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題名 Healing, Heritage, and Hybrid Religion: The Phra Kring as a Post-War Buddhist Cultural Bridge 作者 樊夏
Valyamedhi, Chawarote貢獻者 東南亞語系 日期 2026-09 上傳時間 19-Aug-2026 13:37:19 (UTC+8) 摘要 This presentation examines the cross-sectarian formation of the Medicine Buddha (Bhaiṣajyaguru, 藥師佛) cult in post-war Bangkok (c. 1945-1980s) through the case of the Phra Kring amulet. Although widely regarded as one of Thailand’s paramount amulets (Sutthisongkhram 1961), the Phra Kring’s form is historically foreign to Theravāda Buddhism and absent in classical Thai Buddhist art. This paper argues that the amulet’s ambiguous identity was not a problem to be resolved, but the key to its rise in prestige. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Thai elites (notably King Mongkut and Prince Damrong) identified the amulet with the Mahāyāna Medicine Buddha and associated it with an imagined Khmer past. This reinterpretation allowed the Phra Kring to serve as a bridge between Thai monastic authority and Chinese Mahāyāna healing traditions already active in Bangkok. By the mid-20th century, the amulet was routinely consecrated in major Thai royal monasteries (Wat Bowon Niwet, Wat Suthat) and promoted by influential lay ritual specialists, including Thep Sarikaputra. This Thai-based sacralization process converged with Chinese-Vietnamese Bhaiṣajyaguru devotional practices in Chinatown temples. By the 1970s, some Chinese Mahāyāna temples began producing their own Phra Kring as a material representation of their healing deity, demonstrating a reciprocal adoption of Thai amulet form into Mahāyāna ritual culture. The Phra Kring’s authority thus emerged not from doctrinal purity, but from its ability to circulate across ritual communities. Its prestige was constructed through shared ritual practice, elite reinterpretation, and productive ambiguity. 關聯 AAS-in-Asia 2026 Lahore, Association for Asian Studies 資料類型 conference dc.contributor 東南亞語系 dc.creator (作者) 樊夏 dc.creator (作者) Valyamedhi, Chawarote dc.date (日期) 2026-09 dc.date.accessioned 19-Aug-2026 13:37:19 (UTC+8) - dc.date.available 19-Aug-2026 13:37:19 (UTC+8) - dc.date.issued (上傳時間) 19-Aug-2026 13:37:19 (UTC+8) - dc.identifier.uri (URI) https://ah.lib.nccu.edu.tw/item?item_id=184557 - dc.description.abstract (摘要) This presentation examines the cross-sectarian formation of the Medicine Buddha (Bhaiṣajyaguru, 藥師佛) cult in post-war Bangkok (c. 1945-1980s) through the case of the Phra Kring amulet. Although widely regarded as one of Thailand’s paramount amulets (Sutthisongkhram 1961), the Phra Kring’s form is historically foreign to Theravāda Buddhism and absent in classical Thai Buddhist art. This paper argues that the amulet’s ambiguous identity was not a problem to be resolved, but the key to its rise in prestige. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Thai elites (notably King Mongkut and Prince Damrong) identified the amulet with the Mahāyāna Medicine Buddha and associated it with an imagined Khmer past. This reinterpretation allowed the Phra Kring to serve as a bridge between Thai monastic authority and Chinese Mahāyāna healing traditions already active in Bangkok. By the mid-20th century, the amulet was routinely consecrated in major Thai royal monasteries (Wat Bowon Niwet, Wat Suthat) and promoted by influential lay ritual specialists, including Thep Sarikaputra. This Thai-based sacralization process converged with Chinese-Vietnamese Bhaiṣajyaguru devotional practices in Chinatown temples. By the 1970s, some Chinese Mahāyāna temples began producing their own Phra Kring as a material representation of their healing deity, demonstrating a reciprocal adoption of Thai amulet form into Mahāyāna ritual culture. The Phra Kring’s authority thus emerged not from doctrinal purity, but from its ability to circulate across ritual communities. Its prestige was constructed through shared ritual practice, elite reinterpretation, and productive ambiguity. dc.format.extent 221471 bytes - dc.format.mimetype application/pdf - dc.relation (關聯) AAS-in-Asia 2026 Lahore, Association for Asian Studies dc.title (題名) Healing, Heritage, and Hybrid Religion: The Phra Kring as a Post-War Buddhist Cultural Bridge dc.type (資料類型) conference
