Phramaha Laow Panyasiri Pracharart The British Practice of Theravada Buddhism A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology University of Birmingham B152TT January 2004 ABSTRACT This dissertation attempts to answer such questions as: How far do British people regard themselves as Buddhists? How far are they seeking practical remedies for the stresses of Western life? What is that they believe? How do they practise? Do they gin? Dana. chant, venerate Buddha images? What do these things mean to them? What elements of traditional Asian Buddhism do British people tend to reject. and why? What has caused the interest in Buddhism to arise in Britain, particularly since the mid- nineteenth century? What has facilitated its development from an academic study to a lifestyle to be embraced? Are there shortcomings in British culture which the teaching of the Buddha is seen as addressing? Is there a negative reaction to their traditional religion behind the move to embrace Buddhism? Consideration is given to three ethnic traditions currently present in Britain: Burmese. Sri Lankan and Thai. Three lay British Buddhist groups are also considered: the Aukana Trust (House of Inner Tranquillity), the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. and the Samatha Trust. Theories of conversion are examined. and there is statistical analysis of a quantitative and qualitati\c questionnaire distributed to groups and to indi\idual British Buddhists. The dissertation concludes that a majority of British Buddhists see their practice as different from. and useful beyond. the norms of their o\\n society. and in the \\a\ it 11 offers a perspective that supports their already present intentions. The personal development of a practice that is compassionate, harmonious and accepting giyes expreSSIon to attitudes which can be hard to find In British society. Buddhism is accepted as a useful teaching among the wider population, and this may allow it to grow alongside and to interact with British Christianity. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I knew that this research would be very difficult to combine with my Temple work. and if I have managed to complete it this is because of all the understanding I have received from monks and lay people. In particular I would like to thank for their support and assistance in n1y research: Yen. Dr Amara Thera, Abbot of the Buddhapadipa Temple. London; Yen. Vajiragnana, Abbot of the London Buddhist Vihara, Chiswick; Yen Phra SUlnedhacariya (Sumedho). Abbot of Amaravati Temple. Hemel Hempstead~ Yen. Dr Rawata Dhamma, Abbot of Birmingham Buddhist Vihara: Yen. Phra Rajakittimoli, Abbot of Srinagarindravararam Temple, Switzerland; Yen. Phramaha Somboon Siddhifiano, Abbot of the Buddhavihara Temple, Wolverhampton; and the members of the Sangha at my Temple. Many friends have supported my work and my studies, and lowe different debts of gratitude to David and Rachel Hall, Aidan Mann, Fadi Salaam. Andrew Singer. Mark Thorne. Gwilym Wright. Wilson and Jean Young and Dr Sara Young. For financial support I would like to thank my friend John Priest who helped with my fees at University. and the 84000 Dhammakhanda Foundation of Wat Mahathat. Bangkok for helping me with their scholarship. IV I must thank all those Thai people in the UK who supported the Temple and me as its Abbot and who sometimes found me unavailable but still understood and supported me. I would like to thank Dr Arch Tait for help in directing my work and in proof reading. I thank him warmly for his support in this and many other ways. lowe a great debt to Philip Henry, the Temple Treasurer. who has dedicated so much time and effort to supporting me. He really encouraged me to complete my work, and was my instructor and guide through the mysteries of the Statistical Package for Social Scientists. Without his help this dimension would be missing from my thesis. I would like to thank Dr Martin Stringer. my superVISOr, for understanding the time constraints I worked under. His open-mindedness has been a great help when I was having difficulty putting everything together. I would like to dedicate this work to my parents. who passed away when I was young and did not even know that I was unable to finish primary school. Above all. I pay respect to my Master and to Buddhism that brought me to work here and study at a British university. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION v 1.1 THE BEGINNINGS OF THIS RESEARCH 1.2 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH 1.3 THERA V ADA BUDDHISM IN BIRMINGHAM 1.3.1 BIRMINGHAM'STHERAVADA TEMPLES 1.3.1.1 Wat Sanghathan 1.3.1.2 The Buddhavihara Temple, Aston 1.3.1.3 The BirminghmTI Buddhist Vihara 1.4 OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION 1.5 UNANSWERED QUESTIONS CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY 2.1 A TRADITION OF RESEARCH 2.2 DEFINING THE CONTOURS OF THE RESEARCH 2.3 THE RESEARCH DESIGN 2.4 THE CENTRES 2.5 OBSERVATION 2.5.1 The Sri Lankan Tradition 2.5.2 The Thai Tradition 2.5.3 The Burmese Tradition 111 1 1 5 6 7 7 9 12 14 18 21 21 22 23 24 25 25 26 27 VI 2.5.4 The Samatha Trust 28 2.5.5 The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) 30 2.5.6 The House of Inner Tranquillity 31 2.6 QUESTIONNAIRES AND INTERVIEWS 32 2.6.1 The Buddhist Monk as a Researcher 33 2.6.2 Western Monks and Nuns in the Theravada Tradition 35 2.7 Western Buddhist Studies 37 CHAPTER THREE A SHORT HISTORY OF BUDDHISM AND THE BRITISH 38 3.1 INTRODUCTION 38 3.2 THERAVADA BUDDHISM 41 3.3 THERA V ADA BUDDHISM IN CEYLON AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA 46 3.4 THE WESTERN "DISCOVERY" OF BUDDHISM BY SCHOLARS 47 3.4.1 Eugene Burnouf(1801-52) 49 3.4.2 Pali or Sanskrit? 50 3.4.3 Preconditions for the Spread of Buddhism 51 3.4.4 Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) 52 3.4.5 Professor T.W. Rhys Davids (1843-1922) 54 3.4.6 Mrs C.A.F. Rhys Davids (1857-1942) 55 3.4.7 Professor Max Muller (1823-1900) 56 3.5 BUDDHIST MISSIONARIES 57 3.5.1 Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) 57 3.5.2 Ananda Metteyya (1872-1923) 61 3.5.3 Christmas HUlnphreys (1901-83) 64 3.6 LANDMARKS OF BUDDHISM IN BRITAIN 65 3.6.1 Mahayana Buddhism 65 3.6.2 The Second World War 3.6.3 Anti-Communism 3.7 THAI INFLUENCE VII 3.7.1 The English Sangha Trust and the Hampstead Vihara 3.7.2 Anandabodhi 3.7.3 The BUddhapadipa Temple 3.8 SRI LANKAN INFLUENCE 3.8.1 The Buddhavihara, Chiswick 3.9 BRITISH INFLUENCES 3.10 RAPID GROWTH CHAPTER FOUR 65 66 70 70 70 71 73 73 74 76 CONVERSION 79 4.1 INTRODUCTION 79 4.2 CONVERSION IN MODERN SOCIETIES 84 4.3 CONVERSION TO BUDDHISM 86 4.4 INDIVIDUALS' QUEST FOR CONVERSION 91 4.5 TWO CONTEMPORARY STUDIES OF BUDDHIST CONVERSION 96 4.5.1 Philip Henry 96 4.5.2 David Preston 99 4.6 BUDDHIST EPISTEMOLOGY OF CONVERSION 99 4.7 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CONVERSION 102 4.8 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS 105 CHAPTER FIVE THERA V ADA BUDDHIST MONASTIC ORGANISATIONS IN THE llNITED KINGDOM 109 VIII 5.1 INTRODUCTION 5.1.2 The Shared Ethical Tradition 5.2 THE LONDON BUDDHIST VIHARA 5.2.1 Characterisation 5.2.2 Religious Allegiances 5.2.3 Ritual 5.2A Activities 5.2.5 Adaptation to the United Kingdom 5.3 THE BUDDHAPADIPA TEMPLE, WIMBLEDON 5.3.1 Characterisation 5.3.2 Religious Allegiances 5.3.3 Ritual 5.3A Activities 5.3.5 Adn1inistrative and Financial Allegiances 5.3.6 Adaptation to the United Kingdom 5A THE BIRMINGHAM BUDDHIST VIHARA 5A.l Characterisation 5A.2 Religious Allegiance 5 A.3 Ritual 5 AA Activities 5A.5 Adaptation to the United KingdOlTI 5A.6 Financial and Administrative Support 5.5 CONCLUSION CHAPTER SIX 109 111 113 113 114 122 125 128 129 129 133 141 144 147 148 151 151 152 154 156 157 158 159 LAY BUDDHIST ORGANISATIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 162 IX 6.1 INTRODUCTION 6.2 FRIENDS OF THE WESTERN BUDDHIST ORDER 6.2.1 Characterisation 6.2.2 Allegiances 6.2.3 Ritual and Teaching Practices 162 163 163 167 172 6.2.4 Financial Support and Administrative Allegiances 177 6.2.5 Adaptation to the United Kingdom 179 6.3 THE AUKANA TRUST AND THE HOUSE OF INNER TRANQUILLITY 184 6.3.1 Characterisation 6.3.2 Alan James as Spiritual Leader and Founder 6.3.3 Religious Allegiances 6.3.4 Ritual and Teaching Practice 6.3.5 Financial Support and Administrative Allegiance 6.3.6 Adaptation to the United Kingdom 6.4 THE SAMA THA TRUST 6.4.1 Characterisation 6.4.2 Allegiances 6.4.3 Ritual and Teaching Practices 6.4.4 Financial Support and Administrative Allegiances 6.4.5 Adaptation to the United KingdOlTI 6.5 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS CHAPTER SEVEN DATA ANALYSIS 7.1 THE SURVEY SAMPLE 7.2 OVERVIEW OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 7.3 STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 184 185 188 199 202 203 206 207 212 215 219 221 223 226 226 227 227 x 7.3.1 Analysis of Questions: Buddhist Pratice 7.3.2 Age, Meditation and Buddhist Studies Analysis 7.3.3 Gender and Age Analysis 7.3.4 How Heard of Buddhism Analysis 7.3.5 Current and Previous Buddhist Involvement 7.3.6 Educational Levels and Marital Status 7.3.7 Employment, Education and Income 7.3.8 Family Background and Attitudes 7.3.9 Vegetarianism 7.3.10 Comments on Buddhist Experience 7.4 SUMMARY OF QUANTITATIVE DATA 7.5 QUALITATIVE REFLECTIONS OF RESPONDENTS 7.6 SUMMARY OF QUALITATIVE RESPONSES CHAPTER EIGHT CONCLUSION 8.1 PHILOSOPHY AND MEDITATION 8.2 THE BRITISH AND THE SANGHA 8.3 THE NATURE OF THE BRITISH 8.4 CONSUMERISM 8.5 ATTRACTIONS OF BUDDHISM 8.6 ETHNIC BUDDHISM AND ECLECTIC BUDDHISM 8.6.1 The Imported Master: An Example 8.6.2 User-Friendly Buddhism 8.6.3 British Buddhism as a New Brand 8.6.4 What Is On Offer 8.7 WHAT IS BUDDHISM IN BRITAIN? 228 232 238 I 1 - _'-t) 248 256 261 267 271 273 277 287 289 289 292 294 296 298 299 300 302 304 305 307 XI 8.7.1 Learning to Accept the Concept of Suffering 8.7.2 Buddhism as Fashion 8.7.3 Pacifism 8.8 BUDDHISM IN BRITAIN IN THE FUTURE 8.9 REVISION OF THE THEORY APPENDIX ONE COpy OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX TWO INTERVIEW WITH SAMA THA TRUST MEMBER APPENDIX THREE DISCUSSION WITH SANGHARAKSHIT A BIBLIOGRAPHY 307 309 310 312 313 316 321 324 330 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE BEGINNINGS OF THIS RESEARCH I have been serving Buddhism in Britain for more than fourteen }ears and have spent more than eight of these years in Birmingham teaching Buddhist Studies and meditation to British people. The class that I teach is small. with between five to fifteen people attending it. They come from different backgrounds. and I have found myself wondering whether these British people regard themselves as Buddhists. If so, \vhat do the} understand by that term? This question made me wonder about how my class had come into being: what had brought me from Thailand to Aston'? How had the British interest in this teaching from a distant part of the world arisen'? And what might the future hold for the development of . British Buddhism '? It is natural that the personal memory of myself and my pupils did not extend very far back. but when I began working on this thesis in January 1998 I soon discovered that I was not alone in my interests and that a valuable body of scholarly research alread} existed which has rapidly expanded my understanding of the wider picture, \\ hile still leaving unanswered a number of questions to which I would like to find answers. First, I discovered that already in 1990 L.S. Cousins had thought about the question of \\ hich British people became interested in Buddhism. He suuuests the follO\\inu ~~ ~ categories: I. Those self-converted through reading: straightforward intellectual curiosit\ brings members of the reading public to identify \\ ith Buddhist tenets: 2. Ex-colonials: military personnel and civil servants who served the British Empire. primarily in Burma and Ceylon. and who retained their interest when they returned to Britain~ 3. Scholars: those attracted by the intellectual challenge of a remote culture encrypted in difficult languages. like Professor Rhys Davids. founder of the Pali Text Society. 4. Esotericists in search of symbolism. for example, Theosophists and Kabbalists: 5. Asians: mostly students in Great Britain, later to return to serve in their countries' adm in istrations: 6. Sentimental Universalists: believers in the value of all faiths: 7. The Curious. the superficially interested. I To this list I would add, 8. British people who feel that something is missing from their lives. who are exploring and moving from no religion. or one religion to another and whom it would be unjust to dismiss as 'superficially interested'. There is a good deal of information available about the \\ork of the early \Vestern scholars of Buddhism, but \\ hat part \\as played by Asian and British missionary monks'? I (' ,'11S I S (1994)" I'hera\ada Buddhism in I.ngland··. Buddhism il1lo fht! }'t!([r :W()(). International OU,)I •. .. Conll'rcncc Procccdings. BangKoK and los \ngcies: I)hall1ll1aka~a Foundation. \-U-4. 3 Another question that intrigued me v"as \vhy British people, who have their o\\n secure, well established native culture, turn for inspiration to a faraway Eastern heritage. What unsolved problems do British people have which they feel can be addressed b) practising Buddhism? I \vas interested to see hovv British people v~ho practise Buddhism vie\\ themselves, and how far their practice conforms to and how far it ditTers frolll the \\ avs in which Buddhism is practised in more traditionally Buddhist lands. Did the pioneers who brought Buddhism to the West in the early days have a difTerent understanding of Buddhism from present-day British Buddhists? I saw a lot of confusion in the individual British people practising Buddhism. Is there an "essential Buddhism', a way in which the core teaching of the Buddhadhamma is different from \\hat is nO\\ being practised? Have British people adopted Buddhism as a lifestyle \vithout really considering that it is not just a philosophical system for coping with the practicalities of life but a teaching to enable one to see the Reality of Life? How far are British people reacting against their own faith. rather than positively embracing Buddhism? Are they using it to escape their own background. which they might feel is lacking in something? And if so. can it fulfil their wish to find \\hat the) feel they are missing out on? The practice of Buddhism in the Asian continent seeks to preserve the Buddha's teaching and spread throughout society a sense of '"living in a good balance". If it is the case that British people have dropped essential pal1s of the teaching, is this due to a \ ie\\ held b) Westerners that Asian culture does not fit \\ ith their o\\n, or is in some \\a) inferior, that Asian people are superstitious, that they (Westerners) can pick and choose from someone else's car boot? It seemed to me that the answers to these questions could only be found by studying \vhat exactly it is that British people do when they practise Buddhism. I had no intention of condemning that practice as . incorrect', but wished to understand it with due respect. I wanted to know whether they worship, whether they give Dana (charitable giving). whether they chant, whether they venerate the Buddha images, and what all these things ') mean to them. ~ I wanted to observe and participate in their ceremonies, and then to interview them about their perspective on them. There were more general questions too. What about the Western scholars of Buddhism? Did they regard themselves as Buddhists? If so, how long did it take them to adopt Buddhism? Why did they make so much effort to try to unravel the mysteries of Buddhism? What qualities of Buddhism attracted their interest? Were they genuinely interested in discovering and practising the Dhamma, the Buddhist Way, or were they perhaps attracted by something else, perhaps just esotericism? And if British Buddhism does have its roots in scholarly endeavours, how and when did it evolve from being primarily an academic subject to being a S) stem of religious belief and practice for the British public? ~ I ha\ e decided against including diacritic marks on Pali and Sanskrit \\ords. agreeing \\ith Lamb and Hryant that "scholars do not need them and the) onl) make reading more dinicult ror others" (Christopher Lamb and M. DaITol Bryant. cds. 1999. Religious COl1\'crsiol1. COl1tefl1porm:r Practice,\ and ('ol1trol'c!I'sics. London: Cassell. These \\ords arc consistentl) given an initial capital letter. and italicised "here appropriate. 5 1.2 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH Nowadays both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions of Buddhism are active in many parts of the country. Not only have Westerners gone to the East in their search for ethical values, but Buddhist immigrants have also brought their culture and religion \\ ith them to Britain and helped Buddhism to spread amongst the population. There are now man) Buddhist Temples established in the United Kingdom, and there are at least forty Thai Theravada Monks in Britain and the same number of Sri Lankan Theravada monks. The focus in this dissertation will be on Theravada Buddhism. and more particularly on Burmese. Sri Lankan and Thai forms of Theravada Buddhism in the UK. For these three traditions. monks and nuns are fundamental to their operation, supported in a reciprocal relationship by lay members. In addition the thesis will focus on three lay oriented forms of Buddhism derived from largely Theravada roots who. although they have a monastic system in some cases do not have a traditional lineage. This type of study is in keeping with the Thai cultural background of the author. There is no suggestion that this is because Thai Theravada Buddhism is the 'best' or only way of practising Buddhism. It is simply a natural way to bring focus to an otherwise diffuse subject. The main intention of this research will be to bring into clear focus how British people today understand Buddhism and what they bel ieve they gain from practising it. In the Victorian period. British people were fiercely proud of their own culture and rather :\enophobic. We can agree with Cousins that the British \\ ho \\ ere first interested in Buddhism may not have been interested in Buddhism as a religion. They rna) onl) have seen it as 'Eastern scholarship'. It may have been true that few British people bel ie\'ed the\ had amthing to learn from the East because of the feeling of po\\cr \\hich came 6 from having a world empIre. The theory and practice of Buddhism were t\\O quite separate things for them. Philip Almond comments that there \\ ere b) no means large numbers of Victorians who converted to Buddhism. "On the contrary, even in those fe\\ cases where one gets a suggestion that this would be desirable, an overt commitment \\ as socially difficult and, in the absence of an organised Buddhist group, practica\l) impossible." 3 I would like to know what happened in British society to make today's citizens more open to alternative ideas and religious beliefs. 1.3 THERA VADA BUDDHISM IN BIRMINGHAM The past fifteen years have seen interest in Buddhism and Buddhist activities increase very considerably in Birmingham, where I am based. New Temples have been established and existing Temples developed and expanded. Many of these new Temples are 'ethnic', run by Burmese, Sri Lankan or Thai monks. Although run by Asian people and organised in traditional Asian ways, they attract British Buddhists who are interested in finding out about the Asian cultural background of their newly adopted way of life. Indeed, many British people are attracted to Buddhism in the first place because of their positive experience of Asian culture while visiting the countries of the East and learning something of its philosophy and way of life. Although the present author's allegiance is to Theravada Buddhism, in order to understand how British people encounter and practise Buddhism contact has been made with all the Buddhist Temples in Birmingham (and in many other parts of the country). It has not been possible to study all of them in equal depth, but all the Birmingham Temples 1 .. \lmoI1J. Philip C. (19XX) l'he British f)i,\'cOl'eIY (!lNllddhisl11. Cambridgc llni\cr'.it) Prc'.'..3(), 7 have been visited at least three times. For the Theravada Temples, 10-15 visits has been the norm, in order to get to know the people and take part in their ceremonies. The decision to undertake case studies of three monastically based Temples and three la: based organisations was to give the thesis a large part of its focus. 1.3.1 Birmingham's Theravada Temples There are at present four Theravada Temples in Birmingham. The Burmese Temple is the longest established, having been in operation for more than fifteen years. Wat Sanghathan, a Thai Temple, was established about twelve years ago, and Wat Buddhavihara ten years ago. The Jetavana Temple, run by monks from Sri Lanka, has also existed for about ten years, but the monks currently running it came to Birmingham only a short time ago. Its members are mainly Sri Lankan or Indian. 1.3.1.1 Wat Sanghathan A group of Buddhist monks from Wat Sanghathan in Nonthaburi Province on the outskirts of Bangkok came from Thailand in 1988 to visit Thai people in England. The monks were requested to start a Temple. Although there was already a Thai Temple in Wimbledon, Thai people wanted a Temple outside of London. This first Thai Temple was founded in Perry Barr, Birmingham and later moved to Cooper Road, not far from its present site. Later the Temple committee purchased a larger house, which is the current location of Wat Sanghathan. This Temple is one of many branches of the main Wat Sanghathan in iiiiNonthaburi. All of these are under the direction of the Buddha Aneg Prasong Trust. The Venerable Ajahn Sanong Katapunyo, \\ ho is based in Thailand, is their Spiritual Director. The main Buddha image in the shrine room came from Thailand and is made of brass covered with gold leaf. The Buddha sits in the meditation posture. In the libraI') of the Temple there is a standing Buddha holding fruit in his right hand. This was made by Burmese craftsmen and donated by Thai people. It is made of wood and covered in gold leaf. Wat Sanghathan has a membership of approximately 1.500 (in 2004). most of them Thais. The Temple is visited by people from Britain, Europe. USA. India and many other lands. Perhaps Birmingham people have become more tolerant over the years. because the Temple had to move from its first site after constant complaining from its neighbours about all sorts of really quite minor matters. The move to its present location has solved the problem. Many people visit the Temple to meditate. otTer food to the monks. read the scriptures and the large selection of books, to chant, and receive counselling from the monks. It is also a cultural and social centre for Thai and other Buddhists. Every day at 6.00 am the monks lead chanting and meditation for one-and-a-half to t\\O hours. At 7.00 pm the same service takes place. The Iibrary contains Thai and Engl ish books and magazines. The monks also produce a monthly Dhamma magazine in Thai for members. This is called Dhammo SOll'angjai rThe Dhamma Illuminates the Mind'). Some conventions have to be made known to British visitors. Shoes havc to be removcd before entering the shrine room and the library. Monks do not shake hands \\ ith men or