Thai Teens Talking Thamma

Here are Thai teenagers talking about their Buddhist beliefs. The aim isn't so much to entertain by catching them in contradictions, or revealing nonsensical beliefs, but to counter a number of silly Western conceptions about what ordinary Buddhists in a Buddhist country do and don't believe. I won't pretend to be entirely scientific here…the students live in Bangkok, speak English fairly well, and their families are affluent enough to afford a $2,000/year tuition fee at a private school. You could probably accuse me of asking some "leading questions"…so be it. To get some kind of consensus view, I've got to ask the same questions to more than a couple students…these may not be the most entertaining clips you'll see on myspace. The subjects are cute, however, and if you're interested in "what do Thai Buddhists really believe?", you might get some insight.

Thai Teens Talk Thamma I

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Thai Teens Talk Thamma II

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Thai Teens Talk Thamma III

Add to My Profile | More Videos

There's a debate amongst certain eggheads about whether Buddhism is a religion or not. It's a philosophy, not a religion, some (college freshmen, mostly) say. This is not a debate amongst the vast majority of Thais, however…it's a religion. It's "sasana poot", Buddhist religion. You'd be a fool to witness pilgrims circumambulating Mt. Kailash on their knees (!) and then conclude Buddhism is a mere philosophy.

There's also the question of whether Buddhism falls into the category of monotheism, polytheism, atheism, or agnosticism. You'll see that the teenagers don't hesitate to say "atheism". Some Western intellectuals argue that "polytheism" would be a better description of Buddhism, since these folks typically do hold a hefty array of supernatural beliefs in angels, ghosts, gods, and demons. These intellectuals, however, are hugely biased by their upbringing in a Christian culture. Here's what I mean: Abrahamic religion is very exclusive. God is jealous. So you don't see Christians or Muslims who entertain two or three other supernatural belief systems. The assumption is then made that ALL religions are equally exclusive. But Buddhism doesn't claim to encompass all of reality, and leaves plenty of room for streams of Hinduism (e.g. the ubiquitous spirit houses of Thailand, and the lingams you see here and there), animism, Chinese folk religion, ancestor worship, etc. However, the Thais are quick to identify what is and isn't Buddhism…it's not at all as if these beliefs are unidentifiably jumbled into a single belief-stream that might as well be called "Buddhism".

Listening to the teenagers, it's pretty obvious that "Buddha is the God of Buddhism" is a bit weak. You've got to look at Buddhism on its own terms, instead of trying to squeeze it into an Abrahamic reference frame.

There's the notion that every religion has some sort of creation story. There might even be an innate need to formulate some sort of mythology of origins. That's false. OK, if you dug deep enough in the tantras or sutras or commentaries thereof, you might find something. If such a story exists, though, Thais don't seem indoctrinated in it. They tell you to look at science if you want a story of origins.

Karma is essential to these Thais. There are Western intellectuals who see it as mere baggage left over from Buddhism's Hindu origins, but that seems lame. The teenagers are quick to answer that Karma is not governed by some overlord who doles out punishment and reward…it's more like a natural law. One student even claims that "semati" (meditation) is really not important compared to Karma.


There's another Western intellectual view of Karma, that it applies to the whole of humanity. If I commit a violent crime, all of humanity suffers, and the resulting tears and lessons ripple down through generations, and this is supposed to be the deeper meaning of reincarnation. To me, this view is just schmeered onto Buddhism to make it seem more logical and less supernatural, however…it's not something ordinary Thais speak of.

Some teenagers also claim that the ultimate decider of good/bad Karma is the holder of Karma himself (you). The question then is: if I killed you in the belief that I was doing good, would that result in good Karma? The answer seems to be: deep down inside, everyone knows when a wrong has been committed.

If I worked harder, I could probably shoot some holes in these beliefs about Karma (what exactly are the physical mechanisms that lead from a breakage of a vow to reincarnation as a street dog?). But again, shooting holes in Bangkok Buddhism isn't my goal. I just want to show you what ordinary Buddhists believe, and don't believe.

Some Westerners and a few Asians as well, think they can identify "real Buddhism". They think they can intuitively recognize the essential features, and toss out the cultural garbage. This is arrogant, I think. If you're a scientist, and your task is to find "real Buddhism", is it really correct to toss out the views of 99.99% of folks born into Buddhism? Another problem is that all these "intuitive Buddhists" inevitably wind up with conflicting notions of Buddhism.

On the other hand, a good chunk of Buddhism relates to the experience of meditation. You might compare it to Christian prayer, but face it: Buddhists have gobs more background in practicing myriad forms of meditation than Christians. To the extent that it's a skill like football or piano playing, the elites who are particularly skilled in this department may well have some important words on the subject of "true Buddhism". If I want to know about "true soccer", it makes sense to confer with an elite instead of a schmuck on the street. Again, the Abrahamic baggage can confound: meditators are simply engaging in superstition and wishful thinking, so meditation isn't analogous as a "talent". But you've got to be clueless to think like that. So I'm not ready to go to the extreme of tossing the elites out the window when searching for "true Buddhism". At the very least, their words should be given a little extra weight.