Modern Thai Buddhism and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu: A Social History

Chapter 5: Abhidhamma Controversies: The Supreme Doctrine in the Buddhist Public Sphere

137 Abhidhamma Controversies: The Supreme Doctrine in the Buddhist Public Sphere The period from the Second World War to the 14 October Students’ Uprising in 1973 was one of increasing liveliness in the Buddhist public sphere of Thailand. The expansion of education and the development of mass communication enhanced popular access and the sharing of new ideas transmitted by individuals to the public. Religious textbooks became available, enabling people to confirm the validity of their traditional beliefs and to clarify their vague interpretations of Buddhist symbols, concepts, sayings, and narratives. Scriptural specialists could no longer contain sacred knowledge among small circles of their disciples; rather, they publicized it for the benefit of pious Buddhists outside monasteries. Monks started to deliver their sermons in plain Thai, rather than just ritualistically reading palm leaf scriptures written in an inaccessible classical language, and admonished people to reflect on their attitudes, pointing to insightful stories or interpretations of Buddhist concepts. More and more people became interested in learning about the details of Buddhist doctrine beyond the basic levels of the Thai ’s ecclesiastical education.  was one of the influential Buddhist preachers who explained complex Buddhist doctrines in an understandable way; he was highly respected by a wide range of people. While ’s teaching was gaining popularity, the study of the Abhidhamma, the highly refined definitions and exegesis of Buddhist doctrines that had been developed in the  school, rapidly prevailed among Thai Buddhists in the 1950s and 1960s. An interesting phenomenon of Abhidhamma study in contemporary Thailand is its popularity among lay Buddhists, not just among monastic scholars and their novice students. Those CHAPTER 5 138 Modern Thai Buddhism and Buddhadsa Bhikkhu lay Buddhists who attended lectures and classes to study the Abhidhamma included not only intellectuals who had become interested in the observation of the mind through meditation practice by following the Abhidhamma theory of mind, but also middling educated urban commoners who were not necessarily very wealthy. They were excited to discover the precise Buddhist doctrines in the Abhidhamma, which was knowledge previously unavailable to them. The popularity of Buddhist doctrinal studies in the mid-20th century can be divided into two distinctive groups: one led by  and his followers who focussed on the study of lokuttara dhamma and emptiness; the other composed of learners of the Abhidhamma theory. It is not surprising to find that rivalry arose between these two groups. The Abhidhamma groups’ harsh criticism of ’s unique interpretations of Buddhist doctrine gained the particular attention of scholars who had studied ’s thought. Studies by both Jackson and Gabaude contrasted the dichotomous characteristics of  and the Abhidhamma groups and analyzed their different stances as the root of their conflict. Jackson was of the opinion that ’s opponents, most of whom were dedicated learners and teachers of the Abhidhamma, represented a “conservative” or “traditional” viewpoint, and thus it was difficult for them to accept ’s “progressive” or “innovative” interpretations.1 Gabaude indicated that the distinct positions of  and the Abhidhamma groups were respectively “interpretative” and “scholastic,” “rationalist” and “supernaturalist.”2 Gabaude’s dichotomous contrasts of  and the Abhidhamma groups were based on ’s consistent tendency to demythologize supernatural religious narratives and to interpret them rationally as metaphors of psychological occurrences; this in opposition to studies of the Abhidhamma following a systematic summary of exegesis interpretations in the  Buddhist tradition. The theory of the Abhidhamma is supported by scholastically sophisticated texts and involves some stories and ideas dealing with supernatural phenomena such as rebirth in accordance with one’s kamma (the consequences of one’s past actions). Nevertheless, even though the  and other later exegesis may have laid claim to the authority of “orthodoxy” in  Buddhism, as will be seen later in this chapter, the activities of Abhidhamma groups were run by enthusiastic individuals independent of the religious authority of the , a position from which someone could lay a claim to “orthodoxy.” The primary requirement for an understanding of the nature of conflict between  and his Abhidhamma opponents is a fair knowledge of Abhidhamma Controversies 139 the rapid development of Abhidhamma studies in contemporary Thailand. In fact, in the existing sociological studies of Thai Buddhism, there is little work dealing with the popularization of Abhidhamma studies in contemporary Thailand, even though the phenomenon is no less significant than the new Buddhist groups, such as Santi Asoke and , which arose in the 1970s, became prominent in the 1980s and the 1990s...