1. Malee Sitthikriengkrai, doctoral degree for a thesis on environmental lead-pollution (Mahidol University). Lecturer at theCenter for Ethnic Studies and Development, Social Sciences Faculty, Chiang Mai University. Research on a number of health topics in Thailand.
2. Nathan Porath, doctoral thesis on Orang Asli indigenous healers in Riau province, Sumatra, Indonesia (Leiden University). Fieldwork in both Indonesia and Thailand.
摘要
In Thailand there is a Buddhist movement called Santi Asok. In recent years one of its lay communities has developed a five-day bodily detoxification course for the good of the Thai public as a form of merit making. Participants who refrain from eating food and drink other than the intake of herbal tonics, undergo various forms of detoxification procedure and particularly colon cleansing. The course culminates in the inspection of the participants’ stools followed by a lavish vegetarian meal. This paper analyzes the detox course as a ritual of the body constructed within the anti-materialist and merit-making moral values of the Asok Buddhist community. In this ritual human excrement becomes a symbol revealing the unhealthy polluting demerits of modern consumer society. It concludes that “shit” is a powerful and even dangerous “natural symbol” to moralize with.
目次
The Asoke Buddhist-Network Community of Thailand 456 The Detoxification Program 459 Academic Lecturing and the Therapeutic Cure of Meritism That Completes the Holistic Needs of the Body 460 Stool Inspection, Mirroring "Shit," and the Vegetarian Antidote to the Defilements of Meat Consumption 462 Cleansing Defilements for a Better Buddhist Society 463 Conclusion 464 References Cited 465
