Bangkok catholic views on the buddhist concepts of karma and rebirth
Issued Date
2022-03-19
Resource Type
ISSN
19066244
eISSN
25869620
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85180490095
Journal Title
Journal of International Buddhist Studies
Volume
13
Issue
1
Start Page
1
End Page
10
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of International Buddhist Studies Vol.13 No.1 (2022) , 1-10
Suggested Citation
Chan F. Bangkok catholic views on the buddhist concepts of karma and rebirth. Journal of International Buddhist Studies Vol.13 No.1 (2022) , 1-10. 10. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/95757
Title
Bangkok catholic views on the buddhist concepts of karma and rebirth
Author(s)
Author's Affiliation
Corresponding Author(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
This paper addresses one particular aspect of the general issue of how Thailand’s miniscule Christian minority have assimilated their faith lives to an overwhelmingly Buddhist environment. It focuses on the Buddhist concepts of karma and rebirth, which are taken for granted and spoken of in a matter-of-fact way in the general Thai population. However, since Christianity does not have these concepts, how do Thai Christians integrate these into their religious belief system? The paper limits its research to a sampling of Catholic Christians in Bangkok. It first looks into the meaning of karma and its related conception –rebirth – and their meanings in Buddhism. Next, it looks into theattitudes of Thai Catholics toward karma and rebirth. The researchmethod is the qualitative interview with a sample of over twentyBangkok Catholics. Findings are then analyzed in terms of how far atiny religious minority willing to assimilate religious concepts of themajority. It turns out that Bangkok Catholics have mostly assimilatedthe Buddhist concept of “karma,” as it has an equivalent in Christianteaching, but not the concept of “rebirth,” though one might argue,this too is not absolutely against Christianity.