“Marxist, Leninist, Maoist based archaic…” must be the ultimate abuse you could hurl at me I guess. The old chestnut Reds under the bed, like ASSK was accused early on by the regime at the instigation of Aung Gyi. Indicative of desperation and bankruptcy of ideas.
Selfish greedy right wing fascists need nobody’s creation or help to behave as they do, and yes, they are good at constantly seeing enemies (‘internal and external destructive elements’), real or imagined, since they are so paranoid about losing their grip on power which they’ve managed to grab for themselves by hook or by crook.
Crocodile tears for the ‘plight of the citizenry’ and alleging others of ignoring it as if all the generals needed was a pat on the back and economic support just ain’t gonna wash.
“Remarkably in the 21st century, perhaps even in Thailand, 11 bureaucrats and police spoke up against free speech.” I find that comment strange, the bureaucracy and police are usually the sharp point of totalitarian regimes, left or right, stamping out free speech and reducing liberties. The nature of these agencies is control, corruption and suppression, how else do they justify their otherwise useless parasitic existence?
In the context of national elections, which I believe is what this discussion is about, the profile is very short.
A member of the Thienthong family or relative is on the ballot and everyone votes for them. This is in the rural districts outside the towns. From the results I have seen, it appears the godfather’s influence is certainly waning in even the medium size district towns. But in the countryside, where everyone knows everyone at the polling station, the race for the MP is non event.
John, I would love to spend a year in Wang Nam Yen, but that would be a rather drawn out way of conducting a debate/discussion. How about you write us a short profile of some of the main political dynamics you have observed there. I would be very happy to run it, especially if it provides a perspective that is different to that in my own work. AW
“You represent a way of life that will not allow mine to survive. I cannot allow that to occur.”
Strangely reminiscent of current social trauma, this comment is from the series “Star Trek,” where a backward national leader had expressed his misgivings about change.
Brief summary of the case is: “Webmaster is about to be criminally liable for failing to delete comments which authorities never requested be taken down, and that she never saw.”
Simple analogy: a hooligan curses in a live TV broadcast, the TV editor goes to jail.
This is simply repression — the more arbitrary, the better. There is almost zero legal content to dispute in the case.
If anyone, the relevant censors at MICT should be convicted for this “crime”, since they failed to promptly bring the comments to webmasters attention. That’s probably just negligence (failed to do their job), but by Thai logic of repression it may well be lese majeste. Actually, MICT censors ought to go to prison for every inappropriate bit on the entire internet.
Andrew #21 “To suggest that rural Thai politics is “dominated” by patrons/godfathers is to focus on just one part of a complex and diverse system.
I repeat what I said, spend a year in Wang Nam Yen and surrounding districts and then tell us about a complex and diverse system.
All you people are trying to do is hide what is common knowledge, that Thaksin was the first to have the money to buy virtually all the godfathers, and even when he lost the middle class support he initially enjoyed in 2001, they were enough to keep his majority in Parliament safe. He had a bit of a scare in 2008, but in the end, he didn’t win because of any popularity or policies, it came down the rural seats controlled by godfathers that lined up at the trough again. The rest is just political hyperbole of the western liberals trying to make this out to be some sort of ideological battle.
The system is complex, but diverse it is not. Granted, the younger ones that have moved to Rayong and Bangkok are not near as beholden (or scared) of that family, but the outcomes of national elections are still known way before hand.
Name me one rural district that what party would win was only in doubt until the candidate chose which party he would align with for this election.
Rural patrons have always been a mixture of bad and good. The worst extreme is the “godfather” who sells protection and makes sure something bad happens to anybody who doesn’t pay. The patron is much less bad when he buys loyalty with largesse. The system of parliamentary representation enables the patron as member of parliament to fight for, and bring home a good share of government (taxpayers’) largesse. Banharn is an example of a good performer in that respect (and a bad prime minister for the same reason). When elections are permitted, a well informed electorate can get rid of a poorly performing patron-politician without resort to violence.
I would think the patrons/godfathers would not exactly welcome things such as red villages which represent networks and grouping outside of the traditional and thereby weakening the hand of the patrons/godfathers and certainly limiting their ability to manouver within the political sphere.
I am sure given a chance and trusting that they could control “their” peasants many would have taken the lucre and changed sides. However, the balance has clearly changed to the degree where the relationship is a lot more symbiotic at least
An informative, and undoubtedly provocative, essay would be an analysis of the conference participated in by Dr Walker this week in Singapore showing what was said there that could not have been said, or would have been said significantly differently, if the venue had been in Thailand.
Not a prison, but a renovation to 5 star and tight security, secure telecoms for the 1 month (2 week?) stay of T right before he gets his pardon from either 1 place or another.
We are full circle to “honest mistake, did my best, how could I have known the result would be like this?” excuse that counter and or preempt any process(however warped to either direction) that resembles legal system.
Chalerm said it all, “anything is possible, as long as you can get most of the thai people to agree with you”.
T figured it out long ago. You can fool most of the thai people most off the time. Just have to stay one step ahead long enough to create hype value for your assets/positions then step off the train right before the inevitable crash (remember the lead up and sale of the telco?). Watch who really benefits from all the give aways that will create more debt as people simply buy more toys that expire in 2-5 years. And then the income gap as well as the economy may well get worse.
Unsustainable leadership with unsustainable policies. How are we better off?
Ap─Бna in Hatha-yoga (and other yogas, but I know hatha-yoga best) is exactly “abdominal breath/wind” there is nothing wrong or prudish about this definition. As stated in the article ap─Бna is one of the five pr─Бnas in the body: pr─Бna (chest area), ap─Бna (abdominal area), samana (mid-thorax, digestive system etc), udana (head and limbs), vyana (moving through the body as reserve energy). These pr─Бnas regulate or facilitate the functioning of these areas of the body. In this configuration ap─Бna in no way means ‘fart’ it is the ‘downward breath/wind’ that controls or regulates the functioning of the abdominal area and thus one function is to push out waste material etc. It regulates defecation, urination, flatulence, emission of sexual fluids, menstruation and child birth, that is, everything moving downward and out, but in this system it is not the fart itself anymore than pr─Бna as thoracic breath is the actual air-carbon dioxide. There may be contexts where ap─Бna is the fart and pr─Бna is the air, but not in this instance.
I do agree that ap─Бna does not mean breathing out or exhaling.
I would argue the possibility that the reason a corpse bloats with gas is not because ap─Бna is building up but precisely because there is no ap─Бna functioning in a corpse to regulate the expulsion of the gas; at death the pr─Бnamaya-kosha (breath/wind-apparent-sheath) along with the other three higher kosha have left the corpse, that is, the corpse is a now completely pr─Бnaless annamaya-kosha (food-apparent-sheath). A corpse has no pr─Бna of any kind and it is decomposing precisely because of that. This is in disagreement with the quote of Brown: “that this special air [ap─Бna] was a peculiarly vital one, and carried on its activities, at least in some cases, even after pr─Бс╣Зa had departed, and hence was in a measure independent of it. [Brown, p. 109]”.
Further, ap─Бna is necessary for the downward circulation of the general pr─Бna in the body. Ap─Бna and pr─Бna (chest area) circulate the general pr─Бna (not physical air) around, up and down, and they are necessary for circulation of pr─Бna and even the ‘jiva’ through the Ida and Pingala nadi.
Thus author’s statement: “In plain English, what he [Brown] calls “abdominal breath” is flatulence –and the mistranslation of the corresponding passages of the canon is very nearly the apotheosis of farting”, is completely erroneous in the context of both Brown’s explanation and yogic theory.
The author then takes this erroneous definition of yogic ap─Бna and applies it to the Tipitaka and modern English translations of ap─Бna. The author appears adamant on finding a literal, physically verifiable ‘breath/wind’, thus ‘gas’, thus fart, rather than accepting that pr─Бna and ap─Бna were and still are at this point outside material existence and scientific proof. If one throws out yogic theory and is left with nothing but a fart, the whole system of hatha-yoga collapses along with any coherent meaning in the An─Бp─Бnasati-sutta.
Perhaps the author realizes what his definition does to ─Бn─Бp─Бna-sati, since he never applies his definition to the sutta and in a reply to a comment, he states: “I do not say that the canon prescribes “farting meditation” (i.e., I do not put forward the view Dangle ascribes to me)”. In fact that is exactly what the article describes (rather than ‘prescribes’). The title of the article is “ Ap─Бna and the Mistranslation of the “An─Бp─Бnasati sutta” and the author presents a long proof that ap─Бna means ‘fart’ or ‘farting’ apparently insisting that ap─Бna can have no other meaning. If indeed the article does not describe ‘farting meditation” then I would ask the author to apply his definition of ap─Бna and translate the An─Бp─Бnasati sutta and provide us with a concrete example of how to use his definitions of ap─Бna and ‘passasati’.
I do find the article useful for pointing out ap─Бna and ─Бn─Бp─Бnasati-sutta in relation to yoga. This makes me think that Buddha may have been practicing with this, a similar, or precursor conception of the body and that ─Бn─Бp─Бnasati could be ‘mindfulness of breathing’ but with the meaning of mindfulness on ─Бna (pr─Бna) thoracic wind and ap─Бna abdominal breath/wind because when we breath our thorax and abdomen move (if one wants only materially verifiable phenomena stick only with this and this movement may well be all the An─Бp─Бnasati-sutta means) and mindfulness on the general pr─Бna (not physical air-oxygen) circulating through the body because of the functioning of pr─Бna and ap─Бna. This would then seem to mean that the mediator is aware of the entire process and area of breathing and ‘breath’ and not just the tip of the nose as is so often taught in Theravada ─Бn─Бp─Бna meditation (as noted in two comments above). This also suggests that Mahasi Sayadaw meditation technique of concentrating on the rising and falling of the abdomen when practicing ─Бn─Бp─Бna sati is not so far off the mark of the original meaning; and perhaps this is why it is so successful.
Hi Billy, this isssue is discussed in some detail in my forthcoming book (Thailand’s Political Peasants: Power in the Modern Rural Economy, University of Wisconsin Press). In brief, of course patron-client relations are important. But the nature of patronage (and clientage) has changed a lot with the administrative, economic and social diversification of rural Thailand. To suggest that rural Thai politics is “dominated” by patrons/godfathers is to focus on just one part of a complex and diverse system. Yes, it has received a lot of attention in scholarly literature. I am hoping that my book will encourage a broader, more respectful and more nuanced exploration of rural politics. AW
Strategies in dealing with unjust criminal defamation allegations, charges and prosecutions –
I neglected to mention that after involved personal experience with such needless persecution, I am more than ever convinced that strong multiple counter-charges must immediately be placed against those who maliciously accuse us of defamation – no matter in whose name they claim to be doing so or for what purpose. Until malice, hatred and intentional causes of suffering are stomped down in the courts and law enforcement agencies are forced to conduct real investigations and dismiss ridiculous malice before it becomes such suffering, Thailand’s justice system will never reform to the minimal extend needed to protect civil and human rights here.
At the center of such injustice is the initial injustice that takes place with police inquiries and procedures that have no place in a democratic and civil society. Allowing these inhumane and nonsensical procedures to become a major taxpayer-funded effort to silence dissent is a historically shameful affront to ideals Thailand has long abandoned.
Lest we forget that other US allies are censoring educational and academic material, see what the Palestinians are being faced with recently to mold the minds of future generations… http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=23912&CategoryID=3
I continue to write to my US c ongressmen and US media regarding Prachatai’s case and the many others taking place here in the Kingdom, and encourage fellow expats to kindly pick up the pen as often as possible to contact similar agents and agencies.
I also call on Thais to gather the courage to carry this matter of criminal defamation and lese majeste into the Thai civil and criminal courts to establish recognition and resolution of these unjust issues.
Are you saying patron-client relationships aren’t a vital factor of Thai rural politics? Or are you saying that Thaksin somehow marginalised, bypassed, undermined these structures? Or, are you saying that something else has transformed their role in Thai political culture? Of the academic literature that I’ve read on the topic, you’d seem about the only one to downplay their importance. Now, of course you may be on to something, but a little more info on how you came to this conclusion would be very interesting…
On that basis, Alex, Mazard’s interpretation is also strongly undermined by those Buddhist meditation teachers who focus only on the breath (at the nose).
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Sheridan and Selth on Burma today
“Marxist, Leninist, Maoist based archaic…” must be the ultimate abuse you could hurl at me I guess. The old chestnut Reds under the bed, like ASSK was accused early on by the regime at the instigation of Aung Gyi. Indicative of desperation and bankruptcy of ideas.
Selfish greedy right wing fascists need nobody’s creation or help to behave as they do, and yes, they are good at constantly seeing enemies (‘internal and external destructive elements’), real or imagined, since they are so paranoid about losing their grip on power which they’ve managed to grab for themselves by hook or by crook.
Crocodile tears for the ‘plight of the citizenry’ and alleging others of ignoring it as if all the generals needed was a pat on the back and economic support just ain’t gonna wash.
Prachatai’s defence
“Remarkably in the 21st century, perhaps even in Thailand, 11 bureaucrats and police spoke up against free speech.” I find that comment strange, the bureaucracy and police are usually the sharp point of totalitarian regimes, left or right, stamping out free speech and reducing liberties. The nature of these agencies is control, corruption and suppression, how else do they justify their otherwise useless parasitic existence?
The coup: five years on
Andrew #27
In the context of national elections, which I believe is what this discussion is about, the profile is very short.
A member of the Thienthong family or relative is on the ballot and everyone votes for them. This is in the rural districts outside the towns. From the results I have seen, it appears the godfather’s influence is certainly waning in even the medium size district towns. But in the countryside, where everyone knows everyone at the polling station, the race for the MP is non event.
I look forward to seeing your presentation.
The coup: five years on
John, I would love to spend a year in Wang Nam Yen, but that would be a rather drawn out way of conducting a debate/discussion. How about you write us a short profile of some of the main political dynamics you have observed there. I would be very happy to run it, especially if it provides a perspective that is different to that in my own work. AW
Prachatai’s defence
“You represent a way of life that will not allow mine to survive. I cannot allow that to occur.”
Strangely reminiscent of current social trauma, this comment is from the series “Star Trek,” where a backward national leader had expressed his misgivings about change.
Prachatai’s defence
This whole discussion is a waste of words.
Brief summary of the case is: “Webmaster is about to be criminally liable for failing to delete comments which authorities never requested be taken down, and that she never saw.”
Simple analogy: a hooligan curses in a live TV broadcast, the TV editor goes to jail.
This is simply repression — the more arbitrary, the better. There is almost zero legal content to dispute in the case.
If anyone, the relevant censors at MICT should be convicted for this “crime”, since they failed to promptly bring the comments to webmasters attention. That’s probably just negligence (failed to do their job), but by Thai logic of repression it may well be lese majeste. Actually, MICT censors ought to go to prison for every inappropriate bit on the entire internet.
The coup: five years on
Andrew #21 “To suggest that rural Thai politics is “dominated” by patrons/godfathers is to focus on just one part of a complex and diverse system.
I repeat what I said, spend a year in Wang Nam Yen and surrounding districts and then tell us about a complex and diverse system.
All you people are trying to do is hide what is common knowledge, that Thaksin was the first to have the money to buy virtually all the godfathers, and even when he lost the middle class support he initially enjoyed in 2001, they were enough to keep his majority in Parliament safe. He had a bit of a scare in 2008, but in the end, he didn’t win because of any popularity or policies, it came down the rural seats controlled by godfathers that lined up at the trough again. The rest is just political hyperbole of the western liberals trying to make this out to be some sort of ideological battle.
The system is complex, but diverse it is not. Granted, the younger ones that have moved to Rayong and Bangkok are not near as beholden (or scared) of that family, but the outcomes of national elections are still known way before hand.
Name me one rural district that what party would win was only in doubt until the candidate chose which party he would align with for this election.
The coup: five years on
Rural patrons have always been a mixture of bad and good. The worst extreme is the “godfather” who sells protection and makes sure something bad happens to anybody who doesn’t pay. The patron is much less bad when he buys loyalty with largesse. The system of parliamentary representation enables the patron as member of parliament to fight for, and bring home a good share of government (taxpayers’) largesse. Banharn is an example of a good performer in that respect (and a bad prime minister for the same reason). When elections are permitted, a well informed electorate can get rid of a poorly performing patron-politician without resort to violence.
The coup: five years on
I would think the patrons/godfathers would not exactly welcome things such as red villages which represent networks and grouping outside of the traditional and thereby weakening the hand of the patrons/godfathers and certainly limiting their ability to manouver within the political sphere.
I am sure given a chance and trusting that they could control “their” peasants many would have taken the lucre and changed sides. However, the balance has clearly changed to the degree where the relationship is a lot more symbiotic at least
Prachatai’s defence
An informative, and undoubtedly provocative, essay would be an analysis of the conference participated in by Dr Walker this week in Singapore showing what was said there that could not have been said, or would have been said significantly differently, if the venue had been in Thailand.
The coup: five years on
The last thing the rural patronage system needs is our respect.
The coup: five years on
Good luck Andrew. Now that the fog of “war” has lifted, realities should be less clouded by naive wishful agendas.
New prison for political prisoners in Thailand?
Not a prison, but a renovation to 5 star and tight security, secure telecoms for the 1 month (2 week?) stay of T right before he gets his pardon from either 1 place or another.
We are full circle to “honest mistake, did my best, how could I have known the result would be like this?” excuse that counter and or preempt any process(however warped to either direction) that resembles legal system.
Chalerm said it all, “anything is possible, as long as you can get most of the thai people to agree with you”.
T figured it out long ago. You can fool most of the thai people most off the time. Just have to stay one step ahead long enough to create hype value for your assets/positions then step off the train right before the inevitable crash (remember the lead up and sale of the telco?). Watch who really benefits from all the give aways that will create more debt as people simply buy more toys that expire in 2-5 years. And then the income gap as well as the economy may well get worse.
Unsustainable leadership with unsustainable policies. How are we better off?
Flatulence and breathing meditation
Ap─Бna in Hatha-yoga (and other yogas, but I know hatha-yoga best) is exactly “abdominal breath/wind” there is nothing wrong or prudish about this definition. As stated in the article ap─Бna is one of the five pr─Бnas in the body: pr─Бna (chest area), ap─Бna (abdominal area), samana (mid-thorax, digestive system etc), udana (head and limbs), vyana (moving through the body as reserve energy). These pr─Бnas regulate or facilitate the functioning of these areas of the body. In this configuration ap─Бna in no way means ‘fart’ it is the ‘downward breath/wind’ that controls or regulates the functioning of the abdominal area and thus one function is to push out waste material etc. It regulates defecation, urination, flatulence, emission of sexual fluids, menstruation and child birth, that is, everything moving downward and out, but in this system it is not the fart itself anymore than pr─Бna as thoracic breath is the actual air-carbon dioxide. There may be contexts where ap─Бna is the fart and pr─Бna is the air, but not in this instance.
I do agree that ap─Бna does not mean breathing out or exhaling.
I would argue the possibility that the reason a corpse bloats with gas is not because ap─Бna is building up but precisely because there is no ap─Бna functioning in a corpse to regulate the expulsion of the gas; at death the pr─Бnamaya-kosha (breath/wind-apparent-sheath) along with the other three higher kosha have left the corpse, that is, the corpse is a now completely pr─Бnaless annamaya-kosha (food-apparent-sheath). A corpse has no pr─Бna of any kind and it is decomposing precisely because of that. This is in disagreement with the quote of Brown: “that this special air [ap─Бna] was a peculiarly vital one, and carried on its activities, at least in some cases, even after pr─Бс╣Зa had departed, and hence was in a measure independent of it. [Brown, p. 109]”.
Further, ap─Бna is necessary for the downward circulation of the general pr─Бna in the body. Ap─Бna and pr─Бna (chest area) circulate the general pr─Бna (not physical air) around, up and down, and they are necessary for circulation of pr─Бna and even the ‘jiva’ through the Ida and Pingala nadi.
Thus author’s statement: “In plain English, what he [Brown] calls “abdominal breath” is flatulence –and the mistranslation of the corresponding passages of the canon is very nearly the apotheosis of farting”, is completely erroneous in the context of both Brown’s explanation and yogic theory.
The author then takes this erroneous definition of yogic ap─Бna and applies it to the Tipitaka and modern English translations of ap─Бna. The author appears adamant on finding a literal, physically verifiable ‘breath/wind’, thus ‘gas’, thus fart, rather than accepting that pr─Бna and ap─Бna were and still are at this point outside material existence and scientific proof. If one throws out yogic theory and is left with nothing but a fart, the whole system of hatha-yoga collapses along with any coherent meaning in the An─Бp─Бnasati-sutta.
Perhaps the author realizes what his definition does to ─Бn─Бp─Бna-sati, since he never applies his definition to the sutta and in a reply to a comment, he states: “I do not say that the canon prescribes “farting meditation” (i.e., I do not put forward the view Dangle ascribes to me)”. In fact that is exactly what the article describes (rather than ‘prescribes’). The title of the article is “ Ap─Бna and the Mistranslation of the “An─Бp─Бnasati sutta” and the author presents a long proof that ap─Бna means ‘fart’ or ‘farting’ apparently insisting that ap─Бna can have no other meaning. If indeed the article does not describe ‘farting meditation” then I would ask the author to apply his definition of ap─Бna and translate the An─Бp─Бnasati sutta and provide us with a concrete example of how to use his definitions of ap─Бna and ‘passasati’.
I do find the article useful for pointing out ap─Бna and ─Бn─Бp─Бnasati-sutta in relation to yoga. This makes me think that Buddha may have been practicing with this, a similar, or precursor conception of the body and that ─Бn─Бp─Бnasati could be ‘mindfulness of breathing’ but with the meaning of mindfulness on ─Бna (pr─Бna) thoracic wind and ap─Бna abdominal breath/wind because when we breath our thorax and abdomen move (if one wants only materially verifiable phenomena stick only with this and this movement may well be all the An─Бp─Бnasati-sutta means) and mindfulness on the general pr─Бna (not physical air-oxygen) circulating through the body because of the functioning of pr─Бna and ap─Бna. This would then seem to mean that the mediator is aware of the entire process and area of breathing and ‘breath’ and not just the tip of the nose as is so often taught in Theravada ─Бn─Бp─Бna meditation (as noted in two comments above). This also suggests that Mahasi Sayadaw meditation technique of concentrating on the rising and falling of the abdomen when practicing ─Бn─Бp─Бna sati is not so far off the mark of the original meaning; and perhaps this is why it is so successful.
The coup: five years on
Hi Billy, this isssue is discussed in some detail in my forthcoming book (Thailand’s Political Peasants: Power in the Modern Rural Economy, University of Wisconsin Press). In brief, of course patron-client relations are important. But the nature of patronage (and clientage) has changed a lot with the administrative, economic and social diversification of rural Thailand. To suggest that rural Thai politics is “dominated” by patrons/godfathers is to focus on just one part of a complex and diverse system. Yes, it has received a lot of attention in scholarly literature. I am hoping that my book will encourage a broader, more respectful and more nuanced exploration of rural politics. AW
Prachatai’s defence
Strategies in dealing with unjust criminal defamation allegations, charges and prosecutions –
I neglected to mention that after involved personal experience with such needless persecution, I am more than ever convinced that strong multiple counter-charges must immediately be placed against those who maliciously accuse us of defamation – no matter in whose name they claim to be doing so or for what purpose. Until malice, hatred and intentional causes of suffering are stomped down in the courts and law enforcement agencies are forced to conduct real investigations and dismiss ridiculous malice before it becomes such suffering, Thailand’s justice system will never reform to the minimal extend needed to protect civil and human rights here.
At the center of such injustice is the initial injustice that takes place with police inquiries and procedures that have no place in a democratic and civil society. Allowing these inhumane and nonsensical procedures to become a major taxpayer-funded effort to silence dissent is a historically shameful affront to ideals Thailand has long abandoned.
Prachatai’s defence
Lest we forget that other US allies are censoring educational and academic material, see what the Palestinians are being faced with recently to mold the minds of future generations…
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=23912&CategoryID=3
I continue to write to my US c ongressmen and US media regarding Prachatai’s case and the many others taking place here in the Kingdom, and encourage fellow expats to kindly pick up the pen as often as possible to contact similar agents and agencies.
I also call on Thais to gather the courage to carry this matter of criminal defamation and lese majeste into the Thai civil and criminal courts to establish recognition and resolution of these unjust issues.
The coup: five years on
I don’t understand Andrew’s comment at #15
Are you saying patron-client relationships aren’t a vital factor of Thai rural politics? Or are you saying that Thaksin somehow marginalised, bypassed, undermined these structures? Or, are you saying that something else has transformed their role in Thai political culture? Of the academic literature that I’ve read on the topic, you’d seem about the only one to downplay their importance. Now, of course you may be on to something, but a little more info on how you came to this conclusion would be very interesting…
Flatulence and breathing meditation
On that basis, Alex, Mazard’s interpretation is also strongly undermined by those Buddhist meditation teachers who focus only on the breath (at the nose).
Paul Handley replies to comments
By #44’s definition, almost everyone in Thailand would have to have been co-authors. Jest, of course.