Buddhism, Education and Politics in Burma and Thailand

Download or read book Buddhism, Education and Politics in Burma and Thailand written by Khammai Dhammasami and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-01-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on primary sources in Pali, Burmese and Thai, practising monk Venerable Khammai Dhammasami guides the reader through the complex history of monastic education in two neighbouring countries with very different Buddhist societies: Burma and Thailand. This book provides a clear account of the ways in which royal leaders and monastic institutions worked to develop monastic education in the face of changing political and economic conditions, including colonialism and the political instability of the 19th and 20th centuries. It studies influences from both British colonists and Siamese/Thai reformers, and engages with primary material, including documents from Burmese monasteries, royal orders, royal chronicles, and official government records. As the first book to examine monastic education in Burma and Thailand, this is a welcome contribution to the social, monastic and religious history of Southeast Asia, and the growing field of Burmese Buddhist Studies.