year during new moon days, first quarter moon days and full moon days. The hosting of the event rotates among all the communities and monasteries in the Lablae district. Khang Bu Ya is also sometimes known as the festival of brother- and sisterhood that aptly reflects the communal culture and community spirit promoted by the event.

The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea

References:
Suwida Sangsehant, Authors interview with Mr. Somchai Pongsrichai, a respected person in Lablae District on July 28, 2011. Somchai Pongsrichai. Twelve Months Tradition of Lablae. Unpublished document used as teaching material for Wat Nam Sai School. <http://www.xn--l3cjf8d8bveb.com/blog-season- > accessed on July 30, 2011. <http://www.taklong.com/north/show-north.php?No=411295> accessed on July 30, 2011.