THE ORDINATION OF A TREE: THE BUDDIDST ECOLOGY MOVEMENT IN THAILANDl

monks engage in ecological conservation projects. These "ecology monks " teach ecologically sound practices among Thai farmers and criticize rapid economic develop-ment nationwide (which they see as one of the primary causes of the country's environmental crisis). This article examines how one northern Thai monk used a tree ordination, adapted from a traditional Buddhist ritual, to build villagers ' commitment to his ecology projects. (Buddhism, environmentalism, ritual, Thailand) A Buddhist ecology movement, developing in Thailand and other Buddhist nations, addresses local and national problems of deforestation and ecological destruction. While this is only one aspect of growing environmentalism in Thailand (Hirsch 1996), the Buddhists involved in this movement see their religion as critical for providing practical as well as moral guidelines for ecological conservation. This article focuses on how Buddhists, especially monks, put their concepts of Buddhism and ecology into action, and the consequent reinterpretations of both sets of concepts that result from such behavior. As Buddhism is increasingly used to promote social activism such as conservation, its role in Thai society is also being implicitl