A Study of Public Welfare of the Sangha in Nakhon Sawan Province toward Social Development

Abstract

This research article aimed to analyze the public welfare of the Sangha in Nakhon Sawan Province. This was a qualitative study focusing on documents and in-depth interviews with 17 key informants. A purposive sampling was from the experts, namely, the Ecclesiastical District Officers, the Ecclesiastical Sub-district Officers and the abbots by using descriptive content analysis techniques. The results of the research revealed that the public welfare of the Sangha in Nakhon Sawan Province was applied to help society continuously without conflict with the Dhamma and Vinaya. The public welfare can be divided into 2 groups, namely, a group of public welfare of the Sangha in Nakhon Sawan Province in which the  Ecclesiastical Provincial Governor was the leader driving the event. There were a form and system of working as a board. There were prominent activities such as building houses for the poor and distributing the relief items and the other public welfare group of temples in the area was responsible for analyzing public welfare of the Sangha in Nakhon Sawan Province which was the performance of the Sangha Administrators in accordance with the regulations of the Sangha Supreme Council of Thailand. The Strengths were strong leaders, work lover, builder of faith, quick decision maker and those who did not have to rely on the government. The Weaknesses were as follows: it was a large province with a large population and many social problems; and there were few monks who had experience in public welfare. The Opportunities were that there were educational institutions such as Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Nakhon Sawan campus that can create courses to increase personnel in this field and having a network that work together. Threats were that there were limitations of the monkhood status and clergy budget.