The use of traditional Buddhist rituals
(such as ordinations and the phaa paa ceremony)
and the invocation of powerful religious symbols
(such as holy water and monks' robes, and the implication of words like chaat in the plaque on the ordained tree in Nan Province)
serve as vehicles which simultaneously preserve religious concepts and sentiments and challenge their traditional use and interpretations in Thailand.
The ecology monks are responding to what they perceive as threats to or, to put it more mildly, inevitable changes in their social position.
They are making conscious choices and actions, guided by long-standing religious concepts such as merit-making and karmic action, and social relations between the Sangha and the lay villagers.
As a consequence, their role, the concepts and practice of the religion, and the relation between the religion (and its practitioners) and the state are all changing.
While the scriptural justifications behind the ecology movement are important to understand, the practice which accompanies or motivates the re-examination of the canon demonstrates that the process cannot be examined solely on an abstract theological level.
The case of the tree ordination in Nan illustrates the social, political, and economic issues involved, and reveals the levels at which the major
changes are taking place.