現代上座仏教社会の「アラハン」 : タイにおける「聖人化」のプロセス
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概要
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The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of "sanctification" as a framework to analyze the dynamism of the interaction of monks and society in Theravada countries, by examining the cult of "Arahant" which came to the fore in the 1970s in urban Thailand. The cult of "Arahant" in Thailand is a phenomenon in which urban dwellers passionately seek to obtain monks' sacred power by going on a pilgrimage or through relics, amulets, etc., because the monks - especially Acharn MUN and his disciples - are said to have attained "enlightenment" and possess a miraculous power. TAMBIAH [1984] analyzed that phenomenon by dividing monks into two categories: (1) priest-like town-village monks who engage in learning and offer social services, and (2) charismatic forest monks who retire from the world and devote themselves to ascetic practices such as meditation. According to him, when society is stable, town-village monks, who are in the center of the society, play an important role, but when it is unstable, the charismatic power of forest monks, who are at the periphery, is called upon. Since his argument is based on structuralism, he did not treat the historical peculiarity of this case appropriately. He also disregarded the fact that there are various patterns in the monks' cult. In that sense, his argument is problematic; however, I appreciate his attitude of pursuing the universal framework in Theravada society. Therefore, while I accept his approach of generalization of that phenomenon in Thailand as my working hypothesis, in order to overcome these problems, I introduce the concept of "sanctification" as an analytical framework. According to that concept, I intend to focus on the process in which forest monks gradually become worshiped through their interaction with lay people, town-village monks and political authorities. From that perspective, I reexamined the case of Thailand as follows. The process of "sanctification" of Thai forest monks began early in the 20th century when the centralized political authorities and Buddhist order approved the forest monks' legitimacy. That is, because of that official approval, rumors flourished that Acharn MUN and his disciples were "Arahant". Later, the process of "sanctification" progressed quickly during the rapid social change of the 1970s, because city residents felt a religious desire and enthusiastically sought the transcendent power of the monks, known though the mass media that also developed at that time. Based upon that case, it can be said that the cult of charismatic monks is the social process that operates variously in the interaction between (1) the forest monks who pursue a religious goal, (2) the lay people who survive in this world, (3) the town-village monks who maintain religious legitimacy and (4) the political authority that maintains world order. Therefore, because "sanctification" is a concept that deals with that process, we can use it to analyze the historical peculiarity of a cult and treat various patterns of cults as a whole.
- 2006-06-30
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関連論文
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