Impact case study database

Seeger’s findings were disseminated via:

• Publication of Damrong Tham with correct attribution [1], and Hat Tham and Thong Tham with probable attribution to Khunying Damrongthammasan [2, 3].

• Performances based on texts [1] and [2].

• Films of and about the performances and a documentary on the authorship of the texts in [1].

The impacts have been as follows:

Public interest in the authorial reidentification: Seeger’s revelation that Khunying Damrongthammasan was the true author of Dhammānudhammapaṭipatti prompted significant interest from the Thai media, Buddhist scholars and the general public. The Thai newspaper Matichon (daily circulation 700,000) published a full-page article on the research with the headline ‘The ripple in the dhamma: anonymous writer believed to be Luang Pu Man is Khunying Damrongthammasan (Yai Wisetsiri)’ [B]. The significance of [1, 2 and 3] for practising Thai Buddhists is further confirmed by public interest in financing their dissemination. The Thai Foundation Panyaprateep, which supervises a religious school, subsidised the costs of printing and distributing 13,200 copies of the texts, supplemented by over 150 private donations [1, 2, 3]. Seeger and Naris also co-produced a documentary film on the life and work of Khunying Damrongthammasan, Lost in the Mists of Time, with the Thai documentary film company Six Fingers. This film was screened by the major national public television broadcaster ThaiPBS on 19 July 2016, one of the most important days in the Thai Buddhist calendar. Its reach was extended via YouTube (16,500 views) and Facebook (71,000 views), where numerous positive comments indicate strong engagement.

Thai nuns ( mae chis) and other women: Since the presumed author of the major texts in Damrong Tham was already considered an awakened being, Seeger and Naris’ disclosure of the actual author’s identity as female provides justification for women’s ability to accede to the highest spiritual plane of nirvana, which is normally considered to be reserved for fully ordained male monks. The publisher of [1] noted that the confirmed authorship ‘reminds people that it is not only men that can achieve the supramundane in Buddhism but women also have the same ability to teach the Buddhist teaching and achieve the supramundane’ [H]. The reidentification has certainly revealed a potent example of the understanding of the dhamma which a woman can achieve through a combination of scholarship and religious practice. A famous Buddhist author, intellectual and revered monk compared [1 and 2] with a ‘bright light’ that ‘makes us see female practitioners of the dhamma a hundred years ago in a different way’ [F]. It thus provides inspiration for women today to practise towards the same achievement. A leading mae chi and committee member of the national Thai Mae Chi Institute remarks that Seeger’s discovery ‘has been very important and impactful for us mae chis’, who ‘have become deeply inspired […] and encouraged in their work for society and want to follow the footsteps of Khunying Damrongthammasan’ [E]. Another mae chi and meditation teacher, having viewed one of the performances based on the texts, commented: ‘Discovering that this text was really written by a woman has filled my heart with motivation and joy. The more I read about the biography of Khunying Yai, the more impressed I became, and the more it inspired my own spiritual practice’ [D].

Performers and audiences: The Thai monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s observation in the late 1930s that Hat Tham read somewhat like watching a play provided the intellectual spur for the development of devised theatre performances based on [1] and [2]. Devised theatre involves performers directly in the production process, taking into account their responses to the text and building their experiences into the performance. It thus offered a way of helping performers and audiences to revise their understanding of Thai Buddhist doctrine and women’s contribution to it. The scripts, production and direction were developed in workshops with Thai academics, students and professional actors under the leadership of Seeger and Naris, and led to the production of performances presenting a female teacher and her pupils learning about and debating the dhamma together. These performances were presented before mostly urban, educated audiences at the Thai Universities Burapha (6 April 2018; over 150 people) and Thammasat (23 June 2019; around 60 people) and the prestigious Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives Foundation in Bangkok (7 April 2018 to around 200 people and 22 June 2019 to over 100). They had an important impact on the female directors and performers. The director of the 2018 performances felt that for the performers, creative engagement with the texts had ‘changed their understanding of and developed a more positive view on Buddhism’ [I]. The director of the 2019 performances commented that the process of putting together this play, combined with her spiritual practice, was ‘the best learning of the Dhamma in [her] entire life’. [J]. The results of post-show questionnaires distributed to the audiences also indicated that 139 out of 234 respondents (i.e. 59%) felt that their understanding of gender in Buddhism had changed as a result of watching the performances. One commented ‘I am now more interested in the role of women in both the history and practice of Buddhism’ and another that ‘it has filled me with sheer joy to see a play made up of women, who communicated the teachings very clearly’ [A].

Buddhist pedagogy: Thai Buddhist teaching traditionally focuses on sermons and textual study, while performances are reserved for telling stories of the Buddha. The performances based on Seeger’s findings were innovative in using a devised performance, accompanied by music, to explore religious insights, and still more so in centring female characters. As such, they offered an alternative means of engaging with Buddhist teachings, particularly for younger Thai Buddhists who may perceive traditional forms of Buddhist pedagogy as of little relevance to their own religious practice. The success of this approach was confirmed by responses from the performers and audiences. 220 out of 234 respondents (i.e. 94%) strongly agreed that the performing arts was an effective tool for teaching Buddhist doctrine. They commented that the play had enabled them ‘to understand Buddhism in a new, positive way’, was ‘very applicable to the modern era’ and had inspired them to read about and study Buddhism further [A, C]. One stated: ‘I never thought the Buddha's teaching could be taught through a play. Thank you for showing me that plays can be an effective tool in spreading the dhamma’ [A]. These insights were especially important for the Director of the Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives Foundation, a centre of Buddhist learning which hosted two of the performances. He commended the originality of the approach, observing that ‘we have never offered anything like this before’ [G]. Inspired by an initial performance in 2018, the Foundation commissioned Seeger and Naris to develop an ongoing performance programme. Their institutional practice thus changed as a result of their contact with Seeger’s research findings. The Director stressed the educational dimension to the productions, arguing that by encouraging people to ‘rethink preconceived ideas about gender and specific teachings in Buddhism’ the performances become an effective means by which they can achieve their goals [G]. The Foundation also supported Seeger and his team in producing and disseminating two films based on the performances, which has allowed their research to reach a much wider audience. These films have achieved more than 72,000 views, further demonstrating public interest in this form of Buddhist teaching.