Complete Story of Buddhism in Thailand: How Thailand became a Buddhist Country

Thailand is home to the second largest Buddhist population of more than 63 million, only after China which has the largest Buddhist population in the world. The country is dotted with more than 41,000 Buddhist temples and monasteries which house around 350,000 monks. Buddhism has shaped every aspect of the social and cultural life of the people for more than 1500 years. But how did Buddhism reach Thailand? Did Buddhism first arrive during the 3rd century BC through one of the missions sent by King Ashoka or Buddhism reached much later from Sri Lanka or Myanmar? We will explore these questions and also explore the amazing journey of Buddhism in Thailand. During the 3rd century BC, King Ashoka of Magadh sent a mission to Swarnbhumi headed by elder monks Sona and Uttara. Many scholars claim that Swarnbhumi could have been the ancient Monk Kingdom of Dwarawati. There are multiple conflicting claims regarding the exact location of Swarnbhumi ranging from southern Myanmar to Cambodia and Laos. But certainly Swarnbhumi was somewhere in Southeast Asia. Buddhism may have reached the people residing in Thailand during the 3rd century BC. Another king who is known to have sent Buddhist missions to the neighboring countries of Southeast Asia was Kushan King Kanishka. He ruled over North India during the 2nd century AD. He promoted Mahayan Buddhism across Southeast Asia including in Sumatra, Java and Cambodia. From the 5th century AD, Mahayan Buddhist missions from Kashmir began to regularly visit Sumatra. Buddhism spread to Java and Cambodia from Sumatra. The Srivijaya kings based on the island of Sumatra rose in power from the 7th to 12th century AD and spread across Southeast Asia. Part of South Thailand came under their rule and Mahayan Buddhism spread in the southern parts of Thailand during their period. However, the first recorded Buddhist kingdom in Thailand was the Mon-Dwarawati kingdom which existed between the 6th and 11th centuries and was based in central Thailand. Here the first indigenous Thai culture started and they followed Theravada Buddhism which had reached Dwarawati from Sri Lanka. This is proved by the Sri Lankan style Buddhist art and other archaeological remains including the Dharmachakra and inscriptions in Pali language. The Mon kingdoms were defeated and captured by the kings from Myanmar and Cambodia. During the 11th century, Theravada reached the northern parts of Thailand through Myanmar as well. In 1057 AD, King Anavaratha or Anurtha became the first king of unified Myanmar. He extended his kingdom up to the northern parts of Thailand and extensively promoted Theravada Buddhism. One of the most important and powerful empires in Southeast Asia was the Hindu-Buddhist Khmer empire based in Angkor. They ruled over most of the Southeast Asian mainland from the 9th century to the 15th century. The Khmer kingdom included a large part of present-day Thailand. They followed Hinduism and Mahayan Buddhism. The influences of Hindu culture in modern Thailand could be traced to the Khmer period. There is a difference between the geographical area which you call Thailand and the Thai ethnic groups. The ethnic Thai people started migrating from the regions of South China between the 8th to 10th centuries. They were driven south because of the Han expansion which displaced many ethnic groups residing in South China. Eventually, they reached several parts of Southeast Asia which included the northeastern parts of India, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. They gradually settled in the Chao Phraya valley in Thailand from the 10th century onwards. At first, they were powerless migrants who settled in the areas ruled by the Khmer empire. However, as the existing powers faded, Sri Indra Ditya formed the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1238 AD and declared independence from the Khmers. People of this new kingdom called themselves Thai, a word that means free. Gradually, the Sukhothai kingdom expanded across the region. Under King Ramkhamhaeng, Sukhothai became a dominant power in Southeast Asia. He ruled the kingdom between 1279 to 1298 AD and was a great hero in Thai history. He is also credited with establishing the Thai alphabet which is very similar to the Sanskrit alphabet of India. He made Theravada the official state religion. He also sent some monks to Sri Lanka to obtain the Upasampada Vidhi or the ordination rites from Sri Lanka who established Lankavansha lineage in Thailand. The Sukhothai kingdom started to decline in the mid 14th century. In 1438, the kingdom got fully absorbed by the Ayutthaya which was another prominent Thai kingdom in the south of Sukhothai. There was another contemporary powerful Thai kingdom called the Lanna with its capital at Chiang Mai. It was here that the world-famous emerald Buddha was housed. The statue is now placed in Bangkok. This is a very beautiful image which emerged out of a stupa when it was hit by a lightning and eventually stupa collapsed due to the strike. Lanna was able to maintain its independence for a long time even after the Sukhothai was lost. They were invaded and defeated in 1558 by the king of Myanmar. Perhaps the most important Thai kingdom in history was the kingdom of Ayutthaya which was founded in 1350. The Ayutthaya kingdom was finally able to force the Khmer kingdom to submission. This period was marked by well-developed art, architecture and literature. The city of Ayutthaya was an island surrounded by rivers and the city functioned as the center of the empire. The kingdom expanded rapidly and the territory of the kingdom stretched from the Malay islands to the borders of the central Myanmar. King U Thong or Ramathabodhi I made Theravada the official religion. During the 14th century, he also developed a legal code influenced by Hindu theology and local customs called Dhan Shastra. Dhan Shastra was in effect for the next 500 years until the 20th century. In the 15th century, great literature on Thai Buddhism was written. This was an epic poem on Vasantarajataka which recounts the story of Bodhisattva's last human birth. In 1700, the city had a population of over 1 million making it the largest city in the world at that time. This proves that the kingdom of Ayutthaya had developed a very sophisticated and complex civilization which could support such a large urban population. During the 18th century, the Sri Lankan Sangha had declined a great deal with hardly a few well-ordained monks left in the island nation. King Mahathamma Rajchathirat sent Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka and re-established the ordination of monks at the request of King Kirti Sridhar Singh in 1753. The monks were sent under the leadership of Upali and Aryamuni Theras. They established the Siam Nikaya or Siamese sect in Sri Lanka. Siam being the ancient name of Thailand. Ayutthaya was invaded and occupied by the Burmese king in the 18th century. The Burmese army sacked and looted Ayutthaya once the city fell. The capital city was destroyed and deserted. Having already conquered Lanna, now they were the masters of the entire region. The smaller city-states of the area fell one after the other. The kingdom of Ayutthaya went into chaos and finally fell into the hands of the former military commander Taskin. Taskin had escaped the seizure of the capital and declared himself the new king. He drove out the Burmese invaders and unified most of Thailand under his rule. During the later part of his life, his behavior became erratic which cost him his crown and life. He became dictatorial and lost his popularity. He was overthrown by one of his generals. There was a rebellion under the command of Chowpraya Chakri. Taskin was executed in 1782. General Chow now took the throne and became the first king of the Chakri dynasty which still runs the country. He was also known as King Rama I. He moved the capital to a small fishing village now called Bangkok. The new capital city was built in the image of Ayutthaya. He got the translated into Thai for the first time during the end of the 18th century. The successive kings were titled Rama. The dynasty fought off the Burmese kings and expanded the country in the north. King Mongkut or Rama IV was very important for Buddhism in Asia. Prince Mongkut spent 27 years as a monk but agreed to become the king after the death of his half-brother. He was a scholar and well-versed in the Dhamma. He started the Dhamyutika Nikaya which was a reform movement. Dhamyutika Nikaya or Dhamyutika sect is one of the two recognized Nikaya in the country and currently make up around 10% of monks in Thailand. The other recognized sect is Maha Nikaya which means the monks of the larger group. Dhamyutika has a tradition of following the Vinaya properly and they are supported by the upper crust of Thai society. Rama V or Chulalongkorn was another great king who modernized the country. He was also a very skilled diplomat who avoided the colonization of country by playing western nations against each other and using the colonial powers to his advantage. The successive kings ensured that Thailand never got colonized unlike her less fortunate neighbors. Thailand has a custom since the 15th century that most young men spend some time as a monk in a Buddhist monastery or what. Generally this is done for a rainy retreat but many choose to stay for longer periods even for their entire life. During the early 20th century a very important monk tradition started in Thailand. This was started by Ajahn Mun and was called the forest tradition. He worked for the revival of ancient Buddhism and insisted on a strict observation of the Buddhist monastic code called the Vinaya. The tradition grew in the northeast of the country and puts more emphasis on meditation rather than study of scriptures. The monks generally live in the forest or remote places. Today Thailand can be called a Theravada Buddhist country where Buddhism is followed by over 93 percent of the population. The constitution of Thailand mandates that only a Buddhist can become the king of the country. People around the world have benefited from the different living Buddhist traditions of Thailand including the forest tradition. For centuries Thailand has successfully preserved a strong tradition of early Buddhism. If you found value in this video please give it a thumbs up. 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