SUBSTANCE STUDIES IN THE SANGHA COUNCIL OF RATTANAKOSIN PERIOD ACTS

Abstract

The Sangha Act is an act that was issued to support, protect, and maintain Buddhism. So, a lot of Buddhist terms are used in this Act. The language in the Act is concise and agreeable with the Sangha canon, which is comfortable for the Buddhist monks to follow. To understand the Act, we have to know the Buddhist language, interpretation, the Sangha canon, and other teachings of Buddhism as well. Consequently, this Sangha Act is unique from other Acts. The purpose of studying the contents of the Sangha Acts in Rattanakosin period is studying the contents appearing in the six of the Sangha Acts, which are used as a tool in order to maintain the role of the Buddhist monks in the early Rattanakosin period until the present day. The study has found out that the six of Sangha Acts consists of 4 characteristics: (1) commands, (2) notifications, (3) permissions, and (4) definitions. Furthermore, the commands have been mentioned mostly, the permissions, the notifications, and the definitions respectively. The contents of the Acts illustrate us know the intention of those who issued them of each period: to promote the administration of the Sangha, to protect Buddhism. In addition to this, it appears that the kings are Buddhists and have supported the Buddhism in Thailand since the ancient to the present day. What is more, for the benefit of studying Buddhism, studying the language using in the Buddhist canon might take place in the future.