AN ANALYSIS A BELIEFS IN COMMUNITY FOREST CONSERVATION OF NORTHEAST (I-SAN) PERSON

Abstract

The purposes of this research were: 1) to study the problems in Isan community forest conservation; 2) to study the beliefs of the Isan people in community forest conservation; 3) to analyze the beliefs in Isan community forest conservation. This study was carried out by means of the qualitative research methodology to collect the data from documents and in-depth interviews of 30 key informants. The data were then analyzed by using descriptive methods based on inductive reasoning method.

            The research results were as follows:

            1) The problems in the conservation of community forest of Isan people are caused by the people in the community lacking fear of the sacred power of the community forest, therefore there are encroachment for cutting of the community forest, causing the forestry deterioration caused by 1) increasing population; 2) expanding community; 3) using modern technology; and 4) various constructions.

            2) The beliefs of the Isan people in community forest preservation have been practiced for a long time with beliefs about sacred things in the forest, such as the tree gods, ghosts and nymphs. The worship showing the people’ gratitude to the sacred things in the forest becomes a beautiful cultural tradition under the hidden philosophical concepts that have been accumulated with wisdom and transmitted as a body of knowledge through the methods of the local philosophers, which has been associated with the way of life of the Isan people to the present day.

            3) In metaphysics, it is found that the belief creates good practices through tradition and rituals appropriately in the midst of a society change. There is the application of various traditions to be consistent with the current ways of life. In epistemology, knowledge is accumulated in the form of folk wisdom that is embedded in rituals and traditions. Knowledge is revealed by village philosophers with interpretations to convey the true purpose of the ritual and that knowledge leads to the generation of income for the community, which makes the community to be a self-reliant self-sustaining community. In Buddhist ethics, this causes people in the community to apply various revealed beliefs to methods of conduct such as expressions of gratitude towards the forest creates a good tradition, such as traditions of ordination of trees, creating a tree bank and rice banks, etc. There is a mutual support in the community that becomes a community of dependency with the belief as the based of the idea.