The Hupphaasawan Movement: Millenarian Buddhism among the Thai Political Elite

Abstract

Buddhist millenarian movements previously described in Thailand have been associated with peasant rebellions against central Thai authority. However, the Hupphaasawan movement, formed by the spirit medium Suchaat Kosonkittiwong in the 1970s, differed from this pattern in that it attracted followers famong the most senior and powerful sections of the Thai political establishment The Hupphaasawan movement nevertheless did share many features in common with earlier millenarian movements and demonstrated the continuing potential for the development of millenarian religious movements in Thailand. Key factors identified as contributing to the development of millenarian movements in Thailand are a high degree of political frustration; lack of access to institutional expressions of power; attachment to traditional spiritualist beliefs; and a heightened sense of political, economic, or cultural threat.