Culture and Communication in Thailand (Communication, Culture and Change in Asia)

But as, in my opinion, the Thai’s common beliefs are more of an animistic than a
Buddhist nature, the Thai is more oriented toward the exterior, institutionalized
norms of Buddhism (the temple, Buddha images, monks, ceremonies), than toward
the moral principles of Buddhism. Supernatural elements such as spirits and ghosts
form a substantial part of many videos which are shown on TV, such asMitimued
(Dark Dimension), orPeesad Saen Kon(A tricky ghost). An example of a com-
munication campaign in which“animistic”symbols have been successfully used is
theMagic EyesorKeep Thailand Clean-campaign, which was launched in 1984
and organized by the Thai Creative Society. Magic Eyes conforms to the Thai belief
that when they do something wrong a spirit will watch them. The Magic Eyes
campaign, which ran on all four TV channels and made use of cartoonfilms, strove
to introduce the belief that somebody will watch you whenever you are careless
about the environment.
That does not mean that the Thai’s animism does not correspond with
Buddhism. Rather, it is the other way around. Certain basic principles of Buddhism,
such asAnicca(everything is not perpetual),Dhukka(life is full of suffering), and
Anatta(the perception of self is illusory)fit in completely with the Thai common
belief. Therefore, Niels Mulder ( 1985 :44) concludes that

the Thai Weltanschauung combines the sophisticated elegance of a universal principle with
the primordial directness of animistic thinking; somehow Therevada Buddhism and the
Buddhist animistic heritage have corroborated and concluded a perfect marriage. The
Buddhist message does not endow this universe with a center to cling to; but characterizes
this-worldly and this-cosmic existence as impermanence, suffering, and nonself, guided by
the impersonal this-cosmic principle of karma.
In other words, the Thai Buddhist perceives his/her world view as essentially
“supernaturalistic.”He/she “sees”all phenomena as an integrated whole, in a
“sacred”rather than a“secular”world, a cosmos that is to a large extent governed
and controlled, not by just the human powers-that-be, but by the supernatural

Table 4.1 Summary of the three religious subsystems of Thai religion

Buddhism Brahmanism Animism

1 Goal

orientation

Other worldly This worldly This worldly

Worldview Rational/certain Rational/certain Capricious/uncertain

Ritual Standard/routine Standard/routine Tailored to

individual

2 Specialists Mainly male Mainly male Mainly female

Recruitment Universalistic

achievement

Universalistic

achievement

Particular ascription

3 Participants Laity Client Client

Involvement Constant Intermittent Intermittent

4 Attitude

toward

Highly favorable Favorable Ambivalent

Social focus Whole society Bridging local and

society

Highly local

4.4 The Power of Beliefs 55

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