Buddhadasa (27 May 190625 May 1993) was a Thai Buddhist monk. Known as an innovative reinterpreter of Buddhist doctrine and Thai folk beliefs, he fostered a reformation in conventional religious perceptions in his home country, Thailand, as well as abroad. He developed a personal view that those who have penetrated the essential nature of religions consider "all religions to be inwardly the same", while those who have the highest understanding of dhamma feel "there is no religion".

Religious life

thumb|Cremation of Buddhadasa in 1993

Buddhadasa renounced lay life in 1926. Typical of young monks during the time, he traveled to the capital, Bangkok, for doctrinal training but found the wats there dirty, crowded, and, most troubling to him, the sangha corrupt, "preoccupied with prestige, position, and comfort with little interest in the highest ideals of Buddhism." As a result, he returned to his native rural district and occupied a forest tract near to his village, founding Suan Mokkh in 1932.

In later years, Buddhadasa's teachings attracted many international seekers to his hermitage. He held talks with leading scholars and clergy of various faiths. His aim in these discussions was to probe the similarities at the heart of each of the major world religions. Before his death in 1993, he established an International Dhamma Hermitage Center across the highway from his own retreat to aid in the teaching of Buddhism and other yogic practices to international students. The area of Suan Mokkh was expanded to

approximately 120 acres of forest.

However, Buddhadasa was skeptical of his fame; when reflecting on the busloads of visitors to Suan Mokkh he would say, "sometimes I think many of these people just stop here because they have to visit the bathroom."

Teachings and interpretations

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Buddhadasa strove for a simple, pristine practice in an attempt to emulate Gautama Buddha's core teaching, "Do good, avoid bad, and purify the mind." He therefore avoided the customary ritualism and internal politics that dominated Siamese clerical life. His ability to explain complex philosophical and religious ideas in his native Southern Thai attracted many people to his wooded retreat.

His primary teaching mainly focused on the quiet awareness of one's breathing pattern called anapanasati. However, his personal practice was very much grounded in advanced research and interpretation of early Pali texts on the one hand and on his radical private experimentation on the other.

Rejection of rebirth

Buddhadasa rejected the traditional rebirth and karma doctrine, since he thought it to be incompatible with sunyata, and not conducive to the extinction of dukkha.

Buddhadasa, states John Powers – a professor of Asian Studies and Buddhism, offered a "rationalist interpretation" and thought "the whole question of rebirth to be foolish". According to Buddhadasa, the Buddha taught 'no-self' (, ), which denies any substantial, ongoing entity or soul.

It is by relinquishing the notion of "I" and "mine" that selfish clinging is abandoned, and Nirvana or true emptiness will be reached. This can be done by "not allow[ing] the dependent arising to take place; to cut it off right at the moment of sense-contact."

Buddhadasa's views have been "strongly criticized" and rejected by many of his fellow Theravada Buddhist monks with a more orthodox view of the Buddhist Dhamma. For example, Bhikkhu Bodhi states that Buddhadasa's approach of jettisoning the rebirth doctrine "would virtually reduce the Dhamma to tatters [...] the conception of rebirth is an essential plank to its ethical theory, providing an incentive for avoiding all evil and doing good", summarizes Powers. Through such a methodology he came to adopt a religious world-view wherein he stated, "those who have penetrated to the essential nature of religion will regard all religions as being the same. Although they may say there is Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Islam, or whatever, they will also say that all religions are inwardly the same."

Influence

thumb|Meditation hall in Buddhadasa's [[Suan Mokkh (Garden of Liberation) monastery]]

Buddhadasa's interpretations of the Buddhist tradition inspired such persons as the French-schooled Pridi Banomyong, leader of the Siamese revolution of 1932, and a group of Thai social activists and artists of the 20th century.

Religious scholar Donald K. Swearer has compared Buddhadasa to the early Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, and the 5th-century south Indian scholar Buddhaghosa who has "overshadowed the development of Theravada Buddhist thought" in southeast Asia.

According to scholars such as Peter A. Jackson and Daniel Lynch, Buddhadasa was heavily influenced by the ideas found in Zen Buddhism.

It has been contended, that with the decline of Buddhism in Thailand after the 2020 pandemic, good luck blessings and various rituals are becoming once again more popular than the "rationalist perspective of spiritual growth" taught by Buddhadasa, whose teaching is disappearing from Thai pagodas.

Translated works

Buddhadasa's works take up an entire room in the National Library of Thailand. The following are some of his well-known books in English translation.

  • The A,B,Cs of Buddhism. 1982.
  • Handbook for Mankind Buddhadasa's most well-known book.
  • Heart-wood from the Bo Tree. Susan Usom Foundation, 1985.
  • India's Benevolence to Thailand
  • Keys to Natural Truth. Trans. R. Bucknell and Santikaro. N.d. First published 1988.
  • Me and Mine: Selected Essays of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa (preview). Thēpwisutthimēthī, Buddhadasa, Swearer. SUNY Press, 1989.
  • Mindfulness With Breathing. Trans. Santikaro. Second Edition. The Dhamma Study & Practice Group. 1989.
  • No Religion. Trans. Punno, First electronic edition: September 1996.
  • Paticcasamuppada: Practical Dependent Origination. The Dhamma Study & Practice Group, 2002.
  • Teaching Dhamma with Pictures Published by Sathirakoses-Nagaparadi Foundation & Ministry of Education, Thailand On the occasion of the Centenary Celebration of the Birth of the Ven. Buddhadasa Bhikku (27 May 1906 - 27 May 2006).
  • Fear. Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives, 2020.
  • Seeing with the Eye of Dhamma: The Comprehensive Teaching of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. Trans. Santikaro and D. Bhikkhu, Edit. Santikaro, Shambhala Publications, 2022.

Bodhi Leaf Publications (BPS)

  • Emancipation From The World (BL73)
  • Extinction without Remainder (BL33)

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Buddhadasa, Bhikku; Pramoj, M.R. Kukrit (2003). "How we should understand the dhamma", Chulalangkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies 2 (1), 139-157
  • Ito, Tomomi (2012). Modern Thai Buddhism and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu: A Social History, Singapore: NUS Press.
  • Jackson, Peter Anthony (1986). Buddhadasa and doctrinal modernisation in contemporary Thai Buddhism: a social and philosophical analysis, Thesis, Australian National University
  • Preecha Changkhwanyuen (2003). "Dhammic Socialism Political Thought of Buddhadasa Bhikku", Chulalangkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies 2 (1), page 118
  • Puntarigvivat, Tavivat (2003). "Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and Dhammic Socialism", The Chulalongkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies 2 (2), 189-207

;Places

  • Wat Suan Mokkh. Buddhadasa's Hermitage

;Biography

  • Ajahn Buddhadasa. nalanda.org.br/
  • . Three-part video.
  • Buddhadasa, encyclopedia.com

;Works and teachings

  • Category:Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. A list of Buddhadasa's online work. dharmaweb.org
  • Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives
  • Books

;Other

  • Talks by Santikaro about Buddhadasa. Audio recording in four parts