woramat malasart
After completing my bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand in 2015, I redirected my attention to the study of religion. My main research lies on Southeast Asian religions with a particular focus on Buddhism in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. I apply a multidisciplinary approach to my research which combines the analysis of text, paratext, and translation with enography. I am interested in many aspects of Buddhism, but my particular passion is for the study of Buddhist manuscripts from Southeast Asia, especially those written in Khom, Thai, and Dhamma scripts. I am particularly interested in the manuscripts that contain texts—including Buddhist discourses and narrative, traditional meditation, ritual, and pedagogy—and illuminations. I work closely with archives where these manuscripts have been preserved, and I made digital copies and collected metadata (date, material support, script, scribe, donor, colophon, and the summary of content) into online database. I transliterate, translate, and examine texts in manuscripts in order to understand how these texts form, develop, circulate and transmit through a broad range of Buddhist practices and material culture throughout the history of Southeast Asian Buddhism. In addition to the study of texts, I seek to understand their ethnographical life, looking at how they are contextualised during rituals and other Buddhist practices and how they are intervened by political exercise from a particular place and time.
I completed my MA (with distinction) in Buddhist Studies from the University of Otago in 2019. My MA thesis "The Dhammakāyānussati-kathā: A Trace of "Siam's Borān Buddhism" from the Reign of Rāmā I (1782-1809 CE)." In 2020, I received the ENITAS scholarship (100,000 THB) from the Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University, to prepare a manuscript for publication and in 2021, part of an MA thesis was published in The Journal of Siam Society, one of the most distinguished journals on topics connected to Southeast Asia.
I was awarded a University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship during 2020-23 for my PhD thesis titled "The Dhammakāya Gāthā from Core Text to Commentary: Textual Circulation, Manuscript Transmission and Buddhist Practices in Traditional Buddhism in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia," under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Guthrie (Otago), Dr. Trent Walker (Michigan), and Professor Will Sweetman (Otago). Recently, I was awarded a Doctoral Publishing Bursary Grant from the University of Otago to prepare manuscripts for publication. I am currently a teaching fellow (lecturer) at the Religion Programme and will be teaching a paper “Buddhist Thought” in the second semester.
So far, I have contributed four published articles, four public talks, seven conference papers, and one academic poster to academic and public areas in Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, and India. My poster "Duang That 'Sphere of Elements' and Its Significance for Siam Traditional (Boran) Meditation," won the first prize for the academic poster presentation at the 3rd Seoul International Meditation Expo 2022, Korea. In addition to participating in several conferences, I was on a committee that organised a seminar on "Peace and Early Buddhism" at the University of Otago in 2019.
I completed my MA (with distinction) in Buddhist Studies from the University of Otago in 2019. My MA thesis "The Dhammakāyānussati-kathā: A Trace of "Siam's Borān Buddhism" from the Reign of Rāmā I (1782-1809 CE)." In 2020, I received the ENITAS scholarship (100,000 THB) from the Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University, to prepare a manuscript for publication and in 2021, part of an MA thesis was published in The Journal of Siam Society, one of the most distinguished journals on topics connected to Southeast Asia.
I was awarded a University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship during 2020-23 for my PhD thesis titled "The Dhammakāya Gāthā from Core Text to Commentary: Textual Circulation, Manuscript Transmission and Buddhist Practices in Traditional Buddhism in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia," under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Guthrie (Otago), Dr. Trent Walker (Michigan), and Professor Will Sweetman (Otago). Recently, I was awarded a Doctoral Publishing Bursary Grant from the University of Otago to prepare manuscripts for publication. I am currently a teaching fellow (lecturer) at the Religion Programme and will be teaching a paper “Buddhist Thought” in the second semester.
So far, I have contributed four published articles, four public talks, seven conference papers, and one academic poster to academic and public areas in Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, and India. My poster "Duang That 'Sphere of Elements' and Its Significance for Siam Traditional (Boran) Meditation," won the first prize for the academic poster presentation at the 3rd Seoul International Meditation Expo 2022, Korea. In addition to participating in several conferences, I was on a committee that organised a seminar on "Peace and Early Buddhism" at the University of Otago in 2019.
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meaning. According to an analysis of manuscripts and interviews, Buddha image construction in Lanna consists of elaborated rituals and detail and each procedure contains doctrinal meaning and profound Dhamma puzzles.
The finding of this study reveals that the ancient ritual called “the installation of the Dhammakāya of the Buddha” has played a significant role in Lanna Buddha image construction, but has been neglected and is unknown by some modern practitioners. This reflects the idea that a Buddha image is not perceived as “a reminder of the passing one,” but rather “the Buddha himself” who exists in the world by means of the “dhammakāya.” The research for this article aimed to study the construction and installation of the Dhammakāya in order to identify the purposes and perspectives of experts and intellectuals
in the past associated with this issue. The study also found Buddhist religious doctrines underlined the performance.
Keywords: Dhammakāya, Cetiya, Buddha image, Buddhābhiṣeka
meaning. According to an analysis of manuscripts and interviews, Buddha image construction in Lanna consists of elaborated rituals and detail and each procedure contains doctrinal meaning and profound Dhamma puzzles.
The finding of this study reveals that the ancient ritual called “the installation of the Dhammakāya of the Buddha” has played a significant role in Lanna Buddha image construction, but has been neglected and is unknown by some modern practitioners. This reflects the idea that a Buddha image is not perceived as “a reminder of the passing one,” but rather “the Buddha himself” who exists in the world by means of the “dhammakāya.” The research for this article aimed to study the construction and installation of the Dhammakāya in order to identify the purposes and perspectives of experts and intellectuals
in the past associated with this issue. The study also found Buddhist religious doctrines underlined the performance.
Keywords: Dhammakāya, Cetiya, Buddha image, Buddhābhiṣeka