TY - JOUR
AU - Bobilin, Robert T.
AB -  323 BOOK REVIEWS Jane Bunnag, Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Laymen: A Study of Urban Monastic Organization in Central Thailand, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1973. This work is a social-anthropological study of the social role of the Sangha, the Theravada monk, and of the Wat or monastery in the provincial capital of Ayutthaya, Thailand. Ayutthaya can be characterized as urban, with the population of 30,000 residents, and less than two hours by car from Bangkok. Thus it is an interesting situa- tion in which to raise many questions regarding the future of traditional Buddhist organization and relationships in what will increasingly be a more densely populated and 'more urban country. The author uses several methods of study. She was fortunate in having two infor- mants who provided her with living arrangements in Ayutthaya and broad personal experience in the Buddhist groups in the town. She studied by survey, interviews and participant-observation the interaction of laymen and monks. Bunnag describes in broad but sufficiently detailed strokes the essential features of the Thai social system pointing out that while kinship and respect for seniority are im- portant that a "great deal of freedom is given to the individual in selecting the people 
TI - Jane Bunnag, Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Laymen: A Study of Urban Monastic Organization in Central Thailand, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1973
JF - Journal of Asian and African Studies (in 2002 continued as African and Asian Studies)
DO - 10.1163/156852180X00608
DA - 1980-01-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/brill/jane-bunnag-buddhist-monk-buddhist-laymen-a-study-of-urban-monastic-siYW8VT10Z
SP - 323
EP - 324
VL - 15
IS - 3-4
DP - DeepDyve
ER -