Thailand's Buddhist Heritage And the Role of Women

The culture and religious history of Thailand has been deeply influenced by Buddhism for a very long time.  Going back into history, you could say that Thai people have fervently believed in the doctrine of "karma."  This idea teaches that good or bad deeds performed in one's past life have an effect upon on the condition of one's present life.  If you behaved yourself in a past life, you might be re-born as a rich or important person in the next life.  If you misbehaved, you could be re-born as an animal or a rodent.  

The first ruler of Thailand who studied in the West was King Rama VI (1910-1925) who traveled to England in 1893.  It was upon this venture that the king was able to observe the advancement of women in the Western world.  This had a profound infuence upon him which he never forgot.  He later returned to Thailand and invoked a campaign to give more rights to Thai women.  Prior to this, only very rich women had such privileges.  King Rama was quite unhappy with the way the women of his day were treated.  So he determined to make changes. 

In a sense, the king had to fight against the wronglful application of the teaching of karma to be successful.  It was commonly thought among the people of Thailand that if a baby was born a female it could be the result of that soul's misdeeds in a previous life.  For example, there was an old belief that if a man committed adultery after his death he would go to hell for a time and be severely punished.  Then once the punishment was over, he would be re-born as a woman for 500 lives and then a transvestite for another 500 lives.  After all this, he would only then be re-born once more as a man.

This kind of thinking does reflect a Buddhist religious view.  However, the idea also portrays the gender of women in a highly negative way.  King Rama wrote several articles in his lifetime.  In these articles he clearly indicated that he was not satisfied with the status of Thai women in his time.  He believed that women should enjoy equal rights.  He went even further and voiced his strong opinion against the old beliefs regarding women as being inferior to men.   It took time to change the cutlural viewpoint of the population about women.  Even so, the king became a pioneer in Thailand for equality between men and women.  Today, Thai women have a very different future because of such changes!

Best regards from your friend,

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.