These Siamese pagodas, fantastic and gay with gold and sky-blue tiles,
are of four grades, those built by the King and dedicated to him,
those built by the princes, those built by the nobles, and lastly
those built by the common people, usually by subscription organised by
the monks or by some enthusiastic laymen. Merit gained in this and
similar ways has been called "The Sum and Substance of Siamese
Buddhism": there is some truth in these generalisations as regards the
whole of Southern Asia. But in Siam as elsewhere there is genuine
devotion to the religion of Buddha, and the human heart is not as
calculating as this sentence implies. Moreover, there is considerable
attempt to modernise the religion to fit the new age, and many of the
people follow the King in believing that it can be made the basis for
a modern state, and can unify and uplift the peoples. All that helps
to build up a nation is welcomed in Siam, and Christianity therefore
has an open door here as in Ceylon and Burma. Burma is tolerant, but
Siam desires the friendship of Western peoples, and being independent
is freer to develop along its own lines. Let us now attempt to
summarise our impressions of the Buddhism of these lands of Southern
Asia by describing other typical scenes in each.