 | Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand |  |
BUILDING A `BOOD': A LONG-TERM ECONOMIC PLAN
The economy of Baan Phraan Muan is such that no man is rich enough
to engage in the conspicuous merit-making act of building a wat or any
of its component structures. Sponsoring the ordination of a son or relative
or holding mortuary rites and various merit-making rites in the home,
at which a group of monks are feasted and given gifts, is possible by an
individual or a household but usually necessitates wide-scale rendering
of mutual aid and financial donations by kinsmen, neighbours and friends.
I shall now describe a collective attempt by the village community to
plan, gather resources, and build a bood for the village. The description
reveals two features which are worth emphasizing in the context of the
doctrines of `loose structure' and `economic inefficiency', which some
writers attribute to the kind of society I am describing: one, the voluntarily
accepted and implemented obligations on the part of villagers, which
shows the propensity to co-operative effort; and two, the sense of long-term
economic planning and rational systematic marshalling of the economic
resources of the village in order to achieve something it regards as
worthwhile.
The village wat lacks a proper bood, which is the hallmark of a well-established
wat that can ordain its own monks. Some years ago the village
wat was moved to the present location, which was the site of a previous
wat that lay in ruins, and was, no doubt, `ancient' as evidenced by the
statues dug up. The remains of a bood and the presence of sima stones
(which signified that the ground was consecrated for all time) were
sufficient precedent and stimulus for the villagers to aspire to build an
imposing new bood which would give prestige to them and their village.
The wat committee consisting of the abbot and three elders met together
in late 1965 with the headman, discussed the project and the necessary
steps to be taken, and agreed to call a village meeting at the headman's
house. The traditional bamboo device (khau rau) was sounded at night
to call the villagers and some hundred of them, mostly males, assembled
(`women', it was said, `do not attend meetings'). Those assembled
agreed to accept the following recommendations of the wat committee:
1. every household was to contribute 500 bricks. Instead of making
the bricks themselves, villagers were asked to contribute the cash value
of 80 baht per household so that well-made bricks could be purchased.
This was a compulsory obligation;
2. a plea was made for two kinds of voluntary contribution: (a) donations
of paddy to the amount of 3 muen (about 36 kilograms) per household
were solicited (pae khaw pleng); (b) adults and youth, both male and
female, were requested to contribute free labour (khau laeng).
The district abbot of Amphur Pen—a previous abbot of Phraan Muan
village and still its patron and counsellor—went to Bangkok to secure
a building plan from the Department of Religious Affairs. Building
operations were commenced in February 1966 after the completion of
harvest when the granaries were stocked and the villagers were free of
agricultural work.
A set of contractors of Annamese origin undertook to build the foundations
for a fee of 4,000 baht. After digging for the foundations and installing
the bases for pillars, they pulled out, demanding a fee of 1,500 baht for
the work done. This incident is typical of diasters that plague village-based
monumental projects undertaken with insufficient money and business
knowledge. Subsequently, another group of Thai contractors, from the
town of Udorn, were employed to complete the foundations for 3,000 baht
and to build the pillars for 1,500 baht.
The collection of sufficient money for buying building materials and
for paying the builders has been a difficult task. By August 1966, village
households had freely contributed over 300 muen of paddy, which was
transported from the village by young women to the market and sold for
`brick' payments. Money collected at previous festivals, constituting the
bank balance of the wat, was also committed to the project.
By August 1966, the initial operations were successfully completed at
the cost of 20,000 baht for building materials, 1,500 baht to the Annamese
contractors, and 4,500 baht to the second group of builders. The result
of meeting these commitments was a debt of 3,700 baht which the wat
committee owed to fellow villagers, who loaned money to them on interest
in order to meet the bills.
It should be noted that the contracting workmen, about three in number,
provide only the expert services of mason and carpenter. The unskilled
manual work of transporting the building materials from the town, helping
the artisan-craftsmen by carrying sand and water to the building site,
digging the ground, etc., is provided free by village men and women,
especially those of the junior luug-laan generation. Meetings are called at
which they receive work instructions.
Thus, some seven months after the building was commenced, there
stands the incomplete shell of the bood with firm foundations and sturdy
pillars. Villagers estimate that it would take them 10-15 years and (for
them) an astronomical sum of money to complete the edifice with floor,
walls, roof, ornamentation, statues and furniture. Barring the calamities
of international politics, they will, if left in peace, accomplish their long-term
economic plan with the sweat of their brow and the denial of luxuries
for their personal comfort and enjoyment. The building itself will be
a substantive representation of their co-operative effort and sacrifice.
Have not deliverance from old age and death, and more sumptuous
treasures of the world, been promised them for such acts of charity? And
has it not always been the case that it is on the labour of the masses
that the edifice of a spiritual Sangha can arise to pursue higher things,
even if the donors are not humble peasants but magnificent kings?
| Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand | |