Buddhadasa Begins His Life Work
In the 1940's, Buddhadasa slowly began to emerge as a religious teacher on the national stage, attracting attention from the emerging educated middle class, intellectuals, civic leaders, and students. Thailand grappled to come to terms with the crisis of World War II and the Japanese invasion of the country.
The 1941 Sangha Act, passed by Prime Minister Phibun, gave more creativity, diversity and democracy to Buddhist groups. The Sangha Act of 1941 established a more democratic, decentralized approach to government of the sangha, allowing new, innovative, and diverse ideas to emerge among the monks in Thailand, in order to meet changing conditions of the local communities.
The Act stipulated a Supreme Patriarch, but his decisions were subject to the approval of the members of the various committees. The Supreme Patriarch had very limited power. The new experiment in democracy allowed for the fresh ideas and approaches advocated by Buddhadasa, and the newly educated middle classes in the universities were ready to listen. For twenty years, from 1941-1963, Buddhist monks had greater freedom in experimentation and development of Buddhism in Thailand. The Act remained in force for 21 years, until 1962.
Ajahn Buddhadasa flourished under the new spirit of freedom. In 1943 he relocated Suan Mokkh to a 124-acre mountain, five kilometers outside Chaiya. The Suan Mokkh became the vortex of activity and influence that expanded in ever-growing circle throughout Thai society.
Throughout the 40's, 50's, 60's, Buddhadasa traveled extensively, constantly teaching, sometimes five times per day, in such locations as Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, Thammasat University, the ecclesiastical universities, ministry of Justice, Ministry of education, Teacher Colleges and various temples, where he was in great demand as a speaker to give sermons and lectures.
"We cannot overturn the land," Buddhadasa said at the time. "We can only do our work, to the best of our ability, and accept the results in due course. We only hope that our devotion to the religion might inspire more people."
The period immediately after World War II was a very busy time for Buddhadasa. Stability was restored in Thailand, and Buddhadasa worked to promote Buddhist solutions for social problems facing the nation, rebuilding from the war. He published Buddhadhamma and Peace in 1946, and reminded the people that "peace arises when human beings abandon craving and desires which lead to conflict."
"This world lacks peace because it is unable to grasp the thing which is close at hands, so close it is actually in hand, that is, within everything," he said. Personal transformation leads to social peace. "The Buddha's purpose was world peace."
The following year, in 1947, Buddhadasa gave a series of lectures on the meaning of democracy, exploring the role of Buddhism in the post-war Constitutional Monarchy government. His lecture,
Buddhadhama and the Spirit of Democracy, was attended by Pridi Panomyong, leader of the democratic 1932 revolution.
Pridi was inspired by Buddhadasa's ideas, and invited Buddhadasa to his private residence to continue discussions on the subject of democracy. Buddhadasa insisted that democracy was a moral order, rather than a political philosophy. A Buddhist-politics is based in morality, not in power, exploitation, and self-interest, like modern liberal democracy.
Buddhadasa explored the interface between Buddhism and Democracy, in his series of lectures. He said Democracy is "morality" not "politics." "Freedom, equality, fraternity are determined by Nature," he said, "If we are to love one another, live together in harmony, and survive in this world peacefully, Nature merely determines that there must be these three conditions. All people will be happy when they can think as they please, are equal, have fraternity," he said.
"Freedom, equality, and fraternity exist in Buddhism and are modeled by Lord Buddha's behavior. Buddhist morality embodies democracy. There is no need for fear of turning Buddhism into politics."
"Liberal democracy is totally free and doesn't define clearly what freedom it means. This allows mental-defilement in people to take advantage of the situation to be free according to the power of defilements. Although the ideal is set out in a philosophically beautiful way, in practice it doesn't work. Philosophy doesn't have the strength to stop the defilements. Thus, we must be very careful about liberal democracy for it can be very dangerous. Anyone can claim freedom, both fools and sages. If they don't get what they want, they will say there is no freedom."
Pridi was very enthusiastic about Buddhadasa's ideas, and planned to establish a second Suan Mokkh in his home province of Ayutthaya and asked Buddhadasa to "write hymns" which school children might sing, to promote the ideas of democracy.
In 1949-1951 Buddhadasa was appointed as the fifth regional leader for dhamma propagation throughout the 14 provinces of the Southern Thailand. As fulfilment of his duties, he traveled around the southern provinces giving dhamma talks to civil servants and local people, on marathon preaching tours. He sometimes visited fourteen provinces in thirty-five days. He often gave five talks per day.
"I traveled with the freight." Buddhadasa laughed. "Our schedules had been mapped out in advance and the arrival dates had already been fixed. I ate my small meals in a boxcar with the animals. At every place we stopped, I was scheduled to give a sermon. Sometimes I gave as many as five sermons a day. I gave a talk in the morning. After I had one meal of the day, I delivered another talk to sub district chief and village headmen. In the afternoon I gave another damma talk to a group of civil servants. In the evening I preached to prisoners in the jail. Around 9 o'clock at night I gave another sermon to village folk. I almost died. But I was strong then, and I did not lose my voice. At every place we stopped, I spent the night at a local wat."
In 1949, Ajahn Buddhadasa was invited to found a teaching center at Wat Umong in the town of Chiang Mai, located in the northern region of Thailand. Obligations prevented Buddhadasa from taking up residence in the monastery as guiding teacher, but he sent his colleague Ajahn Panyananda, to establish a temple there.
Wat Umong in Chiang Mai became the northern center for spreading Buddhadasa's fresh approach and ideas. The monastery at Wat Umong is one of the oldest in Chiang Mai, dating back to 1300 A.D. An early king of Chiang Mai established the forest temple for a hermit monk named Thera Jan.
The monastery was eventually abandoned, though Japanese troops had a stronghold here during World War II. When peace was established as the end of WWII, Prince Sirorot rebuilt the monastery. When the restoration was complete, he invited Buddhadasa Bhikkhu to take up residence in the monastery as the gui