MODERN THAI BUDDHIST POETRY BY WOMEN

POETS: A TRANSFORMATION OF WISDOM1

2 Suchitra Chongstitvatana

Abstract

The study is an attempt to explore and Buddhism not as a religion but as a explain the transformation of Thai didactic message of wisdom for all mankind. poetry, especially Buddhist poetry by women poets. The texts selected are Dawn in the Night by Chomchand, Under the The Influence of Buddhism in Rain and Thunder by Khunying Modern Thai Poetry Chamnongsri Rutnin. In Thai Theravadin tradition women poets rarely hold a high In the research work Buddha Dharma in position nor have authority in teaching Modern Thai Poetry (Chongstitvatana: Dharma. In the realm of didactic poetry, 2001) the finding reveals a significant monk-poets or male poets are the norm. influence of Buddha Dharma or the These two women poets convey the Bhuddhist philosophy in a large number of teaching of Dharma through expressing works by contemporary Thai poets. These artistically their personal experience of poets are much influenced by the teaching of 3 practicing Dharma. This aspect transforms Buddhadasa who emphasized the practice the tradition of Thai didactic poetry by of Buddhism in daily life and advocated the emphasizing the ‘practice’ of Dharma in importance of contemplating nature as a daily life and not only “the faith” in means of spiritual development. Dharma. These women poets are showing their readers a direct path to wisdom. The The two women poets, Chomchand and message conveyed in their works is quite Chamnongsri Rutnin, could also be universal though they are writing as included in this category. They both had the practicing Buddhists. Thus, these women experience of practicing Buddhism at Suan poets are no longer addressing the limited Mok, a famous retreat centre and monastery audience of Buddhists. They are speaking of Buddhadasa in southern Thailand. to a wider audience and propagating Chomchand and Chamnongsri Rutnin are, however, quite different from other

1 Presented at the EUROSEAS 2004 conference, 1-4 September 2004, Paris, France. 3 Buddhadasa (1906-1993), a highly venerated monk and scholar of Thailand who wrote 2 Associate Professor, Department of Thai, numerous works of Buddhism for present day faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Buddhists emphasizing the virtue of practicing Bangkok. Dharma in daily life ever for lay people.

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Modern Thai Buddhist Poetry By Women Poets

contemporary poets. They are not poets good representations of Chomchand’s who normally write didactic poetry nor are Buddhist poetry because their contents are they ‘professional’ poets with a large primarily about how to gain wisdom number of works. through spiritual practice of contemplation on life and meditation. Chomchand is a famous literary critic and a The name of Chomchand’s book Dawn in very prolific novelist. Dawn in the Night is the Night is obviously an exquisite her first book of poetry. Chamnongsri metaphor for the birth of wisdom. Rutnin is a well known literary translator and a playwright. She mostly composes ‘Dawn’ signifies light or wisdom, whereas prose poetry and tales rather than ‘Night’ signifies darkness or in a very conventional poetry. Under the Rain and Buddhistic meaning, ignorance. ‘Dawn in Thunder is a record of her retreat in the the Night’ could therefore mean ‘the birth forest monastery of Suan Mok. of wisdom out of ignorance’.

Both of them are modern poets who write As a whole, the book contains poems to ‘convey’ their ideas, feelings and relating a fine contemplation of life on the experiences. Even though their ‘message’ is poet’s part. a message of Buddha Dharma, they do not try particularly to follow the convention of The first poem selected here shows how the Buddhist poetry of the past. Most Thai poet sees ‘worldly’ life as a cruel burden, Buddhist poets would compose poetry to impossible to get rid of just because of our relate Jataka tales in order to express both own ignorance. their faith in the Buddha and their ultimate purpose of accumulating merit through Carrying a Yoke spreading the Dharma for the benefits of all sentient beings. How heavy is this yoke! The shoulder can no longer bear it These two women poets are apparently How long has this been? trying to share their experience of studying Far too long for a happy man! and practicing Dharma. They mostly relate their feelings and contemplation regarding Why grumble and complain? the nature of the mind and how to develop Why get angry with this Ugly World? mindfulness leading finally to wisdom. Why complain of bad karma? Why suffer so much for so long? In order to understand how the two poets transform the wisdom they convey in their I pay respect to the Buddha works, we have to first look at the nature Please relieve all my pains and the significance of their poetry as I’ve suffered tremendous pains Buddhist poetry. They are burning my heart to death!

Dawn in the Night: A Birth of The Buddha Image smiles and stares Wisdom How many heaps of sufferings are there? How many worlds you own? Six poems have been selected from Dawn Why complain, just let go! in the Night by Chomchand. They appear

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Put them down monkey-human This direct path of wisdom will be With your own hand, put down the yoke beneficial to present life because it awakes They are under your control us to the reality of life and cultivates an The yoke is your own choice! understanding that could further develop to a higher level of enlightenment. Chomchand Dawn in the Night4 The value of self-contemplation, as well as contemplation of nature, is much The concept of ‘life’ or the five aggregates emphasized in Buddhist tradition. The as a ‘heavy’ thing is apparent in many following poem ‘A Revelation’ is a good Buddhist texts. So it is not surprising here example of self-contemplation by the poet that the poet expresses this idea through a who represents ordinary human beings who metaphor of a yoke or carrying a heavy struggle with their own ego and conscience thing. to be virtuous amidst the complexity of life.

The poet also links this concept to the A Revelation popular belief of ‘bad karma’ of the past as the cause of suffering in the present life. I used to believe in human potential In the right to choose their path However, the real message the poet would In the power of their intellect like to convey is that according to the In the undefeatable abilities! genuine teaching of the Buddha our suffering in life is mostly a result of our They are perfectly able own attachment and craving. Thus, the To achieve everything mention of the Buddha and the advice of When protected by awareness ‘letting go.’ Also, the poet emphasizes the And wisdom of a perfect being! power of one’s wisdom to control one’s life. Yet life is not at all easy The poet explicitly says that the sufferings Forwarding too far can become detouring are ‘under your control’ and the carrying of Yet cautiously, modestly backwarding a yoke is in fact ‘your own choice’. You become a defeated coward!

Through this explicit message, the poet is When persisting with courage rendering a ‘higher’ teaching to her audience Then appearing crazily aggressive rather than a conventional teaching of asking When trying to be moderate a blessing from the Buddha and accepting You appear staying still! the bad karma of the past because there is no remedy for it. Things come to you from nowhere Things get involved without reason By stating the ultimate truth of ‘letting go’ Something very wicked and malicious as a genuine solution for a happier life in Influencing sudden mistakes! this world the poet is pointing to a direct path of wisdom. It is beyond acceptance of defeat It is beyond any control of changes 4 All the poetry in this paper is translated by It is beyond any fighting back Suchitra Chongstitvatana

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Just looking in amazement! The revelation of the complexity of life and This is a revelation! the ‘weakness’ of human nature should We are just tiny, so absolutely dust! serve as a good introduction to a serious Worldly sins conquer the world spiritual life. Worldly sins devour our whole life! The practice of a spiritual life can start with Chomchand a simple practice of observing nature and Dawn in the Night observing one’s own mind. The next poem of Chomchand ‘Voices of the Night’ relates The poem starts with the confident tone of a such an experience of ‘listening’ to nature young poet who expresses a belief in the and one’s inner voices. power of human potential in achieving the ultimate goal of life. Voices of the Night … The latter part of the whole poem conveys Softly smoothly the voice echoes the feeling of amazement to the point of The leaves are falling to sleep despair when one grows older and is, more Hush! Listen to the earth or less, forced to accept the limitation of Fading, aching petals are dying one’s life and circumstances. One has to Crying heart-rendering tears! come to terms with life as it is and to accept Young pure petals are blossoming that one does not have an ‘absolute’ control Listen to their joyous melodies! of one’s life. What magic of divine Nature The last two stanzas are quite significant as The radiant world is descending! they secretly express the ‘weakness’ of the The voices of the World are magical poet with whom the readers can readily Close your eyes, savouring the Divine! identify themselves. They sympathize the poet and share the same despair and Whose sobbing is that amazement. The poet is not superior to her Echoing in the quiet night? readers, for they share the same fate. Thus Coming and going… so far away when the poet comes to the conclusion as a Whispering of the Night! ‘revelation’ that we are all absolutely as insignificant as dust, the readers could not Listen whose heart is crying? but agree. Listen what screaming noise Listen what joyous laughing At this point the poet can convey a ‘real Where are they all from? message’, that ‘worldly sins conquer the world and devour our whole life’. Now come, listen again Listen to myriads of new voices Nevertheless, this message is not meant to The night and the World is passing us be a declaration of truth that one should My heart is making noises accept without reacting to it. If the readers realize this, they must or should do Mostly I listen to surrounding people something about it. This is the impact Mostly I try to give answers intended by the poet, as we can easily see Mostly I enjoy hearing others from the title of the poem ‘a revelation’. Yet never listen to my inner voices!

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Chomchand Contemplate the hidden heart Dawn in the Night Why so empty now With cuts and untidy lines, The first two stanzas are description of a Holes and holes all over! charming night when life and death in nature are in harmony. This creates ‘magic’ Contemplate the brain and serene ‘divinity’ of the quiet night. The membrane sadly decays Then come the next two stanzas where the Memories and intelligence fading serenity is destroyed by suffering and joy – Flowing away despite perfect knowing the ‘sobbing’, ‘crying’, ‘screaming’ and Contemplate the whole mutilated body laughing. The serenity of the night is The speaking mouth is full of worms equally destroyed by the inner voices of the The seeing eyes are in fact blind poet. The hearing ears are in fact deaf!

The poet ends her poem with an elegant The nose is not functioning paradox that reveals the truth of many other The hand is not writing people. Mostly we listen and try our best to The legs are not properly walking communicate with others. We hardly try or How all the body is deteriorating! make any special effort to listen to our own ‘inner’ voices or the expression of our true Now I’ll fill you to perfection self inside! With smiling heart and willing body Following the flow of wisdom Here, the poet seems to be mocking Ins and outs of the serene breath! everyone including herself for being so ignorant! Listening to one’s self is a Chomchand primary requirement for practicing self Dawn in the Night observation or meditation. In Buddhist tradition, an analytical Therefore, we are able to infer that poet is contemplation of each part of the body as trying to persuade us to start observing our unpleasant and undesirable is a common selves and our mind by starting to listen to technique of meditation. This method is our own inner voices. employed as a means to get rid of one’s clinging to one’s body and also the Of course, the practice to Dharma does not ignorant attachment to the body as ‘self’. stop at listening to the inner voices. The Therefore, the poet adapts this attitude in poet expresses an explicit manner of her contemplation of the body. So we can meditation by observing the whole body in perceive the ‘deteriorating’ process in the following poem ‘To Fill a Life’. every part of the body apart from the fact that it is badly damaged by life itself! To Fill a Life The important message is the last stanza, where the poet declares that the practice of Contemplate each part of life meditation on the in - and out - breath is the Now so stained and dirty perfect cure for a damaged life or body. Hand prints, foot prints all over And a big bucket of tears! What the poet is saying in fact reflects both worldly and otherworldly aspects of

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meditation. On the worldly level, breathing So eye-opening! meditation is an efficient means to gain Chomchand serenity of mind and thus renders an ideal Dawn in the Night life of happiness according to Buddhist belief. The poem expresses the joyous experience of meditation through the metaphor of the On the otherworldly level, meditation is the candle light. It is not clear whether the most efficient way to gain wisdom. candle light here refers to a real thing or the Through this spiritual wisdom one can hope light in the mind of the meditation or both. to attain Nirvana. To attain Nirvana means Still the serenity of the experience is alluring that one puts an end to Samsara or the cycle enough for the readers to be attracted and not of repeated birth and death. So when one to be put off by it. (Because there exist some gets out of Samsara one does not have to myth about the danger of meditation without suffer the ‘deteriorating’ process of the an experienced teacher!) body or life any longer. The poet’s wish to encourage people to In the poem ‘Candle Light’, the beauty and practice meditation is further elaborated in serenity of meditation are artistically the poem ‘Golden Boat II’. conveyed. Golden Boat II Candle Light Come on board a crescent moon boat Softly softly shining Come bravely into this boat for a journey Softly softly moving Come enjoy the radiantly golden boat Swiftly close your eyes Come savour the joy of Night! Swiftly Swiftly disappearing Now open your eyes This is not serene and calm peace The light is still softly shining This is not a release of all pain Smilingly close your eyes This is not a vibrant joy The light is swiftly disappearing! This is not an easy escape! Whose candle is this? Linking the thread of dreams Every suffering is still here Softly Softly moving! Every suffering is still strong and great Now appearing, then disappearing Yet it is calmly acknowledged inside Now the heart, then the candle How it happens and goes on Appearing and disappearing Coming and going The dawn is approaching the sky Then a blaze of Light! The golden boat seems to be leaving Softly shining, softly shining Yet in the heart of joyful night Oh heart of illusions! The golden boat is shining bright! Swiftly disappearing Swiftly blazing! Come on board a crescent moon boat Whose candle is this Come down bravely… for a new start Linking the heart thread Come to greet the brilliant morn Softly and softly moving Come on a boat journey for a golden path! A blaze of light

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Chomchand The title of the book is a parallel to a Dawn in the Night Buddhist riddle explaining the the state of mind of an enlightened person who will not The ‘golden boat’ here is a rather be disturbed by any perception nor any joy conventional metaphor in Buddhist context. or suffering. In Thai the riddle is ‘Fon Tok The practice of Dharma or the merits Mai Tong Fa Rong Mai Thung’ , meaning accumulated are usually compared to a boat ‘untouched by the rain and the thunder’. or a vehicle that could take one across the But Chamnongsri Rutnin is saying that ocean of ‘samsara’. So, here the poet is ‘Fon Tok Yang Tong Fa Rong Yang Thung’ alluding to this well known metaphor to means ‘still moved by the rain and the encourage her readers to board on the thunder’. ‘golden boat’ so that they can start a journey on the ‘golden Path’ or the path to This title shows that the poet is not claiming enlightenment. that she has achieved anything special in her practice or training of Dharma in her retreat. We have seen how Chomchand advocates Yet this poetic record is an evidence of an the practice of Dharma in daily life attempt to go beyond, to reach the state of especially through self contemplation and serenity that is not under the rain and the meditation. thunder of life any longer.

We would now turn to the poems of The first poem selected here illustrates the Chamnongsri Rutnin to see whether she importance of contemplation of nature in shares the same opinion as Chomchand. the practice of Dharma. Since they are both, more of less, students of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, it will not be A Pond surprising if there are a few similarities in the ‘message’ in their poetry. Morning Light The Pond looks radiant The most striking similarity is in the Calm importance of observing nature in daily life Clear as a teacher of Dharma. This aspect is a prominent ‘signature’ of all the followers of No it is not so Suan Mok monastery of Buddhadasa This is deceiving Bhikkhu. If it is really clear and calm We must see the bottom! Under the Rain and Thunder: An Now we only see the surface Attempt to Go Beyond The shadows of images and colours From everything reflected So clear so very real Under the Rain and Thunder is in fact a No it isn’t diary in poetry form of the poet when she It is not real! was in a long retreat at Suan Mok

Monastery. This explains why the content Look carefully, of the work has a prominent harmony of The colours in those high trees Dharma reflection throughout. Their shadows are different with moss

Look carefully,

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The colour of the sky When one contemplates nature, one also Water illusions, the blue is more intense looks at other lives in nature. The next The water clouds spreading like silk poem ‘Black Ants’ illustrates the lesson of If you look really carefully wisdom through observing the lives of You’ll see the difference black ants. They are dancing on the ripples! Black Ants The pond looks radiant After the heavy rain last night Yesterday millions of black ants So does the heart! Migrate like bursting of a black stream At dawn the stream looks so fierce The mind is like the clear water Afternoon it is still strong That shows all reflections At dusk on the meditation path Deceiving reflections The stream becomes so tiny Repeatedly luring the heart! Winding like a dry water way From where, to where who knows Today the ripples are still alluring Among the millions, The charm of movements How many know their destination Never staying still Just following others Just like everything in life Where does that end, they don’t know Dragging the heart around Tired, exhausted, so serious Forgetting to see deep down! Never ask questions

Be tranquil Just pushing forward Look deep down to the bottom With all their might At least you’ll realize May be just a very few The deeper the water Know their destination! The more still Much clearer Chamnongsri Rutnin And much more serene! Under the Rain and Thunder

Chamnongsri Rutnin The behaviour of black ants inspires a Under the Rain and Thunder question in the poet’s mind, a question of the real purpose of life. The black ants are The poem ‘A Pond’ illustrates how one obviously compared to us – ordinary human could meditate on the beauty of nature and beings who are ignorantly following ‘the reach a deeper understanding of life. ways of the World’ without questioning.

The poet warns her readers against the The poet equally uses her contemplation on ‘alluring’ power of beauty that can obstruct nature in observing the beautiful butterflies the power of wisdom. However, through in nature as a symbol of illusion in a poem the merit of mindfulness, one can reach ‘Butterfly Illusion’. serenity and attain true wisdom. Thus, the advice of the poet ‘Be tranquil, look deep Butterfly Illusions down to the bottom.’ Catch your thought when moved

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Like catching a butterfly in order to clear ignorance and to purify the Hold it tight in your fist mind. Once you open your fist to see the colour Nothing is there Still, in order to ‘purify’ the mind and get One minute, and the butterfly rid of ‘ignorance’, we also have to Dancing again in the air! understand all our emotions, positive and negative emotions. Watch the emotion in your heart moving Love, anger, sorrow, joy The poet explores the nature of various Stare at it hard, it vanishes emotions such as loneliness and fear. Stable, still as long as watched One minute off guard The next poem, ‘Loneliness’, is an analysis The mind moves with the thought of the nature of loneliness and how to You know that thoughts are illusions conquer it in a Buddhistic way. Coming, going, changing ceaselessly! Various colours, rhythms and melodies Loneliness The wings can never be fixed! Feeling lonely… similar to feeling bored Who would tell us Growing from a craving heart How to teach our children Wishing to run away from oneself Not to be lured by butterflies Wishing to have someone near Hundreds and thousands flying from their Wishing to have someone who understands heart The heart reaching out How to catch the butterfly Searching, lamenting! Dancing amidst their heart Catch it again and again The remedy is similar to the remedy of boredom To clear ignorance Look deep inside yourself To purify the mind Concentrate on the heart, watch your mind Not to be precariously moved Look deep down, very deep down By the wings of hundreds And thousands of butterflies! We perfectly realize That loneliness is much harder Chamnongsri Rutnin To conquer than boredom Under the Rain and Thunder For it has self-pity as its ally Self-pity looms large in the hole inside The metaphor of ‘butterfly’ as a thought or The hidden hole so secretly kept illusion created in our own minds is a very appropriate one. Butterflies are mostly quite Look deep down, fragile, alluring and short-lived. Our Sharply stare at it thoughts and emotions also show these Once clearly seen, it dies! qualities. Chamnongsri Rutnin The message of the poet at the last stanza is Under the Rain and Thunder a real encouragement for all of us, children and adults to practice mindfulness – to The poet clearly states that to meditate on catch the butterflies dancing in our minds – loneliness – to look deep down and observe

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it – is the best way to understand it and get a most understanding tone. To understand rid of it. that fear creates a lot of suffering such as greed and anger would certainly make us When it comes to fear, the poet analysizes merciful to those we consider wicked. Thus, it in more detail and finds the same solution understanding fear will enable us to forgive in conquering another negative emotion. more easily.

Fear Yet, the poet explores in another poem the complication of forgiveness and the danger Fear has various forms of ‘false’ forgiveness. People cheat out of fear Fear of pain, death, dishonour Forgiveness Fear of lacking, loneliness, losing Fear ceaselessly governs their heart To Forgive Is such a tough giving! Money is a chain binding men Especially important things Money is a magic forcing people Complicate things To accept being ruled Silly things are easily forgiven! Keeping people busy gathering money Such is a vicious circle So easy we believe all is the same Enlarging the cause of fear But we must forgive How pitiful! To purify our dark heart!

This pity causes forgiveness Yes, we know that forgiveness Still, even pity is hindered by fear Gives new life Fear of losing, lacking For what could be more terrible So the heart can’t afford forgiveness! Than an angrily burning heart We just realize Hidden fear must be seriously controlled Reason and thought can’t make us Must be hunted down! Truly forgive at all! The inner book must be read Minutely read even between the lines We begin to realize Only when serenity reigns in the heart Fear then creates greed That true forgiveness begins Fear again aggravates anger Fear makes the heart drunk The previous acquiescence The ego is so insecure The acceptance of defeat Fear of being destroyed Is not forgiveness First we must manage this Fear It isn’t a pure giving Your mindfulness will do! For deep deep down Mindfulness and concentration! There is still expectation of joy Watch out Chamnongsri Rutnin This might over accumulated Under the Rain and Thunder And burst out Into broken pieces! The poem begins with an analysis of fear in

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Chamnongsri Rutnin Chamnongsri Rutnin Under the Rain and Thunder Under the Rain and Thunder

The poet stresses the fact that ‘serenity’ is Nevertheless, in the pursuit of wisdom one the most important factor in creating ‘real’ must be careful not to go to extremes, as the forgiveness. This serenity is of course poet explains in the poem ‘Extremes’. The gained through the practice of mindfulness. joy of attaining serenity in the mind can also Therefore, the poet is indirectly persuading be as dangerous as adhering to suffering. us to practice mindfulness through One cannot and should not get attached to meditation. either positive or negative emotions.

The most significant benefit gained through Extremes meditation is the realization of the ‘primary cause’ of our own suffering, as the poet Feeling oneself explores in the following poem. Broken, Divided into three persons So separate from one another Primary Cause The first one is the ego’s slave Delighting in showing off Little by little, it is clear The second one is serene hiding inside Joy and suffering Have their cause to be So free, so joyous unattached To change and to vanish Going a separate way! The third one is observing outside By observing we know Peacefully watching “the play”! It is not from outside causes Not the making of others Don’t go to extremes Not by chance Be cautious of being positive Not by the weather Be cautious of being negative No, not the outside cause Maintain the Middle Path! The true cause is inside! Chamnongsri Rutnin The new and old got mixed Under the Rain and Thunder Like the fallen leaves over there Got rotton, became soil ‘The Middle Path’ has a very prestigeous A cause for joy, suffering, love and hatred meaning in the Buddhist context. It is the path recommended by the Buddha as the Even though we realize this most beneficial path to attain enlightenment. It’s only in the brain The awareness of the danger of going to We still blame the outside cause extremes is therefore very significant.

We must pursue wisdom A Transformation of Wisdom: From the heart’s realization Dharma Practice for Everyone Of the Truth!

From the analysis of the poems by

Chomchand and Chamnongsri Rutnin we

can confidently conclude that they are

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writing a ‘modern’ version of didactic The ‘didactic’ tone in their works is poetry, emphasizing the practice of mellowed by the fact that the poets relate mindfulness through meditation. and share their feelings in a friendly manner. So, readers can identify with the It is obvious that the Dharma they are poets. conveying is far from ‘new’ or ‘modern’. Yet their approach to the ‘teaching’ itself is This ‘rapport’ allows readers to accept the interesting and quite different from the message from the poets more readily. approach of poets of the past. Moreover, since the poets never try to employ a specific Buddhistic diction of In the past, poets normally chose stories Buddhism in their text, they can create a from the Jatakas and narrated them as ‘neutral’ sense of their message. didactic tales in poetry form. Mostly the stories would be quite entertaining yet be Even though readers may not be Buddhists, prominently didactic. they can easily understand the text very well. This quality renders a universal aspect ‘Poetic justice’ was conventionally to the message of Dharma in these works. employed and the ‘moral’ of each story was clearly stated. The reader or the audience The strong advocation of the value of (when the poetry was recited) would practicing mindfulness reflects a ‘modern’ normally learn some moral ‘lesson’. Their attitude towards religion. faith in Dharma and in the virtuous merits of the Bodhisattva would be graciously re- For the modern mind, religion has an invigorated. important ‘functional’ role in life. People believe more in the value of religion for this The poetry of Chomchand and Chamnongsri present life (for they are not too certain Rutnin create a different impact on the mind about their future life or next life.) of the reader. Firstly, their poetry does not intend to ‘entertain’ nor to ‘preach’ to their Therefore, the emphasis of the value of readers. Their poetry is mostly quite short Dharma in helping to lessen all the and not too prominently stylized their poetic suffering everyone faces here and now is expression. They employ simple diction and much valued. The poets are not attempting tend to communicate their thoughts and to persuade anyone to change their faith. feelings very clearly. The simplicity and They are just giving advice on how to gain clarity enhance the importance of their wisdom to get rid of suffering in this ‘message’, emphasizing the ultimate purpose present life. of practicing Dharma as a means to eliminate suffering in daily life. Seen in their light, the poetry of Chomchand and Chamnongsri Rutnin is interesting The two poets point out ‘primary’ problems, evidence of the transformation of Thai such as loneliness, fear, attachment, anger, didactic poetry. They are showing their hatred and craving. They analyse the nature readers a direct path to wisdom through a and the cause of these problems and inform serious practice of mindfulness. The fact that the readers that the problems could be the poets themselves are practicing solved by the wisdom cultivated through Buddhists helps to recommend their advice the serenity of the mind. to the readers in a very efficient way.

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Though the poets are only laywomen, not nuns or Bhikkhunī, they are graciously giving Dharma for the benefit of all beings.

References

Chongstitvatana, Suchitra. 2001 Buddha Dharma in Modern Thai Poetry. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University.

Chomchand. 1998. Dawn in the Night. Bangkok: Kombang.

Rutnin, Chamnongsri. 1997. Under the Rain and Thunder. 2nd ed. Bangkok: Moonnithidek.

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