World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand Against a Historical Background

The book is organized into two main parts. Part One reconstructs the historical and conceptual background of Buddhist kingship and polity, beginning with the relation between rājadhamma, dhammarāja, Brahmanical social theory, early Buddhist cosmology, Aśoka as a paradigm, Thai kingship, the galactic polity, Ayutthaya, and the historical regulation of the Saṅgha. It shows how Thai political order drew from Buddhist, Sinhalese, Aśokan, and indigenous models to create a distinctive structure of kingship and monastic authority. Part Two focuses on the modern Thai Saṅgha and its social functions. It examines the distribution of monks, monastic careers, monkhood as a channel of social mobility, patronage networks, reformism, missionary monks, national development, and the symbolic role of Buddhism in legitimating modern Thai society. The concluding chapters emphasize continuity and transformation, showing how Thai Buddhism preserves inherited structures while adapting to modern political, educational, and social change.