Many Thai have two standards one
is the pure Buddhism and the other
is what we call animism, with ancestor-worship, is the primitive
belief of the Thai and their neighbours as well, and this formed the
first layer of Thai religion. Later on came Buddhism and the Thai
adopted it as their national religion. Unlike their neighbours
the Burmans, the Thai inherited a fair proportion of Hinduism
through the influence of the Cambodians who were in former days a
highly hinduized people. Whatever cults and beliefs are adopted
by the Thai , they are readily modified to suit their temperament
and surroundings. When they adopted Buddhism, they gratly
modified their basic belief of animism into the fold of Buddhism.
Likewise when they embraced Hinduism, they adapted it as a
subordinate to the former. As Buddhism and Hinduism were evolved
from one and the same source, i.e. Brahminism, there was no
hindrance to their assimilation. They became in time intermixed
completely, and of course tinged with the former animistic
belief. There is a Thai saying, particularly among the Thai of
the central area where Hinduism still has some force with the
elite class, that "Buddhism and Hinduism usually uphold each
other". In the northern and north-eastern areas, Hinduism has
become weaker and gradually animism has come to the fore,
especially in the folkways of the people, but modified greatly of
course, through the influence of Buddhism. To complete the fact,
Buddhism as the national religion of Thailand is of the southern
school, the Hinayan; but it reveals some traces of the cults of
the Mahayan or Buddhism of the Northern School unconsciously
practised. This was due historically no doubt, to the influence
of the past Cambodian Empire and Srivijaya Empire of the Malay
Peninsula, which for sometime adopted the Buddhism of the
Northern School. There are traces of Mahayanism too in the
northern area; but this is no dout derived from a different
channel, namely from Burma and Southern China. There are too in
modern times native Christian communities, but they are only
minorities. Christianity has never made appreciable progress with
the Thai people. Its converts are confined mostly to notifies of
alien ancestry and paradoxically most of them, instead of being
converted have, converted their Christian belief in terms of
their indigenous one. Living outside his community, the converted
native, and even his children born in the fold of Christianity,
will in time revert to their former belief within a few years.
Such is the potent force that underlies naturally the culture of
Thailand. Buddhism in a modified form is the mainspring of the
national life. It has developed by slow creation of centuries to
meet every new need, formed her ideals and conceptions and
safeguard. The problem is how for we can preserve this tradition
against the aggressiveness of the new materialistic force of the
present civilisation. Thailand cannot neglect or ignore the
powerful force which besets her with many dangers if her
traditional ideals are not to be uprooted suddenly.