The Undefined Direction of Thai Buddhism
It should be noted that nearly all of the above-mentioned programmes and initiatives have been the efforts of private or lay sectors. Generally speaking, the progress and success of the Thai Buddhist activities in the latter part of the modern period, both local and abroad, must be credited to private personalities and organizations.
Usually the Thai Sangha administration does not show either active support or active opposition to the initiatives and activities of the private sectors. Thus, rarely, if ever, do strong visible conflicts arise and hardly do violent challenges develop. And, it is in this way that the Sangha has maintained its power and the status quo.
Besides, the traditional Thai Sangha has a strong tie with the polity and has developed a tendency to place reliance on the secular government. Thus, usually, it readily joins or cooperates in the programmes and activities that are operated or supported by the government or government agencies, although such undertakings might have a tone of some modern social or even political ideologies. This has been evident in the Dhamma-duta or Dharma Messengers Project, the Dhamma-carik or Dharma Wanderers Project and the presently highly-stressed training of monks in the dissemination of the Four Virtues according to His Majesty the King's admonition to the Thai people during the Rattanakosin Bicentennial and the Five Fundamental Values enunciated by the current Prime Minister in the same period of time. In recent years, however, possibly after having been familiarized with some modern social ideas through government-supported programmes and activities, some top Sangha administrators have implemented new Sangha programmes of their own, namely, the Commune Unit for Public Instruction Project and the Project for Training Monks in Basic Health Care.
On the whole, the Thai Sangha is weak in its structure and in practice and action, but it finds its strength in a negative way, in inaction and the attitudes of indifference and strict traditionalism. Under such a condition it is not difficult to begin any new endeavour without opposition from or conflict with the Thai Sangha. However, in spite of no strong visible conflicts and, violent challenges, many undesirable consequences may lie in wait, particularly in the form of a vaguely unharmonious development. Neglected unsolved problems will pile up and increase in intensity. There may develop a latent or passive, not readily visible, conflict, perhaps worse than strong visible conflicts, which leads to disadvantages in the long run. This is evident in the problem of ecclesiastical education, which is a fundamental problem lying at the bottom of all other problems.
Under the attitude of strict traditionalism, the Thai Sangha takes responsibility for maintaining the traditional system of education. But, under the attitude of indifference, various modern systems of ecclesiastical education have sprung up in the presence of the old traditional one, staggering in coexistence with it and without full recognition of the Sangha. Before long, this has resulted in a significant degree of confusion and Thailand's ecclesiastical systems of education have become complicated, a tangle of systemless systems. Further, there have developed latent or passive conflicts, the conflicts between the various systems themselves and the conflicts in the minds of the monks. While resistance and opposition remain passive and there is no real action towards rectification, problems remain unsolved and ever increase on the one hand and there prevails a state of uncertainty, undependability, insecurity and stagnation and also develop the habits and attitudes of inactivity, idleness, unconcernedness, nonparticipation, noncommitment, withdrawal and defeatism on the other. Undoubtedly, these can lead to the decline and decay of Thai Buddhism.
