Dhamma-Yatra around Songkhla Lake

 

the dog"Si Nuan, Si Nuan." These were the most commonly heard words in our recent three week circumambulation of Siam’s largest lake. Si Nuan literally means "soft tawny tan color" and is the name of the doggess that adopted us from day one. She originally came along with the temple boys from Wat Talae Noi that we pressed into carrying our lead banner on day one. After the boys escaped at the end of the day, Si Nuan displayed a more intrepid ecological spirit and stayed even through the organizers’ evaluation sessions at the end. Her name was introduced to thousands of villagers around the lake and the "fans" who followed the progress of the walk through various call-in radio programs. So it was that people who had never seen her before called out her name as she wandered and wagged among our straggling crew of monks, lay folks, students, foreigners, and for the last week a single nun.

The Songkhla Lake Dhamma Walk was conceived and planned by national and local members of Phra Sekhiyadhamma with help from Southern NGOs, village leaders, and some government officials. Phra Sekhiyadhamma is a small but growing network of grassroots monks struggling to integrate our study and practice of Buddha-Dhamma with responsibility for the communities, culture, and society we see crumbling around us. Modernity brings many wonders but we ponder why so much is destroyed in exchange. Further, we ask why the poor, ordinary majority of the people seem to pay the most for and benefit the least from the wonders of "spinning according to the world" (the literal meaning of lokanuiwat, the most common Thai translation for "globalization"), while having little or no say in the decision making. We believe that Buddha-Dhamma is relevant to all forms of suffering, including these. We believe that Sangha is more than yellow-robed shavelings chanting for meals and ought to be a "Sangha of the People" fully engaged in solving their communal, ecological, and economic problems (dukkha). (It is still too controversial to suggest that monks might have a role in solving political problems, although senior monks have been meddling for centuries and local monks are allowed to broker villages votes in so-called "elections.") We dedicate ourselves to "the Dhamma for training ourselves" (the literal meaning of sekhiyadhamma) that enables us to effectively serve the Triple Gem and all beings within the present realities and structures of dukkha.

Our network organized the walk to test the value and effectiveness of peace walks as a form of moral persuasion within Thai Buddhist & Muslim cultures. Our first goal was to help bring attention to the dilemma of the lake, Siam’s largest and a uniquely complex and prolific ecosystem. In doing so, we wanted to establish a middle way between protest marches and apathetic silence. Some of us see ever more violent clashes over natural resources in Siam’s future and hope that monks, nuns, and other Buddhist leaders can help mediate just and peaceful resolutions. A second goal was to help build up the peoples’ network around the lake in order to give them a greater voice in working out policies and projects. We see a natural role for monks as facilitators of such a network and wanted to encourage such participation from local monks. A few were already involved in their own areas but not yet effectively cooperating with other monks, village leaders, and NGO workers in other parts of the lake. Lastly, we wanted to identify local monks who would be willing to join us in our engaged buddhist work, both around the lake and on national issues.

We were moderately successful in these goals. We stirred up publicity for the lake and the voices of the people living close to it (see below). We were accepted and praised by some senior monks, while no serious criticisms arose. We were blessed with the presence, sharing, and advice of Samdech Mahaghosanada from Cambodia. A precedent has been set. And the strands of a Songkhla Lake Sekhiyadhamma that is able to work with the peoples’ and NGOs’ networks are being woven together. The progress may not yet be large but is nonetheless significant. New ground has been tilled. It was our first large-scale activity. Finally, we proved that such walks are possible here and that they have potential for popularity.

The Issues

We generally presented ourselves to the people living around the lake as concerned "outsiders" who wanted to learn more what the residents themselves thought than to offer our own analysis and solutions. We wanted to strengthen the voice of the lake’s people, especially the poor and marginalized. Here, we must be forthright about a certain bias for the poor community members, while trying to avoid being against the developers, land speculators, factory owners, middle-class suburbanites, and others who are slowly buying off, tempting away, and pushing out the locals. The later group already has a voice, plenty of influence, and significant political-economic power. We are not against them and are delighted to have some of them with us. (Most of the lay walkers were from middle-class urban lifestyles.) Yet it is crucial to create a space in which the ignored members of society – the intimidated and downtrodden silent majority – are encouraged to speak. Only then can there be true dialogue and democracy on the issues facing us all (even farang like myself).

The issues we heard, then, from representatives of the people were many. I will summarize the main five.

No fish to eat. The amount and diversity of fish and shrimp have deteriorated grievously, especially within the last 3 to 5 years. Many species have disappeared, including delicious ones. We heard stories of how fish used to jump into peoples’ boats there were so many! People blamed the problem on over-fishing (by themselves and others); use of intensive fishing technology, often immoral and illegal, such as drag nets, electric shocks, and poison; fishing during the spawning seasons; and the deterioration of the water (see below). Manmade disruptions in the normal circulation of sea, rain, and brackish water through various channels between sea and lake have interfered with the migrations of the fish fry that swam in the once interchanging currents. Destructions of mangroves and other spawning grounds due to "development" and prawn farms has cut the bottom our from under efforts of the marine life to reproduce.

Bad water, and there isn’t as much water as their used to be. Depending on your perspective, the water is either much more shallow than before, the bottom is silting up, or the whole system is drier. Further, the remaining water is dirty and unable to cleanse itself naturally. Erosion due to deforestation on the mountains to the North and East, the conversion of wetlands to rice fields, and the building of roads has lead to dramatic levels of siltation. The pollution from towns, factories, agricultural chemicals, and tiger prawn farms has poisoned the water in many places. In some places, bathers end up with skin rashes where not long ago the water was potable.

Theft of water. Increasingly, water is taken up for urban and industrial uses, resulting in less drainage into the lake. Had Yai, the largest city in Southern Thailand, located just south of the lake, is the primary excuse for a dam that most of the lake people do not want. This is on top of the use of lake water for irrigation in some parts of the lake and tiger prawn farms in others.

Loss of land. With the spread of Had Yai and other large Southern towns, increasing land is covered with concrete subdivisions. Wetlands are turned into "Songkhla Lagunas" and other sub-divisions for the middle-class (while the former residents are denied entry or even passage through these new "villages.")

Breakdown of community. With the loss of traditional livelihoods, the siphoning off of the young into towns, relocation of homes to the new roads, domination of formal village leaders ("headmen") by the government, and the deterioration of the Wats, the lake’s communities have little strength left to hold them together. Too often, the unifying factor is the lack of opportunities elsewhere. This is a tragic dilemma for a society to impose on its people, to deprive them of old joys, bonds, and strengths while denying them new ones. Seeing this convinced many of us that ecological problems are inevitably cultural and moral problems with profound cultural and moral consequences.

In addition, let me add a couple observations of my own. I was shocked to find that the area we passed through at the beginning of the walk, the northwest shore of the Upper Lake, which had been converted from rich and diverse flood forests into rice fields, was as poor as Siam’s impovershed Isaan. Isaan, the Northeast, with poor soils, a harsher climate, and more patient, docile, happy-go-lucky inhabitants is the poorest part of the country; while the South is much richer in resources and incomes. What was such poverty doing here? The common denominator was rice! Farmers have been taught to deplete their soils and invest in chemicals. If they only kept books they would realize that there is no way they can make a profit on the rice crop. The profits all go to the middlemen, bureaucrats, and other profiteers. Thus, poverty by policy.

There is not yet a strong enough coalition of peoples’ leaders to arrive at the people’s consensus needed to save the lake and its human resources. In fact, we often heard villagers in one area blaming their difficulties on their peers in another part of the lake. We suspect this is encouraged by some government agents, as well as by incompetent journalism. We tried to be a channel through which villagers could begin to hear each other and begged them to visit their counterparts around the lake. Thus, in identifying the main issues of the people, and in a more detailed analysis to be published in Thai, we are hoping to work towards such a consensus in order that the people themselves will have a determining role in the activities undertaken to preserve the lake’s ecosystems and cultural systems. The basis for such a comprehensive approach is –

Such an approach will not happen easily. The people have been effectively brainwashed against such action, through years of government and religiously enforced docility.

Walking Lessons Learned

In addition to what we learned about the lake, we were forced to learn and rethink about the walk itself. There were surprises and disappointments. Let me mention a few of the main ones.

There is always the danger that such walks will be seen merely as a "protest walk" and rejected. A walk lead by monks would come under much criticism for overt protest, especially when many of us were from outside the area. Fortunately, we were able to establish a "middle way" of walking. Our role was to listen to the people rather than tell them what was going on and what to do. We avoided taking sides (although individual walkers often had their points of view).

With monks in the lead, a number of Buddhist customs and traditions came into play. Some were unexpected, even troublesome. At times, we didn’t know what to do with the flood of food and the expectation of a sermon delayed our setting out until the sun was full up in the sky, that is, blazing hot in the middle of the hot, dry season. On the other hand, lots of people came out to see us, motivated by faith and respect. And raised our spirits.

We were warned to avoid the word "environment" by Ven PA Payuddho, Siam’s leading scholar-monk and an advisor to Phra Sekhiyadhamma. He feels that the word, betraying its Western origins, separates human beings from the rest of Nature. In Buddhism, we ought to speak of Nature or ecology inclusive of everything, especially ourselves.

People kept giving us water bottled in throw-away plastic. We had not taken precautions to avoid this and similar ecologically destructive habits.

Those who came out to the Wats and joined us on the roads were primarily the old. This partly reflects the reality of village Buddhism; it is trapped in a time no longer relevant to the young. It also reflects the economic reality where young people are collected in pickup trucks to work in fish and prawn packing factories. We must be very creative in reaching out to all members of the community.

Many of the old people were delighted to see us walking. In their youth, everyone walked daily. A ten kilometer trip to the market was ordinary. Now, the young need motor-scooters to get anywhere. It was much harder to get the young to join us for a stroll to the next village than the old folks.

As a minority of the community around the lake are Muslim, we hoped to involve them in the walk, too. With some exceptions, we were not very successful in this. The exceptions give us hope that we will do better next year. Especially as the monks (Phra Sekhiyadhamma) will share more of the organizing with local groups. Perhaps a few Muslim leaders will join us in reflections about the walk.

There has been little experience of monks and NGOs working together beyond the personal level. This was the first time we knew of that a group of monks worked with NGOs to plan a large-scale activity. A lot of learning and unlearning was required. Different working cultures, turf battles, prejudices about each other, communication styles, and the like only got in the way, but in the end, we found that we can work together in the spirit of Dhamma. Sometimes the monks were able to help the NGO workers to let go of an attachment, sometimes it was the other way around.

We were let down by some senior monks and our own Abbot (the chief organizer lives with me here at Daun Kiam) who tried to talk us out of the walk. Paradoxically, one of them – a nationally respected preacher – has frequently praised Gandhi over the years but in typical monkish fashion divorces Gandhi’s actions from his words. Beautiful ideals are OK, but please don’t stir up any trouble by putting them into serious practice. Yes, friends, Thai Buddhism is dying of hypocrisy masquerading as "objective Dhamma teaching." Still, there is a growing movement trying to breathe life back into the not-quite-corpse.

Walking together gave many opportunities for making friends, sharing hardships and joys, learning, and growing in Dhamma. These opportunities can be nurtured with good group process, which must be adequately prepared in advance. When we were able to include time for interpersonal work within the group, the results were satisfying and conflicts dissolved. The many friendships forged and strengthened are an important sign of the walk’s value.

Buddhist Revival

At heart, Phra Sekhiyadhamma is working for a revival of Thai Buddhism. We fear that the current hierarchy, used by politicians and bedazzled by the wealthy, is leading Thai Buddhism down the tubes. Along the walk, we saw pathetic signs of decay. Wats cluttered with garbage left over from festivals. The festivals put on by businessmen, not community members, who make big profits off of the gambling and drinking (and give the Wat a percentage). Monks hanging out all day with cigarettes drooping from bored lips and eyes gazing blankly. The Wats’ crockery tossed into back rooms with no respect for the donors. Many Wats with just one octogenarian monk unable to look after the place or to communicate with people less than half his age (they lived in different worlds, eras).

Yet all was not hopeless and doomed. There were well kept Wats and on-the-ball monks here and there. The people came out in mass at Wat after Wat to greet and feed us. Seeds of faith remain, but must be watered with Dhamma teachings and cultivated with community development. Thus, we see grassroots engaged buddhism as one way to salvage what is alive in the tradition and adjust to the future. It is a crucial element in any reversal of the cultural decay that is taking the Thainess out of Thailand. The basic responsibilities of study, meditation, and service must be rejuvenated and encouraged in all monks, especially the young, often aimless, ones. Then they will be able to find their way in partnership with the people. Although we did not find many nuns, they too must be supported to grow into a meaningful and equal role within the temples and communities.

Next Time

Throughout the walk, villagers asked if we would be back next year. Our reply was always, "It depends on whether local groups care enough to do the organizing." At the closing, the walkers themselves overwhelmingly wished for another walk next year. Some even wanted two: a second around the Lake and another elsewhere in Siam (tragically, there is plenty of ecological and cultural destruction going on in this "Tiger Cub"). Southern NGOs have agreed to help organize it, so plans are already underway for 1997 (April 20 through May 19).

Only four years behind our Khmer friends, Dhammayatra is now set to be enshrined as a legitimate form of social statement in Siam. With popularity, however, will come the danger that the Dhamma is watered down or filtered out by interest groups. For this reason, Phra Sekhiyadhamma and its friends will remain mindfully vigilant.

Lastly, it was clear that the presence of foreigners – American, Bangladeshi Chakma, Australian, Haitian Canadian – helped to spark interest among local residents and to spread the word to other countries. Thus, we invite you all to join us next year. Perhaps you could walk with us for a week or two of Dhammayatra II, then join the Cambodians for part of their Dhammayietra VI.

And Si Nuan will probably be there, too. She has been adopted by Phramaha Jaroen Dejadhammo, the leading activist monk at the south end of the lake and is being pampered, ur, prepared for next year. She was a bit ragged at the end, too, but her tail kept wagging and she joined all the meetings.

 Santikaro Bhikkhu
Suan Atammayatarama

For more information please email santikaro@suanmokkh.org or Dhamma-Yatra office:

Dhamma-Yatra, c/o The Coordinating Committee for Southern NGO’s
2/44 Soi Ratuthit 22, Tambol Kawhong, 
Amphur Haad Yai, Songkhla 90100
tel: (66-74) 230685, 239594 ... fax: (66-74) 230592

First electronic version 24 December 1996 © by Evolution/Liberation.