Justin McDaniel
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153775
- eISBN:
- 9780231527545
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153775.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Stories centering on the lovelorn ghost (Mae Nak) and the magical monk (Somdet To) are central to Thai Buddhism. Historically important and emotionally resonant, these characters appeal to every ...
More
Stories centering on the lovelorn ghost (Mae Nak) and the magical monk (Somdet To) are central to Thai Buddhism. Historically important and emotionally resonant, these characters appeal to every class of follower. Metaphorically and rhetorically powerful, they invite constant reimagining across time. Focusing on representations of the ghost and monk from the late eighteenth century to the present, the book builds a case for interpreting modern Thai Buddhist practice through the movements of these transformative figures. It follows embodiments of the ghost and monk in a variety of genres and media, including biography, film, television, drama, ritual, art, liturgy, and the Internet. Sourcing nuns, monks, laypeople, and royalty, he shows how relations with these figures have been instrumental in crafting histories and modernities. Establishing an individual’s “religious repertoire” as a valid category of study, the book explores the performance of Buddhist thought and ritual through practices of magic, prognostication, image production, sacred protection, and deity and ghost worship, and clarifies the meaning of multiple cultural configurations. The book suggests that concepts of attachment, love, wealth, beauty, entertainment, graciousness, security, and nationalism all spring from engagement with the ghost and the monk and are as vital to the making of Thai Buddhism as venerating the Buddha himself.Less
Stories centering on the lovelorn ghost (Mae Nak) and the magical monk (Somdet To) are central to Thai Buddhism. Historically important and emotionally resonant, these characters appeal to every class of follower. Metaphorically and rhetorically powerful, they invite constant reimagining across time. Focusing on representations of the ghost and monk from the late eighteenth century to the present, the book builds a case for interpreting modern Thai Buddhist practice through the movements of these transformative figures. It follows embodiments of the ghost and monk in a variety of genres and media, including biography, film, television, drama, ritual, art, liturgy, and the Internet. Sourcing nuns, monks, laypeople, and royalty, he shows how relations with these figures have been instrumental in crafting histories and modernities. Establishing an individual’s “religious repertoire” as a valid category of study, the book explores the performance of Buddhist thought and ritual through practices of magic, prognostication, image production, sacred protection, and deity and ghost worship, and clarifies the meaning of multiple cultural configurations. The book suggests that concepts of attachment, love, wealth, beauty, entertainment, graciousness, security, and nationalism all spring from engagement with the ghost and the monk and are as vital to the making of Thai Buddhism as venerating the Buddha himself.
Justin Thomas McDaniel
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153775
- eISBN:
- 9780231527545
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153775.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter concludes that the magical, commercial, curative, protective, prognosticative, aesthetic, and preservative practices of current Thai Buddhists are neither the products of an anarchic ...
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This chapter concludes that the magical, commercial, curative, protective, prognosticative, aesthetic, and preservative practices of current Thai Buddhists are neither the products of an anarchic society nor the expressions of the futile aspirations of those ignorant of more refined canonical values. The origin of these practices can be best explained through the notion of repertoire—a constantly shifting collection of gestures, objects, texts, plots, tropes, ethical maxims, precepts, ritual movements, and expectations that any individual agent employs and draws upon when acting and explaining action—focusing on individual agents and the relationships that are formed between them, and examining closely at their religious products (texts, rituals, liturgies, art) in highly specific contexts.Less
This chapter concludes that the magical, commercial, curative, protective, prognosticative, aesthetic, and preservative practices of current Thai Buddhists are neither the products of an anarchic society nor the expressions of the futile aspirations of those ignorant of more refined canonical values. The origin of these practices can be best explained through the notion of repertoire—a constantly shifting collection of gestures, objects, texts, plots, tropes, ethical maxims, precepts, ritual movements, and expectations that any individual agent employs and draws upon when acting and explaining action—focusing on individual agents and the relationships that are formed between them, and examining closely at their religious products (texts, rituals, liturgies, art) in highly specific contexts.
