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93-493: Bradley published both English- and Thai-language editions of The Bangkok Recorder . The Thai edition measured 6 by 9 inches (150 mm × 230 mm), and the English edition 12 by 18 inches (300 mm × 460 mm). The newspaper had a two-column layout. One-time subscribers of The Bangkok Recorder included King Mongkut and various Thai nobles. The newspaper eventually closed due to unprofitability. Bradley wrote in

186-413: A Buddhist monk ( ordination name Vajirayan ; Pali Vajirañāṇo ), following a Siamese tradition that men aged 20 should become monks for a time. The same year, his father died. By tradition, Mongkut should have been crowned the next king, but the nobility instead chose the older, more influential and experienced Prince Chetsadabodin (Nangklao), son of a royal concubine rather than a queen. Perceiving

279-457: A British delegate, even praised him as "our own king", and showed his support of him as a new king of Siam. Having been celibate for 27 years, he now set about building the biggest royal family of the Chakri dynasty . Inside the palace there was a large number of women—reports say three thousand or more. They were mostly servants, guards, officials, maids and so on, but Mongkut acquired 32 wives, and by

372-691: A herd of war elephants to the US president Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War for use against the Confederacy . He did, however, offer to send some domesticated elephants to US president James Buchanan , to use as beasts of burden and means of transportation. The royal letter of 14 February 1861, which was written before the Civil War had even started, took some time to arrive in Washington DC, and by

465-543: A much earlier period. Aspects of the Pali Canon, such as what it says about society and South Asian history, are in doubt because the Pali Canon was extensively redacted in the 5th- or 6th-century AD, nearly a thousand years after the death of the Buddha. Further, this redacted Pali Canon of Sri Lanka itself mentions that it was previously redacted towards the end of 1st-century BC. According to Early Buddhism scholar Lars Fogelin,

558-627: A recommendation by Tan Kim Ching in Singapore , the court hired an English woman named Anna Leonowens, whose influence was later the subject of great Thai controversy. It is still debated how much this affected the worldview of one of his sons, Prince Chulalongkorn , who succeeded to the throne. Around 1870, Leonowens wrote a memoir of her time as teacher, “ The English Governess at the Siamese Court .” Author Margaret Langdon took this work, and interviews with Leonowens' descendants, to fill out and create

651-516: A result, the administrative power of Siam rested largely in the hands of the two Bunnags, Dit and Tat. Upon his coronation , Mongkut married his first wife, Queen Somanass . However, Queen Somanass died in the same year. He then married his half-grandniece, Mom Chao Rampoei Siriwongse, later Queen Debsirindra . In 1849, there were upheavals in the Shan State of Kengtung and Chiang Hung kingdom in response to weakened Burmese influence. However,

744-588: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . King Mongkut Mongkut ( Thai : มงกุฏ ; 18 October 1804 – 1 October 1868) was the fourth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty , titled Rama IV . He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was Phra Poramenthra Ramathibodhi Srisindra Maha Mongkut Phra Chomklao Chao Yu Hua Phra Sayam Thewa Maha Makut Witthaya Maharat (พระบาทสมเด็จพระปรเมนทรรามาธิบดีศรีสินทรมหามงกุฎ พระจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว พระสยามเทวมหามกุฏวิทยมหาราช). The reign of Mongkut

837-517: Is an internally consistent Pali dialect. The reason for the changes is that some combinations of characters are difficult to write in those scripts. Masefield says records in Thailand state that upon the third re-introduction of Theravada Buddhism into Sri Lanka (The Siyamese Sect), large number of texts were also taken . When monastic ordination died out in Sri Lanka, many texts were lost also. Therefore

930-525: Is known in the West primarily through the lens of the 1951 musical The King and I and its 1956 film adaptation . Mongkut ( มงกุฎ , literal meaning: crown ) was the second son of Prince Itsarasunthon , son of Phutthayotfa Chulalok , the first Chakri king of Siam (King Rama I ) and Princess Bunrot . Mongkut was born in the Old (Thonburi) Palace in 1804, where the first son had died shortly after birth in 1801. He

1023-469: Is likely that much of the Pali Canon dates back to the time period of the Buddha. They base this on many lines of evidence including the technology described in the canon (apart from the obviously later texts), which matches the technology of his day which was in rapid development; that it doesn't include back written prophecies of the great Buddhist ruler King Ashoka (which Mahayana texts often do) suggesting that it predates his time; that in its descriptions of

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1116-453: Is meant in this non-literal sense. The existence of the bhanaka tradition existing until later periods, along with other sources, shows that oral tradition continued to exist side by side with written scriptures for many centuries to come. Thus, the so-called writing down of the scriptures was only the beginning of a new form of tradition, and the innovation was likely opposed by the more conservative monks. As with many other innovations, it

1209-468: Is named after the King. King Mongkut is one of the people with the most children in Thai history; he had 32 wives and concubines during his lifetime who produced at least 82 children, one of whom was Chulalongkorn , who married four of his half sisters. Chakri dynasty Kings Viceroys Deputy Viceroy Crown Prince Hereditary Prince Royalty Pali Canon The Pāli Canon

1302-759: Is probably the second half of the Nalakasutta (Sn 699–723), and Upatisapasine may correspond to the Sariputtasutta (Sn 955–975). The identification of most of the other titles is less certain, but Schmithausen, following Oldenberg before him, identifies what Asoka calls the Laghulovada with part of a prose text in the Majjhima Nikaya , the Ambalatthika-Rahulovada Sutta (M no. 61). This seems to be evidence that some of these texts were already fixed by

1395-528: Is said that his younger brother, Viceroy Pinklao , could speak it even better. Mongkut's first son and heir, Chulalongkorn , granted the Thammayut sect royal recognition in 1902 through the Ecclesiastical Polity Act; it became one of the two major Buddhist denominations in modern Thailand. Chulalongkorn also persuaded his father's 47th child, Vajirañana , to enter the order and he rose to become

1488-827: Is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During the First Buddhist Council , three months after the parinibbana of Gautama Buddha in Rajgir , Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka , and Upali recited the Vinaya Pitaka . The Arhats present accepted

1581-453: Is traditionally believed by Theravadins that most of the Pali Canon originated from the Buddha and his immediate disciples. According to the scriptures, a council was held shortly after the Buddha's passing to collect and preserve his teachings. The Theravada tradition states that the Canon was recited orally from the 5th century to the first century BC, when it was written down. The memorization

1674-532: The Abhidhamma Pitaka (literally "beyond the dhamma", "higher dhamma" or "special dhamma", Sanskrit: Abhidharma Pitaka ), is a collection of texts which give a scholastic explanation of Buddhist doctrines particularly about mind, and sometimes referred to as the "systematic philosophy" basket. There are seven books in the Abhidhamma Pitaka: The traditional position is that abhidhamma refers to

1767-606: The Majjhima Nikaya was published by Wisdom Publications in 1995. Translations by Bhikkhu Bodhi of the Samyutta Nikaya and the Anguttara Nikaya were published by Wisdom Publications in 2003 and 2012, respectively. In 2018, new translations of the entirety of the five Nikayas were made freely available on the website suttacentral by the Australian Bhikkhu Sujato , the translations were also released into

1860-514: The Public domain . A Japanese translation of the Canon, edited by Takakusu Junjiro , was published in 65 volumes from 1935 to 1941 as The Mahātripiṭaka of the Southern Tradition (南伝大蔵経 Nanden daizōkyō ). A Chinese translation of the above-mentioned Japanese translation was undertaken between 1990–1998 and thereafter printed under the patronage of Kaoshiung's Yuan Heng Temple. As noted above,

1953-530: The Qing dynasty court, as the mission symbolised Siam's subjection to the Qing emperors and because the Qing dynasty was then not so powerful as it had once been, as it was itself threatened by Western powers. In 1854, John Bowring , the governor of Hong Kong in the name of Queen Victoria , came to Siam to negotiate a treaty. For the first time Siam had to deal seriously with international laws. Prayurawongse negotiated on

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2046-691: The Suttanipata . However, some scholars, particularly in Japan, maintain that the Suttanipāta is the earliest of all Buddhist scriptures, followed by the Itivuttaka and Udāna . However, some of the developments in teachings may only reflect changes in teaching that the Buddha himself adopted, during the 45 years that the Buddha was teaching. Scholars generally agree that the early books include some later additions. Aspects of these late additions are or may be from

2139-550: The 10th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand from 1910 to 1921. Accounts vary about Nangklao's intentions regarding the succession. It is recorded that Nangklao verbally dismissed the royal princes from succession for various reasons; Prince Mongkut was dismissed for encouraging monks to dress in the Mon style. Prince Mongkut was supported by the pro-British Dit Bunnag who was the Samuha Kalahom , or Armed Force Department's president, and

2232-499: The 5th century AD. Gregory Schopen argues that it is not until the 5th to 6th centuries AD that we have any definite evidence about the contents of the Canon. This position was criticized by A. Wynne. Western scholarship suggests that the composition of the Abhidhamma Pitaka likely began around 300 BCE, but may have drawn on an earlier tradition of lists and rubrics known as " matrika ". Traditional accounts include it among

2325-635: The Abhidhamma works recognized by other Buddhist schools. The Canon is traditionally described by the Theravada as the Word of the Buddha ( buddhavacana ), though this is not intended in a literal sense, since it includes teachings by disciples. The traditional Theravādin ( Mahavihārin ) interpretation of the Pali Canon is given in a series of commentaries covering nearly the whole Canon, compiled by Buddhaghosa ( fl. 4th–5th century AD) and later monks, mainly on

2418-606: The British governor of the Straits Settlements from Singapore , was among those who were invited. King Mongkut predicted the solar eclipse, at (in his own words) "East Greenwich longitude 99 degrees 42' and latitude North 11 degrees 39'." King Mongkut's calculations proved accurate. When he made calculations on the Wakor solar eclipse that was to occur, he used the Thai system of measuring time ("mong" and "baht"), but he implemented

2511-425: The Buddha, and that the later teachings were memorized by the Buddha's followers while he was still alive. His thesis is based on study of the processes of the first great council, and the methods for memorization used by the monks, which started during the Buddha's lifetime. It's also based on the capability of a few monks, to this day, to memorize the entire canon. Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali argue that it

2604-454: The Canon consists of three pitakas. Details are given below. For more complete information, see standard references on Pali literature. The first category, the Vinaya Pitaka , is mostly concerned with the rules of the sangha , both monks and nuns . The rules are preceded by stories telling how the Buddha came to lay them down, and followed by explanations and analysis. According to

2697-531: The Canon for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered with what they already had from an earlier period." A variety of factors suggest that the early Sri Lankan Buddhists regarded canonical literature as such and transmitted it conservatively. Theravada tradition generally treats the Canon as a whole as originating with the Buddha and his immediate disciples (with the exception of certain, generally Abhidhamma texts, that explicitly refer to events long after his death). Scholars differ in their views regarding

2790-783: The Canon was published in Burma in 1900, in 38 volumes. The following editions of the Pali text of the Canon are readily available in the West: Pali Canon in English Translation , 1895-, in progress, 43 volumes so far, Pali Text Society, Bristol; for details of these and other translations of individual books see the separate articles. In 1994, the then President of the Pali Text Society stated that most of these translations were unsatisfactory. Another former President said in 2003 that most of

2883-529: The King that the American climate might not be suitable for elephants and that American steam engines could also be used as beasts of burden and means of transportation. A century later, during his state visit to the US, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who was Mongkut's great-grandson, referred to this event in his address before the US Congress on 29 June 1960. He said, "my great-grandfather offered to send

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2976-542: The Pali Canon is found also in the scriptures of other early schools of Buddhism, parts of whose versions are preserved, mainly in Chinese. Many scholars have argued that this shared material can be attributed to the period of Pre-sectarian Buddhism . This is the period before the early schools separated in about the fourth or third century BC. Some scholars see the Pali Canon as expanding and changing from an unknown nucleus. Arguments given for an agnostic attitude include that

3069-439: The Pali Canon of Sri Lanka is a modified Canon and "there is no good reason to assume that Sri Lankan Buddhism resembles Early Buddhism in the mainland, and there are numerous reasons to argue that it does not." Dr. Peter Masefield M.P.T.S. researched a form of Pali known as Indochinese Pali or "Kham Pali". It had been considered a degraded form of Pali, but Masefield states that further examination of texts will probably show it

3162-498: The Pali canon to the Buddha's early followers. Peter Harvey states that "much" of the Pali Canon must derive from the Buddha's teaching, but also that "parts of the Pali Canon clearly originated after the time of the Buddha." A.K. Warder stated that there is no evidence to suggest that the shared teaching of the early schools was formulated by anyone else than the Buddha and his immediate followers. J.W. de Jong said it would be "hypocritical" to assert that we can say nothing about

3255-531: The President and Congress elephants to be turned loose in the uncultivated land of America for breeding purposes. That offer was made with no other objective than to provide a friend with what he lacks, in the same spirit in which the American aid program is likewise offered." The asteroid 151834 Mongkut is named in honour of the King and his contributions to astronomy and the modernization of Siam. The main hospital of Phetchaburi province, Phrachomklao Hospital ,

3348-528: The Sri Lankan Pali Canon had been translated first into Indo-Chinese Pali, and then, at least in part, back again into Pali. One of the edicts of Ashoka , the "Calcutta-Bairat edict", lists several works from the canon which Ashoka considered advantageous. According to Alexander Wynne: The general consensus seems to be that what Asoka calls Munigatha correspond to the Munisutta (Sn 207–221), Moneyasute

3441-471: The Thai government and people considered them to be lèse majesté . To clarify the historical record, well-known Thai intellectuals Seni and Kukrit Pramoj in 1948 wrote The King of Siam Speaks . The Pramoj brothers sent their manuscript to the American politician and diplomat Abbot Low Moffat (1901–1996), who drew on it for his 1961 biography, Mongkut the King of Siam . Moffat donated the Pramoj manuscript to

3534-465: The Thammayut sect as a rightful branch of Theravada. Mongkut also improved women's rights in Siam. He released a large number of royal concubines to find their own husbands, in contrast to how his story has been dramatized. He banned forced marriages of all kinds and the selling of one's wife to pay off a debt. In contrast to the previous king, Nangklao, Mongkut didn't see the importance of sending envoys to

3627-605: The United States Library of Congress in 1961. Anna claimed that her conversations with Prince Chulalongkorn about human freedom, and her relating to him the story of Uncle Tom's Cabin , became the inspiration for his abolition of slavery almost 40 years later. Slavery in Thailand was sometimes a voluntary alternative for individuals to be rid of social and financial obligations. One could be punished for torturing slaves in Siam, and some slaves could buy their freedom. Some western scholars and observers have expressed

3720-530: The Western method of longitude and latitude when he determined where on Earth the eclipse would best be viewed. Upon returning from his journey to Wakor, he condemned the court astrologers "for their...stupid statements because of their negligence of his detailed prediction and their inattention to measurement and calculation by modern instruments." During the expedition, King Mongkut and Prince Chulalongkorn were infected with malaria . The king died six weeks later in

3813-519: The absolute teaching, while the suttas are adapted to the hearer. Most scholars describe the abhidhamma as an attempt to systematize the teachings of the suttas: Cousins says that where the suttas think in terms of sequences or processes the abhidhamma thinks in terms of specific events or occasions. The Pali Canon uses many Brahmanical terminology and concepts. For example, the Sundarika Sutta includes an analogy, quoted in several other places in

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3906-479: The arrival of American missionaries, but the debate about Earth's shape remained an issue for Siamese intellectuals throughout the 1800s. During his reign, Mongkut urged his royal relatives to have "a European-style education." The missionaries, as teachers, taught modern geography and astronomy, among other subjects. Six years after Mongkut's death, the first Thai-language geography book was published in 1874, called Phumanithet by J.W. Van Dyke. However, geography

3999-720: The basis of earlier materials now lost. Subcommentaries were written afterward, commenting further on the Canon and its commentaries. The traditional Theravādin interpretation is summarized in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga . A spokesman for the Buddha Sasana Council of Burma states that the Canon contains everything needed to show the path to nirvāna ; the commentaries and subcommentaries sometimes include much speculative matter, but are faithful to its teachings and often give very illuminating illustrations. In Sri Lanka and Thailand , "official" Buddhism has in large part adopted

4092-567: The behalf of the Siamese. The result was the Bowring Treaty between the two nations. The main principle of the treaty was to abolish the Royal Storage (พระคลังสินค้า), which since Ayutthaya 's times held the monopoly on foreign trade. The Royal Storage had been the source of Ayutthaya's prosperity as it collected immense taxation on foreign traders, including the taxation according to the width of

4185-457: The canon was composed soon after Buddha's paranirvana, but after a period of free improvisation, and then the core teachings were preserved nearly verbatim by memory. Hajime Nakamura writes that while nothing can be definitively attributed to Gautama as a historical figure, some sayings or phrases must derive from him. Most scholars agree there was a rough body of sacred literature that an early community maintained and transmitted. Much of

4278-515: The capital, and was succeeded by his son, who survived malaria. It has been argued that the assimilation of Western geography and astronomy into 19th-century Siam "proved that Siam equalled the West in terms of knowledge, and therefore the imperialists ' claim that Siam was uncivilized and had to be colonized was unreasonable." This suggests that the Western form of these sciences may have saved Siam from actually being colonized by Western powers. Contrary to popular belief, King Mongkut did not offer

4371-691: The competition eventually resulted in the lands ending up in the hands of nobility. The Bowring Treaty also had a legal impact. Due to the horror of the Nakorn Bala methods of torture in judicial proceedings, the British requested not to be tried under the Siamese system, securing a grant of extraterritoriality ; British subjects in Siam were therefore subject only to British law, while the Siamese in Britain enjoyed no reciprocal privilege. More treaties were then made with other powers, further undermining national revenue and legal rights. The Bowring treaty proved to be

4464-406: The economic and social revolution of Siam. Mongkut's reign saw immense commercial activities in Siam for the first time, which led to the introduction of coinage in 1860. The first industries in Siam were rice milling and sugar production. Infrastructure was improved; there was a great deal of paving of roads and canal digging—for transport and water reservoirs for plantations. In 1862, following

4557-428: The evidence for the Buddha's teachings dates from long after his death. Some scholars of later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism say that little or nothing goes back to the Buddha. Ronald Davidson has little confidence that much, if any, of surviving Buddhist scripture is actually the word of the historical Buddha. Geoffrey Samuel says the Pali Canon largely derives from the work of Buddhaghosa and his colleagues in

4650-413: The evidence suggests that only parts of the Canon ever enjoyed wide currency, and that non-canonical works were sometimes much more widely used; the details varied from place to place. Rupert Gethin suggests that the whole of Buddhist history may be regarded as a working out of the implications of the early scriptures. According to a late part of the Pali Canon, the Buddha taught the three pitakas. It

4743-528: The galleon and the tithe. Western products had to go through a series of tax barriers to reach Siamese people. The Europeans had been attempting to undo this monopoly for a long time but no serious measures had been taken. For Siamese people, trading with foreigners subjected them to severe punishment by the government. The taxation was partially reduced in the Burney Treaty . However, in the world of nineteenth-century liberalism , government control over trade

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4836-532: The interpretations of Western scholars. Although the Canon has existed in written form for two millennia, its earlier oral nature has not been forgotten in Buddhist practice: memorization and recitation remain common. Among frequently recited texts are the Paritta . Even lay people usually know at least a few short texts by heart and recite them regularly; this is considered a form of meditation, at least if one understands

4929-447: The language of the kingdom of Magadhi as spoken by the Buddha, linguists have identified Pali as being more closely related to other prakrit languages of western India, and found substantial incompatibilities with the few preserved examples of Magadhi and other north-eastern prakrit languages. Linguistic research suggests that the teachings of the Buddha may have been recorded in an eastern Indian language originally, and transposed into

5022-549: The late 4th century AD). The surviving Sri Lankan version is the most complete, but was extensively redacted about 1,000 years after Buddha's death, in the 5th or 6th century CE. The earliest textual fragments of canonical Pali were found in the Pyu city-states in Burma dating only to the mid 5th to mid 6th century CE. The Pāli Canon falls into three general categories, called pitaka (from Pali piṭaka , meaning "basket", referring to

5115-476: The meaning. Monks are of course expected to know quite a bit more (see Dhammapada below for an example). A Burmese monk named Vicittasara even learned the entire Canon by heart for the Sixth Council (again according to the usual Theravada numbering). The relation of the scriptures to Buddhism as it actually exists among ordinary monks and lay people is, as with other major religious traditions, problematic:

5208-632: The monastic rules of discipline, the vinaya . Vajirayan admired Buddhawangso for his obedience to the vinaya, and was inspired to pursue religious reforms. In 1835, he began a reform movement reinforcing the vinaya law that evolved into the Dhammayuttika Nikaya , or Dhammayut sect. A strong theme in Mongkut's movement was that, "…true Buddhism was supposed to refrain from worldly matters and confine itself to spiritual and moral affairs". Mongkut eventually came to power in 1851, as did his colleagues who had

5301-595: The more fictionalized account, Anna and the King of Siam , in 1944, which was adapted for films and a musical. Her story would become the inspiration for the Hollywood movies Anna and the King of Siam and Anna and the King as well as the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I and its subsequent film adaptation , which, because of their fictionalized historical references and perceived disrespectful treatment of King Mongkut, were initially banned in Thailand as

5394-432: The most powerful noble during the reign of Rama III. He also had the support of British merchants who feared the growing anti-Western sentiment of the previous monarch and saw the 'prince monk' Mongkut as the 'champion' of European influence among the royal elite. Bunnag, with the supporting promise of British agents, sent his men to the leaving-from-monk-status ceremony for Prince Mongkut even before Nangklao's death. With

5487-520: The nucleus of the Buddhist teachings in the Pali Canon may derive from Gautama Buddha himself, but that part of it also was developed after the Buddha by his early followers. Richard Gombrich says that the main preachings of the Buddha (as in the Vinaya and Sutta Pitaka ) are coherent and cogent, and must be the work of a single person: the Buddha himself, not a committee of followers after his death. Other scholars are more cautious, and attribute part of

5580-401: The opinion that Siamese slaves were treated better than English servants. During his monkhood, Mongkut studied both indigenous astrology and English texts on Western astronomy and mathematics, hence developing his skills in astronomical measurement. One way that he honed his mastery of astronomy, aside from the accurate prediction of the solar eclipse of 18 August 1868 (Wakor solar eclipse),

5673-453: The origin of the Pali Canon, but generally believe that the Canon includes several strata of relatively early and late texts, but with little consensus regarding the relative dating of different sections of the Canon or which texts belong to which era. Prayudh Payutto argues that the Pali Canon represents the teachings of the Buddha essentially unchanged apart from minor modifications. He argues that it also incorporates teachings that precede

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5766-402: The paper urging subscribers to pay their fees. Lack of payment may have been the result of disapproval of Bradley's subject matter. In addition to local and foreign news, Bradley wrote on general topics, including science and politics. His writings on Christianity and Buddhism may have been perceived as critical of the dominant religion. This article about a newspaper published in Thailand

5859-508: The political geography it presents India at the time of Buddha, which changed soon after his death; that it has no mention of places in South India, which would have been well known to Indians not long after Buddha's death; and various other lines of evidence dating the material back to his time. The views of scholars concerning the authorship of the Pali Canon can be grouped into three categories: Several scholars of early Buddhism argue that

5952-477: The printing system and then resumed the publishing of Siam's first newspaper, the Bangkok Recorder . However, the missionaries were not as successful when it came to making religious conversions. In 1852, he ordered the nobles of the court to wear upper garments. Previously, Siamese nobles were forbidden to wear any shirts to prevent them from hiding any weapons in it and met the king bare-chested. The practice

6045-524: The receptacles in which the palm-leaf manuscripts were kept). Thus, the canon is traditionally known as the Tipiṭaka ("three baskets"). The three pitakas are as follows: The Vinaya Pitaka and the Sutta Pitaka are remarkably similar to the works of the early Buddhist schools, often termed Early Buddhist Texts . The Abhidhamma Pitaka, however, is a strictly Theravada collection and has little in common with

6138-518: The recitations, and henceforth, the teachings were preserved orally by the Sangha . The Tipitaka that was transmitted to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Asoka was initially preserved orally and was later written down on palm leaves during the Fourth Buddhist Council in 29 BC, approximately 454 years after the death of Gautama Buddha . The claim that the texts were "spoken by the Buddha"

6231-458: The resources of the Siamese army ran out and the army had to retreat. Accompanying the influx of Western visitors to Siam was the notion of a round earth. By many Siamese, this was difficult to accept, particularly by religious standards, because Buddhist scripture described the earth as being flat . The Traiphum , which was a geo-astrological map created before the arrival of Westerners, described "…a path between two mountain ranges through which

6324-538: The same progressive mission. From that point on, Siam more quickly embraced modernization. Vajirayan initiated two major revolutionary changes. Firstly, he embraced modern geography, among other sciences considered "Western". Secondly, he sought reform in Buddhism and, as a result, a new sect was created in Siamese Theravada Buddhism. Both revolutions challenged the purity and validity of the Buddhist order as it

6417-460: The stars, planets, moon and sun pass." Religious scholars usually concluded that Buddhist scriptures "…were meant to be taken literally only when it came to matters of spiritual truth; details of natural science are revealed figuratively and allegorically." Mongkut claimed to have abandoned the Traiphum cosmology before 1836. He claimed that he already knew of the round state of earth 15 years before

6510-538: The stories, the rules were devised on an ad hoc basis as the Buddha encountered various behavioral problems or disputes among his followers. This pitaka can be divided into three parts: The second category is the Sutta Pitaka (literally "basket of threads", or of "the well spoken"; Sanskrit: Sutra Pitaka , following the former meaning) which consists primarily of accounts of the Buddha's teachings. The Sutta Pitaka has five subdivisions, or nikayas : The third category,

6603-428: The support of powerful nobility and Britain, Mongkut's ascension to the throne was ensured. After his twenty-seven years of monastic life, King Mongkut voluntarily defrocked and ascended the throne in 1851, aged 47. He took the name Phra Chom Klao , although foreigners continued to call him King Mongkut. The king was well known among the foreigners, particularly some British officers, as pro-British. Sir James Brooke ,

6696-518: The teachings of earliest Buddhism, arguing that "the basic ideas of Buddhism found in the canonical writings could very well have been proclaimed by him [the Buddha], transmitted and developed by his disciples and, finally, codified in fixed formulas." Alex Wynne said that some texts in the Pali Canon may go back to the very beginning of Buddhism, which perhaps include the substance of the Buddha's teaching, and in some cases, maybe even his words. He suggests

6789-532: The texts recited at the First Buddhist Council and attribute differences in form and style to its composition by Sariputra . Opinions differ on what the earliest books of the Canon are. The majority of Western scholars consider the earliest identifiable stratum to be mainly prose works, the Vinaya (excluding the Parivāra) and the first four nikāyas of the Sutta Pitaka, and perhaps also some short verse works such as

6882-495: The throne was irredeemable and to avoid political intrigues, Mongkut retained his monastic status. Vajirayan became one of the few members of the royal family who devoted his life to religion. He travelled around the country as a monk and saw the relaxation of the rules of the Pali Canon among the Siamese monks he met, which he considered inappropriate. In 1829, at Phetchaburi , he met a monk named Buddhawangso, who strictly followed

6975-469: The time he died, aged 64, he had 82 children. His awareness of possibility of an outbreak of war with the European powers led him to institute many innovative activities. He ordered the nobility to wear shirts while attending his court; this was to show that Siam was a "modern" nation from the Western point of view. However, Mongkut's own astrological calculations pointed out that his brother, Prince Isaret,

7068-515: The time it reached its destination, President Buchanan was no longer in office. Lincoln, who succeeded Buchanan, is said to have been asked what the elephants could be used for, and in reply he said that he did not know, unless "they were used to stamp out the rebellion." However, in his reply dated 3 February 1862, Lincoln did not mention anything about the Civil War. The President merely politely declined to accept King Mongkut's proposal, explaining to

7161-573: The time of the reign of Ashoka (304–232 BC), which means that some of the texts carried by the Buddhist missionaries at this time might also have been fixed. According to the Sri Lankan Mahavamsa , the Pali Canon was written down in the reign of King Vattagāmini ( Vaṭṭagāmiṇi ) (1st century BCE) in Sri Lanka , at the Fourth Buddhist council . Most scholars hold that little if anything

7254-426: The translations were done very badly. The style of many translations from the Canon has been criticized as "Buddhist Hybrid English" , a term invented by Paul Griffiths for translations from Sanskrit. He describes it as "deplorable", "comprehensible only to the initiate, written by and for Buddhologists". Selections: see List of Pali Canon anthologies . A translation by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi of

7347-476: The two became close friends, and Vajirayan invited Pallegoix to preach Christian sermons in the wat. Vajirayan admired Christian morals and achievements as presented by the vicar, but could make nothing of Christian doctrine. It was then that he made the comment later attributed to him as king: "What you teach people to do is admirable, but what you teach them to believe is foolish." King Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English, although it

7440-492: The two states then fought each other and Chiang Hung sought Siamese support. Nangklao saw this as an opportunity to gain control over Shan states but he died in 1851 before this plan was realized. In 1852, Chiang Hung submitted the request again. Mongkut sent Siamese troops northwards but the armies were turned aside by the mountainous highlands. In 1855 the Siamese marched again and reached Kengtung—though with even greater difficulty. They laid siege on Kengtung for 21 days. However,

7533-522: The west Indian precursor of Pali sometime before the Asokan era. Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically Theravādin, but is instead the collection of teachings that this school preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings. According to Peter Harvey , it contains material which is at odds with later Theravādin orthodoxy. He states that "the Theravādins, then, may have added texts to

7626-489: Was added to the Canon after this, though Schopen questions this. The climate of Theravāda countries is not conducive to the survival of manuscripts. Apart from brief quotations in inscriptions and a two-page fragment from the eighth or ninth century found in Nepal , the oldest manuscripts known are from late in the fifteenth century, and there is not very much from before the eighteenth. The first complete printed edition of

7719-464: Was also known for appointing his younger brother, Prince Chutamani, as Second King , crowned in 1851 as King Pinklao . Mongkut told the country that Pinklao should be respected with equal honor to himself (as King Naresuan had done with his brother Ekathotsarot in 1583). During Mongkut's reign, the power of the House of Bunnag reached its zenith: It became the most powerful noble family of Siam. Mongkut

7812-599: Was as well-favored as himself to be the monarch. So, Mongkut then crowned his brother as King Pinklao, the second king. As a prince, Pinklao was known for his abilities in foreign languages and relations. Mongkut also raised his supporter Dit Bunnag to Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Prayurawongse ( Somdet Chao Phraya was the highest rank of nobility on a par with royalty) and made him his regent kingdom-wide. Mongkut also appointed Dit Bunnag's brother, Tat Bunnag, as Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Pichaiyat, as his regent in Bangkok. As

7905-474: Was changing the official Buddhist calendar, "which was seriously miscalculated and the times for auspicious moments were incorrect." In 1868, he invited high-ranking European and Siamese officials to accompany him to Wakor village in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province , south of Hua Hin , where the solar eclipse that was to occur on 18 August could be best viewed as a total eclipse. Sir Harry Ord ,

7998-518: Was criticized by Westerners and so Mongkut ended it. However, Mongkut did not abandon the traditional culture of Siam. For Buddhism, Mongkut pioneered the rehabilitation of various temples. He also began the Magha Puja (มาฆบูชา) festival in the full moon of the third lunar month, to celebrate Buddha's announcement of his main principles. He instigated the recompilation of Tripitaka in Siam according to Theravada traditions. He also formally established

8091-460: Was followed by Prince Chutamani ( เจ้าฟ้าจุฑามณี ) in 1808. In 1809, Prince Itsarasunthon was crowned as Phutthaloetla Naphalai (later styled King Rama II.) The royal family then moved to the Grand Palace . Thenceforth, until their own accessions as kings, the brothers ( เจ้าฟ้า chaofa ) were called Chao Fa Yai ( เจ้าฟ้าใหญ่ ) and Chao Fa Noi ( เจ้าฟ้าน้อย ). In 1824, Mongkut became

8184-463: Was marked by significant modernization initiatives and diplomatic engagements, which played pivotal roles in shaping Thailand's trajectory towards progress and international relations. Siam first felt the pressure of Western expansionism during Mongkut's reign. Mongkut embraced Western innovations and initiated the modernization of his country, both in technology and culture—earning him the nickname "The Father of Science and Technology" in Siam. Mongkut

8277-574: Was only after some time that it was generally accepted. Therefore, it was much later that the records of this event were transformed into an account of a "council" (sangayana or sangiti ) which was held under the patronage of King Vattagamani . Textual fragments of similar teachings have been found in the agama of other major Buddhist schools in India. They were, however, written down in various Prakrits other than Pali as well as Sanskrit . Some of those were later translated into Chinese (earliest dating to

8370-542: Was only taught in select schools, mainly those that were run by American missionaries with English programs for upper secondary students. Thongchai Winichakul argues that Mongkut's efforts to popularize Western geography helped bring reform to education in Siam. 1852 saw an influx of English and American missionaries into Siam as Mongkut hired them to teach the English language to the princes. He also hired Western mercenaries to train Siamese troops in Western style. In Bangkok, American Dan Beach Bradley had already reformed

8463-479: Was practiced in Siam at the time. In 1836, Vajirayan arrived at Wat Bowonniwet in what is now Bangkok's central district , but was then the city proper, and became the wat's first abbot ( เจ้าอาวาส ). During this time, he pursued a Western education, studying Latin, English, and astronomy with missionaries and sailors. Vicar Pallegoix of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bangkok lived nearby;

8556-627: Was reinforced by regular communal recitations. The tradition holds that only a few later additions were made. The Theravādin pitakas were first written down in Sri Lanka in the Alu Viharaya Temple no earlier than 29–17 BC. The geographic setting of identifiable texts within the Canon generally corresponds to locations in the Ganges region of northeastern India, including the kingdoms of Kosala , Kasi , Vajji , and Magadha . While Theravada tradition has generally regarded Pali as being synonymous with

8649-417: Was swiftly disappearing. The abolition of such trade barriers replaced the previous system of Siamese commerce with free trade . Import taxation was reduced to 3% and could only be collected once. This was a blow to national revenue. However, this led to dramatic growth of commercial sectors as common people gained access to foreign trade. People rushed to acquire vast, previously empty fields to grow rice and

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