Thailand’s burgeoning consumer culture could pose a threat to traditional Buddhism – though it could also help popularize it. Lily Kuo explains:
Religious and secular observers have worried that as Thailand’s economy speeds along and enriches its population, the country’s most popular religion, Theravada Buddhism, is losing relevance and threatening the central role that Buddhist temples and their monks have played in Thai society. “Consumerism is now the Thai religion,” Phra Paisan Visalo, one of the country’s most revered monks said last year. “In the past, people went to temple on every holy day. Now, they go to shopping malls.” (As we’ve reported, about 19 percent of Thai households will earn more than $20,000 in income by 2017, up from 2.2 percent in 2002.)
On the bright side, consumer engagement could help Thailand’s Buddhist monks relate their religious traditions to the general population—while spurring the economy. The retail business of supplying products for monks is worth about 10 billion baht, or $320 million, according to a study published last year by a Thai bank’s Kasikorn Research Center. In a sign that monk consumerism is growing, a mega-supply store on the outskirts of Bangkok, Hang Sangkapan, or “Monk Supply,” is hoping to franchise and find investors. Modeled after big-box retailers like Carrefour, the store offers a bevy of religious clothes, candles, Buddha statuettes and altar tables for Thailand’s robed men.
The Dish 