A Buddhist ecology movement, developing in Thailand and other Buddhist nations,
addresses local and national problems of deforestation and ecological destruction.
While this is only one aspect of growing environmentalism in Thailand (Hirsch
1996), the Buddhists involved in this movement see their religion as critical for
providing practical as well as moral guidelines for ecological conservation. This
article focuses on how Buddhists, especially monks, put their concepts of Buddhism
and ecology into action, and the consequent reinterpretations of both sets of concepts
that result from such behavior. As Buddhism is increasingly used to promote social
activism such as conservation, its role in Thai society is also being implicitly
challenged and reworked. While the exact.changes that will occur are unknown, the
Buddhist ecology movement's potential direction may be glimpsed by examining how
rituals, particularly ordaining trees, promote the ecology movement, lending it
economic, political, social, and moral force.