The Ordination of a Tree

Susan M. Darlington

Description

Thai Buddhist monks wrap orange clerical robes around trees to protect forests. "Ordaining" a tree is a provocative ritual that has become the symbol of a small but influential monastic movement aimed at reversing environmental degradation and the unsustainable economic development and consumerism that fuel it. This book examines the evolution of this movement from the late 1980s to the present, exploring the tree ordination and other rituals used to resist destructive national projects. Susan M. Darlington explores monks' motivations, showing how they interpret their lived religion as the basis of their actions, and provides an in-depth portrait of activist monk Phrakhru Pitak Nanthakhun. The obstacles monks face, including damage to their reputations, arrest, and even assassination, reveal the difficulty of enacting social justice. Even the tree ordination itself must now withstand its appropriation for state projects. Despite this, monks have gone from individual action to a loosely allied movement that now works with nongovernmental organizations. This is a fascinating, firsthand account of engaged Buddhism.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
A note on Language and Names

1. The Framework

2. The Forest, the Village and the Ecology Monk

3. The Rituals

4. The Precedents

5. The Grassroots

6. The Movement

7. The Challenges

8. The Future

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Applied ecology

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438444666
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

The Ordination of a Tree
The Thai Buddhist Environmental Movement
SUSAN M. DARLINGTON

Cover photo: Informal tree ordination in Nan Province, performed by Phrakhru Wiboon Nanthakit. Credit: Susan M. Darlington.
Publication of this work has been supported by the Association for Asian Studies First Book Subvention Program, and by faculty development grants from Hampshire College.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2012 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Ryan Morris
Marketing by Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Darlington, Susan M.
The ordination of a tree : the Thai Buddhist environmental movement /
Susan M. Darlington.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4465-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Environmentalism—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 2. Environmentalism—Thailand.
I. Title.
BQ4570.E58D37 2012
294.3'37709593—dc23
2012000339
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I N MEMORY OF L UANG P U P HUTTAPOJ W ARAPORN, WITH ETERNAL GRATITUDE
Illustrations
Gallery of color photographs follows page 166. All photographs taken by Susan M. Darlington unless otherwise noted.
P LATE 1. Sacred tree at Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai
P LATE 2. Informal tree ordination in Nan Province, performed by Phrakhru Wiboon Nanthakit
P LATE 3. Formal tree ordination in Nan Province, 1991
P LATE 4. Miss Thailand Universe 2010 contestants performing a tree ordination. Photo provided by Bangkok Broadcasting & T.V. Co., Ltd. with watermark. Copyright 2010
P LATE 5. Phrakhru Pitak Nanthakhun
P LATE 6. Deforestation in Nan Province
P LATE 7. Accepting seedling donations at pha pa ton mai ceremony and tree ordination in Nan Province, 1991
P LATE 8. Celebration of Phrakhru Pitak Nanthakhun's ecclesiastical promotion and environmental award at suep chata ceremony for the Nan River, 1993
P LATE 9. Monks chanting at a tree ordination holding the sai sincana , or sacred cord, connecting them to water, the Buddha image, and the tree being consecrated
P LATE 10. Spirit shrine behind ordained tree in Phrakhru Pitak's village
P LATE 11. Skit enacting blame for deforestation on government policies, performed as part of tree ordination in Nan Province, 1991
P LATE 12. Tree to be ordained in Nan Province, 1991
P LATE 13. Headman drinking consecrated water during tree ordination in Nan Province to seal his pledge to protect the forest, 1991
P LATE 14. Ordained tree, including sign reading, “ tham lai pa khue tham lai chat ,” which is translated as, “To destroy the forest is to destroy life”
P LATE 15. Monk drawing a sign for the environmental fair at the suep chata , or long-life ritual, for the Nan River, 1993
P LATE 16. Parade for the Love the Nan River Project, 1993
P LATE 17. Suep chata pyramid for the Nan River, 1993
P LATE 18. Luang Pu Phuttapoj Waraporn (Chan Kusalo) conducting a ritual to give rural farmers donated buffalos
P LATE 19. Beautiful buffalo contest at Wat Pa Dharabhirom, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai
P LATE 20. Phrakhru Manas Nathiphitak
P LATE 21. Feeding the fish at the fish sanctuary in Don Kaew Village, Nan Province
P LATE 22. Phra Somkit Jaranathammo
P LATE 23. Phra Somkit Jaranathammo at his model integrated agriculture farm, Nan Province
P LATE 24. Cabbage field in Chom Thong District, Chiang Mai
P LATE 25. Monks at seminar on health and environmental issues, Chiang Mai, 1992
P LATE 26. Seminar for monks, “Monks' Roles in Natural Resource Conservation,” in the bot at Wat Suan Kaew, 1991
P LATE 27. Registration at seminar on “Monks' Roles in Natural Resource Conservation”
P LATE 28. Monks listening to speaker at seminar on health and environmental issues in Chiang Mai, 1992
P LATE 29. Phra Somkit Jaranathammo reporting out from small-group discussion at seminar on health and environment in Chiang Mai, 1992
P LATE 30. Phra Prajak Khuttajitto, 1992
P LATE 31. Phra Somkit Jaranathammo and Phrakhru Pitak Nanthakhun overlooking the integrated agriculture farm at a meditation center in Nan Province, 2010
Acknowledgments
T HIS BOOK HAS BEEN a long time in the making. I owe a great many people gratitude for their help and support along the way, most importantly the monks who gave me their time, shared their stories, and were infinitely patient with me. First and foremost, this project would not have happened at all were it not for Luang Pu Phuttapoj Waraporn (Chan Kusalo). His willingness to let me research the work of the Foundation for Education and Development of Rural Areas (FEDRA) at Wat Pa Darabhirom in Chiang Mai gave me a start on understanding the engaged Buddhist monks in Thailand. Luang Pu shared his wisdom, insights, and humor with me for the two years of my dissertation research, and every time I visited him over the more than twenty years since. I am only one of many people who mourned his passing in 2008, but he left us all with tremendous gifts. I hope this book gives back at least some of what he gave to me.
Phrakhru Pitak Nanthakhun and Phra Somkit Jaranathammo, both of Nan Province, welcomed me into my research on environmental monks in the early 1990s. They patiently put up with my endless questions, and invited me to participate in various rituals, events, seminars, and conferences. As with Luang Pu Phuttapoj, I am honored to count them among my most important teachers. I hope I have interpreted their ideas and words correctly, and that they will forgive any mistakes.
I visited Phra Paisal Visalo at his forest meditation center in Chaiyaphum for several days in 1992, during which he graciously allowed me to interview him at great length. Several years later, he granted me another interview. From him, I gained sharp, critical insights into both the social problems activist monks attempt to deal with and the challenges within the sangha itself. Several other monks also gave me their time and thoughts through interviews and at seminars. These included Phrakhru Manas Nathiphitak, Achan Pongsak Techadhammo, Phra Prajak Khuttajitto, the late Phra Phothirangsri, the late Phrakhru Saokham, Luang Pho Nan (Phrakhru Phiphitprachanat), Phra Maha Chan Khunwuttho, Santikaro Bhikkhu, Phra Sunthorn Yannitsaro, Phra Maha Boonchuay Siridharo, Phra Kittisak Kittisophano, and Phrakhru Wiboon Nanthakit, among others. To each of these revered monks, I convey my humble thanks, grateful for what they each taught me. They are only a few of many activist monks who take risks every day to share the dhamma and help end suffering in light of contemporary social issues. My goal and hope are to help a larger world understand their work, their interpretations of the dhamma, and the contexts within which they practice.
Beyond the monks, many lay people in Thailand made this work possible. In many ways, this project was collaborative because of the degree of assistance and exchange of ideas I had with some of my Thai colleagues. Pipob Udomittipong helped me at every stage of my research since the early 1990s. Several times he and his wife, Buachan, opened their home to me, and traveled with me from Chiang Mai to Nan. While the ideas here are ultimately my own, I benefited greatly from Pipob's insights and experience.
In Nan, Samruay Phadphon became a true friend and guide. He and Bunmee, his wonderful wife, invited me to live with them in the city while I was undertaking my primary research. Their home became my refuge and base, and Samruay and I would talk about politics and environmental issues well into the night. Their first two children, Bow and Rain, kept things in perspective for me with their humor and play.
Others in Nan generously helped me negotiate the place and politics surrounding environmentalism and Buddhism. Achan Prateep Insang, Aeng, and the staff at Hak Muang Nan all contributed significantly to my understanding of the province, its culture and way of life, and the problems it faces. The family I stayed with and the headman in the village where I focused my research deserve special thanks for their hospitality and patience.
One should consider one's self fortunate to have a good mentor. By that standard, I am doubly blessed. Don Swearer, the teacher I never had as an undergraduate or graduate student, has guided and advised me over the years since we first met in Chiang Mai. Sulak Sivaraksa has been a constant source of support and insight, as well as helping me with numerous contacts that made my research possible. I learned from both Achan Don and Achan Sulak important lessons surrounding not only the content of my research, but the worlds of academia and activism respectively. I hope I have lived up to their expectations and models, and continually thank them for being there.
The anthropologists at Chiang Mai University offered support and even sponsored some of my research trips. In particular, I am grateful for guidance and feedback from Anan Ganajapan, Sharlardchai Ramitanondh, and Chayan Vaddhanaphuti.
Friends and colleagues across Thailand, the United States, and elsewhere provided insights, assistance, and support, including Vasana Phethay, my research assistant. Vasana put up with many challenges and difficulties in dealing with a farang researcher, taking on numerous arduous and sometimes boring tasks critical to the project. Yoko Hayami, Nina Kammerer, Patricia Symonds, Debbie Wong, and Mary Beth Mills were all in the field at the same times I was at vari