HINDUISM
Hinduism is one of the world's most ancient religions, well over 2,500 years old and the third largest after Christianity and Mohamadism. While it may seem simple at first, with no central authority and no hierarchy, it is actually very complex. There is one god Brahman (The Soul of the World, literally "power" in Sanskrit), but Brahman is universal and includes over 330 million deities of which the chief is Brahma. The priests belong to the Brahmin caste.

There are three chief gods: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Protector and Shiva the Destroyer. Brahma is the neuter head of the gods and is not actually worshiped. 'He' has four heads and, like many Hindu gods, four arms. Vishnu is the god of love and often becomes human to help mankind. His greatest incarnation was Krishna who healed the deaf, blind and lepers and raised the dead. According to the source, he was either killed by an arrow or crucified. He descended to hell, rose to heaven and will return on the day of judgment.Shiva has three eyes and four arms and, in his oldest form, is the god of dance. In some representations he has three faces, the middle one the absolute god, the ones on the sides being male and female. While he is called the Destroyer, the Hindus believe in reincarnation so he really helps people to a new life. In some stories he reigns as a king; in others as a religious ascetic, smeared with ashes and sitting on a tiger skin in the jungle with a snake around his neck; in still others, riding on a white bull, the sacred animal of the Hindus. Vishnu is associated with truth (dharma, the fundamental moral law of the universe). He has four hands. When the balance between good and evil in the world is upset he can assume various earthly forms, including human or animal, to restore things to normal. His seventh incarnation was Lord Rama*, and the eighth was Krishna. Hindus consider Buddha as the ninth incarnation although Buddhists themselves do not.

BUDDHISM
The boy known as Prince Gautama was born in what is now Nepal in about 560 BC and raised as a Hindu. (Different sources give different dates.) Before his birth, his mother was visited by the Bodhisattva in the form of a white elephant. Unsatisfied with his life at court, he left to gain enlightenment. (The word Buddha means "the enlightened one".) He sat motionless under a tree until he could achieve this enlightenment. It was possible by virtue of the fact that he had been born and reborn many times before.) Immediately upon this enlightenment, the Buddha first preached the Four Noble Truths, the basic principles of Buddhism. They state that: all life is inevitably sorrowful; all sorrow is due to craving; sorrow can only be stopped by the stopping of craving; and this can only be done by a course of carefully disciplined and moral conduct (a Noble Eightfold Path of proper conduct: Right views, Right resolve, Right speech, Right conduct, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness and Right concentration). This culminates in a life of concentration and meditation led by the Buddhist monk. These truths are part of dharma, .

Buddhists believe in reincarnation. The cause of the process of birth death and rebirth is ignorance, and rebirth takes place according to the laws of karma. (Karma is a Sanscrit word which means 'deed'; each act, word or thought determines one's fate.) The process of birth, aging and death is repeated again and again indefinitely. The only way to break the cycle is by achieving Nirvana, by adopting right views about the nature of existence, then by a carefully controlled system of moral conduct, ending finally with concentration and meditation. The word Nirvana means 'blowing out'. In Nirvana, the individual personality ceases to exist and there is nothing to be reborn. It is a transcendent state of being, a form of spiritual co-existance.

The written teachings of Buddhism can be found in the sutras. A sutra is a text which records the spoken teachings (or sermons) of the Buddha himself. They always begin with the words, "Thus have I heard at one time. The Lord dwelt ...". The "I" refers to the Buddha's disciple, Ananda, who recited the whole of the Buddha's teachings upon the moment of the Buddha's death. The total literature of Buddhism is so vast, that it would be impossible for one to learn all of its teachings in one lifetime. Contrary to Hinduism, there is no creator God but a pantheon of many gods.

There are a number of different schools of Buddhism. The Theravada school predominates in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Ceylon.

THAILAND
Buddhism came to Thailand with Indian traders and incorporated many Hindu features. For example, there are many images of Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and Buddha at early Thai sites. Over ninety-four percent of the people are Buddhists. There are two main sects of Buddhist monks: Mahanikai who wear orange robes and the stricter Thammayut who are more academic, wear darker robes and and can eat only one meal a day. Few women become nuns.

Bangkok has about 400 wats, or temple complexes. At dawn monks leave monasteries to beg, the pindapata. The concept behind begging is different from what it is elsewhere. The monks are actually doing the people a favor by allowing them a chance to earn merit by giving them food. Carrying bowls, the monks walk with downcast eyes and stop only when someone offers them something. The food collected is shared with everyone in the monastery, including the numerous dogs and cats. (People who can no longer keep a dog or a cat can take them to a monastery.) A second meal is eaten about 11 am, the last meal of the day. They are not allowed to eat after noon but can drink liquids.

The monasteries vary in strictness. Some allow TV, radios and even computer games but others forbid these activities. The monks take classes and attend religious services. Each monk can own only a robe, a bowl, a razor, a needle with thread, and a strainer for water. Once a year, the king presents each monk with a new robe.

Note: For a Buddhist to lose his temper is like a Christian breaking one of the ten commandments, and King Mongkut was a devote Buddhist.

*The second century BC epic, the Ramayana, tells how Rama conquered the island of Ceylon or Sri Lanka. More on this may be found at:
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/special/ramayana/. In Book 10 we read how Rama crossed over with his army from India to Ceylon. The town of Lanka, the capital of Ceylon, was invested, and war followed. Every island chief was killed, except the king, Ravan. He and Rama fought, Ravan was killed, and the war ended. The Thai version of the Ramayana, the Ramakian may be found at: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/literature/ramakian/ramakian.htm

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Revised July 2009
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