History of the Thai Forest Tradition

[1][2] During this time, a newly ordained Mun Bhuridatto went to stay with Ajahn Sao Kantasīlo, who was then the abbot of a small meditation-oriented monastery on the outskirts of Ubon Ratchathani, a province in the predominantly Lao-speaking cultural region of Northeast Thailand known as Isan.

Wandering the rural frontier of Northeast Thailand with Ajahn Sao in rigorous ascetic practices (Pali: dhutanga; Thai: tudong).

Ajahn Mun traveled abroad to neighboring regions for a time, hoping to reach levels of meditative adeptness known as the noble attainments (Pali: ariya-phala), which culminate in the experience of Nibbana — the final goal of a Theravada Buddhist practitioner.

After more than two decades of intense meditation and ascetic practice, Ajahn Mun would return to Ubon Ratchathani in 1915, claiming to have found the noble attainments.

This cultural fixation was referred to by social anthropologist Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah as a cult of amulets, which he described during a field study in the 1970s as "a traditional preoccupation now reaching the pitch of fetishistic obsession".

These kingdoms were all ruled by a hereditary local governor, and while independent, paid tribute to Bangkok, the more powerful central city state in the region.

(see History of Thailand) Each region had its own religious customs according to local tradition, and substantially different forms of Buddhism existed between mueangs.

"In many wats the monks do not behave properly," is a typical remark of a sangha inspector; McCarthy puts it more strongly: "in view of the celibacy of the priesthood the circumstances tend to scandal."

Although sangha authorities forbade monks to follow these customs, in remote areas these practices persisted for several decades after the imposition of modern state Buddhism.

[5] For this reason, Mongkut was concerned about the ability of the ordination lines to be able to trace back to Gautama Buddha, as well as the capacity of the Thai sangha to act as the field by which merit is made among lay people.

Jessadabodindra complained about Mongkut's involvement with the Mons — considering it improper for a member of the royal family to associate with an ethnic minority — and built a monastery on the outskirts of Bangkok.

[8] In the founding of the Thammayut, Mongkut made an effort to remove what he understood as non-Buddhist, folk, and superstitious elements which over the years had become part of Thai Buddhism.

Thanissaro asserts that Mongkut did this out of an attempt to make accessible to the Thai sangha successive levels of enlightenment in Theravada Buddhism (known as the noble attainments) which culminate in the experience of Nirvana, after which one becomes an arahant.

This motivation was a reaction to an idea which grew out of Sri Lanka, that because of the degeneracy of the human race, the noble attainments were lost to mankind after the first few generations immediately following the Buddha.

In the mid-nineteenth century these branches began to diverge from one another — each developed their own styles for chanting, interpretations and translations of Pali texts, and differed on issues related to the monastic code.

These scholastic reforms aggressively sought to replace both the regional mysticism practices and Mongkut's sentiment of Buddhist orthodoxy, in favor of a curriculum based on "Victorian notions of reason and utility"[5] which were taught to both King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and Prince Vajirañāṇa by western tutors (among which was Anna Leonowens — details of which were dramatized in the 1951 musical The King and I).

"[21] Ajahn Sao began his monastic career in a regional pre-reform tradition practicing khatha meditation, and would later re-ordain in the dhammayut order.

Ajahn Maha Bua writes: "Back then, a dhutanga monk, walking in the distance on the far side of a field, was enough to send country folk into a panic.

Their strictly controlled behaviour and avoidance of unnecessary contact with laymen; their wearing of yellowish-brown robes dyed with gum extracted from the wood of the Jackfruit tree; their carrying a large umbrella (klot) slung over their shoulder, the almsbowl in the other, and a water kettle hanging on the side; and their custom of walking single file — all these features inspired awe as much as respect.

Mun left on his own in search of any teacher who may have found the elusive noble attainments, travelling to Laos, Burma and Central Thailand, and once again he visited his old preceptor Chao Khun Upali for meditation advice.

[5][24] After Ajahn Mun spent the rains with Chao Khun Upali, he headed to Sarika Cave in the Khao Yai mountains, on the border of Central and Northeast Thailand.

On the fourth night staying there, Ajahn Mun developed a severe stomachache, and was unable to digest food and passed blood.

[26] When Ajahn Mun's mind emerged to a less absorbed level of concentration, he received a vision where an ethereal demonic giant visited him, black in color and about ten meters high.

[26] The demon subsequently transformed its appearance into a "gentleman with a mild, courteous manner" and,[27] approaching Ajahn Mun, asked for forgiveness, saying he would reform himself.

Thanissaro notes that widespread acceptance from the Dhammayut ecclesia would come in part because the clergy who had been drafted as teachers from the Fifth Reign onwards were now being displaced by civilian teaching staff.

Tambiah writes that General Kriangsak Chanaman distributed amulets to his troops, and ordered that white cloths with mystical yantra designs which were blessed by Luang Pu Waen be bound to the Thai National Flag and flown at the top of ship's masts for protection from communist vessels.

Ajahn Jayasaro writes that "Despite the profound impression Luang Boo Mun made upon him for instance, he stayed with that great master a mere two days and never returned for a second visit.

[39] In 1975, Ajahns Chah and Sumedho founded Wat Pah Nanachat, an international forest monastery in Ubon Ratchatani which offers services in English.

In November 1988 floods and landslides, triggered by rain falling on denuded hillsides, wiped out several southern villages and killed hundreds of people.

According to Taylor, Ajahn Maha Bua was incited by an anti-Thaksin group that runs Manager Daily, who presented his words out of context to attack Thaksin's political party in order to posture themselves for a coup d'état in 2006.