A Critical Study of Buddhist Literature and Tai Yong Identity Maintenance in Lamphun Province

Abstract

  The purposes of the study entitled “A Critical Study of Buddhist Literature and Tai Yong Identity Maintenance in Lamphun Province” were to study the history, literature, and rituals and to find out the guidelines of the restoration of Thai Yong People in Lamphun Province.
   The study indicated that the history, social and culture of Tai Lue or Thai Yong in the age of Thai Yuan people that drove the Burmese out of Lanna and herded the people from the upcountry cities to settle down or this time could be called “the age of Keb Phak Sai Sa Keb Kha Sai Muang” (the period of Lanna restoration). In this period, Thai Yong people whether lords and servants brought out their families to settle down in the main cities in Lanna, especially in Lamphun district which were resided by Thai Yong the most for more than 200 years until nowadays.
   Thai Yong’s rituals and their lifestyles were similar to Tai ethnics or Tai people in Lanna. The rituals and local traditions in each area showed the local identity and beliefs were the stratagem in teaching. Some literature, rituals and traditions slowly disappeared and some of them have been going to terminate soon. In this study, the researcher investigated the literatures and rituals from the written documents and oral literature of Thai Yong in Wiang District and there were six types of rituals which were divided into three main categories: 1) rituals of public level, 2) rituals of family level, and 3) rituals related with spirits and death. These literatures and rituals reflected the identity of Thai Yong people in Wiangyong District, Lamphun Province.
   Regarding to the guidelines for the restoration of cultural identity, there were five guidelines: 1) Thai Yong should be involved in conserving the consciousness of Thai Yong from the old to the new generation and to the next generation; 2) Thai Yong must have the plan of culture management of their own through the participation process of brainstorming together; 3) Thai Yong should have the cooperation from the public and private sector including other organizations to push out the strategic development to the country, especially supporting budget; 4)Thai Yong people should have religious events and the temples themselves should be the center in running the activities; and 5) Thai Yong should turn the crisis into the opportunity by using the gravity of internal and external factors to be interested in Thai Yong and recognize them.
   The Identity of Thai Yong must be carried forward to the future forever without staying alone on the road of riveting cultural level. Thai Yong people should not stand themselves alone. They should place and distribute the responsibility to their fellow citizens to help each other to face with a time of crisis to undermine the collapse of ethnic culture and the illusory culture or the mask of the profit on the path of ethnic culture among the people who seek to gain the profit eternal endless.