ABSTRACT
In Thailand, Buddhism has played a significant role in people’s lives: as a guiding principle, philosophy, code of ethics and spiritual resort. Although Buddhism is not the national religion, and the constitution stipulates that all Thais have religious freedom, around 94 percent of the total population identify themselves as Buddhists. Buddhism operates as an overarching ideology in Thai culture. It is one of the three national pillars of Thailand along with the monarch and the nation. During the nation building period, education was used as a tool for assimilating people of different cultural backgrounds to be under one unified territory. Buddhism was intervolved as part of that mechanism in education. Even in modernized society like today, although education is no longer offered in temples, professional teachers have replaced monks and subject matters are secular, Buddhism still plays a significant role in shaping the social world of Thai people. So much so that it marginalizes people of other religious faiths through its control of meaning and its selection, distribution and perpetuation of teachings about Buddhism and Buddhist values. In this chapter, I begin by tracing the history of education in Thailand from pre-modern time to the present to show how Buddhist values and belief systems have become one of the overarching ideologies in Thai peoples’ lives. I pay specific attention to the process through which public education plays a role in sustaining and perpetuating Buddhist teachings and Buddhist values as a national value. Examples of practices in schools are used to show how Buddhist values permeate every corner and are the keystone in shaping students’ worldview. The end of the chapter illustrates how Buddhist values and belief systems can alienate those of other religious beliefs, especially Muslims.
