Abbots, monks and host community are in the heart of most responding for conserving the cultural heritage significances of nine sacred temples which would be in danger of serious degeneration because of inappropriate restoration and management. First of all, we have
to focus on the abbots and monks as their lives are living inside the monasteries. The first role of abbots and monks is to have the awareness on the importance of cultural heritage significances.
This awareness will create a sense of belonging that helps safeguard the cultural heritage.
Normally, the abbot of the village temple tends to be a local man, selected by the villagers or the Sangha from within their district. The abbot is formally part of the national Sangha hierarchy that makes his appointment. Yet, according to the regulations of the Sangha, he is always appointed in consultation with the influential local layman (Thalaengkaan Vhanasong 1963: 569). In case that the abbot is a local man, this will be benefit in safeguarding the cultural heritage as the local abbots acknowledge what they have at hand and learn their roles, both directly and indirectly, in what they should and could do with the heritage. In the past, except in the royal palace, the monasteries, and particularly their ordination hall and assembly hall, were virtually the sole arena of artistic creativity and transmission of the associated traditional skills. For example, the walls of the ordination hall present an excellent surface for painting. Fine works of carving, lacquering and inlay remain as decorations on the doors, ceilings, pillars, window shutters, and other parts of the ordination hall. Therefore, the buildings of the ordination hall and assembly hall provided a chance for creativity, through which many traditional Thai styles are thought to have developed.
Moreover, Buddha images, the major field in Buddhist art history, developed a unique style in Thailand under the influence of various neighboring countries and regions. To be concluded, monasteries, where the abbots and monks live, play in providing opportunities for artistic creativity and it is the main duty of the abbots and monks in the preservation of these creativities.
Moreover, the temples can contribute the creation of cultural values and transmit this traditional culture. The monks naturally play a major role as educator the cultural value and the temples as the educational forum. In the addition, the abbots and monks who live on the temples that contain the cultural heritage also need to change their attitude from thinking of themselves as owners of the temples to thinking of themselves as custodians of temples that are part of the country’s national cultural heritage and the property of all Thai people. In fact, the temple that is registered as national historic monument has to be protected by law and the Department of Fine Arts. So, the abbot of the temple that is registered as national historic monument has to ask permission to the Department of Fine Arts and work closely with expert architects and community to safeguard the cultural heritage.
In addition, abbots and monks should emphasize more in teaching the Dharma to the local laypeople as good members of the society. As the previous mentions in Chapter 2, Buddhism or the Teachings of the Buddha consists of the Dharma and the Vinaya. Buddhist Monks are the disseminators of the Dharma to the laypeople. So, a Buddhist Monk cannot live even a single day without contact with laypeople. Metaphysical and spiritual teachings are also the main responsibility of the Buddhist monks to disseminate them to the laypeople. Therefore, the role of abbots and monks in their everyday life is to be responsible for social good which is mainly exercised through the teaching of the laypeople of how to live good lives and to conduct themselves as good members of the society. Normally, abbots and monks teach the Five Precepts of abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech and taking intoxicants to laypeople as the basic moral rules. Nowadays, this important role has quite disappeared from Thai society as many abbots and monks emphasize on merit-making, commercialization of Buddhism, heaven and hell, and the “superstition magic of the amulets’ practiced by many monks. This will cause misuse of Buddhism and lead to social problems later.
The second role is to support educational, economic, and socio-cultural spheres in the communities for social good. Previously, Thailand has been known by various epithets such as “land of smiles,” “Venice of the East” and “Land of the Yellow Robes.” The last title vividly describes the religion most widely supported by the Thai people. Most Thais have accepted Buddhism as their national religion. Out of the total population of about sixty million, some 95%
declare themselves to be Buddhists, mostly of the Hinayana (or Theravada) school. The latest available statistic (2004) shows that there are over 30,000 temples all over the country. Therefore, Thai Buddhist temples have played significant roles in Thai society. These roles are educational, economic, and socio-cultural spheres. The Thai temple, or wat, is actually a complex of buildings and religious monuments within a single compound, often varying in both age and artistic value, designed to serve a number of practical purposes in the surrounding community. One section houses the resident monks, for instance, while elsewhere there are structures for worship, for meetings, for education, for cremations, for enshrining relics and ashes of the deceased.
For educational sphere, monks contributed importantly in the domain of education in the past. Schools were set up within the compound of temple. In addition to their religious duties monks taught the so-called 3 R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic – as well as other subjects to
local youngsters in the past. These temple schools were distributed all over the country. They were operated at very minimal cost, since monks accepted no payment. However, during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) formal education came to Thailand, Government schools were set up one by one outside the temple compound. As the years passed by existing temple schools have gradually been taken over by the Ministry of Education. Monks have played less and less active roles in formal education. Professional teachers have been trained. They have gradually replaced “monk teachers”. Buddhist monks have taught fewer and fewer subjects.
However, they are allowed by Ministry officials to teach “civics and ethics.” Nowadays, the legacy remains concretely as witnessed by a large number of school buildings, within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education or other governmental authorities, standing within the temple compounds. The names of so many schools, well recognized for their high scholastic standards, are reminiscent of the active roles of Buddhist monks in the past.
Six of nine temples in Ang Thong also plays important role in supporting educational sphere. This is because there are primary schools under the supervision of the office of the Primary Education of Ang Thong Province in every temple complexes of these six temples.
Moreover, the abbots of these six temples support educational matter by giving scholarships to local monks, novices, and students. For example, Phra Sithipattanaporn, the abbot of Wat Chaiyo Worawihan always gives scholarships to monks and novices who study Cerriculum of Dhamma and Pali Studies at Wat Chaiyo Worawihan’s Dhamma and Pali School. Phra Kru Wisuthi Chaiyakhun, the abbot of Wat Mahanam, always gives scholarships to students of Wat Mahanam’s primary school on his birthday anniversary. Not only giving scholarships, but the abbots and monks of these six temples have also supported local educational matter by having the duty to teach “moralities and ethics” to the local students.
For the another three temples, Wat Khun Inthapramoon, Wat Khian and Wat Muang, where there are no primary schools in the temple complexes, these three temple also support local educational matter by teaching “moralities and ethics” to the local students in the communities.
For economic matters, Buddhism as practiced in Thailand has played certain beneficial roles. Firstly, there are many Buddhist teachings which give practical advice on how to maintain an economically viable and decent household. The Buddha taught that a layman who intends to become successful, economically or otherwise, must follow the four rules of conduct
(Fourfold Path Toward Success or, in Pali, the Four Fold Iddhipada). For example, to work hard and pay constant attention to whatever one is doing. Buddhism does not place great emphasis on economic achievement, but Buddhist teachings can be made applicable to economic development.
In addition to their teachings related to economic activities, Buddhist monasteries, particularly in the rural areas, give practical lessons which augment the skills or practical knowledge useful for layman and monks. The skills may be local handicraft, herbal medicine, car repairing, construction techniques, painting, and other crafts. Usually by necessity, not by choice, the abbot of a certain temple has to supervise the construction of a temple, school buildings or a temple meeting hall. Many abbots undertake the task themselves so that labor cost will be actually nil.
Thus, those who intend to be in the monkhood for a brief period, get practical experience in this practical knowledge. Laymen are indebted to their sojourns as monks in a temple for some other skills. They have learnt about car repairing, painting of buildings or even sculpturing, and other crafts. These skills are useful for their livelihood.
The Court Doll Center under Her Majesty the Queen’s patronage at Wat Tha Sutthawat is a good sample of supporting local economic sphere by the temple. This is because the abbot of Wat Tha Sutthawat has collaborated with the governmental officers in Pa Monk district to establish this center by the Royal initiation of Her Majesty the Queen in 1976. The main objective of this center is to help the villagers earn supplementary income and also present Thai local handicraft to the people who are interested.
For socio-cultural sphere, Temple is useful in practically all aspects of Thai life, particularly in the villages. In the late afternoon when they are free, some village youths gather and play games such as takraw or football in the temple compound. Some may practice bicycling on the playground. Parents bring along their small children to play in the temple compound. A temple is thus a recreational place for villagers. But, this function is much less conspicuous in nine temples in Ang Thong nowadays. This is because recreational places have been turn to be car parking areas for tourists or erecting commercial areas for souvenir shops.
A temple is also a recreational center par excellence during village fairs. Annually there are several fairs celebrating festivals, such as Songkran, Loy Kratong, and New Year events.
Fairs are normally held in the temple compound. Merchandise of various sorts are for sale. Games for children-darts, entertainments-likay, local folk dances- are arranged. In addition, there are film
showings and folksong singing competitions. Youngsters usually look forward to participating in temple fairs with the most ardent expectation. Temple fairs are the place where villagers express their common social and cultural memberships and esprit de corps. Their participation spells their belongingness to a common way of life and cultural heritage. In Ang Thong Likay-folk dances, depicting the Thai folklore, are normally performed for celebrating annually festivals. In other parts of the country people perform music, dance, and play of local variation or of local taste.
Temple fairs thus assist in the preservation and transmission of time-honored traditions.
There are three famous local festivals in Ang Thong which are “The Long Boat Race Festival”, “Paying Homage to Luang Pho To Wat Chaiyo” and “Loy Krathong at Wat Siroi”.
These three famous festivals are the identity culture of the people in Ang Thong. The Long Boat Race Festival is held annually at Wat Pa Mok Worawihan within the temple compound. The festival is held in 2 periods. The first period is for paying homage of the Reclining Buddha image inside the temple compound which is held in March, while the traditional long boat race festival and the country’s renowned long boat competition is held in October. Paying Homage to Luang Pho To Wat Chaiyo is for worship and commemoration of Somdet Phra Phutthachan (To Phromrangsi) and Phra Maha Phutthapim. This festival is held in May and November of every year. Loy Krathong at Wat Siroi is held at Wat Siroi, Wiset Chai Chan District. Every year there will be firework to celebrate “Luang Pho Yai”, a large seated Buddha image in the posture of Polilayaka, in the attitude of leading a jungle life, is the symbol of Si Roi sub-district. This festival is held on the same day as Loy Krathong day. In this case, these temples in Ang Thong have been able to support socio-culture sphere. As the conclusion, several roles of Buddhism, especially those performed by Wats or Thai monasteries have been enumerated above and those roles must be considered to follow because they can create a close relationship between Buddhism and the Thai way of life that they are rather disappeared from the Thai way of life nowadays.
Normally, the host community is all those people who live within tourist destination.
The most important role of host community is to proactively play an important role for creating an aspect of conservation policy and tourism policy in protection the cultural significances and their environment in the host community’s destination. The important role of host community is related in the idea that the host community should be actively involved in conservation planning
and should perhaps be a part of the local tourism industry and its activities. However, within any community there is a range of groups with very different interests. So, the rationale for community involvement in tourism planning for protecting the cultural significances and their environment should be considered as follows:
1. Be in maintaining with the concept of democracy 2. Pay attention to those who are most affected by tourism
3. Local knowledge has to be involved for using in decision making
The meaning of paying proactively an important role in creating an aspect of conservation policy and tourism policy in protection the cultural significances and their environment is to suggest what the acceptable limits to change are for their community.
Moreover, this role should take place as early as possible in the planning and development of tourism in areas to try to reduce the negative impacts of tourism which are due to inappropriate development and the attraction of unsuitable forms of tourism.
As the host community must set out to be more proactive by becoming active player in protection the cultural significances and their environment, this can maximize the benefits to the community. In this case, the benefits should be used for public good rather than for private gain. The benefits for public good can be in the form of visitor attractions such as local museum and handicraft center.
As mentioned earlier about Court Doll Center which is under Her Majesty the Queen’s patronage at Wat Tha Sutthawat in Pa Mok district, this can be good examples for being proactive in community involvement of tourism planning as accomplishing the objectives for establishing this center. The community can gain the benefits from producing traditional Court dolls as suitable supplementary occupation.