Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand

Dr Tambiah describes the religious practices and beliefs of the people of a remote village in north-east Thailand.

S. J. Tambiah (Author)

9780521099585, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 September 1975

408 pages
22.9 x 15.4 x 2.3 cm, 0.59 kg

Dr Tambiah describes the religious practices and beliefs of the people of a remote village in north-east Thailand, relating them to the wider context of the civilization in which they are embedded, and examining the relationship of the religious practices of the villagers to the classical Buddhist tradition. Because they have based their studies on the Sanskrit and Pali literature, Western observers have tended to dismiss much of the popular manifestation of Buddhism as debased. Dr Tambiah demonstrates that this judgement is misleading, and emphasizes that the contemporary village religion that he describes manifests continuities as well as transformations with respect to the classical literary tradition. The village religion is described primarily through ritual.

1. Introduction: the particular and the general
2. The stage and its setting
3. Cosmology
4. Primary village concepts
5. The institution of monkhood in historical perspective
6. The rules of conduct for monks, novices, and laymen
7. The phases of monkhood
8. The monastic routine and its rewards
9. The ideology of merit
10. The cycle of collective wat rites and the agricultural calendar
11. Death, mortuary rites, and the path to rebirth
12. Liberation through hearing: the sacred words of the monks
13. Sukhwan rites: the elders summon the spirit essence
14. The co-existence of the brahman and the Buddhist monk
15. The cult of the guardian spirits
16. Myth and rite: the Naga symbol and the rocket festival
17. The afflictions caused by malevolent spirits
18. Exorcism as healing ritual
19. A kaleidoscopic view of the religious field
20. The parade of supernaturals
21. The past and present in the study of religion: continuities and transformations

Subject Areas: Anthropology [JHM]