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.