ABSTACT

The purposes of this thesis were: (1) to study the concept of Kayasucarita (good conduct in act) in Theravada Buddhism, (2) to study the characteristic of Kayasucarita (good conduct in act) in Thai society and (3) to present the way for application of Kayasucarita (good conduct in act) in Thai society. This research applied the qualitative research focusing on studying documents by studying Tipitaka in the primary level and academic textbooks, the documents and the related research in the secondary level.

The results of study were found that:

The concept of Kayasucarita (good conduct in act) in Theravada Buddhism was that Kayasucarita means to abstain from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. According to Theravada Buddhism, human was born with the potential to develop himself/herself and changed themselves from Puthujjana (ordinary person) into Ariyajana (holy person) if the human educated and developed appropriately. Therefore, their life development in Theravada Buddhism consisted of the training in Sila (morality), Samadhi (mentality) and Panna (wisdom) consistently.

The characteristic of Kayasucarita (good conduct in act) in Thai society was found that most of Thai people had the belief in Rule of Kamma and Samsaracakka (the Round of Rebirth). Thus, they made merit to gain the happiness by the application of the Dhamma principle in Theravada Buddhism. The form and the development of Kayasucarita (good conduct in act) in Thai society had two characteristics: the human development by the application of Kayabhavana (physical development), Silabhavana (moral development), Cittabhavana (emotional development) and Pannabhavana (wisdom development), the environmental development relating to the human by the criteria of good conduct and evil conduct of the human in Thai society. The main criteria were the criteria of Kusala (wholesome action) or Akusala (unwholesome action). The other criteria were the criteria of the effects to themselves and the others.

The way for the application of Kayasucarita (good conduct in act) in Thai society could control the behavior and the physical and mental development in the good conduct. The human lived in the society peacefully and calmly under the rule and regulation of the society. Moreover, the human could develop themselves to Ariyapuggala (holy person): Sotapanna (Stream-Enterer), Sakadagami (Once-Returner), Anagami (Non-Returner), and Arahanta (the worthy One).