FAITH IN BUDDHISM OF THE PEOPLE IN WANGKRAJAE SUB-DISTRICT, SAIYOK DISTRICT, KANCHANABURI PROVINCE

Abstract

The objectives of this study included: 1) to study the level of opinions towards faith in Buddhism of the people in Wang Krachae Sub-district, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province; 2) to compare the level of opinions towards the faith in Buddhism of the people in Wang Krachae Sub-district, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province; and 3) to study the problems and obstacles related to the faith in Buddhism of the people in Wang Krachae Sub-district, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province. The sample consisted of 359 people aged 18 years and over in Wang Krachae Sub-district, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province. The sample was selected through Krejcie and Morgan’s formula. A questionnaire was used as a research instrument. Statistics used for analyzing included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and LSD for a pairwise comparison. The results of this research were as follows. 1) Overall level of opinions towards faith in Buddhism of the people in Wang Krachae Sub-district, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province was at a high level. When individual aspects were considered, there were 2 aspects with the highest level including: Kammasaddha (belief in Kamma); and Tathagatabodhisaddha (confidence in the Enlightenment of the Buddha). There were also 2 aspects with a high level including: Kammassakatasaddha (belief in the individual ownership of actions) and Vipakasaddha (belief in the consequences of actions). 2) The overall results of comparing the level of opinions towards the faith in Buddhism of the people in Wang Krachae Sub-district, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province revealed that the respondents with different gender, age, education level, marital status, occupation and average monthly income had different faith in Buddhism with a statistical significance level of 0.05. 3. Problems, obstacles, and recommendations for the faith in Buddhism of the people in Wang Krachae Sub-district were as follows. The problems were: the people prioritized materialism over the teachings of the Buddha; the lack of readiness of the monks to teach people to believe.  The obstacles were that the monks turn to materialism rather than behaving themselves according to the Dharma-discipline; and material and technological advancements were deteriorating the faith of the new generation. The suggestions are that monks should strictly adhere to the Buddhist doctrine in order to rebuild respect and faith of the people.