AN INTEGRATION OF THE KING'S SCIENCE TO DEVELOP PUBLIC WELFARE WORK OF SANGHA OF SURAT THANI PROVINCE

Abstract

This research article aims to analyze the integration of King’s science in the development of public welfare work of the Sangha of Surat Thani province. There are 4 content areas: spatial resource management, promotion of activities for public benefit, public property creation, and disaster relief. This is a qualitative research, analyzing data from documents and data obtained from the field. The research instrument used was an unstructured interview. Data from in-depth interviews were collected from 7 key informant groups: 1) the Sangha chief of Surat Thani province, 2) the Assembly of the Southern Five Precepts Village Project, 3) the Public Welfare Committee of the Sangha Supreme Council, 4) Buddhist academics, 5) cultural academics,              6) community development officers, and 7) local leaders, totaling 26 people. The research results found that the integration of the King’s science in the development of public welfare work of the Sangha of Surat Thani province consisted of 1) spatial resource management, namely, the Sangha of Surat Thani province focused on sustainable development that was consistent with the context of the area, with the main steps being: understanding, accessing, and developing; 2) promoting activities for public benefit, namely, improving the quality of life of the people through understanding the problems and needs of the community, including organizing activities that respond to the problems, such as environmental conservation and community potential development; 3) creating public property, namely, using resources efficiently and involving the people; and 4) disaster relief, namely, preparing for and responding to disasters efficiently by using sufficient resources and creating networks of cooperation with agencies.