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Sermons (`teed')

Sermons are also chanted and therefore require practice. The quality
of recitation itself, apart from the words, is a matter of great aesthetic
appreciation on the part of the congregation.

In the village, sermons are not free creations of the novice (or monk)
who gives them. They are standardized and there is an appropriate one
for each particular occasion or set of occasions, written down in palm-leaf
manuscripts. In the past the writing was inscribed by human hand; today,
one frequently sees palm-leaf documents on which the words are printed.
The latter applies to documents in the Thai script, which are increasingly
supplementing the older Tham texts.

Types and content of sermons. 1. One kind are those which enumerate
or `tell' the advantages of making merit (baug anisonk), which in fact
means giving gifts to the monks and the village temple. Typical occasions
when merit-making is extolled are:

Bun prasaad pueng: making merit for a dead person after the cremation
rites are over by carrying a palanquin of gifts to the monks and also
feasting them;

Bun kathin: giving of gifts by the village to the monks after they have
completed Lent seclusion (during the rains), and emerge again into the
world. It is after this ceremony that the temporary monks resume lay life.

2. Another set of sermons are rather specialized and are reserved for
the celebration of the opening of newly constructed (or repaired) khuti
(monks' living quarters), sala (preaching hall), wihaan or bood (sacred
place of worship). These buildings are always constructed by laymen;
it is a classical requirement that monks cannot construct these buildings
for their use.

3. The third category of sermons deserves special attention. They are
called teed nitarn (sermons which relate stories), and these sermons not
only have implications for the villagers' understanding of the morality
and ethics of Buddhism but also represent the focus of genuine audience
participation and a channel of cultural transmission beyond the narrowly
religious. Traditionally, the teed nitarn constitute a major component
of nansy Tham (sacred palm-leaf books). Teed nitarn can be differentiated
as follows: (a) Pathom Sompote. These are stories (nitarn) concerning the
life of the Buddha, especially his birth, the renouncing of his kingly life,
achievement of nirvana, and also the episodes of his previous lives embodied
as Chadok (Jataka) stories. These stories are a common substance of
sermons, and are widely known throughout Thailand, but each region
has its own version or adaptation. The sermons mentioned here are thus
north-eastern creations. (b) Lam Phrawesandaun. This is a story of the
same category as (a) above but deserves special mention because it is
a work of many chapters, based on the great and moving story of Buddha's
penultimate life, as related in the Wessaundon Chadok (Vessantara Jataka).
It is the major sermon listened to (the reading takes a full day) on the
occasion of Bun Phraawes, which is the village's largest religious and
secular festival held after harvest. The north-eastern version of this story
has its counterpart in the Maha Chad (`Great Story') known in Central
Thailand. (c) Stories which are primarily local and regional myths and
folk tales, and which are not found elsewhere. These are particularly
appreciated by the listeners, for whom their moral significance is secondary
to their dramatic value as stories. The best known stories are, to give
examples, Pha Daeng Nang Ai, Tao Sowat, Tao Phii Noi, Tao Chan
Samut, Tao Ten Don, and Tao Nokrajog. The first named of these stories
will concern us in a later chapter.

All the categories of sermons (1-3) are given on the occasion of the
major collective calendrical temple festivals or are read by monks to
laymen during the Lent season. For example, Lam Phrawesandaun (3(b))
is read on the last day of the three-day Bun Phraawes. Category types 1
and 3 sermons are preached at Org Phansa (the conclusion of Lent and
the `coming out' of the monks) and Bun Khaw Chi (making merit for the
dead with puffed rice); some of them also comprise minor sermons
during Bun Phraawes.

I have already stated that the Pali chants have little meaning content
for the layman; the chanting of them on certain occasions is regarded
as efficacious in a `magical' sense. By contrast, the various sermons read
and explained in the north-eastern language are better understood by the
listeners. It is interesting to note that, on merit-making occasions, it is the

villagers who choose the sermon they would like to hear, and it was
reported by the abbot that for the major festivals the villagers invariably
choose a sermon of category 3.

Whereas stories of the life of the Buddha are universal in Thailand
and are heard in variant forms by all Buddhist congregations, we see
that the propagation and transmission of tales which have originated in,
or at least are confined to, the North-east (and perhaps Laos) help to
maintain regional cultural identity vis-à-vis other cultural regions of
Thailand.[5] The temple, of course, is not the only channel of transmission
—folk opera (mau lum) transmits the same stories through a different
medium; furthermore, literate villagers may themselves possess copies of
nitarn and read them at funeral wakes to entertain the mourners and guests.

In recent times, as may be expected, the sermons of categories 1 and
2, which are common to Thai Buddhism in general, have tended to
become standardized by virtue of their being written or printed in the
Thai alphabet. Increasingly, the stories (nitarn) of category 3, including
the north-eastern tales and myths (3(c)), are also being printed in the
Thai alphabet while linguistically retaining the local dialectal form.