Theravada Buddhism is the religion of the Siamese of Kelantan, but it is also adhered
to by the majority of the rural Chinese population of the state. This study establishes that it is through their identification with Buddhism that the Siamese have been able to assert their ethnic identity vis-a-vis other groups in the larger society, namely the majority Malays who are Muslims, and the Chinese.
Siamese conception of and commitment to the Buddhist religion differ considerably
from that of the Chinese as demonstrated by the fact that on the whole Theravada Buddhism
is perpetuated and maintained by an exclusively Siamese religious elite, consisting of monks, ex-monks and ritual specialists. Together they become the custodians of the sacred knowledge of the religion and the keepers of the Siamese Buddhist tradition. Although the Chinese appear to be very supportive of the temple and monkhood they are not normally as fully committed to the religion as the Siamese are. This study examines the social organisation of a Buddhist temple in order to demonstrate the level of commitments and involvement of the Siamese in maintaining the continuity of a Theravada tradition. It concludes by showing that even though Buddhism finds support particularly among the rural Kelantan Chinese, it is among the Siamese that it flourishes and becomes crucial and meaningful because it underwrites the very basis of Siamese ethnic
identity. The continuity of Theravada Buddhist tradition ensures such identity

Ismail, Mohamed Yusoff

The Australian National University

  THESES SIS/LIBRARY        TELEPHONE: +61 2 6125 4631 R.G. MENZIES LIBRARY BUILDING NO:2      FACSIMILE:  +61 2 6125 4063 THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY      EMAIL: library.theses@anu.edu.au CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA           USE OF THESES   This copy is supplied for purposes of private study and research only. Passages from the thesis may not be  copied or closely paraphrased without the  written consent of the author. WAT PATHUMWIHAAN OF BAAN MAALAJ A Study of Siamese and Chinese Buddhists in a Malay State By Mohamed Yusoff Ismail A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Australian National University. July 1987 Declaration Except where otherwise indicated this thesis is my own work. Mohamed Yusoff Ismail July 1987 ll • Whether the Tathagathas appear or not, 0 Bhikkhus, it remains a fact, an established principle, a natural law that all conditioned things are transient (anicca), sorrowful (dukkha) and that everything is soulless ( anatta). This fact the Tathagatha realizes, understands and when He has realized and understood it, announces, teaches, proclaims, establishes, discloses, analyses, and makes it clear, that all conditioned things are transient, sorrowful and that everything is soulless. . ANGUTTARA NIKAYA Part I, p. 286.1 1Quoted from Na.rada (1973:296) . lll IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the Australian National University for the award of a Ph.D. scholarship and a research grant to conduct field study in Malaysia. I also thank the National University of Malaysia for the study leave of four and a half years. I am most grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Douglas Miles, for his unceasmg en-couragement and advice. I have benefitted tremendously from his sincere comments and careful supervision without which this thesis would never have reached its present form. My.:appreciation also goes to the head of the Department of Prehistory and Anthropol-ogy~ the Faculty of Arts, Prof. A. Forge, along with Prof. J. Mulvaney, the former head of the -department, Dr. Margo Lyon, my adviser, and Dr. Geoffrey Benjamin, my former supervisor. I also owe a debt of thanks to my Thai language teachers, Dr. Anthony Diller, who taught me the intricacies and subtleties of the Thai language, Khun Lek McFadden, former Thai language tutor at the ANU and Mrs. Sermsuk Hussein of the Language Unit at the National University of Malaysia. I have received valuable comments from graduate students of the Department of Prehistory and Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and the Department of Anthropology, the Research School of Pacific Studies, who participated in a series of seminars on thesis writ-ing. I am indebted especially to Andrew Cornish, Mary Edmunds, David Martin, Jerry Schwab and Wan Kadir Che Man for reading some of the chapters and for their valuable comments. A chance meeting with Mr. Richard Chauvel of the Institute of Multicultural Studies, Melbourne, led to a fruitful discussion on the t opic of my research. I thank v Mr. Chauvel for his suggestions and comments. Mrs. B. Ballard of the Communication and Study Skills Unit of the ANU offered valuable advice and help in formatting the style of my English. Dr. Roger Kershaw has kindly granted me permission to use his map of Siamese settlements in Kelantan. During the field trip the people of Baan Maalaj, particularly the headman, Nay Gian and his father, Kok, were very helpful and cooperative. I also wish to acknowledge the assistance given by the Chief Monk of Kelantan, Phra Khruu Vicaaranaayamuunii, the Deputy Chief Monk, Phra Khruu Opatdhammarat and the abbot and monks of Wat Pathumwihaan, Phra Khruu Viriyasangwaun Phau Than Phut Thammasaroo, Than Chien, Khun Serm and Khun Feen, and monk friends from various temples in Kelantan, particularly Than Nun, Than Long and Than Fa. The people of Aril, Bangsae and the nikhom settlements in Narathiwat Province of southern Thailand, especially the families of Chaw Su and Chaw Mui, have received and accommodated me well. To all of them I owe my gratitude. I wish to thank the Socio-economic Research Unit of the Prime Minister's Depart-ment in Kuala Lumpur for the permission to conduct research in Malaysia, and Arkib Negara Malaysia for access to its historical documents. While writing this thesi s, my wife, Zaharah, has been very understanding and most encouraging, as were my children, Siti and Mazlan. They have been my constant source of inspiration and emotional strength. During the same period four people whom I love most and respect have passed away. Two were my immediate family members, my mother and my father-in-law. The other two were Prof. M. G. Swift, who was among my first teachers in the discipline, and Nay Daeng Phanthusaan, my most respected inform-ant and aacaan. To the four of them I dedicate this piece of work. Vl ABSTRACT Theravada Buddhism is the religion of the Siamese of Kelantan, but it is also ad-hered to by the majority of the rural Chinese population of the state. This study es-tablishes that it is through their identification with Buddhism that the Siamese have been able to assert their ethnic identity vis-a-vis other groups in the larger society, namely the majority Malays who are Muslims, and the Chinese. Siamese conception of and commitment to the Buddhist religion differ considerably from that of the Chinese as demonstrated by the fact that on the whole Theravada Bud-dhism is perpetuated and maintained by an exclusively Siamese religious elite, consisting of monks, ex-monks and ritual specialists. Together they become the custodians of the sacred knowledge of the religion and the keepers of the Siamese Buddhist tradition. Although the Chinese appear to be very supportive of the temple and monkhood they are not normally as fully committed to the religion as the Siamese are. This study examines the social o.rganisation of a Buddhist temple in order to demonstrate the level of commitments and involvement of the Siamese in maintaining the continuity of a Theravada tradition. It concludes by showing that even though Buddhism finds support particularly among the rural Kelantan Chinese, it is among the Siamese that it flourishes and becomes crucial and meaningful because it underwrites the very basis of Siamese eth-nic identity. The continuity of Theravada Buddhist tradition ensures such identity. VIJ TRANSCRIPTION A Note on the Spelling of Thai Words Transcription of standard Thai words is based on Haas (1964) but with some modifications. Four special symbols used by Haas have been replaced by the combination of letters found on the English typewriter keyboard. These are ae, au, oe and ng and the first three are not dipthongs in the usual sense. Haas' Substitute Examples Symbols Symbols £. I ae u~ mae mu.' "mother" ~ ~v khau kh:>-:>, "ask" au ""' 0 oe b~% doen d3an, "walk" ~ ng \JlVb ngaan ~aan, "work" Long sounds are indicated by doubled vowels, such as aa, ii and ee. For the sake of neatness, clusters of the vowels mentioned above, which replace Haas' special symbols, are not duplicated if they already have long sounds. Final consonants.-;;, )9r, y;f, "15-- and 6( are represented by 't'. The sound of the Thai alphabet n is represented by k instead of g if it occurs at the end of the syllable. No glottal stop indicators are used. Following Haas, j is pronounced more like y in the English "yell" if it is at the beginning of a syllable and similar to i if at the end of a dipthong. Consonant c is not aspirated unless followed by an h. Likewise all consonants preceding an h are aspirated. Hence, ph is aspirated while pis not. Vlll Some words and place names have been spelt in styles other than that of Haas, such as bhikkhu (monk) (Haas: phigsu); bhikkhuni (female ascetic) (Haas: phigsunii) and baht (tical, monetary unit) (Haas: baad). I follow the former convention instead. As Thai is written with no spacers between words, students of the language often encounter the initial problem of separating these words from each other. This problem is made even worse if one has to follow the same style in the transcription. For this reason I have taken the liberty of separating some terms which in the form of having no spacers prove quite difficult to pronounce. Hence, ton ngoen is written with a spacer instead of tonngoen; wan aasaalahabuuchaa instead of wanaasaalahabuuchaa; thaut phaa paa in-stead of thautphaapaa; phaa aabnaamfon instead of phaaaabnaamfon; and Phra In in-stead of Phrain. I have made no attempt to reproduce the exact phonology of the Siamese dialect of Kelantan, hence, no tonal marks are used.1 Malay words are spelt according to the na-tional spelling system currently in use, except where they occur in original quotations. 1For more details on the local Thai dialect , see Kershaw (1966) and Golomb (1978). Declaration ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TRANSCRIPTION 1. INTRODUCTION Table of Contents lX ii iv vi vii 1 Ethnicity and Malaysian Society 1 Ethnicity, Buddhism and the Siamese 11 Special Attributes of Siamese Buddhism in Kelantan 15 Other Important Considerations in the Study of the Siamese of 18 Kelantan The Usage of" Siamese" Terminology The Fieldwork Outline of Chapters 2. THE RESEARCH AREA Introduction The Historical Link between Kelantan and Siam The Population of Kelantan: the Ethnic Composition Ethnic Politics in Kelantan 3. BAAN MAALAJ: THE VILLAGE OF STUDY The Nature of the Village Economy The Predominance of Tobacco over Rice The Growing Season The Importance of Non-Agricultural Occupations Other Aspects of the Village Economy Concluding Remarks 4. THE KELANTANESE ORDER OF MONKS Buddhist Temples in Kelantan Some General Comments on the Kelantanese Sangha The Significance of Ordinations General Pattern of Ordination: Predominance of the Siamese Concluding Remarks 5. WAT PATHUMWIHAAN: THE VILLAGE TEMPLE The Plan of the W at Temple Residents Meeting the Daily Needs of the Temple Residents The Lay Community that Supports the Temple: Phuak Wat The Temple's Steering Committee: Sangkhaarii The Aacaan Wat 24 26 30 32 32 34 39 42 54 59 59 63 65 70 75 11 78 81 87 90 99 100 101 107 110 113 116 117 The Layman Ad Hoc Committee: Kammakan Wat Concluding Remarks 6. PATTERN OF RITUALS X 119 121 123 Religious Elite, Locality Group and Congregation 124 Levels of Adherence and Commitment to Buddhism: The Basis of 127 Ethnic Differentiation Temple Rituals and Ceremonies 130 The Ritual Calendar 133 Attending Temple Functions 142 The Buddhist Sabbath 145 Feasting of the Preet 147 The Ceremony Proper of Feasting the Preet 152 Concluding Remarks 159 7. THE KATHIN CEREMONY 162 Private and Public Kathin 165 The 1983 Kathin in Baan Maalaj 168 The Day of the Kathin Ceremony 173 Concluding Remarks 182 8. ORGANISING A TEMPLE FUNCTION NGAAN CHALAUNG 185 Sources of Temple Income 186 Dedicatory Celebration 189 The Archway in Baan Maalaj 194 Planning for the Celebration 194 Setting the Date of the Ngaan Chalaung 194 Organising Committee of the Celebration 197 Getting Ready for the Celebration 199 Looking After the Guests 199 Dedicatory Celebration at Baan Maalaj's Temple 202 Concluding Remarks: the Siamese Content of the Celebration 211 9. CONCLUSION 216 The Temple and the Religious Congregation 217 The Predominance of the Siamese over Chinese in Temple Affairs 222 The Interplay of Temple and Tobacco 223 Appendix A. 226 Appendix B. 228 Appendix C. 230 Appendix D. 235 REFERENCES 238 List of Figures Figure 2-1: Peninsular Malaysia and Southern Thailand Figure 3-1: Map of Baan Maalaj Figure 4-1: Map of Siamese Settlements and Temples in Kelantan Figure 5-1: The Plan of the Main Temple in Baan Maalaj Figure 5-2: The Floor Plan of the Sermon Hall Figure 6-1: Concentric Circles Representing the Congregation, Locality Group and the Religious Elite of the Temple Figure 6-2: The Money-Tree (Ton Ngoen) Figure 6-3: The Congregation Inside the Sermon Hall Figure 6-4: Putting of Offerings to the Preet Figure 6-5: Feasting of the Preet Figure 6-6: Gift-Giving on the First Day of Lent Figure 7-1: Display of Gift Items during the 1983 Kathin Figure 7-2: Presentation of Gifts to Monks in 1983 Figure 7-3: Presentation of Gifts by the Saajsiin Method Figure 7-4: Offering of Gifts to the Pha-utaa and the Maechii Figure 8-1: The Archway at Baan Maalaj's Temple Figure 8-2: The Base of the Archway Figure 8-3: The Opening Ceremony of the Archway in 1983 Figure 8-4: Dedi.catory Celebration in Baan Maalaj 1983 Figure 8-5: Dedicatory Celebration in 1983: Guests Arriving Figure 8-6: Dedicatory Celebration: the Procession XI 33 51 80 102 106 the 124 134 154 155 156 161 172 179 180 184 195 196 204 205 208 209 XII List of Tables Table 2-1: Kelantan: Population by Ethnicity and Stratum, 1980 40 Table 2-2: Kelantan: Chinese Population by Dialect Group, 1980 43 Table 3-1: Primary Occupation of Heads of Households in Baan Maalaj 68 Table 3-2: Employment of Other Household Members 69 Table 4-1: Population of Temples in Kelantan 85 Table 4-2: Ordination Status of Heads of Household in Baan Maalaj 93 Table 4-3: Time Spent as Ordained Monks by Heads of Households 94 Table 6-1: Major Temple Ceremonies in 1982 137 Table 6-2: Major Temple Ceremonies in 1983 (A Lunar Leap Year) 138 

Wat Pathumwihaan of Baan Maalaj : a study of Siamese and Chinese Buddhists in a Malay State

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