Religion in Thailand

I was hoping to avoid any potentially inflammatory titles, as I’m hoping to discuss what to me has been one of the biggest discrepancies between what’s perceived (at least by the outsiders) to be a key component of the Thai culture, and the reality on the ground. This has to do with what I see as a big disparity between the general perception of Thailand as a Buddhist country, and the actual reality of Buddhism in Thailand and its impact (or often lack of) on the everyday culture.

To get this out of the gate, after having spent a couple of years in Thailand now, I have a strong sense that for the vast majority of Buddhist Thais, their adherence to the Buddhist values is comparable to folks from Christian families in primarily-Catholic countries whose adherence to their religion ends at celebrating Easter, Christmas, and maybe going to Church on special occasions to fulfill their perceived duty.

This is in stark contrast to Buddhists I met in non-Buddhist countries, who after choosing this religion, typically focus intensely on its core values, especially the inner work. Which seems to be extremely rare in Thailand. As an example, while I am aware that most Thais are taught the basics of meditation at a young age, it does not appear that many Thais actually do that later in their lives.

There are certain common aspects of the modern Thai society that often strongly go against those core Buddhist values. Enjoying the experiences above any material possessions, embracing the present moment, noticing and showing appreciation to the simple things in life, are things I find LESS common in Thailand than in many non-Buddhist countries. Let alone among Buddhists outside of Thailand and those in Thailand - they often seem like the polar opposites in terms of adherence or even understanding of those core values.

While I know that there are devout Buddhists in Thailand as well, it appears that the majority of the society is focused on maintaining a shell of the Buddhist infrastructure (including the Temples and Monks), and participating in select ceremonies/festivals, without getting much out of it themselves. They may be donating to a local temple, while completely ignoring the actual message, core, and the values of Buddhism. To a pretty extreme degree too.

On top of that, even the ceremonies and mannerisms are to an enormous extent influenced by Thai folk religions or belief systems, which have nothing to do with Buddhism. A great example is with folks praying or performing ceremonies asking for more money / superficial gain in life. Or believing in "lucky" things or superstitions which would be a pretty confusing and perhaps even offensive idea to an actual Buddhist. Let alone a Monk, while those here appear to be playing along into the folk beliefs, that often oppose the core Buddhist mission to prioritize own inner/spiritual growth.

I'm still not quite sure how to process that a society where 92.5% of folks identify with a belief system that at its core preaches inner work, mindfulness, teaches that posessions are meaningless and all value is found in spirituality, somehow resulted in a society which appears to overwhelmingly live on their phones, and prizes arbitrary status or especially superficial posessions like cars or luxury goods above most. It's kind of fascinating.

I’m not writing this to criticize this element of the Thai culture. I’m curious if there are any Buddhists on this sub to chime in and share your experiences, and perhaps validate or challenge my observations. I’m not a Buddhist myself, and my knowledge is limited to studying it before my arrival in Thailand, and incorporating some of its common habits (like meditation/mindfullness). But the Thai practice of what I thought is at its core, or what to me seems like the lack of it, as well as how strikingly contradictory the mainstream Thai culture appears to be from many core values of Buddhism, were very surprising to me.

First and foremost, Buddhism varies greatly in terms of beliefs of god, depending on sect/school/denomination. As for Thailand, while Theravada Buddhism, which rejects existence of gods, is considered the main religion of Thailand, many Thais hold hybrid beliefs between Buddhism, Hinduism, and folk or local faiths, which is quite interesting.

As for me, I always find no reason to believe in higher beings. In fact I didn't even believe in Buddhist worldbuilding—heaven, hell, karma, all that jazz—but I identified myself as a (Theravadan) Buddhist as per tradition. I started questioning the importance of Buddhism in my life in my high school, and I came to a conclusion around when I was 16 that I no longer identified as a Buddhist. At the moment I just felt my religion hadn't mattered much to me; I simply grew out of it. I then reconstructed my beliefs and philosophy, based on my experiences and other schools of though, and started moving on with my life. Only a small part of that rebuilt philosophy is based on Buddhist teachings.

My knowledge about other religion had been very limited. I learned about Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism only briefly in primary and middle schools. My high school classes on religious studies touched on their core beliefs but nothing in details, either. I started learning more about other religions, specifically Christianity and Islam, by accident soon after I discovered Professor Dave from Professor Dave Explains.

I referred to Prof. Dave initially to get some help on modern physics. Some time after that I also discovered his pseudoscience/antiscience-debunking videos, including the exchange between him and Kent Hovind. Also, because at the time I wanted to know more about irreligion, I also looked into the internet.

To my surprise, I found that the concept of "irreligion" is rare in English-speaking world, being more supplanted by "atheism". I didn't understand why it is the case initially, but given what I know now, I would assume it is because believing in a god, specifically the Abrahamic God, is essential to the culture there. The said god means everything to them.

Now that I know about atheism, I started learning more about atheists and their activities. The first channels I looked into were Genetically Modified Skeptic and theramintrees.

To my shock, I learned about the darker side of Christianity and Islam very quickly. I have heard about Islamic terrorist/extremist groups before, but never their extreme beliefs about non-believers. The only problem was that many terms I heard there were still too difficult for me to understand, so I didn't pay much attention to them and stick to Professor Dave's educational stuffs.

I came back much later in my undergraduate years (I'm still in undergrad uni now) to Dave's educational videos, but I also discovered even more pseudoscience- and antiscience-debunking videos. Christian fundamentalism reared its ugly head when Dave started exposing the Discovery Institute. At this point I came back to the religion rabbit hole again, and now that my English was better, oh boy it got worse.

Things got MUCH WORSE now that I understood GMS and theramintrees more completely.

Things got MUCH WORSE now that I learned some Bible/Qur'an verses.

Things got MUCH WORSE now that I got to know apologetics.

Basically, understanding how much the Abrahamic God means to the adherents got me lost. I think I might just got second-hand religious trauma. (Not to downplay the severity or anything; I do genuinely think it's that bad.)

That is probably all I'd like to say, at least about the rabbit hole. I'm trying to get out.

I'm doing fine as an irreligionist-atheist-nihilist; nothing to worry much.

I have a few things to add, though.

First, there is a Thai saying, "ไม่เชื่ออย่าลบหลู่", meaning "(if you) don't believe, (then) don't disrespect". I don't share that mentality but share something more like "respect people, scrutinize ideas". I definitely will not blend in well with my surrounding Thai community.

Second, while Buddhism in general doesn't mind apostasy, my parents do, so I kind of feel in a similar way to some of you for a bit. They didn't oppose for religious reasons, though; they just wanted me to conform and thought that I just wanted to rebel. Speaking of déjà vu... (I've heard this somewhere else... never mind, better not to think too hard.)

Other than that, please share your thoughts (I'd be please on the irreligion-atheism matter)! Thank you for reading!