Sangha and Monarchy at the Beginning of the Ratanakosin Dynasty, Based upon Seven Kot Phrasong in the Kotmai Tra Sam Duang or the Law of the Three Seals

Abstract

In the Corpus of 1805 known as Kotmai Tra Sam Duang are seven royal decrees on the Buddhist church issued during the first two years of the present Thai ruling dynasty. In this short note I attempt to clarity the background of the stringent policy pursued by King Rama I against the then corrupted Buddhist clergy, thereby defining the decrees within the framework of a Buddhist polity defined earlier [Ishii 1975].