This study of a Siamese wat gives us the practical aspects of this much-vaunted creed in the hands of the common people, proving that the influence of these great centres of classic Buddhism hinders the material prosperity and dwarfs the intellectual and moral development of the nation. Allowing full credit for its good precepts, the visitor who closely studies the actual outworkings of the Buddhist wat finds a worship that degrades; alms-giving that floods the land with sturdy, lazy beggars; a monastic system that encourages violation of the sacred family ties; and in not a few instances hotbeds of vice for the most promising youth of the kingdom.
But Buddhism is losing ground in Siam. One of the earliest signs of progress was a royal order years ago which reduced the vast number of inmates of the wats. On the eve of war with Cochin-China the king, wishing to draw a large number of soldiers, found multitudes had taken refuge in the priesthood. A set of questions was therefore drawn up, and notice given that all priests who failed to pass a satisfactory examination were to be degraded and sent to war at the king’s pleasure. Thousands were frightened from their cool, costly wats back to their bamboo huts. It is said four hundred deserted a single wat in less than a week.
Moreover, in the late zeal for reform some principal festivals have been given up. The wat-visitations are now mostly looked upon as national gala-days for popular display, lively music, theatricals and boat-races. The present building of temples and religious ceremonials are far more largely from motives of pride and political expediency than matters of faith. The present king and many of the younger nobles are too enlightened to be devout Buddhists.
Two significant signs may be noted to show the change. “We came,” says a late traveler in Siam, “to the Wat Sah Kate pagoda, situated in a vast enclosure, containing, after the usual arrangement, two or three temples, with huge gilt images of Buddha within, a large building for preaching, the dwellings of the priests and many pavilions for the use of worshipers; but the grounds were in a very dilapidated state. The king had recently turned adrift all the priests, several hundred of them, to earn an honest living by hard work, and so the wat was closed to the public.” The other fact is equally hopeful—a new interest on the part of the rulers of the land in the education of the young. Until recently the Siamese kings have spent comparatively little on public works which are common to other countries of Asia—bridges, roads, schools and hospitals—but lavished their treasures on the wats. But a recent letter mentions the latest in memoriam of a Buddhist princess: “I wish much I could get you a good photograph of the new school-building, the one that is being erected to the memory of the late queen. As it approaches completion it is looking very handsome, and might be a beautiful tribute to the memory of a queen of a much more civilized country.”
RUINS OF A TEMPLE AND STATUE OF BUDDHA AT AYUTHIA.
PART III.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.