The use of the word chaat on the sign demonstrates the complexity and
significance of the tree ordination. Concepts of religion are being
reinterpreted to promote environmentalism at the same time the latter is
linked through moral ties with local and national political and economic
issues. Throughout the ordination, and the larger project of which it was a
part, Phrakhru Pitak extended his traditional role as spiritual and moral
leader of lay villagers to embrace an activism which necessitates political
involvement. The same kind of role enlargement is recreated in every
project run by ecology monks, from tree ordinations and the establishment
of sacred community forests to tree-planting ceremonies and exorcisms or
long-life ceremonies at sites threatened by ecological destruction.