The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand

I made the mistake of assigning this book for an undergraduate class. As one of my students remarked, this is “the worst book ever.” It is certainly not the worst book ever—McDaniel makes a compelling argument and his approach to Thai Buddhism is groundbreaking. However, I would not recommend it for those who aren’t specialists. It is chock full of technical terms and Thai with little to no explanation for the uninitiated. The style is also overwhelming. The author’s favorite phrases are “among others” and “and the like”—much of the book is comprised of lists of examples of Thai people, place-names, texts, and objects. McDaniel exercises no restraint in his writing and in so doing does a great disservice to the general reader.

I bought this book for a course. While there is a tremendous amount of information, I found myself using Google search frequently, just to fully understand and absorb the information. McDaniel drops many names of monks, locals, locations, and other anthropologists, but doesn't always take the time to give you additional information (which is where Google comes in).

Exhaustively well researched and documented. This book penetrates through the austere views of western Buddhist scholars and treats the 'problem' of amulets and amulet makers as something rightly to be respected and honored (as well as no new thing in Thai history). Thai amulets and their rent is no evil corruption of the West, but a valid a beautiful merging of roads Buddhism, Animism, Necromancy, and other traditions and currents. I can't recommend this book enough!

The book worth a read.If the Dhamma content of Somdej amulet in both WRK and Keschaiyo designs (phims) are included, the book would have been rated 5.

Very interesting subject and loads of information in this book. Many of us in the class who had to read this as a textbook were dismayed at the hard-to-follow writing. There is way too much meaningless "name-dropping" of Thai and other foreign words and phrases that make this VERY difficult to read.

McDaniel's indepth analysis of contemporary Thai Buddhism is certainly a milestone in Thai Studies / Buddhist Studies. McDaniel calls for a radical new approach for studying religion in contemporary Thailand. In what might be termed the 'popular religious turn' in Thai Studies McDaniel stresses the essentiality of magic and spirits/ghosts for any serious attempt at understanding Thai religiosity, while rejecting analytic classifications that differentiate between 'Buddhism', 'Brahmanism', and 'Animism' or oppose hetero- and orthodox religious practices in search for a true Thai Buddhism. In addition McDaniel questions approaches that reduce popular religious phenomena like 'magic monks' and 'malevolent ghosts' to deliberate attempts, aimed at countering the societal disruptions caused by 'Globalization' or 'Modernization'. This book has the potential of becoming as influential as Terwiel's 'Monks and Magic' or Tambiah's 'Buddhism and Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand'.

McDaniel's indepth analysis of contemporary Thai Buddhism is certainly a milestone in Thai Studies / Buddhist Studies. McDaniel calls for a radical new approach for studying religion in contemporary Thailand. In what might be termed the 'popular religious turn' in Thai Studies McDaniel stresses the essentiality of magic and spirits/ghosts for any serious attempt at understanding Thai religiosity, while rejecting analytic classifications that differentiate between 'Buddhism', 'Brahmanism', and 'Animism' or oppose hetero- and orthodox religious practices in search for a true Thai Buddhism. In addition McDaniel questions approaches that reduce popular religious concepts like 'magic monks' and 'malevolent ghosts' to deliberate attempts, aimed at countering the societal disruptions caused by 'Globalization' or 'Modernization'. This book has the potential of becoming as influential as Terwiel's 'Monks and Magic' or Tambiah's 'Buddhism and Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand'.

I used this book for my Buddhism and Asian studies class and it was very helpful.