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fulfil. A boy was not a boy but rather a son to his father, a pupil to his teacher, an older brother to the rest of his siblings. Individually, he was insignificant — he existed only as part of his family and only by fulfilling his duties to all his forms of social bond could he make an important contribution to society. Understanding the perspective of Buddhist society as a training ground for the virtue of those in society, the temple can be seen as the centre or hub of training in each community. Even at the turn of the century, the temple was still the centre of all community activities. It was the only place to study when state schools still did not exist. The teaching was performed by the monks and moral fibre was woven into the weft of knowledge inculcated in all children. The monks were the most literate, usually being able to read Khmer and Thai script and able to translate freely for sermons to the general public (who were mostly unable to read the Buddhist scriptures for themselves). In fact, the only qualifications in the olden days were the examinations taken in Buddhist scripture. Even the pace of life in the kingdom was set by the drum and gong in the temple precincts — the eleven o’clock drum signalling the monk’s midday mealtime being the only time of day strictly observed by the Siamese people. Temples were always maintained as a sanctuary for wildlife, and subsistence hunting and fishing which is an implicit part of Siamese culture was prohibited on the temple precinct. Temples were of two sorts — the town temple and the forest temple. The former was the hub of the lay community. The monks had many commitments to the