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Interpreting a Cosmology: Guardian Spirits in Thai Author(s): Penny van Esterik Reviewed work(s): Source: Anthropos, Bd. 77, H. 1./2. (1982), pp. 1-15 Published by: Anthropos Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40460429 . Accessed: 15/05/2012 10:37

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http://www.jstor.org PennyVan Esterik

Interpretinga Cosmology: GuardianSpirits in Thai Buddhism

Abstract.- Thispaper arguesthat the Thaihierarchy of guardianspirits can and shouldbe incorporatedin a Buddhistconceptual order. Reasons for intra-cultural diver- sityin the labellingof and behaviortoward guardian spirits in a CentralThai village may be tracedto canonicalsources and cosmologicalstructure. A set ofprinciples underlying thevillagers* classification of supernaturalbeings are proposeddemonstrating how ambi- guitiespermit alternate orderings of spirits.Ethnographic and textualevidence are com- bined in thisargument. Finally, this argument raises questions of broadertheoretical interestin culturalanthropology regarding the relationbetween cognition and action, and theuse offolk taxonomies.[, Buddhism, Cosmology, Supernatural Beings]

No anthropologistwho has workedin Thailandwould underestimate the importanceof guardianspirits in Thai .From the elaborate shrinesnortheast of theGrand Palace, and the Erawan Hotel in ,to themakeshift stands in mostrural compounds, these spirits are well housed. Westerninterpreters of Thai religion,however, are not agreedon thenature of thesespirits. In a recentmonograph on Thai BuddhismTerwiel argues thatthe "basicmagico-anirnism which characterizes tribal T'ai also underlies the religionof the farmersin lowlandThailand" (1975: 21). The theory arguingthat Buddhism is onlya thinveneer over a morepervasive is notdead. Buildingon earliersimilar arguments, Terwiel, in hisanalysis of religiousceremonies in centralThailand, has returnedto thisposition. This essaywill arguethat guardian spirits can and shouldbe incorporatedin a

PennyVan Esterikis currentlya researchassociate in internationalnutrition and a fellowin theSoutheast Asia Program,Cornell , Ithaca, N.Y. She receivedher BA fromUniversity of Torontoand herMA andPhD fromUniversity of Illinois.A mono- graphentitled Cognition and DesignProduction in Ban ChiangPainted Pottery, based on herdoctoral dissertation, was publishedby Ohio UniversityPress, 1981. Otherrecent ar- ticleson Thai culturehistory include Symmetry and Symbolismin Ban ChiangPainted Pottery(Journal of AnthropologicalResearch), and Ban ChiangRollers: Experiment and Speculation(Asian Perspectives). Previous fieldwork in Thailandon aspectsof villagere- ligioncontributed to articleson tonsureceremonies, ,caste ideology and symbolism.Current research interests are in nutritionalanthropology and food ideology. Anthropos77.1982 1 2 PennyVan Esterik Anthropos77.1982

Buddhistconceptual order. In fact,spirits, and specificallyguardian spirits, are referredto in the Buddhistcanon, a fact that arguesagainst "veneer" theoryof Buddhismin Thailand.Secondly, this study suggests that guardian spiritsmay be the vehicle by which natureand locality spiritsand Hindu deitieswere integratedinto a singleBuddhist world . This shouldin no way obscurethe fact that spiritsare an integralpart of the beliefsystem of TheravadaBuddhism today. The studywas promptedby recognitionof ex- tensiveintra-cultural diversity (Pelto and Pelto 1975) in thelabelling of and behaviortoward spirits, particularly guardian spirits, in a Thai community.I will proposesome of the principleswhich underlie the villager's classification of supernaturalbeings, showing where the ambiguitiesexist. But the guar- dian spirit"problem" also raisesof broadertheoretical interest regarding the relation between cognitionand action and the use of folk taxonomies. The problem of how to understandthe systemof categorizationof supernaturalbeings came to my attentionwhile studyingthe ritualsinstal- lingguardian spirits.1 I was unableto discoverwhether these guardian spirits werephi (ghosts)or thëwada(deities).2 My initialproblem, then, was to de- fine the extent and compositionof the importantdomain of spirits.I at- temptedto definethe guardianspirits spatially in a cosmologicalframework and to determine whetherthey were "good" or "bad." Clearly,moral at- tributesand spatiallocation of thesespirits were important characteristics to my informants,but theydid not providethe basis fora hierarchicalordering of spirits(cf. Endicott 1970: 98-100 for similardifficulties ordering the Malay spiritpantheon). Eventually, I realizedthat this categoryof guardian spiritswere phi to some people, and thëwadato others,and myattempts to anchorguardian spirits in one categoryor anotherworld would distortand oversimplifythe interpretationsgiven me by thevillagers. There was no con- sensus on the labellingof guardianspirits and conflictingcriteria for estab- lishingattributes defining the categoriesof pAíand thêwadã. Thus, I faced an immediateproblem in the interpretationof guardian spirits.Before looking at how otherscholars have resolvedthis difficulty, I considerbriefly the Hindu-Buddhistcosmological structure. The boundaries and levels of the world of sensuousdesires (kãmaloka) appear veryclearly

Fieldwork in Thailand was conducted in a large village in district,Sup- hanburiprovince, fromJune 1971 to January 1972 under the auspices of the National Research Council of Thailand. Funds were provided by a traininggrant from the Depart- ment of Anthropology,and a fellowshipfrom the Centerfor Asian Studies, Universityof Illinois. My husband continued study of village religionin 1973-74, while I was involved in another researchproject elsewhere.Much of my work has benefittedfrom his criticism and fromthe opportunityto revisitthe village while he worked there.I wish to thank F. K. Lehman, who stimulatedthe theoreticalapproach used here,and also advisedme while I was in the village. Transcriptionof Thai words is based on the formstandardized in Skinnerand Kirsch (eds.) 1975. However, I have, at times,followed conventional usage or formsused by authorsI am quoting,at the expensiveof consistency. Interpretinga Cosmology: Thai Buddhism g defined.The upper six worldsare inhabitedby thëwada(deities) residing on the upper slopes of and above. Beneaththe worldof humans, animals,suffering ghosts (peta), and demons(), is located an increasing- ly hideous series of eighthells (cf. Tambiah 1970: 36-9; King 1964: 113). This cosmology,described in the fourteenthcentury Thai text, The Three WorldsAccording to King Ruang (Trai Phüm Phra Ruang; Reynoldsand Reynoldsn.d.), is widely knownin ruralThai villages.Guardian spirits are not anchoredin thisstructure, although in anothersense, they can be loca- ted at severallevels in thiscosmology. In theirrelatively undefined position, they fill the intersticesof cosmologicaland politicelispace, linkingthe two systemsmetaphorically.

1. The SupernaturalWorld and Its Interpreters

The wide varietyof interpretationsof the spiritworld given by Thai villagersis reflectedin thedifficulty scholars have recognizedin definingphi, thëwada,and guardianspirits. B.C. Law concludedhis BuddhistConception of Spiritswith the observationthat there is a continuousgrading of goodness and evil in the spirits,with thëwada"having a preponderanceof good and meritoriousdeeds in theirfavour, though they are tainted,at least in the lower ranks,with some stainof evilwhich they have got to workout"(1936: 107f.). Between the lowest of the thëwada and the highestof the peta thereis "hardlyany line of cleavage"(108). Tambiah(1970) notesthat spir- its addressedas chao phõ (respectedfather) are a mixtureof phi and thëwa- da since the borderbetween the two is vague. Yet he stillopposes phi and thëwada. He simplifiesthe analysisby admittingthat phi are differentiated into good and bad, but thëwadaare treatedas a singleclass. He does not deal withthe factthat guardian spirits may be treatedas respecteddeities. Kauf- man (1960), too, notesthat the villagersof Bangkhuadcould not explainthe distinctionbetween phi and thëwada,and gives the guardianspirit of the house compoundas an example,making no attemptto accountfor the am- biguity.Kirsch (1967) uses a syncreticapproach that distinguishes animistic, Brahmanistic,and Buddhistsubsystems. He suggeststhat animisticlocality spiritsare beingup-graded to Brahmandeities. These, in turn,are transfor- med and givenBuddhist meaning. By this"upgrading" of spirits(or Buddhai- zation;Kirsch 1967), apAí maybe transformedinto a thëwada. Attagara(1967), approachingthe question as a Thai, recognizesthat villagersfind it difficultto distinguishghosts from deities and concludesthat the people solve the problemby lumpingall supernaturalagents together as phi. She giveshistorical evidence to suggestthat in its earliestusage, phi re- ferredto both phi and thêwadã.Her example is the powerfulPhra Khap- hung,the guardianspirit of the fourteenthcentury Thai kingdomof Sukho- thai. Her evidencesuggests that since the earliestThai kingdomsguardian spiritshave been an ambiguouscategory capable of interpretationeither as phi or thëwada. 4 PennyVan Esterik Anthropos77.1982

Attagara'swork supports the views of the authorityon supernaturalen- tities,as on so many aspects of Thai traditions,Phya AnumanRajadhon, who writes(1954: 154) that "the dividingline betweengods and devils,like men,is a thinone whichis a matterof varyingdegree." He bases thisambi- guityon the historicaldevelopment of Buddhismreplacing an earlierani- mism.He writes:"It followedthat all the good phi of theThai had by now become thêwadã or gods in theirpopular use of the language.The generic word 'phi' therefore,degenerated into a restrictedmeaning of bad phi (1954: 153). Clearly,the spirithierarchy is relevantto an understandingof Thai religionand world view,but thereis littleagreement in the literature about the natureof the spirithierarchy or how guardianspirits should be classified.In our concern with classifyingand definingphi and thêwadã, perhapswe have missedthe mostsignificant point about guardianspirits. By their ambiguousposition, guardian spirits are capable of interpretationin morethan one way.

2. GuardianSpirits as phi

Guardianspirits are interpretedby some Thai ãsphi (ghosts).This state- mentalone conveysvery little information, since phi itselfis an ambiguous category,as the followingexamples illustrate. Great ambiguity surrounds the spiritsknown as phi prêt (: peta). These spiritshave been rebornin the realm of sufferingghosts between the realmsof the animalsand the asura (demons) in the kãmaloka world,the world of sensuousdesire. In the vil- lagers'terms, these spiritsdo not have enoughdemerit to cause themto be rebornin one of thelower hells nor enough to be rebornin thehuman or heavenlylevels. Even thoughthey inhabit another realm in thekãmaloka world,they may wander into the realmof humanswhere villagers occasional- ly claim to encounterthem. In fact,the phi prêt wanderinto the human realm for the expresspurpose of gainingmerit. According to the villagers, theycannot gain meritfor themselves by listeningto the wordsof the Bud- dha, but mustrely on humansto sharetheir merit with them. These villagers attendinga temple servicedo, by means of a ritualknown as kruatnãm wherebyBuddhists share merit with all livingbeings (cf. Wells 1960: 118). Theirinteraction with phi prêt is in a Buddhistcontext. Phi prêt are terrifyingbeings, gruesomely described in the sermonsand illustratedin picturesin the preachinghall. One villagerexplained that you do not need to feedphi prêt and you cannotbribe themwith food, but if you meet one, you can say, "please don't scare me-I will make meritand transferit to you." Thesephi, then,only need a smallamount of meritto be rebornin a higherrealm. They are ambiguoustransitional category of spirits, fixed in a level between the hells and the humanrealm. They are labelled phi but not treatedas otherphi. A Thai villagerlearns that phi prêt are cruel ghostsbut no personalincidents suggested reasons to fearphi prêt, as one would fearother cruel phi. Interpretinga Cosmology: Thai Buddhism 5

A second scripturalsource of potentialambiguity about phi could be the guardianspirits of one of the subhellsdescribed in the TraiPhüm.There is a categoryof semi-permanentguardians who have done both virtuousand sinfuldeeds and, as a result,spend fifteendays a monthas guardiansinflic- tingpunishment on othersand fifteendays as victimsof the same punish- ment.Some of thesebeings are phi prêt forthe waxingmoon and thêwadã forthe waningmoon. The existenceof such a categoryof spiritsprovides an excellent argumentagainst those who conceptualizephi and thêwadã as fixedcategories representing absolute and opposed spiritualbeings that can be representedin a taxonomy. The scripturesacknowledge the existenceof spiritsalthough they do not specifytheir nature or the extentof theirpower (cf. Khuddaka-nikaya, ).Similarly, the scripturesprovide limited means of protection againstthem in the formof (protective verses). Since thesespirits are not clearlydefined in the scriptures,there is room fora varietyof interpreta- tionsas to theirorigin and nature.Their existence is not defined,but the de- tailsare leftfor the individualto fillin forhimself. Villagersare able to account fora categoryof good spirits(phi dì) who can be supplicatedand help solve daily problemssuch as lost cattleor sick children.Phi dì are most commonlythose spiritswho are associatedwith a particularterritory and have fixedduties to protectand help thoseresiding in theirterritory. If a villagercan definethe responsibilitiesand dutiesof a phi, thenhe usuallyinteracts with them positively. A fewvillagers accounted for the existenceof good spiritsby referring to the account of the existenceof prematuredeath recordedin the Ques- tion of KingMilinda (Rhys-David 1963). In thistext, which is familiarto the villagersthrough sermons, King Milinda asks,

"Venerable ,when beingsdie, do they all die in fulnessof time or do some die out of due season?" And Nagasena replies,"There is such a thing,O King,as death at the due time and such a thingas prematuredeath" (Rhys-David1963: 162).

In the wordsof one old woman,people may die of old age whenthey "should" (Pali: upayakãya), that is, when Phra Yamarat(, god of death) calls them.They are thenreborn in the appropriaterealm depending on theirpast merit.But some people die of accidentsor illnessbefore Phra Yamaratcalls them. These people (Pali: upaccheda kãmakãya)become phi who wanderfreely until Phra Yamaratcalls themto be reborn.If theyhad more demeritthan meritat the timeof theirdeath, they will become evil spirits;if they had more merit,they will become good spirits.This inter- pretationallows forfree wandering, spirits who are benevolent,and it can be traced to a well known scripturalsource, althoughthe villagerversion is phrasedwith an animateactor, Yama, who recordsthe appropriatetime of death. 6 PennyVan Esterik Anthropos77.1982

Fig. 1 The creationof "bad and good" phi

1. NaturalDeath Birth Death (Pali: upayakãya) P hra Yamarai calls normalrebirth """"""""~~" 2. UnnaturalDeath BirthDeath Phra Yamarat calls

(Psliiupaccheda kãmakãya) > + demerit > dangerousphi

3. UnnaturalDeath BirthDeath Phra Yamaratcalls (Pali: upaccheda kãmakãya) ) + merit > goodpht

Guardianspirits addressed as phï are describedas immoraland untrust- worthy,emotional, unreasonable, and, just like humans,a littlestupid. They are quite easily fooled: "You may promisethem one hundredeggs if they assistyou, then give themonly one egg" (cf. Endicott1970: 55). They can be bribedand willhelp thoseresiding in theirterritory only if the individuals have shownrespect to the guardianspirits. But thehelp and protectionthey give does not depend on Buddhist morality.If ever an individualbegins honouringand feedinga guardianspirit and thenstops, he is in greatdanger. However, if a reciprocalrelationship was neverset up in the firstplace, the guardianspirit will not harmhim nor will he givehim protection. Guardian spiritsaddressed as phï, are treatedaspAiand givenofferings appropriate for phi, such as whiskey,cigarettes, meat, dishes,and an unappetizingspicy, sour,fish mixture.

To summarize,guardian spirits can be interpretedas good or bad spirits (phi), behavingmorally or immorally.In makingsense out of the spirit world,villagers must be able to account forphï prêt who are fearedbut do not interferein this world,guardian prêt who spendpart of theirtime asp/ti and part as thêwadã,and good spirits(phï di) who can activelyprotect indi- viduals residingin theirterritory. These latterguardians are morelikely to be trustedbecause theyare perceivedof as beingunder the controlof a "pa- tron." Villagerscan describeguardian spirits labelled as phï as beinggood, bad, or neutral dependingon the context. There is a body of lore and personnalexperience that allows a villagerto interactwith these spirits in an appropriateway. Further, these interpretationscannot be dismissedas individualperversions, underlying animism, or even ignorant"folk Bud- dhism," since there are scripturalreferences for villager'sinterpretations. More importantly,they are representativeof the way people interprettheir cultural categories. Ambiguity,paradox, contradictionare all potential interpretativestrategies for categories as complexas guardianspirits. Interpretinga Cosmology: Thai Buddhism 7

3. GuardianSpirits as thêwadã

There are also contradictionsconcerning the categoryof spiritslabelled as thêwadã,a termthat includes both the Hindu-deriveddeities and the un- named thêwadãwho live in the heavenbecause of the meritaccumulated in theirpast lives.These unnamedthêwadã are the ones thatvillagers interact withmost regularly. The Hindu-deriveddeities, such as Phra In (Indra), and Phra Phrom ()represent a pantheonof permanentpositions or slotswhich are fil- led by a progressionof beingswho take up such a positionbecause of their accumulationof meritin past lives. The "offices,"much like the political hierarchyof villageheadman, district officer, and governor,are permanent, but the slots are filledby a successionof differentpeople. Gombrich(1971: 181) also notes the analogybetween the humanand the divinepower struc- turein Ceylon. Since even low level thêwadãlive forthe equivalentof mil- lions of years,it is not surprisingthat these spirits are consideredpermanent. Included among these thêwadã are nine guardianspirits with jurisdic- tion over differentkinds of territory.Using the Pali or Sanskritversions of theirnames, these guardians include Jayamangala, with jurisdiction over hou- ses; Nagararãja,with jurisdiction over doors, forts,and ladders;Devat hera, withjurisdiction over domesticanimals; Jayasabana, with jurisdiction over food and stored rice; ,protector of marriage;D harmah orã, with jurisdictionover gardenplots; and Dãsadhãra,with jurisdiction over bodies of water. To mostvillagers, the guardians of the house,fields, temples, and stored rice are relevant,but theirnames are not oftenknown. Only theguardian of the house compound can generallybe givenhis fulltitle, Phra Mong Khon (:Jayamangala). The ritualspecialists3 have textswhich use the Sanskritor Pali titles,and theycan associatethese guardians with certain astrologicalconfigurations, in order to invoke the protectionof the guar- dians and to choose appropriatedays for initiatingactivities within their territory,such as buildinga house or transplantingrice, forexample. These guardianswere describedas the servantsof the kãmalokaworld who reside just belowrIndra's heaven at the summitof MountMem (cf. Tambiah1970: 37). They are anchoredin the cosmologicalstructure. The conventional,common sense meaningof thêwadãrefers to a "rela- tively undifferentiatedcategory of divine benevolent agents" (Tambiah 1970: 60). It is thiscategory of unnamedspirits that is invitedto the temple and to ceremoniesin the home to offera generalbenevolent protection to thosepracticing Buddhist morality. But thisgeneral class of thêwadãcan also provideguardian spirits, as willbe seen later.

3 My primaryconcern in the field was the study of "Brahmanic" ritual, and Brahmanicknowledge. The ritualspecialists were describedas being "like Brahmans"and officiateat rites of passage such as weddings,tonsures, and pre-ordinationcelebrations. g PennyVan Esterik Anthropos77.1982

Included in the categorythêwadã are somutthithëp,gods by theirposi- tion in thisworld, the kingand the royalfamily. Possessing some traitssimi- lar to guardianspirits, the King is viewedas the protectorof Buddhismand the boundariesof a Buddhist kingdom.Similarly, the termwisutthithêp labels a categoryof pure gods who obtain the statusof a god in thislife, in- cludingthe Buddha and the saintswho have reachednirvana. Although resi- dingin the humanrealm, these can be labelledthêwadã. Those who label guardianspirits as thêwadã perceiveof them as an integralpart of Buddhist order and describe them as subservientto but supportiveof the Buddha. These guardians,then, can only assistthose prac- tisingBuddhist morality. According to a popular abbot in Uthongdistrict, all guardianspirits are worthyof respectas thêwadãsince theyhave all fin- ished the eighthperfection (Pali: pãraraz-perfections) and are streamwinners (Pali: sotãpatti"stream entry"). By theirgreat accumulation of merit,they may be rebornas thêwadãwith "offices"such as Phra Phrom (Brahma) or Phra In (Indra). These guardianspirits interpreted as thêwadãare conceived of as moral,dependable, benevolent, and powerfulcreatures worthy of ho- nour and respectbecause of theirmerit accumulated in past lives.They are offeredvegetarian food giftfor a thêwadã,such as youngcoconuts, boiled eggs,and pinkand whitesweets. A label such as thêwadãdoes not simplyapply to supernaturalentities of highmoral standards. It includeskings and membersof theroyal family, as well as thesaints who mayreside in the humanrealm, deities of the Hindu pantheon convertedto Buddhism,such as Indra, Brahma,and the world guardians;spirits of humansreborn in the heavenlyrealms by virtueof their meritaccumulated in past lives;and even "bad" thêwadãcapable of harming or temptinghumans (we mightinclude Mãra here).4 To furthercomplicate the ordering,monks and lay devoteeswho keep Buddhistprecepts are often interpretedas morallysuperior to the thêwadãinhabiting a higherrealm, for theyhave the opportunityto make merit.

4. The Creationof GuardianSpirits

Althoughguardian spirits are labelledas phi by some individuals,and as thêwadãby others,villagers have no difficultyin behavingappropriately to the guardians.Individual Thai villagers,then, are able to constructa hierar-

4 Tambiah cites a Burmese legend, which was also recited to him by villagersin northeast Thailand, in which Mãra is converted to Buddhism by Upagupta (Tambiah 1970: 176). The legend of Upagupta convertingMãra was not familiarto villagereligious "experts" in Uthong district.The figureof Mãra is indeed complex and ambiguous,but he was not consistentlydescribed as the enemyof the Buddha, much as Fergusonand Jo- hannsen(1976: 650f.) describedin Buddhistmurals. I concur with Falk' s statementthat Mãra never became a servant of the Buddha. He remains the "perpetual antagonist" 13). Severalvillagers explained the existenceof "evil" thêwadã analogouslyto theirexpla- nation forgood phi (Figure 1). Interpretinga Cosmology: Thai Buddhism 9 chy of guardianspirits. I have not yet demonstratedthe logicby whichthese spirithierarchies are organized,nor have I demonstratedhow thishierarchy can be relatedto politicaland social order.To do this,it willbe necessaryto examinethe creationof guardianspirits. A free-wanderingspirit can be committedpermanently to a specificter- ritoryby a ritualconverting the spiritto a guardianspirit. Guardian spirits interpretedas phi originatefrom victims killed before the end of theirallot- ted lifespan.Such installationrituals set up a patron-clientrelation between a spirit-clientand his humanpatron who needssuper-natural assistance. Villa- gerscan cite storiesof richmen who murdereda clientand chargedhim with the responsibilityfor protecting a treasureagainst spirit or humanencroach- ment.These guardianspirits are dangerousonly to thosewho would disturb the treasurethey guard. Stories such as Khun Chang,Khun Phan (Simmonds 1963), set in Suphanburiprovince, describe these spirit guardians. Similarly,throughout the historyof the Thai kingdom,victims were sacrificedto protectthe gates on the cities. These intentionallymurdered victims-commonly pregnant women- were also used to createthe Chao Ph5 Lak Müéang (Lord fatherof the city post) and were buriedunder the city shrine.Wales (1931: 302 f.) also refersto the shrineof Chao Cet, another guardianspirit of Bangkokmaintained until 1919, who was "a truephi since he was manufacturedby the sacrificeof a suitableindividual/' But guardian spiritsmay also be created after natural death. Such spiritsare usually consideredbenevolent and labelled thêwadã. For example, some villagers argued that the guardianspirit of the house compound was the winyãn ("consciousness)of the firstcultivators of that piece of land. In a similar manner,the deceased abbot of the village temple is describedby most villagersand some monks as the guardianspirit of the temple. Since the abbot was addressedas Phra duringhis life,a termreserved for objects full or merit,most villagersassociated this guardian spirit with thêwadãand other highstatus guardian spirits. Phra Chao Uthong(King of Uthong),the guardianspirit associated with the ancientroyal cityof Uthong,was describedby a famousabbot of a local temple as a compositeof all the winyãnof the most powerfulkings of the Uthongdynasty. Although created in thesame manneras the householdand templeguardian spirit, Phra Chao Uthongand Phra Siam Thevothirat(guar- dian deity of the kingdom)could not be classifiedas a phi by the villagers because of theirroyal status and theirterm of adress-Phra. Kirsch,in an insightfulessay, has linkedthe religiousand the political domaintopped by the kingpointing out that theyare both separatedfrom and above the secular realm. Thus monks,Buddha statues,and Kings are classifiedas ong (mana-filled)powerful objects and are addressedas Phra (1975: 187). Guardianspirits addressed as Phra are conceptuallylinked to personsor objectsof greatmerit, and are referredto as thêwadã. For example,the guardianspirit of the kingdom,Phra Siam Thevothi- rat,is a compositespirit composed of the winyãnof the mostpowerful kings 1 0 PennyVan Esterik Anthropos77.1982 of Thai history-specifically those thatsuccessfully defended the boundaries of the kingdomagainst invaders. According to severalvillagers, of the kingdomincludes Ràmkhamhãeng(1276-1317), (1590- 1605), (1656-1688), (1767-1782), and (Rama 5, 1868-1910),5 althoughmany of thevillagers did not knowhis termof ad- dressand just referredto himas theguardian spirit of the kingdom.

5. GuardianSpirits as OrderedHierarchies

Guardianspirits, whether interpreted as phi or thêwadã,are a part of Buddhistcivilized order. They protectthose withintheir territory from un- convertedhostile spirits.These guardianspirits can be furthertransformed into guardianswith larger territorial jurisdiction if theyare incorporatedinto thepolitical administration by ritualsof consecration,such as the coronation of a king(cf. Gerini1895; Wales1931;Tambiah 1976). They are thusincor- poratedinto the politicaldomain of a Buddhistpolity and are in factprere- quisitesfor Buddhist social order.Tambiah (1976: 73) documentsthe rela- tion betweenBuddhism and polityin Thailand.He citesMus who writesthat the main purposeof a state religion"seems to havebeen the authentication of the whole system,enlisting as it did, at groundlevel, the tutelaryspirits and geniiof the commonfolk."Hanks expressesthe hierarchialrelation be- tweenthe guardiansas he describesa farmeroffering food and flowersto a local guardianspirit. Yet this simple ceremonywithout the proceedingroyal plowing rites at the capital may well be ineffectual.The king in his capacity as Lord of the Flatness of the Earth addresseshigher beings in the hierarchyof gods and angels . . . withword passed on from on high, the many local guardians are prepared to assist in everyvalley and backwater (Hanks 1972: 78). A villager,then, knows that thereis some orderto guardianspirits al- thoughhe may not know the appropriatelabels. There are severalpossible analogieswhich may be used to aid interpretationof guardianspirits. These analogiesmay be knownto a limitedsegment of the population,and appear in my field notes as isolated,esoteric pieces of knowledge,superficially at least, unconnectedto the organizationof ideas held by the majorityof vil- lagers.This fielddata can be accountedfor by viewingthe conceptof terri- torial domains and theirspirit guardians as encompassingseven structural levels.Labels forguardian spirits could potentiallybe drawnfrom the level of the house, house compound, village locality,province, kingdom, and kãmaloka world. Each level has its own guardiansbut the organizationof guardianspirits is structurallysimilar on all levels (cf. J. Van Esterik1972,

5 Two informantsincluded another King, Boromracha (1370-1388), who was Prince of Suphanburi, marched his troops from Suphanburi, and took over Ayudhya (Kasetsiri1976: 109). Interpretinga Cosmology: Thai Buddhism j j on the structuralsimilarity of the ritualsinstalling these guardians).The guardiansof the lower level domains,such as house, compound,and vil- lage are usually interpretedas phi, while the higherlevel domains,such as province,kingdom, and kãmalokaworlds are guardedby morepowerful and higherstatus spirits interpreted as thêwadã.Those villagerswho have a wider knowledgeof the worldoutside the villageare morelikely to applythe name of a higherlevel guardianto a guardianof a lowerdomain. Thus, knowledge of the guardiansof differentdomains is not evenlydistributed in the village. Levels of relevanceto most villagersare guardiansof the house compound, village,and locality.Some are aware of the cosmologicalanalogies with the guardianof the kãmaloka world. Othersare aware of the politicalimpor- tance of the guardiansof the districtand provincialcentres. Not all villagers label the spirithierarchy in exactlythe same way, as a considerationof the labels applied to the guardianspirits of the house compounddemonstrates. Villagersreferred to thisspirit as phi chao thï,chao thi,phi ban,Phra Phüm, Phra Phüm chao thi, and Phra Chai Mong Khon. The firstthree terms are used by the villagersthat consider the guardian spirit a phi, and treathim ac- cordingly.The latterthree terms are used by villagersthat treat the guardian spiritas a thêwadã. The few who knew the termPhra Chai Mong Khon (almostalways ritual specialists) identified the guardian spirit with the world protectorsof kãmaloka (sensual world). It is consistentwith the villager's treatmentof and belief in guardianspirits to considerthat the varietyof labels givento theguardian of thehouse compoundstems from the factthat severaldomains have guardianspirits occupying the same structuralposition. Thus, labels fora higherdomain, such as thekãmakola, can be applied to the analogousguardian of a lowerdomain, such as a house compound.

Fig. 2 The domains of territorialguardian spirits, hierarchically ordered

7 Kãmaloka World x 6 Kingdom I Guardianscommonly 5 Province Ì treatedas théwadã 4 I Locality '

3 Village ^ Guardianscommonly 2 House Compound ( treatedas phi T"|I I I I I I- House '

As a part of the cosmologicalsystem, guardian spirits link the ideologi- cal and political realms,and are an integralpart of a TheravadaBuddhist state (cf. Heine-Geldern1956;Tambiah 1976). However,knowledge about the labellingand meaningof this cosmologyis not distributedevenly in the village.Those practitionerspossessing Brahmanic knowledge (P.Van Esterik 1973: 117) are more likely to label the domains"correctly" and in more detail.The farmerknows that he is protectedby a myriadof spirits,but he mayonly have occasion to knowthe namesof a few. 1 2 PennyVan Esterik Anthropos77.1982

6. Conclusion

Knowledge of guardianspirits is not evenlydistributed in this Thai community.Yet all villagerscan interpretguardian spirits in a way that could be understoodby othervillagers. There is a singleconceptual structure underlyingthe varietyof behavior toward and labellingof spirits,which allows a villagerto generalizeabout them,and servesas a referencefor the interpretationsof guardianspirits as eitherphi or thêwadãor both.There are clearlycanonical inputs into thisconceptual structure, but referencesto spir- its in the canon are themselvesambiguous (recall the phi prêt,the guardians of thehells, references to Indra,etc.). It is no longerpossible to take refugein an outmodedtheory of Thai animismto avoid morecomplex analysis of Thai spirits.Analysts must make use of scripturalsources if theywish to understandThai religiousbelief and practice,because Thai villagerscan and do make use of such sourcesthem- selves.It is only by examiningthe ambiguitiesand paradoxesin thesystem of spiritsthat an analyst(or a villager,for that matter)can beginto discern the principlesof orderingguardian spirits and assigningthem meaning. Some of theprinciples underlying the orderinclude the following: 1) Guardianspirits can be interpretedas phi or thêwadã,depending on theirperceived merit level. Those incorporatedinto the higherlevels of the politicelihierarchy are viewedas supportersof Buddhism,and labelledthëwa- dã. They includespirits that have been describedas beingderived from the "Brahmanicalsubstratum." Guardians with fixedduties and bounded terri- tories are considered "controlled" and thereforedependable. Guardians interpretedas phi are perceivedas havinga low meritlevel and are capable of disruptingBuddhist order. Because theyare not "controlled,"and may have fewfixed duties, their behavior is moreunpredictable. 2) But neitherguardians as phi or thêwadãcan be distinguishedabso- lutelyby "goodness" or "badness." There is a continuityof meritlevel in thesupernatural world, just as in thehuman world. 3) Justas humanscannot "know" theirown meritlevel with any degree of certainty,so theycannot know the meritlevel of occupantsof the super- naturalworld. They mustrely on cues whichmay lie outside of the super- naturaldomain, such as personaldifficulties or the apparentdisintegration of politicalor social order(cf. J. Van Esterik1977). 4) Guardianspirits are linkedto the social and politicalworld through patron-clientrelations established through ritual. Intentionally killed victims and those dying of natural causes become differentkinds of guardians. 5) But ritualscan convertone kind of spiritinto anotherkind. Thus, theprocess of creatingguardian spirits is continuous. 6) Since distributionof knowledgeof the supernaturalworld differs among specialistsand non-specialists,there is unlikelyto be agreementon the mappingof the spiritworld. Not all villagersstructure the spirithier- archyin the same way. From the point of view of a singleindividual, there Interpretinga Cosmology: Thai Buddhism 23 are at least sevenstructural levels of guardianspirits which might provide la- bels and possible interpretationsfor guardianspirits. Only by conceptuali- zing thesedifferent levels as potentialsources for interpretation, or potential analogies,does thisintra-cultural variation become meaningful.

This essay underscoresthe importanceof relatingthe meaningan indi- vidualassigns to the spirithierarchy, and his behaviortoward those spirits (cf. Lehman 1971; Tambiah 1970). Furtherit demonstrateswhy taxonomies are totallyinadequate to expressknowledge of the spiritdomain. Taxonomies of the spiritdomain (cf. Frake 1964; Brown1976) would not permitrecog- nitionof ambiguity,and would simplyreflect a fewlabels at one point in time in some particularcontext. In fact,the power of guardianspirits may be derivedfrom the potential of ambiguousitems to be orderedin morethan one way. Guardianspirits, as identitieson the boundariesof majorcategories (phi and théwadã), can be powerfuland dangerous(cf. Van Gennep 1960; Douglas 1966; Endicott1970). At the base of thisquestion of Thai guardianspirits is the moregeneral problemof how to expressboth processand structuresimultaneously (cf. Willis1967; Cicourel 1974). Guardianspirits are ideal vehiclesfor mediating a basic contradictionin Buddhistcosmological paradox dealt withby Spiro (1970), King (1964); and Tambiah (1970), among others.Briefly put, how can a religioussystem emphasizing central values such as anattã (non-self) and anicca ()provide the basis fora stablesocial and political organizationbased on permanentstatuses, hierarchy, and kingship?This con- tradictionis encapsulatedin theguardian spirit paradox, where spirit entities mustbe capable of interpretationboth as temporarymanifestations contin- ually being created and as a fixedpermanent bounded set of identitieslin- kingcosmological and politicalorder.

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