Talking Thailand: A Dhamma Stage-play: Buddhist teachings through performing arts
14 April 18.30 (BST)
If you would like to join the Zoom meeting, please email secretary@anglothaisociety.org for your invitation.
In the early part of the 20th Century during the reign of King Rama V a book 'Fundamentals of Dhamma discussion: Lessons in discourse and enquiry' was published anonymously with the hope that readers themselves would endeavour to question and clarify the Dhamma. The book was revised and reprinted in 1938 under the title 'Hat Dam'. Three chapters were incorporated into a dramatic composition. The book was again republished in 2018 under a revised title 'Hat Dam: the voice of truth by women from the reign of King Rama V', again formatted as a Dhamma dramatic performance. The book is widely praised for its modern approach to the Dhamma, especially in acknowledging the right and ability of women to contribute to the discourse. The talk will explore the dramatisation of the text, with help from scholars at Thammasat and Burapha Universities, the production of the resulting play and through this, the historical role women have played in Buddhism.
Participants are strongly encouraged to watch the following two YouTube links before Professor Seeger's talk
Producing the Dhamma stageplay from yesteryear
Lost in the Mists of Time
From 1997-2000 Martin Seeger was ordained as a Theravada Buddhist monk in northern Thailand. During this time he studied the Thai language, Thai history and culture, Pali chanting, and meditation. At the same time a number of Thai Buddhist monks taught him Theravada Buddhist doctrine, using the textbooks of the traditional clerical examination for Thai Buddhist monks (Nak Tham) and numerous other important texts of the Thai Theravada tradition. From 2000 to 2004 he studied Thai Buddhism, Thai history and culture, Pali language and early Indian Buddhism at the University of Hamburg. He joined the University of Leeds in 2004 as a Teaching Fellow in Thai Language Studies becoming Professor of Thai Studies in 2019.
Photo Credit: The People.
If you would like to participate in this zoom talk, please email secretary@anglothaisociety.org