From Believe and Faith to create the Buddhist spiritual dance : A Worship of Suphatthara Bophit

Abstract

This article was expressed by the author towards the ways of how people belief and faith which determine the characteristics of the customs and social activities. When people begin to believe in something, it causes faith which developed to be a reasonable belief then the social activities occurred leading to the valued traditions and culture that were influenced by them,  for example, Khao Kradong Climbing tradition. This tradition was influenced by people’s faith that aims to worship the Buddha’s footprint and the Suphatthara Bophit Buddha image which both are people’s spiritual anchor. The tradition has passed on until nowadays. From this faith that has been developed to this tradition, the creation of the Buddhist spiritual dance emerged from it: A worship of Supatthara Bophit. The dance was created to worship the holy Buddha image that Buriram people devote to. The created set of dancing performance reflects how Buriram people praising and faith in the Suphatthara Bophit Buddha image. From this study, it showed not only people were gathering to do the worship dance for the spiritual activities but also showing the communities united by the dance and promoted sense of cherish in their culture and tradition.