As modern transportation and communications have made international movements of people and ideas easier and cheaper, the world has seen an increased interest in religious and cultural exchanges, pilgrimages, and imports and exchanges of Buddha’s relics and so forth. These processes have gradually made Buddhists more interconnected in Southeast Asia and even in the West. When it was established in 1966, TIDGA (The Training Institute for Dhammaduta Bhikkhu Going Abroad) was yet another expression of these growing networks of international religious and cultural exchanges.
Despite beginning as a Thailand-based training program, by the late 1960s, TIDGA had already sent missionary monks to England, India, and Laos. The motivations for mission differed by country. In England, for example, monks were required to serve the Thai migrant community. As for India, it was hoped that the missionary efforts would enable Theravada Buddhism to be re-established in its motherland. As for Laos, the missions explicitly sent Thai scholar monks for the purpose of helping the local monks translate the Pali scriptures into Lao.
Before I proceed to this 1969 invitation, more backgrounds and purposes of TIDGA itself are needed. These purposes are perhaps indicated in a keynote speech delivered at TIDGA’s founding ceremony in 1966 by Charern Suvaddhano 1913-2013, a rapidly rising monk who would later be Thailand’s Sangharaja. His keynote speech said in part:
“This organization was founded under 4 objectives: (1) train the Thai monks to propagate Buddhism overseas, (2) spread the dignity of Thailand, (3) serve the Thai communities through opportunities for merit-making, and (4) increase interrelationships between Buddhists and others” (TIDGA, 2006, p. 2).
In fact, TIDGA took some time to figure out exactly how to pursue its aims. For example, Phra Maha Arun, who was TIDGA’s secretary when I interviewed him in 2015, said that Charern initially placed a strong emphasis on teaching missionary monks the skills that would be needed to propagate Buddhism among non-Thai populations. For example, after the members of the first training program had graduated, Charern paused the program for three years in order to allow the next-year candidates to continue to the Master’s degree level.
Not only did he consider the levels of formal education too low for missionary effectiveness, but it had also been found that many of the trainees could not speak English. In Charern’s opinion, these two shortcomings made it nearly impossible to communicate with the locals. This suggests that in the early years of TIDGA the first principle—being equipped to propagate Buddhism—was especially important to Charern, because these new requirements suggest that he was not satisfied with TDM (Thai Dhammayutta Missionary) members who were only able to stay and serve the Thai communities.
One of these changes has been a shift away from an emphasis on propagation among non-Thai populations and in favor of serving as “merit-making opportunities” for Thai expatriate communities. For example, by the year 2015, the then director Somdet Phra Wannarat was claiming that TDM’s main work is to serve the Thai people rather than foreigners; therefore local language skills are not necessary. Observations by the present researcher that same year suggested that most of the TIDGA committee members shared that opinion. Somdet Phra Wannarat himself has made strong statements to this effect. For example, his official statement at TIDGA’s annual conference in 2013 included the following assertion:
“TDM must place primary emphasis on behavior. Non-Thai language skill is not important because TDM members must mostly involve themselves with Thai people. In general, monks who play the [role of] religious messengers are required to be qualified in two aspects: knowledge and behavior (Pali: Vijja and Carana), but if only one of these two is available, ‘behavior’ is more needed.”
Somdet Phra Wannarat furthermore praised Luangphor Kuun (1900-2015), a widely-known Thai monk who spoke very little but executed many benefits for Buddhism, as a good example to follow (TIDGA, 2014, pp. 45-46). However, in the early days of the work of TDM in Indonesia, the initial emphasis on education and multilingualism was truly evident, and these appeared to be among the elements that enabled TDM to gain its initial footholds in Indonesia in ways that gained the respect of other ethnic and religious communities, especially highly educated Chinese who had grown up in other religious traditions.
My 2015 interview with Phra Maha Arun, the then secretary of TIDGA, gave the impression that most of TIDGA’s committee members agreed with Somdet Phra Wannarat’s position. The main exception at the time was Phra Sri Sakyavongvisuddhi (Anil Sakya, Ph.D.), who had been an assistant of Charern. According to Arun, Dr. Anil was still arguing in favor of educating TDM candidates in language skills and secular knowledge. However, Anil’s influence was declining, and by 2017 he no longer seemed to play any role in TIDGA’s leadership.
From some parts of Jesada Buaban’s M.A.Thesis
Southeast Asian Studies Program, Walailak University (2017)
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References
The Institute for Dhammaduta Bhikkhus Going Abroad (TIDGA). (2006). In memory of Bhante Win, Phra Rajvarajariya Win Vijjano, [Computer File]. [n.p.: n.p.] (in Thai). สำนักฝึกอบรมพระธรรมทูตไปต่างประเทศคณะธรรมยุต. (2549). หนังสืออนุสรณ์ภันเตวิญญ์ พระราชวราจารย์ วิญญ์ วิชฺชาโน. [แฟ้มข้อมูล]. [ม.ป.ท.: ม.ป.พ.].
The Institute for Dhammaduta Bhikkhus Going Abroad (TIDGA). (2014). Meeting minutes of the seminar of the Thai Dhammaduta in four Continents. 1-3 October. Nakhonpathom, Thailand: Mahamakut Buddhist University. (in Thai). สำนักฝึกอบรมพระธรรมทูตไปต่างประเทศคณะธรรมยุต. (2548). สรุปรายงานการประชุมเสวนาวิชาการ พระธรรมทูตไทย 4 ทวีป, 1-3 ตุลาคม 2548. นครปฐม:มหามกุฏราชวิทยาลัย.
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