SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Cosmological parks, utayan sawan narok, are a curious phenomenon that is widely visible in the Thai Buddhist landscape. These parks create a space in which different cosmic realms, literary scenes, historical figures and events, and anecdotes from the Buddha’s life story come to life via three-dimensional imagery. The imagery and its spatial arrangement create a pathway, guiding the visitors upon a didactic yet entertaining journey through the myriad depictions. Affiliated to Buddhist temples, and devised by the temples’ sangha, cosmological parks present opportunities for the visitors to engage in devotional activities that are associated with generation of positive kamma, and which appear to be suitably restorative after being reminded of the dantesque hellish penalties that befall wrong doers in the lower realms’ sections of the parks. In this way, the visit to the parks brings about a meaningful experience that extends beyond an educational and entertaining escapade, and which ultimately supports the reciprocal relationship between sangha and laity. This dissertation considers the momentous representation of the lower realms of woe – the apāya, in seven parks. In addition to their popularity amongst the visitors, the depictions of the apāya underline ideas of kammic retribution, mindfulness of death, and the benefits of meritorious activities. The initial stance that is employed in this research is that cosmological parks function as an extension of well-established cosmological teachings that are distributed via a wide variety of media in Thailand. Therefore, the underline assumption is that in order to gain a thorough understanding of the parks, it is essential to study the context in which they were created, and the way in which the narratives they introduce have been rooted, dispersed and evolved on a cultural and societal level. Thus, this research applies a multi-disciplinary approach, juxtapositioning a study of the apāya imagery, its spatial positioning, as well as its variants amidst the different parks, with a survey of a variety of sources which extend beyond traditional liturgy, and include a wide array of mediums: textual, visual, and impalpable (i.e., altered states of consciousness). By way of this amalgamation of data, this study reflects the complexity of cosmological parks and their disposition within the contemporary Thai Buddhist worldview.