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7 Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order Lucien M. Hanks, Jr. the cosmic order As good Buddhists, the Thai perceive that all living beings stand in a hierarchy of varying ability to make actions effective and of varying degrees of freedom from suffering. As actions become more effective, beings suffer less; the two vary together; such is the nature of existence. Above man in shimmering space stand the angels and gods who, with a single word, can stop the course of rivers. Man, however, must dig and delve to turn a rivulet , feeble efforts that may be wrecked in a moment by a sudden freshet. But man’s effectiveness in action and freedom from suffering exceed those of the animals standing beneath him on the hierarchy. Animals share with man a corporeal existence limited to the surface of the earth, but man is somewhat more able to cope with rain and cold. While animals wander in search of food, man has learned to produce and store his, at least until the next harvest. This hierarchy depends on a composite quality called “merit” (bun) or “virtue” (khwaamdii), or one may also speak of a graded series of penalties (baap). Yet in translation these words fail to convey the particular Thai emphasis . Like a dog snarling to keep his bone, a lower being is more covetous than a higher one who would generously give away his last bowl of rice. The emphasis lies in selflessness. Instead of using his effectiveness in action to tend his own wants, the selfless farmer, feeling compassionate toward creatures of greater suffering, feeds his buffalo before turning to his own meal. Compassion, however, cannot work unaided by understanding; the powerful angel in the forest allows many lost and weary travelers to pass unaided, for he chooses to help only the worthy ones who will be strengthened in virtue, knowing that the evil will continue their evil deeds. In English, “merit” implies a fixed characteristic, but the Thai equivalent sees a person always gaining or losing merit. Even a humble ox can do 90 / Lucien M. Hanks, Jr. good, be it only by drawing faithfully his master’s cart. Of course, by dint of his greater merit, an angel is freer to help and also to harm than this ox. There are no fallen angels in the Thai cosmos. When sins cause the fall of Satan and Lucifer, they metamorphose for their next existence into creatures lower in the hierarchy with less effective action and greater suffering. The loathsome demons of the Thai cosmos are only powerful beings who inflict suffering on the sinful with as much justice as the angels who bring good. Such is the nature of the cosmic hierarchy where effectiveness in action and freedom from suffering vary with the degree of merit, yet no being is fixed to any special position. Only the stations are fixed, while the metamorphosing individual beings rise and fall in the hierarchy. In accordance with past merit, one being may be born a snake to crawl helplessly in darkness while another may be born an angel free to move unhampered by matter . After death their positions might be reversed. mankind The same laws apply in the human social order which is but a segment of the cosmic hierarchy. Because of his greater merit, a rich man is more effective than a poor man and freer from suffering. He commands his chauffeur to drive him to the government office, while the peasant must tramp through the mud to his rice field. His dependent kinsmen and servants outnumber the peasant’s small household. To this larger group the rich man gives more generously of his greater wealth; he must resist temptation to be miserly; even his servants receive better care than the peasant’s children in their thatched hut. The rich man marries off his children with more elaborate ceremony and offers more alms at the temple. Contrary to the Christian gospel, a poor widow, giving her all to the priest, remains less blessed than the rich man; both have performed meritorious acts, but the Thai observe that the effectiveness of ten thousand baht far outweighs the widow’s battered coin. As with the cosmic hierarchy, the Thai social order roots individuals in no permanent rank. To be sure, depending on merit accumulated from past existences, one is born to the advantages or disadvantages of a given social position, but one need not remain a peasant until the end...

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