AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF LIFE PHILOSOPHY OF ISAN PEOPLE FROM STUCCO SCULPTURES AT WAT PHO, BAN NON THAN VILLAGE, NAI MUEANG SUB-DISTRICT, MUEANG DISTRICT, KHON KAEN PROVINCE

Abstract

ure at Wat Pho (Pho Temple), Ban Non Than village, Nai Mueang Sub-district, Mueang District, Khon Kaen; 2) to study Buddhist ethics and the life philosophy of Isan people expressed through the stucco sculpture at Wat Pho; 3) to analyze the life philosophy of Isan people from the stucco sculpture at Wat Pho. This study was carried out by means of a qualitative research methodology by collecting the data from documents and in-depth interviews of 12 key informants. The gathered data were presented by the descriptive analysis based on the inductive reasoning method
The research results were as follows:
1) The stucco sculpture of Wat Pho is a stucco sculpture expressing the life philosophy of Isan people in terms of Buddhist ethics. It was created to reflect the philosophy of life of Isan people related to the teaching of Buddhist ethics in four concepts: experience transfer, conservation and transfer of Isan art and culture, using media to spread Dhamma and ethical communication. This is outstanding in terms of Dhamma puzzle, conservation of art, culture, content and beauty and it has values of arts, culture, Buddhism, education and life philosophy.
2) Buddhist ethics theory of concept and practice for goodness can be classified into three levels: the first level is the precepts, the middle level is Kusala-kamma (Ten Wholesome Actions), and the higher level is Ariyamagga (Eight Noble Paths). The life’s philosophy of Isan people linked to Buddhism is divided into three levels: 1) living for happiness today; 2) living for happiness in the future; 3) living for ultimate happiness. These are in line with Buddhist ethics.
3) Based on an analysis of the philosophy of life of the Isan people from Wat Pho sculpture through Buddhist ethics by interpreting the stucco sculpture, the philosophy is divided into six parts: 1) Buddhist ethics in terms of stucco sculptures that create aesthetics; 2) Isan people philosophy; 3) methods of Buddhist ethics; 4) levels of Buddhist ethics; 5) characteristics of Buddhist ethics; 6) methods to study of Buddhist Ethics.