Heikkilä-Horn, Marja-Leena: Santi Asoke Buddhism and Thai State Response

Abstract

This book is a largely empirical study based on fieldwork carried out by its author in Thailand. It deals with a new movement in Thai Buddhism which has come into conflict with the state and with established forms of Buddhism. At the very least the work is an important contribution simply in being the first full-scale characterisation of the Asoke Buddhist movement. It gives a very plastic picture of the lives of its members, of their conceptual orientations and their ritual and economic behaviour. In this regard, there will be great satisfaction on the part of others working on Buddhism and other forms of religion in South-East Asia.