The evolution and development of Thai culture is strongly rooted in Buddhism, and it has a strong communal tradition. Traditionally, a Buddhist temple or monastery served as the centre of the community that nurtured and supported the growth of communal culture. But with modernisation, this traditional Thai culture has gradually eroded, and communalism is abandoned and replaced by individualism, even temple or monastery has lost its role as the centre of the community. Some traditional communal traditions like working together, helping one another in organising and hosting communal activities such as traditional religious festivals and celebrations are disappearing or have disappeared altogether. Communal culture becomes weakened. People become increasingly distant from one another, the spirit of camaraderie of a thriving community disappears. Lay devotees no longer visit the temple or monastery regularly. There is progressive disengagement of the devotees from their temple or monastery and vice versa so that people are no longer effectively exposed to learning Buddhist teachings and imbibing Buddhist values as they did in times past. Their understanding of Buddhism is gradually reduced and this contributes to the erosion of the relevance, importance and significance of Buddhadharma in their daily lives. This paper writes about the revival of such a tradition in Lablae district in the Uttaradit province of northern Thailand, the “Khang Bu Ya” tradition that disappeared more than thirty years ago. Seven years ago, the people of the Lablae community took up the initiative of reviving the tradition to strengthen the communal culture, the relationship of people in the community, the relationships of the lay people with their temples and monasteries in their district, promoting interactions of the temples and monasteries, and to bring back the principle role and values of Buddhist teachings in the community life.

1. The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
Revival of ‘Khang Bu Ya’, Traditional Thai Communal Culture and Principle Role of
Buddhist Temples and Monasteries
Suwida Sangsehanat
Paper presented at
The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum
-Monasticism and Lay Buddhism-
October 27-30, 2010
Seoul, South Korea.
Suggested citation:
Suwida Sangsehanat, (2011). “Revival of ‘Khang Bu Ya’, Traditional Thai Communal Culture and
Principle Role of Buddhist Temples and Monasteries” in The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum: Monasticism
and Lay Buddhism, October 27-30, 2011. Seoul, South Korea. Pages 518-523 (English version) (or
pages 524-529 for Korean version).

2. The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
Revival of “Khang Bu Ya”, Traditional Thai Communal Culture and
Principle Role of Buddhist Temples and Monasteries
1
Suwida Sangsehanat
Abstract
The evolution and development of Thai culture is strongly rooted in Buddhism, and it has a strong
communal tradition. Traditionally, a Buddhist temple or monastery served as the centre of the
community that nurtured and supported the growth of communal culture. But with modernisation,
this traditional Thai culture has gradually eroded, and communalism is abandoned and replaced by
individualism, even temple or monastery has lost its role as the centre of the community. Some
traditional communal traditions like working together, helping one another in organising and
hosting communal activities such as traditional religious festivals and celebrations are disappearing
or have disappeared altogether. Communal culture becomes weakened. People become increasingly
distant from one another, the spirit of camaraderie of a thriving community disappears. Lay
devotees no longer visit the temple or monastery regularly. There is progressive disengagement of
the devotees from their temple or monastery and vice versa so that people are no longer effectively
exposed to learning Buddhist teachings and imbibing Buddhist values as they did in times past.
Their understanding of Buddhism is gradually reduced and this contributes to the erosion of the
relevance, importance and significance of Buddhadharma in their daily lives.
This paper writes about the revival of such a tradition in Lablae district in the Uttaradit province of
northern Thailand, the “Khang Bu Ya” tradition that disappeared more than thirty years ago. Seven
years ago, the people of the Lablae community took up the initiative of reviving the tradition to
strengthen the communal culture, the relationship of people in the community, the relationships of
the lay people with their temples and monasteries in their district, promoting interactions of the
temples and monasteries, and to bring back the principle role and values of Buddhist teachings in
the community life.
Keywords: Khang Bu Ya, strength, traditions, communal culture, temple, monastery, lay, devotees, Lablae,
Uttaradit, northern Thailand.
1
Assistant Dean of Bodhivijjalaya College, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand. Email:
suwida.ss@gmail.com

3. The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
Introduction
The evolution and development of Thai culture is strongly rooted in Buddhism and
community. It has a strong communal tradition. Traditionally, a Buddhist temple or
monastery served as the centre of the community, in which all activities of the community
were planned and conducted; in which all decisions and planning related to the community
and its development were undertaken; in which such thought as a life apart from the temple
or community or the temple apart from the community hardly arose. The community
supported the temple or monastery and the people learned the teachings of Buddha and the
values of Buddhism from the monks in the temple or monastery. The communal nature
endowed the community with a strong social cohesion and mutually supportive solid base
built on the teaching of Buddha and values of Buddhism. But this communal culture that
gives Thai communities so much strength has been weakened over the years since the
process of modernisation began in 1961. This paper describes the revival of a Thai
communal culture, „Khang Ba Ya‟, in Lablae District of Uttaradit Province in northern
Thailand. It is based on the author‟s interview with Mr. Somchai Pongsrichai, a local leader
and his materials and a couple of other internet posts as given in the reference list.
Traditional Communal Culture
Traditional Thai culture was built on Buddhist values and ethics as the core with the temple
playing a significant spiritual guiding role while the community provided the support, each
dependent on and mutually strengthens the other as illustrated in the following figure
(Figure 1).
Thai Culture
Buddhist
monastery
Buddhism
Community
Figure 1. The relationship of Thai culture, community, and monastery .

4. The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
In the past, all the important days and events in our lives and the life of the community
were marked in the temple or monastery. These include various milestones and events such
as the days of birth, the marking of adolescence as in cutting of hair when one reached nine
year-old, events in our careers, wedding, death, transfer of merits to one‟s ancestors, New
Year celebration, midyear celebration, rice harvest festival, etc, in one‟s life or community.
All these celebrations and marking of important days and events of the individuals or
community were organised and participated as communal events where everybody
contributed and participated together as a community in the Buddhist temple or monastery
as the centre of gathering and communal activities. During these occasions, monks would
give Dhamma talks and spiritual advice. These were the occasions and times the people
learned Buddhist teachings, actively contributed to the monastery, supported Dhamma
activities and strengthened the community spirit. Regular communal activities like these
held in Buddhist temple or monastery as the centre strengthened the relationships between
the temple and the community and the people within the community.
However with modernisation set rolling by the implementation of the First Economic
Development Plan introduced in 1961, traditional community-supported form of labour-
intensive agriculture gave way to „green revolution‟ or so-called modern agricultural
practice that is capital-intensive, relying heavily on monocropping and heavy use of
agrochemicals and machineries. Communal culture became unnecessary. People in the
community became more individualistic. As communal culture weakens and individualism
grows, people become more distanced from one another and from the community‟s temple
or monastery. The role of the temple or monastery diminished over time. New generations
grow up without the benefit of a supportive communal culture and guidance on Buddhist
teachings and values as their lives and the community are no longer closely associated with
the community‟s temples or monasteries. Lacking regular spiritual guidance, present day
youths lose their roots in the Buddhist communal culture, and they are now easily
influenced by modern‟ western‟ or „pop‟ culture to which they are constantly exposed
through easily accessible media of all kinds in this globalised world.
Revival of „Khang Bu Ya, in Lablae
Lablae is a district in Uttaradit Province in the lower part of northern Thailand. Like other
parts of Thailand, the communal culture and strength in Lablae has weakened

5. The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
tremendously. Over the more than thirty years of modernisation, many communal
traditions have disappeared. New generations are increasingly distanced from communal
life and from the temple or monastery and Buddhist teachings. They are losing the cultural
roots and find it easier and „natural‟ to follow indiscriminately any „modern‟ trends in
fashions and life styles that come with globalisation. They easily assimilate „pop culture‟.
Seven Years ago, in 2004, the communities of Lablae people began reviving a communal
tradition called „Khang Bu Ya‟. This is a tradition in which the people of the communities
get together to prepare and make dana (offerings) to the monks of the community‟s temple
or monastery. A particularly attractive feature of this tradition entails the preparation and
presentation of „wish-granting trees‟ (like the wish tree of Kuvera, the Buddhist God of
Fortune) to the temples or monasteries. These trees would be filled with money and
agriculture produces which the people would like to offer to their ancestors. When the
preparation of the trees is completed, the trees would be carried in a procession to the
temples or monasteries for the ceremony of offering to their ancestors. The tradition teaches
people to remember and pay respect to their ancestors, to be humble and ask for forgiveness
for their misdeeds. The occasion gives people of the community an opportunity to work
together and cooperate and interact socially in meaningful and beneficial ways, and to
practice generosity in giving to the temple or monastery.
In Lablae district, the local community is responsible for the temples and monasteries in the
community. The community organises a roster of lay households to be sponsors (main
donors or hosts of the event) of „Khang Bu Ya‟. Each year, there will be about ten or more
occasions of „Khang Bu Ya‟. The sponsoring household will organise a team to prepare the
wish-granting trees or „Khang Bu Ya‟. This team usually comprises sponsors‟ neighbours
and relatives. They gather together and arrange all their offerings on the wish-granting
trees. The materials for offering include foods and dessert, books, stationary (writing
implements such as pencils, books), local produce such as chilli, red onion, garlic, rice,
„dollar or Baht‟ bills of any denomination are folded into the shape of a fan or any other
attractive shapes and hung on the trees. The sponsors and friends would work and help one
another decorate the wish-granting trees, usually a day before the actual day of celebration
of „Khang Bu Ya‟. Every other household in the community also prepares and presents
“Gua-Salaak”, a small bamboo basket of produce for offering on that day.

6. The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
On Khang Bu Ya Day, there will be a colourful procession of the lay people of the
community who have come together to help one another in carrying the wish-granting trees
and Gua-Salaak from the host‟s house to the temple or monastery selected to be the venue
for that day. The participants wear local costume and perform Thai dance as part of the
celebration. A leader or respected person in the community would be asked to recite a local
poem for the hosts and people present. The wish-granting trees would be presented to the
monks and the monks would lead the ceremony in „sending‟ the wish-granting trees to their
ancestors. On this occasion, monks would give Dhamma talks. The event thus gives the
monks an opportunity to transmit Buddha‟s teachings to the lay people. It also gives the
lay people a chance to listen to Dhamma, learn the Dhamma, perform and share the merits
of their good deeds. In this way, the practice of the tradition helps nurture communal
culture and strengthens the community.
Apart from the individual households that take turn in hosting the event, every school in the
community is also assigned responsibility to host one wish-granting tree every year.
Students, teachers and parents work together to decorate a wish-granting tree with all the
offerings collected and join the local host in celebrating the event in the monastery. In this
way, the new or the younger generations are given the opportunity to learn more about
meaningful traditions, the value of communal activities and culture and Buddhist teachings
that promote social cohesiveness and celebration of good wholesome deeds for oneself and
others.
On Khang Bu Ya day, the host temple or monastery invites monks from other temples
(usually three to four temples in the neighbourhood) to join the celebration. Each
participating temple or monastery will bring back one wish-granting tree. In this way, the
monastics from various temples share the dana offered by the lay people. This event thus
also promotes, renews or refreshes and strengthens the interrelationships among the various
temples in the district and the devotees of the communities in the district.
Khang Bu Ya is celebrated during the period between August and October of each year
during new moon days, first quarter moon days and full moon days. The hosting of the
event rotates among all the communities and monasteries in the Lablae district. Khang Bu
Ya is also sometimes known as the festival of brother- and sisterhood that aptly reflects the
communal culture and community spirit promoted by the event.

7. The Fifth Lay Buddhist Forum, October 27-20, 2011, Seoul, South Korea
References:
Suwida Sangsehant, Author‟s interview with Mr. Somchai Pongsrichai, a respected person
in Lablae District on July 28, 2011.
Somchai Pongsrichai. “Twelve Months‟ Tradition of Lablae.” Unpublished document used
as teaching material for Wat Nam Sai School.
<http://www.xn--l3cjf8d8bveb.com/blog-season-ประเพณีถวายค้ างบูยา> accessed on July 30,
2011.
<http://www.taklong.com/north/show-north.php?No=411295> accessed on July 30, 2011.