ABSTRACT
Many monks are increasingly opting for Adult Education courses in preference to the traditional pariyattitham studies. These courses cover a wide range of secular subjects which enable the monks to fulfil a more development-orientated role than would otherwise be possible. A non-northern monk was also sent as religious instructor to Wat Phra Sing, the other most important wat of the city. This monk subsequently became the ecclesiastical head of the district of Com Thong, in Chiang Mai province and has been chosen as the abbot of Wat Phra Sing itself. The Wat Chedi Luang and the Wat Phra Singh, which played such a seminal role in the ecclesiastical struggles between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, were included in this investigation. The manner in which anthropological and sociological concepts and methodologies in field research in Thailand may be related are discussed in an important article by Milton Jacobs in The Journal of the Siam Society.
