[Buddha-l] Almost a chakravartin? and old role lives on.

[jkirk]

Wish I could see that boat procession.
The article says Bhumibol means "strength of the land"-----I thought it only 
meant 'lord of the land'.  Nothing like a quibble on a rainy day.

Thailand still has remnants of Hinduism in its royal and ordinary 
activities. The astrologers consulted on such occasions, for ex., are 
Brahmins. Much of the symbolism of the King is Hindu, e.g., the King as the 
deity, Vishnu. However, as a person he promotes Buddhist ethics.

The act of lese majeste that used to ensure the death penalty, seems to have 
been removed by his announcing that he is not above criticism. The Thai 
eco-Buddhist, Sulak Sivaraksa, had to go into exile for a while, in danger 
of being so charged: "...in 1984 his book Unmasking Thai Society landed him 
in court on a charge of lèse majesté. After a four-month trial the King 
intervened to have the charge withdrawn, but in 1991 the military junta 
levelled the same charge against him following a speech at the university. 
He was finally acquitted in 1995." 
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/recip/sulak.htm  (There are many other 
websites on this interesting Buddhist writer.)
Joanna
=====================================

Seth Mydans, International Herald Tribune, June 8, 2006

BANGKOK Kings and queens from around the world gathered here this week to 
honor the longest-serving monarch of them all, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of 
Thailand, who celebrates the 60th anniversary of his rule on Friday.

Amid elaborate ceremonies with their roots deep in Siamese history, the 
royal visitors will witness the almost mystical devotion of Thailand's 
people to the man who is the anchor of their culture and traditions within a 
chaotically modernizing world.

At the auspicious moment of 19:19 p.m. on Friday, June 9, his subjects will 
pause with lighted candles to honor the 9th monarch of the Chakri dynasty, 
whose name means "strength of the land, incomparable power" but whose role 
is distilled in one of his titles, "Soul of the Nation."

In the days to come there will be incense and elephants and prayers and 
parades, culminating on Monday with a rare procession of 52 royal barges, 
with 2,200 chanting oarsmen.

They will proceed, as one newspaper put it, "at a proper tempo, neither too 
fast nor too slow," and "they will look as if they are about to float to 
heaven and merge seamlessly with the Grand Palace, bathed in shiny gold."

But for all the ritual that surrounds him, and despite the absence of a 
formal political role for the monarchy, King Bhumibol, 78, is far from a 
ceremonial ruler.

Few other monarchs enjoy the veneration of Thailand's king, and few 
constitutional monarchs have the moral power of Bhumibol - the power to halt 
political turmoil with a quiet word and to pull his nation back from 
possible disaster.

It is known as "reserve power," a carefully husbanded aura that the king has 
created through the force of his personality and has used delicately and 
sparingly over the years.

"I know things but I shut my mouth," the king said once.

When he speaks, even by indirection as he did at a recent moment of 
political tension, newspapers carry banner headlines like one in the daily 
newspaper The Nation: "The King Whispers."

His most notable interventions were in 1973 and 1992 when, with words alone, 
he ended bloodshed and caused the resignation of leaders during uprisings 
against military dictators.

The royalty gathered here this week have arrived at one such moment of 
political crisis - though not a violent one. Mass demonstrations and a 
failed election have left the country with only a caretaker government and 
without a functioning legislature.

The anniversary celebration is the calm eye in the center of a political 
storm that has paused in honor of the king and is sure to resume once the 
visitors are gone.

Visiting royalty represent 25 nations, according to the government, 
including Brunei, Cambodia, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, 
Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Qatar, Swaziland and Sweden, Bahrain, Belgium, 
Britain, Bhutan, Denmark, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Spain, 
Tonga and the United Arab Emirates.

Along with their presence, and parallel to the palace ceremonies, Thailand 
is in the grip of a sort of royal fever. Almost everybody seems to be 
wearing yellow, the color of the monarchy. Some 8,400 men are to be ordained 
as Buddhist monks in honor of the king.

And at precisely 09:09 a.m. on Friday, at prisons around the country, 
160,000 inmates and 10,000 wardens will simultaneously perform Vipassana 
meditation as a gift to their monarch.

When he stepped aside in March in the face of continuing demonstrations, 
Thaksin Shinawatra, who now calls himself the caretaker prime minister, 
said, "My main reason is because this year is an auspicious year for the 
king, and I want all Thais to unite."

Apart from a shared veneration for the king, though, this is not a moment of 
unity for Thailand's 63 million people.

After Thaksin left office, the opposition boycotted a new election in April 
that he seemed sure to win, and the country was left in limbo, facing only 
more confrontation.

Another election date has been set for October but remains in dispute. 
Thaksin seems to be sliding back into office despite his promise to stand 
aside, and the opposition is poised to resume its rallies.

With the executive and legislative branches of government gridlocked, the 
king called on the courts to find a path to a political solution to what he 
called "a mess."

"If you cannot do it, then you may have to resign," he told the judges. "You 
must find ways to solve the problem."

King Bhumibol's role of subtle intervention as Thailand has lurched through 
15 constitutions, 17 coups and 21 prime ministers is a delicate one, and it 
is not clear how well his aura can be passed on eventually to a successor.

He is in effect the inventor of his own monarchy, restoring and redefining 
its role after the abolition of the absolute rule of kings in 1932.

He continues to redefine it, recently telling the nation that speaks about 
him only in hushed tones that he was not above criticism. The remarks seemed 
intended for the ear of Thaksin, whom the king has chastised in the past for 
arrogance, but they caused a shock among many Thais.

"The King Can Do Wrong," read another banner headline.

The remarks came in his annual birthday speech last December when he said: 
"When you say the king can do no wrong, that is wrong. We should not say 
that."

He added: "As a matter of fact there should be criticism, because when we do 
something we want to know if people agree or disagree."

But this is also a king who understands majesty. He is at the pinnacle of a 
traditional hierarchical order that underlies the Thai values he represents.

Two years ago he published a small and affectionate biography of a stray dog 
he had adopted, named Tongdaeng, that could be read as a parable of 
classical virtues he represents.

It offered a picture of fealty that many of the visiting monarchs might 
envy.

"Tongdaeng is a respectful dog with proper manners; she is humble and knows 
protocol," the king wrote. "She would always sit lower than the king; even 
when he pulls her up to embrace her, Tongdaeng would lower herself down on 
the floor, her ears in a respectful drooping position, as if she would say, 
'I don't dare.'"