Monks, the State, and Monastic Governance in Contemporary Thailand

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between Buddhism and politics in Theravāda communities has been a subject of regular scholarly investigation since at least the 1970s. However, in much of this scholarship, the primary problem has been to understand how the secular state interacts with religious actors. An assumption exists that the Thai state governs the sangha, and how monks in Theravāda sanghas govern one another has received insufficient attention. In Thailand, monks live in conditions of legal pluralism, subject to religious, state, and ecclesiastical law. This article examines these legal regimes, focusing on ecclesiastical law, which has largely been ignored up to this point. The article argues that conditions of legal pluralism are important for understanding the possibilities of monastic action as well as the effort to govern the sangha in contemporary Thailand.