The Politicians’ Buddhist Morality on Students’ Opinions at Mahamakut Buddhist University: Lanna Campus, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Phramaha Wiset Sorphobdee Et Al

doi:10.17762/pae.v58i1.1533

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to study the students' opinions on Politicians' Buddhist morality; 2) to analyze personal factors affecting students' opinions on politicians' Buddhist morality; and 3) To study recommendations on politicians' Buddhist morality. The samples were 269 students at Mahamakut Buddhist University: Lanna campus, Chiang Mai, Thailand to whom questionnaires were distributed for collecting of data which were analyzed through frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and 2-test by setting the statistical significance at 0.05. The research Results were found that: 1) The overall level of Buddhist morality of Thai politicians as perceived by students in all three aspects was low with a mean of 2.12 and a standard deviation of 1.216. The aspect with highest mean was the principles of building the righteousness, followed by the principles of building the unity, and the principles of building the solutions of conflicts. 2) The test of hypothesis revealed that the gender does not affect the students' opinions towards politicians' Buddhist morality, which does not meet the defined hypothesis, while the age and educational year affect the students' opinions towards politicians' Buddhist morality, which meets the defined hypothesis at 0.05, and 3) The students provided their recommendations on the political problems of Thai politicians in terms of the Buddhist morality that “Politicians always think of oneself, self-centered, do not listen to the opinions of others, one’s own ideas are dominant, different ideas and other aspects cause disturbance and dissatisfaction of money gained, political conflicts, and divided groups of citizens”. In addition, they provided their recommendations on the development of Buddhist morality for politicians that “Listen to each other, reliance on rightness rather than pleasure, adhesion to the teachings as main practices and way of life, recognition of causes and effects, do not listen to only one side, leaders should follow Buddhist concepts, no selflessness or hurting to others, politicians should have the precepts, meditation and wisdom, should more concentrate during talking, building of love to the family, and teaching of children for the future of nation”.

Highlights

Human society arises from the coexistence and performance of activities together so that humanity can survive and maintain their race
2) The test of hypothesis revealed that the gender does not affect the students' opinions towards politicians' Buddhist morality, which does not meet the defined hypothesis, while the age and educational year affect the students' opinions towards politicians' Buddhist morality, which meets the defined hypothesis at 0.05, and 3) The students provided their recommendations on the political problems of Thai politicians in terms of the Buddhist morality that “Politicians always think of oneself, self-centered, do not listen to the opinions of others, one’s own ideas are dominant, different ideas and other aspects cause disturbance and dissatisfaction of money gained, political conflicts, and divided groups of citizens”
They provided their recommendations on the development of Buddhist morality for politicians that “Listen to each other, reliance on rightness rather than pleasure, adhesion to the teachings as main practices and way of life, recognition of causes and effects, do not listen to only one side, leaders should follow Buddhist concepts, no selflessness or hurting to others, politicians should have the precepts, meditation and wisdom, should more concentrate during talking, building of love to the family, and teaching of children for the future of nation”

Summary

Introduction

Human society arises from the coexistence and performance of activities together so that humanity can survive and maintain their race. Defining the rules and regulations must fall under the principle of fair allotment This principle only applies to the cases of sharing benefits, beneficial burdens and common obligations to all members of the society, whether these benefits, burdens and obligations are those already present or those as the result of the joint action of the society. There is an initial claim that in determining the regulatory systems in the society, all members of the society must be involved in these benefits and burdens, unless there is any widely accepted reason that any specific case may be able to share the benefits and burdens unequally This refers to the principle of social equality. Current Thai politicians lack in core political ethics, including voting fraud, buying – selling of voting rights, discredit, conflict of interest, and use of dirty canvass (Phanomsit Sonprajak, 2009). We can see that the lack of political ethics with latent conflict of interest, the sake of followers, and the corruption and abuse of power under the political patronage system will still remain in Thailand within the Thai democratic society

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