DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHIST ADMINISTRATIVE MONKS ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLES OF SAPPURISADHAMMA FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SANGHA IN AMPHAWA DISTRICT, SAMUT SONGKHRAM PROVINCE

Abstract

This research aimed: 1. To study the level of practice, 2. To compare the development of ecclesiastical administrators, and 3. To investigate problems, obstacles, and recommendations for the development of ecclesiastical administrators based on the Sappurisa-dhamma (qualities of a virtuous person) in the governance of the monastic community in Amphawa District, Samut Songkhram Province, conducted by the mixed methods.The quantitative phase involved data collection from 156 monks using questionnaires, and analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The qualitative phase consisted of in-depth interviewing 9 key

informants and contextual content analysis. The findings revealed that: 1. Level of practice, by overall, in the development of ecclesiastical administrators based on Sappurisa-dhamma was high, with a mean score of 3.73; 2. comparisons of practice levels showed that personal factors such as age and Dhamma studies qualification had no significant effect, leading to a rejection of the research hypothesis. However, monastic status, years of ordination, and general education levels showed statistically significant differences at the 0.05 and 0.01 levels, accepting the research hypothesis; 3. Main obstacle in developing governance capacity was inconsistency with individual monasteries regulations. The key recommendation is to provide training to enhance the administrative capacity of administrative monks in alignment with each monastery’s regulations.