Sulak Sivaraksa

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

• Thai :   สุลักษณ์ ศิวรักษ

Sulak Sivaraksa

Sulak Sivaraksa born March 27 1933 in Thailand) is founder and director of the NGO "Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation“. Besides being the initator of a number of social, humanitarian, ecological and spiritual movements and organizations in Thailand, like the College SEM (Spirit in Education Movement) Sulak Sivaraksa is known in the West as one of the fathers of INEB (International Network of Engaged Buddhists), which, in 1987 was established by leading Buddhists like the 14th Dalai Lama, the Vietnamese monk and peace-activist Thich Nhat Hanh and the Theravada Bhikkhu Maha Ghosananda. When Sulak Sivaraksa was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award) he became known to a wider public in Europe and the USA.

The grandson of a Chinese immigrant<ref>No muffling this bold old man Thai Takes</ref><ref>No Muffling this Bold Old Man</ref>Sulak Sivaraksa was educated in Bangkok and at the University of Wales, Lampeter, where he is now an honorary fellow in Buddhism. Upon his return home, he became the editor of Social Science Review magazine. Soon later, he directed his energies towards the development of sustainable models for a rapidly changing economic and social environment. The military coup of 1976 forced him into exile for two years. At this time he toured Canada, the US and Europe to lecture to academic audiences.

These contacts were to prove beneficial when Sivaraksa was arrested in 1984 for lese majesty, causing international protests which pressured the government to release him. Sivaraksa was again charged with lese majeste in September 1991 after a talk he gave at Thammasat University about the repression of democracy in Thailand. Sivaraksa fled the county and went into exile until he was able to convince the courts of his innocence in 1995. He was awarded the Swedish Right Livelihood Award in 1995, the UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization) award in 1998, and the Indian 'Millennium Gandhi Award' in 2001.

Sulak Sivaraksa

Sulak was a strong critic of deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He publicly accused Thaksin of adultery at rallies organized by the People's Alliance for Democracy. However, he has never cited any evidence for his claims.<ref>Specifically, Sulak's own personal website notes that he said that "As for breaking the Third Precept, I don’t have hard evidence. But there are lots of rumors that Thaksin and his cabinet ministers have engaged in many illicit sexual reveries—that Thaksin has been unfaithful to his wife. There is even a toddler who looks astonishingly like Thaksin. All these still cannot be proven. So we may have to give him the benefit of the doubt. But truths about Thaksin's notorious sexual life will surely surface after his fall from power—like those of the dictator Sarit Thanarat."</ref> During a protest on 26 February 2006, Sulak called Thaksin a pitifiul dog. Sulak's comments were condemned by Somsri Hananantasuk, Chairperson of Amnesty International (Thailand), who said that such words could provoke violence.<ref>The Nation, Non-violence is not simply the absence of physical violence, 1 March 2006</ref>

In 2007, he spoke out against proposals to declare Buddhism Thailand's 'national religion' in the new constitution, arguing that to do so would exacerbate the existing conflict in southern Thailand.<ref>Monks push for Buddhism to be named Thailand’s religion</ref>

Works

• Buddhist Perception for Desirable Societies in the Future. (Papers prepared for the United Nations University). 1993
• A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society (Collected articles by a concerned Thai intellectual). Thai Watana Panich Co. Ltd., Bangkok 1981, ISBN 9740750958.
• Loyalty Demands Dissent (Autobiography of a Socially Engaged Buddhist). ISBN 1888375108.
• Religion and Development. 1987
• Siam in crisis. (A Collection of Articles by Sulak Sivaraksa). Second edition 1990.
• A Socially Engaged Buddhism. Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation, Bangkok 1999, ISBN 974-260-154-2
• Global Healing (Essays and interviews on structural violence, social development and spiritual transformation). Thai Inter-Religious Commission for Development, Bangkok 1999
• Powers That Be: Pridi Banomyong through the rise and fall of Thai democracy. 1999
• Conflict, Culture, Change. Engaged Buddhism in a Globalizing World. 2005, ISBN 0861714989
• Sulak Sivaraksa: Seeds of Peace: A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society. Foreword by H.H.The Dalai Lama. Parallax Press/International Network of Engaged Buddhist/ Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation 1992.186 Pages. ISBN 0938077783.

External links

• Sivaraksa's Blog
• Sulak-Sivaraksa.org
• Recipient of Right Livelihood Award 1995