BUDDHISM IN SRI LANKA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 165to karma present in popular Buddhism; from adhering more closely to the
Five Precepts; and from engaging in more meditation, both for the monastics
and the laity. They also agree that the way to nirvat;1a is still open, in contrast
with the view that became common after King Rama V's survey, which main-
tained that nirvaJ;la was no longer a realistic possibility. Nevertheless, their pre-
scriptions for modern Thai Buddhism differ considerably from one another.
The Kammatthana tradition maintains that a monk's primary duty is to
devote his life entirely to meditation so as to abandon the defilements that
bind him to sa111sara; he should then worry about helping society only when
he has put his own house in order. On a practical level, teachers in this tradi-
tion have advised their supporters among the ruling elite to eschew corrup-
tion and to work for a more equal distribution of economic opportunity
throughout the Thai countryside, but by and large they espouse no particular
social or political program.
Buddhadasa, however, was very vocal and confrontational regarding social
matters. Because selfishness lies at the essence of suffering, he taught, monks
and laity alike should meditate to reduce the sense of "I," but they cannot
truly comprehend "not-self" unless they devote themselves at the same time
to a life of selfless social service aimed at returning society to the moral prin-
ciples inherent in nature.
Upasika Kee's following has remained firmly apolitical, on the grounds
that political confrontations would involve them in fruitless entanglements
(see Strong EB, sec. 6.7), but their mere existence as an active, highly visible
community is in itself a repudiation of the limited role that mainstream Thai
Buddhism has traditionally assigned to women.
These voices have in the past few decades found a significant hearing
throughout Thai Bttddhism and have begun to spark a renewed interest in
meditation among monks, nuns, and lay people in rural and urban areas. At
the same time, however, the message from these voices has been compromised
somewhat as the forest movements become increasingly co-opted and domes-
ticated as they grow more popular. This pattern has occurred repeatedly in the
past, when reform movements have degenerated to the point where they
needed reforming themselves. The traditional recourse was to look for new
movements from the forest. At present, however, the forests are rapidly disap-
pearing and are being replaced by the urban concrete jungle as the center of
lawlessness, diseases, treacherous temptations, and heterodox teachings (Strong
EB, sec. 6.8.2). It remains to be seen whether the concrete jungle will also be
able to provide sources of inspiration for the continued survival of Theravadin
orthodoxy in the face of the massive social changes continuing to sweep
through this part of the world.