Research & Article

This paper is based on a collaboration between Charles Keyes, a Western anthropologist, and Phra Khrū Anusaranaśāsanākiarti, (พระครูอนุสรณ์ศาสนเกียรติ์) / Tham Akkhapunyō / (ธรรมอัคคปุญโญ) in the late 1960s when Keyes was engaged in field work in Mae Sariang District, Mae Hong Son Province, northern Thailand and Phra Khrū Anusaranaśāsanākiarti was then the Buddhist abbot of Mae Sariang district. On many occasions Keyes sought the Phra Khrū’s help in understanding the Buddhist practices of the district. This particular paper began when Keyes as the Phra Khrū to explain the northern Thai funerary rites that he observed and participated in.