Abstract:
This research is the qualitative research in field working by having its purposes, that is, 1) to study the Buddhist auspicious material in Thai society 2) to study the worship of the Buddhist auspicious materials of people in Maung District, Nongkhai Province and 3) to study the auspicious materials to enhance good behaviors in Buddhism of people in Maung District, Nongkhai Province. The results of research are found that:
The Buddhist auspicious materials mean the things that occur by the nature and the things are built by human beings by believing that they will bring the happiness and progress including the auspices, fortunes, or to be things protecting various calamities, that is, Buddha images, fetishes, auspicious materials that impact on the Thai society in the aspect of belief in the Triple Gem as refuge by mentioning to the virtue of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as the emotion to think of the things encouraging us to have the opportunity to develop both physically and mentally in the way of wholesome . It creates the influence in the aspect of belief, that is, to believe in the efficiency of Buddhist mantra as appeared in Patika, that is, to believe in the practical method or the holy monks practice. The influence of mass communication. In the aspect of the rituals, it is the influence of the auspicious materials towards the ritual performance or the Buddhist rituals and the influence after the Buddhist ritual performance. In the aspect of mentality, it creates certainty. In the aspect of art work and Buddhist commerce and it creates various alphabets.
The Buddhist worship of the auspicious materials of people in Maung District, Nongkhai Province are found that the majority of people worships Loangpo Phrasai, the Buddha Image as located in every house and the Buddha images of each temple are created from the traditional activities such as Loangpo Mechai in Mechaita temple, Loangpo Phrasuay in Yodkaew temple, Loangpo Phrasao in Praditdhammakun temple (Kong temple) Loangpo Phrasuk in Srikunmaung temple, Loangpo Phrasaeng in Srisaket temple, Phrachaichetthathirach in Chomani temple. All of these are the Buddha images that majority of people in Nongkhai Province worship and there are still auspicious materials received from animals, plants, holy monks, divine sacrifice and Phraya Naga worship.
The worship of auspicious materials to enhance the good behaviors in Buddhism of people in Maung District, Nongkhai Province indicates that the behaviors are the avoidance of evil by having the faith in the auspicious materials. The observance of the precepts is seen in the prohibition in the usage of auspicious materials and every process of creation if the laymen must dress in white cloths they must undertake the Five Precepts or Eight Precepts. If they are the Buddhist monks, they must confess an offence and restrain in the precepts to make them pure. They can create the complete auspicious materials and justified with the formats of creating the primitive auspicious materials, that is, every constructor who creates the auspicious materials has also opportunity to practice Dhamma. To observe the pure precepts is always to do good, that is, the auspicious material is the device to encourage the constructors including the users of the auspicious materials to turn back to practice Dhamma and to bring the auspicious materials for worshiping and to take the auspicious materials with them all the time both in the awakening or going to bed and chanting with politeness and to make the mind pure, that is, to worship the auspicious materials with the politeness and to ask for the auspicious materials from the holy monks for sacrifice. This is because the users of the Buddha images will have the opportunity to practice, training wisdom, raising up the mind to the Insight meditation in order to get an enlightenment with oneself by chanting the chapter of the virtue of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha to invite the Buddha images as the collection of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha that is developing the meditation in applying the Buddha images to be basic for driving the mind of the users of the auspicious materials in Buddhism.