Facebook 
Twitter 
Soundcloud 
Youtube 
Rss 
Over at The Nation Thanong Khanthong offers a meditation on life, King Bhumibol and Buddhism that dovetails nicely with yesterday’s effort to question the relationship between politics, royalty and the supernatural. Thanong waxes lyrical in his usual style and concludes with a:
…a vision of the future, when the Thai people become enlightened…and will embrace the golden age of Suvarnabhumi again. Suvarnabhumi: the Golden Land, with fish in the rivers and rice in the fields. That remote notion of utopia then seemed to be not too far away.
Insights from readers who can add to our knowledge of the issues raised by Thanong are very welcome here.
Check out where Fonzi deconstructed a previous history lesson by Thanong Khanthong:
http://thailandjumpedtheshark.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-04-27T04%3A46%3A00%2B07%3A00&max-results=7
0
0
Well, attainment of Nibanna is defined by the liberation from GREED, HATRED and DELUSION – which are obviously ruling the Thai political arena.
[Since animism appears to be the coming hot issue on NM and the next thing to be fired at anything slightly yellow, bear in mind the difference between the Thammayut order and the customary somewhat “superstitious” Mahanikay order. Mongkut explicitly de-emphazied the house of psychic powers. It is not by coincident that many Westerners are attracted by the rationale of Thai forest monks such as LP Mun, LP Chah, or Ajahn Plien.]
0
0
alright, here are my 2 satangs :
Thanong’s words are very eloquent and nice …
however I don’t think that Thai people will become enlightened very soon as long as Thai media keeps braiwashing them with subjugated knowledge and official truths.
majority of Thai people are too busy surviving in their struggle for existence, most often literally. they can’t afford neither buying newspapers nor reading them, and especially – buy a computer and read internet, which at the moment is perhaps THE ONLY source of alternative information.
that means most of consumers of Thai MSM and Thanong’s articles are middle-class, who are becoming increasingly anti-democratic reactionaries. their call for “unity and reconciliation” is a shameless farce. better if Thanong start visiting poor villages and do a bit of REAL investigative journalism there – of the real daily lives of MAJORITY of Thais.
therefore, talks about “enlightenment” are hypocritical. it is Thanong himself who needs to be enligthened and wake up to reality – instead of living in his dreamy La-La-land (as fellow blogger Thaicrisis calls it).
0
0