Guidelines for resolving the impact of the abbot's mission in the Sangha Administration Area of Surat Thani Province according
to the concept of sufficiency economy
Sophon Buachan
Phrapaladnikom Punyavachiro (Paksee)
Phrakhrupariyatthamrongkhun (Kamthorn Thongpradu) Phrakhruprachotkichchaporn (Suriyawangso/Choochuay)
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University Nakhon Nan Buddhist College E-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to study the solution guidelines according to sufficient economic for solving the abbots’s missions that were impacted by Covid-19 situation in Surat Thani. From discussion with 24 people which were divided into four groups, then the synthetic analysis and interpretation were analyzed and found guidelines for resolving the impacts of the abbot's mission as follows: 1) having to build a body of knowledge about the abbot's mission, the principles of sufficiency economy, the body of knowledge Know about the coronavirus epidemic crisis situation. 2) Must learn and cooperate with all 5 institutions, namely religious institutions, government institutions, educational institutions, family institutions, and mass media institutions. 3) Must coordinate the relationship of community networks and society in all 6 aspects: the east side is parents, the south side is teachers, the west side is the wife or husband, the north side is friends, the lower direction, namely servants, subordinates, the upper direction, namely monks. 4) Must be creative and develop, namely: to promote-support, to improve-develop. 5) Must assess the value of promotion (target): have value, benefit, and cost-effectiveness (quantitative-visible, concrete-objective), does it respond to social needs? able to meet the needs of society (Qualitative-seeing abstract-looking mentally). The knowledge obtained from this research is MSC Model, which is Missions Sufficiency Economy and Corona virus. This can be described as follows: Missions Abbot's missions include governance, education, education, welfare, propagation, public utilities. Public welfare Sufficiency Economy: moderation, reasonableness, good self-immunity, knowledge, morality Corona virus: knowledge of the coronavirus epidemic crisis situation.
Keywords
Remedial guidelines, Solution, Impact, Abbot Mission
INTRODUCTION
Humans are social creatures. They have their birthright statue since they were born. For example, they are son or daughter to the parents. They are grandchildren to the grandparents and they are siblings. Furthermore, they have a citizenship status in their own country. When they enter the age of studying, their status would increase and become disciples of their teachers and become friends of their classmates. When they are graduated and start their career, they would have their own career status such as teachers, monks, doctors/nurses, entrepreneurs, administrators, subordinates or abbots etc. Then, they would have to play to role according to their own status or the duties according to their social status. Similarly, as an abbot in the monastic sector 16; Surat Thani province, also has social roles according to Sangha Act in 6 sections namely government section, educational section, propagation section, welfare education section, public welfare section, public facilities section. These sections are greatly impacted by the outbreak of the coronavirus 19 pandemic and since Surat Thani is a port tourists attraction city and there are many Muslim residents who went to perform religious rituals aboard and might have possibly been infected with COVID virus; as a result, their activities are halted several times due to the government office announcement. In this COVID pandemic situations that have a tremendous effect to the abbots’
missions, it is best to apply the principle of Sufficiency
Economy which was introduced by his majesty King Rama9 to the monastic community in Surat Thani and others provinces.
The principle of Sufficient Economy was introduced by his majestic King Rama9 for more than 47 years. It is a principle that is based on the fundamental of Thai culture and it adopts a development guideline that is based on the moderate practice (Mạchc ̣himāpt̩ipthā) and carelessness (contentment), knowing the cause, building self immunity, knowledge and merit as a way of life. More importantly, consciousness, intellectual and endeavor will bright upon a truly happy living. Thus, is necessary to adopt the above principles in order to develop the country effectively. The sufficient economy principle should be the first principle to acknowledge to the citizens in order to apply into their daily life. Once, they get used to the sufficient economy principle then other principles could be applied to greater develop the country. The sufficient economy consists of the following features;
1. The moderate practice (Mạchc ̣himāpt̩ipthā) is a just right amount of sufficiently and it will not cause any trouble to oneself and others.
2. Knowing the cause is the decision about the level of sufficiency must based on cause and reason by carefully considering all related factors and the expected outcome.
3. Building self-immunity is preparing oneself to handle the impacts and changes that may happen by considering the
possibility of the circumstances that expected to occur in the future; these must follow 2 conditions.
3.1 Knowledge condition (Vijja Carana Sampanno) which is consist of general knowledge and discretion when taking the knowledge into account
3.2 Merit condition (Carana Sampanno) which has to be reinforced and it consists of the awareness of merit, honesty, patience and perseverance.
Surat Thani is located on the east coast of southern Thailand. The topography of Surat Thani is very diverse, consisting of slopes, hills, and coastal and it has area reach golf of Thailand including ocean and islands. There are many big and small island in Surat Thani add up to 98 islands in total, some of Surat Thani’s most well known and prominent islands are Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and Mu Koh Angthong National Marine Park. Most of Surat Thani’s rainfall variability is heavily influenced by northeast monsoon winds; as a result, the monsoon season in Surat Thani typically takes place from October to January. Most of Surat Thani’s population are Buddhist and they are mainly engaged in agriculture and 45% of the areas here is farmland.
Besides agriculture, the population are also working in livestock, fishery, industry and some are in mining. The province is divided into 19 districts, which are further divided into 131 subdistricts, and 1075 villages. The list of districts in Surat Thani are as follows; Mueang Surat Thani, Kanchanadit, Don Sak, Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan, Chaiya, Tha Chana, Khiri Rat Nikhom, Ban Ta Khun, Tha Chang, Ban Na San, Ban Na Doem, Khian Sa, Wiang Sa, Phrasaeng, Phunphin, Chai Buri, Vibhavadi.
The abbots in sangha administration in Surat Thani has realized the effects of the COVID-19 situation, therefore they have found the solution that would turn this crisis into opportunity by adopting the principle of Sufficient Economy, which was introduced by his majesty King Rama 9, into the impact solutions. Hints, the abbots’ 6 missions are influenced by 3 principles as follows; the moderate practice, knowing the cause and building self immunity. The moderate practice means taking moderations and sufficiency into consideration in the ways that will not cause any harm to self and others.
Knowing the cause means the decision making about the level of sufficiency must be rationality by taking causes and factors and the expected outcome into account. Building self immunity means creating good immune for ones and be prepared for all possible effects and changes that may occur in the future. The condition of Sufficient Economy principle is knowledge condition, merits condition. Knowledge condition means be knowledgeable about all kind of related subjects, be cautions when combined the relate knowledge together in order to operate, to make plans and to be careful during the procedure. Morality consists of moral awareness, honesty, patience and perseverance in using wisdom in daily life. Thus, the abbots in sangha administration in Surat Thani should apply the principle of Sufficient Economy as guidelines in solves the activities problems that were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic situation. The guidelines consist of 5 components which are building a body of knowledge, learning and cooperating, coordinating network relationships, creating development, appraising. These components will help to get through the COVID crisis safely and securely.
Thus, this research conceptual framework follows the Sangha Act (volume 2) 2535 which determined duties and missions of monks into 6 categories as follows 1) administrative 2) religious studies 3) welfare education 4) propagation of religion 5) public utilities 6) public welfare.
The Sufficient Economic concept consists of 3 components and 2 conditions and consists of objectives and follows..
OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH
This article is a part of the research “the guidelines for resolving the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation on the abbots in Sangha administration in Surat Thani. The objectives that will be introduced in this article are as follows
1. To study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation on the abbots’ missions in Sangha administration in Surat Thani.
2. To study the concept of Sufficient Economy according to the royal initiative of King Rama 9.
3. To study the solutions to the problems that affecting the abbots’ missions in Sangha administration in Surat Thani according to the concept of the Sufficient Economy.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research entitled “the guidelines for resolving the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation on the abbots in Sangha administration in Surat Thani” is a kind of mixed research. The first purpose of research is the quantitative research, the second purpose is the qualitative research and third purpose is the field research.
1. Quantitative research is, studying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation on the abbots’ missions in Sangha administration in Surat Thani at 6 aspects, namely government section, educational section, propagation section, welfare education section, public welfare section, public facilities section. The populations used are Buddhist abbots living in 347 temples and pick up abbots at random form for 186 temples, namely selecting the representative from each district used for data gathering by percentage in statistics. The data analyzed is frequency, and percentage according to abbots who can do their normal or increasing or decreasing or discontinuous missions during the coronavirus epidemic crisis situation from January to Mar, 2020. The results of analysis data are presented by the table with explanation.
2. Qualitative research is, studying the concept of Sufficient Economy from ideological documents related to this research. Leading the analysis, the synthesis and interpretation is for solving the abbots’s missions that were impacted by Covid-19 situation in Surat Thani in 2 conditions. This is composed of knowing the moderation (Mạchc ̣himāpt̩ipthā) at the level of not doing something too little or too much and knowing oneself. Moreover, the aspects of economy, society, natural resources, and culture take the moderations and the sufficiency into consideration in the ways that will not cause any harm to self and others. And, knowing the cause is the decision about the level of sufficiency must based on cause and reason by carefully considering all related factors and the expected outcome according to the principle, law, morality and good culture.
Having self immunity is preparing oneself to handle the
impacts and changes that may happen by considering the possibility of the circumstances that expected to occur in the future. In term of mind, Virtue should be promoted, by comprising the awareness of honesty, patience, perseverance, and intelligence in leading one’s life. In the action, the contentment is consisting in thrift, honesty, patience, perseverance, generosity and donation, being responsible for the society. The condition of Knowledge is comprised of training themselves and all-around knowledge in the relevant fields and prudence in bringing this knowledge into consideration to understand the relationship among the field so as to use them to aid in the planning and ensure carefulness in the operation.
3. Field research is, studying the guidelines of solutions affecting the abbots’ missions in Sangha administration in Surat Thani, according to the concept of the Sufficient Economy. From discussion with four groups, such as abbots, commanders, religious scholars, abbots’ subordinates, and volunteers are collected by purposive sampling for five people in each group. The instrument The instrument used for data gathering is questionnaire including the guidelines of solutions affecting the abbots missions at 5 aspects: 1) to build a body of knowledge, 2) to create the method of development, 3) to learn and cooperate with other institutions, 4) to coordinate the relationship of community networks and society and 5) to assess the value of promotion (target). The questionnaires created get information from review documents and related research and they are examined by 3 specialists. Moreover, what the specialists suggested, the researcher would develop the questionnaires in a better way.
And then, the researcher asks for a permission document from the graduate school to go into the field. The data from questionnaires collected are analyzed by description, synthesis, and interpretation.
4. The data from the document and field research analyzed should be categorized for the guidelines of solutions affecting the abbots’ missions at 5 aspects: 1) to build a body of knowledge, 2) to create the method of development, 3) to learn and cooperate with other institutions, 4) to coordinate the relationship of community networks and society and 5) to assess the value of promotion (target) as mentioned.
5. The interpretation of the body of new knowledge including the guidelines of solutions affecting the abbots missions is divided at 5 main aspects: 1) to build a body of knowledge, 2) to create the method of development, 3) to learn and cooperate with other institutions, 4) to coordinate the relationship of community networks and society and 5) to assess the value of promotion for the guidelines according to sufficient economic for solving the abbots’s missions that were impacted by Covid-19 situation in Surat Thani in the future.
THE RESULTS OF RESEARCH
It is found that the main issues to answer the purposes of this research are as follows:
4.1 The missions of the abbots in Surat Thani must do in 6 aspects: 1) Governance: the following of the Dhamma and the Discipline, The Sangha Act, the Sangha Supreme Council of Thailand, the law of the land, 2) Education: the consist of Dhamma-Pali-General-Higher education section of
PhraPariyattidhamma Schools, 3) Welfare education: the consist of the children’s training center, the Sunday school, the charity School of Buddhism, the scholarships for children, 4) Religious propagation: including with the monk teachers in Buddhist schools, the sermon in the Buddhist ceremony, the lecture of giving lectures, the instruction of Vipassana Meditation, 5) Public utilities: the consist of the construction, the restoration in the temple and the community surrounding the temple, 6) Public welfare: the construction of road, water resource, water supply, and electricity, the roadside pavilion, the distribution of the consumer in the critical situation from flooding, windstorm, fire and even Corona virus, the religious rite, the facilitation for the community and temple in religious activities and so on. In consequence, the overall abbot’s activities in Surat Thani found that the 6 aspects of abbots’
missions can be ranked from normal to low as follows: there are 34 temples ranked first, it is about 18.22 percent, followed by the 4 temples increasingly are about 2.16 of the percent, and the 38 temples can not do their missions and decrease in 20.66 percent, moreover, the 110 temples can not complete their activities, it is approximately 59.03 percent, respectively. The date detail is as below:
Table 1 The completion of the abbots’ mission
From the table, it is seen that the abbot's mission is impacted by different problems.
4.2 The Philosophy of a Sufficiency Economy can be adopted by all people simply by adhering to the middle path.
The concept of sufficiency economy can be concluded in three principles, namely, moderation means sufficiency at the level of not doing something too little or too much at the expense of oneself or others. It is based on moderation, prudence, social immunity, knowledge, and virtue as guidelines in living, without suffering themselves and others.
The second path is reasonableness in the decision concerning the level of sufficiency that must be made rationally with consideration of the factors involved and careful anticipation of the outcomes that may be expected from such action. The third path, risk Management means the preparation to cope with the likely impact and changes in various aspects by considering the probability of future situations. And decisions and activities must be carried out at a sufficient level depending on two conditions. At first, Knowledge, comprising all-around knowledge in the relevant fields and prudence in bringing this knowledge into consideration to understand the relationship among the field so as to use them to aid in the planning and ensure carefulness in the operation.
The second, Virtue to be promoted, comprising the awareness of honesty, patience, perseverance, and intelligence in leading one’s life. The philosophy of a sufficiency economy can lead to the goal of establishing economic stability. The sufficiency
economy can be applied to all levels, branches, and sectors of the economy by using similar principles of emphasizing moderation in performance, reasonableness, and creating immunity for oneself and society. Under the decisions and activities of knowledge and virtue, if people can actually understand the guideline, performance, and explanation of sufficiency economy. It can be used as a course of action and the consequence involving the development of the physical and mental balance to cope with the unstable situation in terms of an economy, society environment, knowledge, and technology including the mind.
4.3 The guideline for resolving the impacts of the abbot's mission in Surat Thani is composed of 5 aspects as follows:
1) having to build a body of knowledge about the abbot's mission, the principles of sufficiency economy, the body of knowledge Know about the coronavirus epidemic crisis situation. 2) Must learn and cooperate with all 5 institutions, namely religious institutions, government institutions, educational institutions, family institutions, and mass media institutions. 3) Must coordinate the relationship of community networks and society in all 6 aspects: the east side is parents, the south side is teachers, the west side is the wife or husband, the north side is friends, the lower direction, namely servants, subordinates, the upper direction, namely monks. 4) Must be creative and develop, namely: to promote-support, to improve-develop. 5) Must assess the value of promotion (target): have value, benefit, and cost-effectiveness (quantitative-visible, concrete-objective), does it respond to social needs? able to meet the needs of society (Qualitative- seeing abstract-looking mentally).
ORIGINALITY AND NEW BODY OF KNOWLEDGE
This research is a part of the research entitled “the guidelines for resolving the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation on the abbots in Sangha administration in Surat Thani” from the study and interview that:
The body of knowledge obtained from the research of the solution guidelines according to sufficient economic for solving the abbot’s missions in Surat Thani is MSC Model, which is Missions Sufficiency Economy and Coronavirus.
This can be described as follows: Missions Abbot's missions include governance, education, education, welfare, propagation, public utilities. Public welfare Sufficiency Economy: moderation, reasonableness, good self-immunity, knowledge, morality Coronavirus: knowledge of the coronavirus epidemic crisis as following below:
Figure 1 MSC Model
CONCLUSION
The guideline involving sufficient economy to solve the impacts of the abbot’s missions are fond at 5 aspects that: 1) having to build a body of knowledge about the abbot's mission in the governance, education, welfare education, religious propagation, public utilities, and public welfare, to build the principles of sufficiency economy in aspects of the moderation, reasonableness, risk Management, knowledge, and virtue as guidelines, and to build the body of knowledge about the coronavirus epidemic crisis situation by Wearing a mask, washing hands frequently, avoiding touch the several parts of the body, if do not wash hands, avoiding stay when in crowded areas, keeping a 2-meters distance from others, if you get a cough, you should do the right way, cleaning frequently the used equipment and using the application called “Morprom” or “Thaichana”. 2) Must learn and cooperate with all 5 institutions, namely religious institutions, government institutions, educational institutions, family institutions, and mass media institutions as mentioned above.
3) Must coordinate the relationship of community networks and society in all 6 aspects: the parents, teachers, the wife or husband, the friends, the supporters, the monks and build the network for the solution guidelines according to sufficient economic for solving the abbot’s missions that were impacted by Covid-19 situation in Surat Thani. 4) Must be creative and develop, namely leading the research result of the missions in 6 aspects is divided at 3 levels (excellent/good-medium/fair- low/poor). The low results for the research should be amended together, and the fair research results can be improved to others. Moreover, it is suggested that the excellent results should be supported by the abbot’s activities related to the coronavirus epidemic crisis. 5) Must assess the value of promotion (target): have value, benefit, and cost- effectiveness (quantitative-visible, concrete-objective), does it respond to social needs? able to meet the needs of society (Qualitative-seeing abstract-looking mentally).
SUGGESTION
1. Policy recommendations: when the research results have been done, it should lead the research to develop in its own district or province, namely 1) The project of Dhamma study in informal school. 2) The project of giving scholarships helps the good students, but they are poor, and so on.
2. Practical suggestions:1) Welfare education fun should always be set up by the Sangha of each district. 2) The abbots at all levels must learn the use of technology to drive the missions and APT works effectively.
3. Recommendations for future research: 1) he results of solving Corona virus issue effect on the development of APT works according to sufficient economic, 2) The guidelines according to sufficient economic for solving the abbot’s missions that were impacted by the corona virus epidemic crisis situation in each region of Thailand.
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