Thailand should beware losing its unique culture, says award-winning, UK-born Buddhist monk

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8 Dec, 2024

Thailand should beware losing its unique culture, says award-winning, UK-born Buddhist monk

Bangkok – A Buddhist monk of British origin, co-winner of the 2024 Thailand Public Diplomacy Award, has told the Thai people that their most marvellous cultural asset, the Buddhist-rooted “natural, unforced, spontaneous acceptance of diversity,” is at risk of disappearing in the face of the emergence of many “different Thailands”.

In soft, mellifluous tones, Phra Phrompacharayanmuni (Shaun Jayasaro), told the audience at the 3rd Public Diplomacy awards ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 06 December, “Without wisdom, without understanding, even the most beautiful cultural forms become empty shells and it is so easy for that to occur if we are only concerned with image and the way things look to other people or other countries.”

Having grown up in the UK and then left school at 17 to hitch-hike around India and Asia before coming in Thailand, he said he cannot claim to have a deeper understanding of Buddhism than his teachers and colleagues but “perhaps I do have a have a wider understanding, the ability to compare.”

“One of the weak points, the flaws of western culture, is the inability to deal wisely with people who have differences in colour, different religious beliefs, different ways of life, different sexual orientation. Thailand has been a leader in the world for hundreds of years. It is a most marvellous thing. I rarely find anyone who even considers this as anything special. I see so many wonderful things in Thai culture which are disappearing because we have not really made them conscious. We have not really articulated their values.”

He added, “My role is to suggest, to encourage people to see that the Buddhist values which have thrived and flourished in Thailand for hundreds of years are the most valuable resource for this country moving forward in the 21st century, timeless values.”

His comments were complemented by Mrs Bilaibhan Sampatsiri, President of the Siam Society, the first Thai institution to win the award, and renowned Thai music composer Mr Somtow Sucharitkul. The common word mentioned in all their acceptance speeches was “wisdom”, a clear signal to leaders, decision-makers and policy-makers worldwide of the need to adjust their decision-making criteria in this new era.

Mrs Bilaibhan highlighted the importance of the Siam Society’s motto “Knowledge Gives Rise to Friendship” and how the Siam Society, through its lectures, study tours and collaborative efforts with other like-minded civil society organisations worldwide, strives to enhance an “understanding of Thai history and culture which we believe will be pivotal in cultivating a sense of cultural unity for people around the world.”

She noted that all three awardees are “a powerful reflection of how public diplomacy and Thainess can be communicated from heart to heart through religions, the arts, history, nature, the environment and local wisdom to global knowledge.”

Mr Somtow narrated his personal experience of how going into monkhood had changed the way he had approached the challenge of popularising Thai music and creating an artistic fusion between East and West, which is now his goal in life. He said the experience “changed my entire outlook on culture, history and art. This is a perception of reality which is a lesson which we in Thailand have to contribute to the culture of the world.”

He said Thailand is gaining recognition in the West as an operatic hub of Southeast Asia “although people in Thailand don’t seem to know this yet.” He added, “When I take our young orchestra to Europe or America to perform, the audience isn’t viewing our kids like a bunch of monkeys like in the old days. They are seeing real artists with a real vision to contribute. We are no longer here just to learn from the West. We are also here to teach.”

The above is a brief synopsis of those incredibly powerful speeches which deserve to be studied and analysed to better absorb their core messages in shaping a better future for the Young Generation of Thailand and the Travel & Tourism industry (see links to full videos below).

Indeed, the speeches are a perfect starting point for Thai Travel & Tourism, now the country’s top economic money-spinner, to forge a new wisdom-based development model. Having set new benchmarks since the spectacular 1987 Visit Thailand Year marketing extravaganza, the country which I have termed The Greatest Story in Global Tourism HiSTORY is now well-placed to lead the world in becoming the world’s first Alliance of Civilisations destination.

Just as the Thai Foreign Ministry now asserts that foreign policy “can no longer be limited to a government-to-government approach” so too does Thai Travel & Tourism need to complement the long-standing traditional use of tourism as an economic driver with equivalent focus on bridging socio-cultural divides. That, in turn, will meet a core objective of the Public Diplomacy Awards viz., to “enhance cooperation, mutual understanding, and peace among nations.”