administration of the buddhist order of thailand
for centuries ever since buddhist was introduced into the country the sangha or the buddhist monastic order has been one of the nation greatest institutions under royal patronage of all the kings and with the support of the government and the people it has even possessed the right to govern itself
a separate govemment was first officially provided for the order ib 1903 when king rama v enacted the sangha administration act of r.m. 121. sine then the state has state has from time to time revised it so that to date three such laws have been passed namely1.the sangha administration act of r.e.121 1903 c.e. 2.the sangha act of b.e.2484 1941 c.e and 3.the sangha act of b.e.2505 1962 c.e
by the act of r.m. 121. there was established a mhathera samagom or council of elders or the sangha supreme council to act as adviser to the sangha . the council consisted of eight members the four chao gana tai and their deputies and was presided over by the supreme patriarch . under the council there were chao ganamondol chao gana muang chao gana khwaeng and chao avas or the abbots working at the different levels of the govemental system.
in 1932 the civil govemment was changed from an absolute to a constitional monarchy. this led to a change in the ecclesiastical government in 1941 . under the act of b.e. 2484 the organization of the sangha was patterned after the parliamentary govermment adopted by the state.the supreme patriarch had very limited power. accordingto the doctrine of the separation and the balance of powers he had to use his powerthrough the threeorgans of the sangha namely the sangha sabha as the legislature the gana sanghmontri as the executive and the gana vinayadhara as the judiciary. the gana sanghamontri or the council of ecclestiastical ministers consisted of ten members.