..续本文上一页uddha”s teachings and in the methods of religious training. Thus, while Theravada stresses the importance of monastic discipline as the preliminary requisite for higher spiritual development, Mahayana saw the need to modify and adapt it in accordance with the changing circumstances. The Bodhisattva ideals, though accepted and taught in the Theravada tradition, are much more strongly emphasized in the Mahayana system and are considered central to their religious practice.

　　But generally speaking, both Theravada and Mahayana traditions have more things in common than meets the eye, especially from the doctrinal perspective. Both agree on the teachings which are fundamental in the Buddhist system, such as the four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the ten Perfections (six in Mahayana), the four Foundations of Mindfulness, the twelve links of Dependent Origination, the Law of Conditionality, the nature of enlightenment, Nibbana as the summum bonum of religious training, the doctrines of kamma and rebirth, etc. Both accept the roles of compassion and wisdom as crucial in any aspiration to enlightenment. Both uphold the cultivation of such virtues as kindness, gratitude, respect to elders, humility, altruism, generosity, morality, mindfulness, non-attachment, universal compassion, and so forth. It is therefore proper to conclude that all the different schools of Buddhism uniformly correspond with one another in essential doctrines, objectives, practice, and goals.

　　Theravada Buddhism flourished in southern countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, while the Mahayana school spread northward to Nepal, China, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The former is thus sometimes referred to as the Southern School, and the latter as the Northern School. Tibet”s Vajrayana is currently so widespread in the West that it has come to be recognized in its own right as a separate denomination, distinct from Mahayana to which it was earlier closely affiliated.

　　Buddhism in Thailand

　　 Buddhism was introduced into Thailand some twenty-three centuries ago when the region was still populated by Mons and Lawas. Nakhon Pathom was then the administrative center and, after the advent of the religion, became an active seat of Buddhist propagation. Later the region was occupied by the Thais, also followers of Buddhism; Khun Luang Mao, who ruled over the Ailao Kingdom about two thousand years ago, was the first Thai Buddhist king and the professed upholder of the religion.

　　Mahayana Buddhism spread to Thailand in the 9th century during the reign of the Srivijaya kings, who ruled from Sumatra and whose territories extended over some southern provinces of Thailand. Meanwhile the Khmer authority and influence also spread over the whole of central and northeastern Thailand. The Khmer kings were adherents of Mahayana Buddhism, which had by then absorbed much of the Brahmanistic elements into its system. It was around this time that Mahayana Buddhism and Brahmanism began to exert deep influence on the Thai culture. Although neither of them came to replace Theravada Buddhism, their cultural influences were considerable, and can be readily observed even today.

　　Another stream of cultural and religious influences began to flow into Thailand from Myanmar (Burma) around the 11th century when King Anuruddha ascended the Myanmar throne. His territorial conquests stretched as far as the Thai kingdoms of Lanna and Lanchang. Another form of Theravada Buddhism, called Pukam or Pagan Buddhism, which was practiced by the Myanmar people, spread into these lands. Following the decline of the Khmer and Myanmar influences, there emerged in the 13th century the kingdoms of Lanna in the north and Sukhothai in north-central Thailand. At the height of its glory Lanna became an important seat of Buddhist learning, where numerous scholarly works in Pali were produced. The most famous king of Sukhothai was Ramkamhaeng the Great, who unified the Thai people under one single rule and whose territories extended far and wide. He strongly supported the form of Theravada Buddhism prevalent in Sri Lanka, which by then had spread to Thailand following a general reform under the auspices of King Parakramabahu the Great. Lanka Buddhism, as it was called, became highly popular in Thailand and virtually replaced other forms of Buddhism in the country. This is the form of Buddhism preserved and practiced in the present time. Later, during the Ayutthaya period, when religious conditions in Sri Lanka deteriorated so much that not a single monk could be found on the island, Thailand had the opportunity to more than repay this spiritual debt. A delegation of monks, headed by Venerable Upali, was dispatched to Sri Lanka to help revive the monastic order in that country. The ecclesiastical lineage so reestablished became known as the Siam Sect, the country”s largest denomination today.

　　Thus the history of Thai Buddhism may be pided into four periods. The first was Theravada Buddhism as introduced by Ashoka”s mission; the second was Mahayana Buddhism under the Srivijaya and Khmer influences; the third was Pukam Buddhism introduced from Myanmar, and the fourth, Theravada Buddhism from Sri Lanka.

　　[Originally published in Sunthorn Plamintr”s Getting to Know Buddhism (Bangkok: Buddhadhamma Foundation, 1994), pp. 3-22.]

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