Research & Article

In recent years in Thailand several movements have grown up around particular monks orwats which have become sufficiently large and enduring to represent a challenge to mainstream Thai Buddhism. Some of these, such as the Wat Phra Thammakaay movement, were partially based on interpretations of Buddhism which reflect the political and economic aspirations of Thai society. Others, such as Santi Asok, were more sectarian and less easy to characterize from an economic and political point of view. This paper considers a range of urban Buddhist movements with particular reference to their varying concerns for development and then presents data from a 1993 survey of the attitudes toward these movements held by monks at one of the Buddhist universities in Bangkok. Consideration will also be given to the role of lay nuns (mae chii).