World Conqueror and World Renouncer
A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand against a Historical Background

This is the first comprehensive and authoritative work on the relationship between Buddhism and the polity in Thailand.

S. J. Tambiah (Author)

9780521292900, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 November 1977

568 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 3.2 cm, 0.957 kg

World Conqueror and World Renouncer is the first comprehensive and authoritative work on the relationship between Buddhism and the polity (political organization) in Thailand. The book conveys the historical background necessary for full comprehension of the contemporary structural relationship between Buddhism, the sangha (monastic order), and the polity, including the historic institution of kingship. Professor Tambiah delineates the overall relationship, as postulated in early Buddhism, between the monk's otherworldly quest on one side and the this-worldly ordinating role of the monarchy on the other. He also examines the complementary and dialectical tensions that occur in this classical relationship, the king's duty to both protect and purify the sangha being a notable example.

Part I: 1. Introduction: Reconstructing a Journey
2. From Rajadharma (the King's "Whole Duty") to Dharmaraja (the "Righteous Ruler")
3. The Brahmanical Theory of Society and Kingship
4. The Early Buddhist Conception of World Process, Dharma, and Kingship
5. Asoka Maurya: The Paradigm
6. Thai Kingship and Polity in Historical Perspective 7. The Galactic Polity
8. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya: Design and Process
9. Asokan and Sinhalese Traditions Concerning the Purification of the Sangha
10. The Sangha and the Polity: From Ayutthaya to Bangkok
11. The Nineteenth-Century Achievements of Religion and Sangha
Appendix to Chapter 11: The Symbolization of Monarchy in the Nineteenth Century
12. The Sangha Acts of 1902, 1941, and 1963
Part II: 13. The Composition and Distribution of Religious Personnel: What the Figures Say
14. Monkhood as an Avenue of Social Mobility
15. Monastic Careers and Monastic Network
Appendix to Chapter 15: Monastic Networks in Christian Europe and Thailand
16. Patronage of the Sangha and the Legitimation of the Polity
17. Reformism and Ideological Transformation Based on Tradition
18. Missionary Monks (Thammathud) and National Development
Appendix to Chapter 18: The Monks' Universities
19. The Politics of National Development and the Symbols c Legitimacy
20. Dialectical Tensions, Continuities, Transformations, and the Uses of the Past

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]