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Through the Eyes of a Monk Buddhist Monks’ Perceptions Towards Tourism and Tourists at Buddhist Temple Sites in Bangkok, Thailand

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Through the Eyes of a Monk Buddhist Monks’ Perceptions Towards Tourism and Tourists at Buddhist Temple Sites in Bangkok, Thailand Through the Eyes of a Monk Buddhist Monks’ Perceptions towards Tourism and Tourists at Buddhist Temple Sites in Bangkok, Thailand Figure 1. Novice Monks on Steps (Praseeratenang, 2016). Author: Timo Carlito Wolff Student number: 890712969120 Educational Institution: Wageningen University Faculty: Department of Environmental Sciences Chair Group: Cultural Geography Chair Group MSc Programme: Leisure, Tourism & Environment Thesis Code: GEO-80436 Supervisor/Examiner: Karin Peters Examiner: Claudio Minca Date: 7 November 2016 Disclaimer: This thesis is a student report produced as part of the Master Program Leisure, Tourism and Environment of Wageningen University. It is not an official publication and the content does not represent an official position of Wageningen University. Timo Wolff 2 Foreword The first time I stepped foot in southeast Asia on a school fieldtrip as part of my bachelor programme of International Tourism Management & Consultancy at the NHTV Breda university of applied sciences, I was immediately sold. I developed a great love for this beautiful part of the world, its people and the Buddhist culture. Being raised Catholic – although not of the hard-core kind – I have never considered myself a religious person for the most part of my life, although something about Buddhism kept pulling me over to this part of the world. After my bachelor I travelled through Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam for a couple of months as a tourist myself, and then again, after I started the MSc programme of Leisure, Tourism & Environment at Wageningen University, I visited Myanmar as part of a tourism development project for GIZ together with some amazing other students. This is where I decided not to go through with my original thesis plan of drawing up a sustainability analysis of the local tour sector of Nyaungshwe. It took quite some time, a week of meditation in a Buddhist forest monastery called Pa-Auk, and some additional time to let all my experiences sink in to finally come up with the idea for this very thesis that has come into existence. It’s been a rocky road, and although this is not quite the final part of my studies, it feels like the last chapter of my life as a student is definitely nearing its end. During my tourism studies I have always felt like a majority of attention was given to the tourist and that the host was often forgotten. That is why I decided to do research on Buddhist monks’ perceptions towards tourism and tourists. At the end of March this year I got on a plane to Bangkok and visited countless Buddhist temples within Thailand’s capital in order to gather data for my research. There have been many people who helped me along the way and who I want to thank warmheartedly. First of all, I want to thank all the monks who made me feel welcome and agreed to share their stories, wisdom and experiences with me that have resulted in this very thesis. I want to thank my local friends Sandy and Jib for their friendship and help with translating those interviews that required translation. I want to thank my other friends at Penpark place for creating a place that felt like a home away from home. I want to thank my supervisor Karin Peters for her constructive feedback and for not losing faith in me. I want to thank my boyfriend for the late night phone calls on lonely days when abroad and I want to thank my friends for always being there and offering me distractions when I needed them, with special thanks to my dear friend Jikke Roefs who kept sending me motivational messages during the last couple of weeks. I want to thank my parents for always supporting me to keep learning and broaden my horizons, and always being there for me even when I’m far away. And, as history repeats itself, I want to thank the website of Soundcloud for the endless stream of great music that has helped me focus during the writing process. Timo Wolff 3 Table of Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Table of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Tables......................................................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1. Who was The Buddha? ................................................................................................................. 9 1.2. The Main Branches of Buddhism .................................................................................................. 9 1.3. Life as a Buddhist Monk ............................................................................................................. 10 1.4. Problem Statement .................................................................................................................... 12 1.5. Scientific Objective and Research Questions ............................................................................. 12 1.6. Relevance of the Study ............................................................................................................... 12 2. Theoretical Framework: Literature Review ....................................................................................... 15 2.1. Host Perceptions & Influencing Factors ..................................................................................... 15 2.2. Gazing ......................................................................................................................................... 16 2.3. Buddhist & Mundane Worldviews ............................................................................................. 18 2.4. Theories on Host Perceptions .................................................................................................... 19 2.5. Conceptual Model ...................................................................................................................... 21 3. Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 24 3.1. Postmodernism .......................................................................................................................... 24 3.2. The Research Area ...................................................................................................................... 24 3.3. The Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 26 3.4. The Translators ........................................................................................................................... 28 3.5. Challenges .................................................................................................................................. 28 3.6. Data Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 29 4. Results ............................................................................................................................................... 31 4.1. Teachings of the Buddha ............................................................................................................ 31 4.2. Buddhist Values .......................................................................................................................... 32 4.3. Teaching Buddhism & Educating Tourists .................................................................................. 37 4.4. Interest of the Visitor ................................................................................................................. 39 4.5. Conflicting Habits ....................................................................................................................... 41 4.6. Being a Good Monk .................................................................................................................... 47 5. Conclusions & Discussion .................................................................................................................. 52 5.1. The Scientific Objective and the Research Questions ................................................................ 52 5.2. Practical Application of the Results ............................................................................................ 54 5.3. Proposals for Future Research ................................................................................................... 55 Timo Wolff 4 References ............................................................................................................................................. 57 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 61 Appendix 1: Interview question list for Thai Buddhist monks .......................................................... 61 Table of Figures Figure 1. Novice Monks on Steps ............................................................................................................ 1 Figure 2. Monk in
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