Thailand's theory of monarchy : the Vessantara Jātaka and the idea of the perfect man / Patrick Jory.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jory, Patrick, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tipiṭaka. Suttapiṭaka. Khuddakanikāya. Jātaka. Vessantarajātaka.

Tipiṭaka.

Monarchy--Thailand--History.

Monarchy.

Buddhism and state--Thailand--History.

Buddhism and state.

History.

Thailand--Kings and rulers.

Thailand.

Kings and rulers.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 284 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2016]

Summary:

Discusses the origins and cultural history of the Theravada Buddhist ideals behind the Thai institution of monarchy. 2016 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Since the 2006 coup d'état, Thailand has been riven by two opposing political visions: one which aspires to a modern democracy and the rule of law, and another which holds to the traditional conception of a kingdom ruled by an exemplary Buddhist monarch. Thailand has one of the world's largest populations of observant Buddhists and one of its last politically active monarchies. This book examines the Theravada Buddhist foundations of Thailand's longstanding institution of monarchy. Patrick Jory states that the storehouse of monarchical ideology is to be found in the popular literary genre known as the Jātakas, tales of the Buddha's past lives. The best-known of these, the Vessantara Jātaka, disseminated an ideal of an infinitely generous prince as a bodhisatta or future Buddha--an ideal which remains influential in Thailand today. Using primary and secondary source materials largely unknown in Western scholarship, Jory traces the history of the Vessantara Jātaka and its political-cultural importance from the ancient to the modern period. Although pressures from European colonial powers and Buddhist reformers led eventually to a revised political conception of the monarchy, the older Buddhist ideal of kingship has yet endured. Patrick Jory is Senior Lecturer in Southeast Asian History at the University of Queensland and the editor of Ghosts of the Past in Southern Thailand: Essays on the History and Historiography of Patani .

Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Vessantara Jātaka as a performative text

Chapter 2. The Vessantara Jātaka and early state formation

Chapter 3. A Theravada Buddhist theory of monarchy : the ruler as Bodhisatta

Chapter 4. The colonial challenge to Buddhist monarchy

Chapter 5. Thai and western Buddhist scholarship in the era of imperialism

Chapter 6. From Jātakas to Thai folktales

Conclusion : the modern Vessantara.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-277) and index.

ISBN:

9781438460895

1438460899

OCLC:

913470155