บทคัดย่อภาษาไทย

บทคัดย่อภาษาอังกฤษ

    This research aims to go through Naga in 3 following aspects: (1) to study the Naga in the Buddhist Scriptures, (2) to understand the belief of Naga in Thai society, and (3) to analyze the Belief of Naga in Thai society to Buddhism. The results are found as follows.

                Serpents have been respected long before the existence of religious in Thailand. It was considered be as a symbol of river, life, fertility, virtue and evil. When the snake was developed into the Naga, it was interpreted under Brahminism-Hinduism context as a retinue of God also in Buddhist context, Naga-symbolizes a virtuous person who aspire to achieve Nirvana. According to the Brhami-Hindu belief, the Naga was born from egg like other snakes. However, Buddhism believes that Naga can be born in 4 ways : (1) Egg born creatures (Andaja). (2) Womb born creatures (Jalabuja). (3) Moisture born creatures (Samsedaja).  And (4) Spontaneously born creatures (Opapatika). The doctrine of Karma was intertwined with the births of Naga : the aspiration to be born as Naga, the profound connection with river, and a large of good deeds that having done but insufficient to be born as a human. The Naga was catergorised into 4 families according to their skin colours : golden, green, rainbow and black. Naga’s supernatural power has a great impact on Thai people. The Thai people revere Naga as a deity because they believe that it can use poison as a weapon, can transform themselves to be either humans or animal and, can create anything people want.

                The belief of Naga in Thai society derives from the Buddhist scriptures and the local legend, and the supernatural power of Naga from Branhminism-Hinduism. The Thai society believes Naga that is a mythical animal, despite its supernatural power, cannot avoid law of Karma (laws of cause-action and death) Naga is subjected to death unlike other deities who are believed to be immortal. People in Thai society consider Naga as a spiritual anchor when they face instability or need moral boost. A story of Naga from scriptures and legend has created varied beliefs and stories in Thai society such as – the Water Naga, the Naga’s city creation and the Naga Fireballs. This has developped into the cultural traditions which still widely practices in Thailand today.

                Analysing the belief of Naga according to Buddhist principles, Thai people believes in the existence of Naga thanks to (1) learning of Naga from the scriptures and folklore  (2) passing the oral history from generation to generation. Then, Thai people think and interpret the Naga story as a coomon belief without proving (Acinteyya). They do not need the empirical reasons to prove the existence of Naga. The belief in Naga requires no concrete proofs. The scrutiny of different Naga worship for fulfilling wishes among Thai people shows that the Thai society still mainly believes in the law of actions (Karma). This is because they worship with the hope that their wish will come true, they still have to take some action to make it happen. No one can succeed with merely praying and waiting. When the Thai society studies and realize the benevolent power of Naga, they consequently create the Naga artifacts and traditions with faith (Saddha) to commemorate.

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