This conference, ‘2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness’, is convened in honour of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on the occasion of her 60th Birth Anniversary.

This conference is an expression of deep gratitude to Her Royal Highness who has been bringing joy and happiness to people throughout the world through her dedication and hard work.

On behalf of the organizing committee, I would like to extend a sincere appreciation to all the scholars who have graciously shared their wisdom in this venue, rendering auspicious success to the conference.

Suchitra Chongstitvatana, Ph.D

Director, Institute of Thai Studies

Chulalongkorn University

08.30 – 09.15

Registration

09.15 – 09.30

Opening Ceremony

09.30 – 10.15

Keynote Speech:

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and His Righteous Reign for the Benefit and Happiness of the Thai People
     Suleeporn Bunbongkarn Choopavang
     – The Chaipattana Foundation

10.15 – 10.45

Refreshments
 

10.45 – 11.30

Special Talk:

Gross National Happiness (GNH): Operationalization of Buddhist Values in a Secular Approach (Buddhism and Sustainable Happiness)
     Venerable Lopen Lungaten Gyatso
     – Royal University of Bhutan

11.30 – 13.00

Lunch break

13.00 – 15.00

HAPPINESS AND LEARNING
     Convener: Surakrai Nantaburarom
                      – Kamnoetvidya Science Academy

Can Happiness Be Learned?: A Psychologist’s Perspective
     Ben Weinstein
     – Assumption University

Happy Learning
     Steven Epstien  
     – Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidhayalai  

Happily Different: How Can We Transform Educational Change Processes into More Happiness?
     Loek Schoenmakers
     – BCO Onderwijsadvies 

15.00 – 15.30

Refreshments

15.30 – 17.00

FOOD AND HAPPINESS

     Convener: Niphatchanok Najpinij
                       – Suan Dusit Rajabhat University

Food is Happy

08.30 – 09.00

Registration

09.00 – 09.45

Keynote Speech:
Visualizing Ultimate Happiness in Thai Buddhism: Nibbāna in the Picture Books of the Three Worlds
     Barend Jan Terwiel
     – Professor Emeritus

09.45 – 10.00

Refreshments

10.00 – 11.30

HAPPINESS IN BUDDHISM I : BUDDHISM IN A WESTERN WORLD
     Convener: Hwang Soonil
                      – Dongguk University
    

Wisdom as a Therapeutic Tool for Happiness and Well-being: Towards the Profanization of a Central Buddhist Concept?
     Michael Zimmermann
     – Hamburg University

Buddhist Modernism and Neuroscience: From a Perspective of Sustainable Buddhist Happiness
     Sujung Kim
     – DePauw University

Happiness and the ‘Old Meditation’
     Andrew Skilton
     – King’s College

11.30 – 13.00

Lunch break

 
13.00 – 15.00

HAPPINESS IN BUDDHISM II : BUDDHISM IN ASIA
     Convener: Hwang Soonil
                      – Dongguk University

Happiness and Nirvāṇa in Buddhism
     Venerable Guang Xing
     – The University of Hong Kong

Real Happiness in Mindful Relationships and Harmonious Action
     Venerable Misan
     – Joong-ang Sangha University

Secular Happiness and Ultimate Happiness in the Story of the Monk Josin’s Dream of the Samguk Yusa
     Venerable Chongdok C. H. Park 
     – Joong-ang Sangha University

Awakening Happiness Within: the Buddhist Path to Education
     Alka Singh
     – Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia

15.00 – 15.30

Refreshments 

15.30 – 16.15

Closing speech: 
Sustainable Happiness or No More Unsatisfactoriness
     Hwang Soonil
     – Dongguk University

Suleeporn Bunbongkarn Choopavang

The Chaipattana Foundation

After World War II, most developing countries followed growth oriented economic policies. Due to rapid industrialization and economic development, various problems, including income gaps, as well as environmental degradation and poverty, have become more severe. Thailand also followed the path of modernization with a growth led approach being adopted since the first National Economic and Social Development Plan (1961-1966) that allowed industrialization to dominate the country’s development. However, such development has resulted in many economic, social and environment problems. Since it was obvious that the growth oriented pattern of development was not the ultimate answer, there have been several attempts to find alternative development approaches from around the world. The Gross National Happiness (GNH), originated by the King of Bhutan, serves as a good example of an attempt to respond to this issue. The concept has inspired many countries whose interest is to go beyond material development represented by Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand has been concerned with developing a more balanced approach to development. On his coronation day, His Majesty promised that he would reign for the benefit and happiness of the Thai people. His intention to reign over the country with righteousness is no different from the concept of good governance. Instead of using his power to command, His Majesty prefers exercising his right to counsel in order to bring forth peace, harmony and happiness to his people. His Majesty’s efforts to generate happiness are also an effort to look after his nation and the elements that compose the nation – the people, the economy and the nation’s natural resources. The development works of His Majesty cover all of these aspects geared towards universal dimensions of sustainable development.

Through an alternative development paradigm, it is believed that sustainable development and sustainable happiness should be intertwined. Hence, His Majesty, throughout his righteous reign, has been working tirelessly for the happiness of his people. When these two concepts become two sides of the same coin, equitable and balanced growth can be pursued and a sustainable state of development, as well as well-being, will eventually be achieved.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Venerable Lopen Lungaten Gyatso

Royal University of Bhutan

Continuity of happiness and prosperity is what every human being aspires to, irrespective of race, creed, faith, nationality, status, age and gender. However, we are not always happy and prosperous, even though each one of us pursues happiness in the way we want the best. All good and bad things that happen in this world are directly or indirectly the result of our pursuit of happiness. Our unhappiness, despite fulfillment of our desires for which we invest much of our life, is simply because we have not understood happiness in a true sense and have not understood how happiness is fulfilled. My presentation will try to define what true happiness is, and also try to look closely at the total scope of human needs and their fulfillment for continuous happiness and prosperity.

I will also try to link GNH, which aims at striking a balance between material growth and spiritual development, to happiness as a holistic and all-encompassing and enabling factor. I will highlight the indicators of happiness on which GNH primarily focuses in order to ensure the conditions of happiness and I will highlight GNH’s unique approach to understanding the needs of the body and the mind and their fulfillment for continued happiness and prosperity. Only when the needs of the body and mind are fulfilled in proportion to the degree of need and priority, can continuity of happiness be ensured; otherwise any fulfillment of the needs of the body alone will result in only momentary happiness, which is largely sensation based and is subjective. Any good feeling that one may call happiness attained through sensation is short lived and cannot be continued. This is the reason why some people feel unhappy despite the fact they have everything.

Finally, I will try to define happiness and prosperity so that everybody is at the same wavelength and then talk about the possibility of being happy and the pursuit of happiness based on right understanding and right feelings. 

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Ben Weinstein 

Assumption University  

Since the turn of the century, psychology has turned its attention to studying happiness. There have now been hundreds of peer-reviewed, empirical studies in the relatively new field of “Positive Psychology.”

This talk offers a view of the question about happiness and learning from the perspective of scientific psychology based on recent research in positive psychology, learning, neuroscience and contemplative practice by focusing on two keys findings: (1) the research indicating that happiness can be learned based on sets of skills that can be taught to instructors, integrated into curricula and learned by students and, (2) the current limitations on teaching happiness and the challenges of applying these skills across cultures.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Steve Epstien 

Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidhayalai  

What are the essential elements of “Happy Learning”? How can we create the conditions that will create “Happy Learning”? In this brief presentation, we will look at how the rise of the Mindfulness Movement in the West has brought Buddhist teachings into the classroom and how we can apply this to our own learning environments. We will consider how the Teachings of the Buddha can be used as a model for developing a happy classroom with happy teachers and happy students.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Loek Schoenmakers

BCO Onderwijsadvies

Change is daily business in the educational field. We must see educational change with all its human qualities, being designed by humans, for the benefit of humans. Educational change is people’s work to service our collective future, the youth. But does educational change, after years of reform, make us happy? Does it make our teachers and students happy? Unfortunately, at present, happiness as a result of educational change is hard to find. Teachers are working under great pressure to meet the set demands of government policies. Students fail to reach the test standards determined by the government, so we often blame teachers and school leaders. But should we? Can they be held responsible for the state of our educational system? I have been quite shocked to discover that, in spite of more than sixty years of school reform, when it comes to our approaches to educational change, politicians still want quick fixes and high, mostly academic, results; school inspection labels schools as weak or excellent based on biased criteria.

Isn’t this weird? Isn’t it sad? It is my grounded belief that the only ones who can produce educational change are the teachers and the students. They are in the midst of the daily commotion of education. In relations with each other, they produce change in many ways. We must put teachers and students at the centre of the change process and appreciate their daily efforts to construct change processes in their classrooms. Without teachers and students, there is surely no educational change!

So, how would educational change processes be different if we approached it as a relational process of co-construction, where teachers, students and school leaders are seen and heard, given voice and are made active producers of educational change, instead of solely passive consumers? This is the question I ask. It is, at first glance, a simple question; and yet it is profound in its capacity for sustainable change. 

How would our educational life be if we were to do it another way? How would educational change processes be viewed if we counted all participants as equally important? How would these processes seem if we had the courage to put happiness and appreciation as the core values in the centre of our change attempts? We can establish more successful and sustainable educational change by using new kinds of mindsets, based on the ideas of social constructionism. The most important by-product we should produce within change processes is mutual trust. Trust must come from the process of being in relations in appreciative ways. Trust leads to feelings of happiness, confidence, and safety, and leads to the motivation to keep on going, together. Within a safe environment to speak, we will finally hear the many stories of those involved within the change process. The level of trust is, in my opinion, the most important parameter when we evaluate educational reform. Presently, the main parameter of politics is, sadly, academic results. 

My slogan is: Happy teachers make happy schools. Happiness means, to be in relation with oneself and the world based on a collective feeling of trust. Happiness means having the confidence to contribute to the best of one’s ability. Schools are meant to make dreams of both teachers and students come true. Having relations and being in supportive relationships is one of the keys to happiness. 

Happily different! Happily we can approach educational change in different ways! In this paper, I aim to give the reader an interesting and inspiring journey of educational change by using a relational approach. This social or relational thought comes close to this Buddhist saying: Everything touches everything. I desire that others, including teachers, will benefit from understanding the construct of (educational) change processes. They will, hopefully, discover possible reasons for their efficacy and strength within the processes of generative change. Our future educational change is a matter for all of us. Happily, we can do it differently!

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Niphatchanok Najpinij 

Suan Dusit Rajabhat University   

Humans devote their attention to the kitchen more than just to survive. Meaningful arts of life are depicted from farm to table. “Sumptuous” or “divine” are words of social agreement, both domestic and public, regarding gastronomy preference. Environment and food choices, transferring freshness at its best quality, cooking with a touch of love and care, garnishing food to wow the diners and create good health are the processes of civilization. Chefs and cooks play significant roles in harmonizing their love of cooking on the offered nature from the very basic to the ultimate in complexity. “Happiness” is tangibly felt and found through food in different ways, from the bold jungle, to the warm home, to the extravagant restaurant.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Barend Jan Terwiel

Professor Emeritus

Throughout history, Buddhist meditation has been a lasting source of happiness, with the ultimate goal being imperturbable stillness of the mind after the fires of desire, aversion and delusion have been finally extinguished. This state is called Nibbāna, the place of perfect peace and happiness.

In his classical book on Thai painting, Jean Boisselier confidently states: “Artists are of course unable to depict any aspect of Nibbāna, since that world is by nature without form.”

This presentation will show that more than two centuries ago Thai artists did venture to do just that what Boisselier proclaimed to be impossible. A number of depictions of the “city of Nibbāna”, drawn in picture books of the Three Worlds, will be examined in detail with an explanation of how the artists reconciled formlessness with depictions.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Michael Zimmermann

Hamburg University

So far Buddhists have not taken much notice of a new trend emerging from gerontological research: the idea that wisdom is something that can, in a purely secular way, be actively trained and attained. Whereas the idea of wisdom as a tool for a better life has been turned into therapeutic concepts, the term “wisdom” itself has been hardly analyzed in a way which would allow for a full understanding of the wide spectrum of its multi-cultural and multi-religious dimensions. The therapeutic operationalization of wisdom in terms of defining its most crucial elements, such as resilience, serenity and emotional acceptance, is based on the assumption that there exists a universally valid understanding of what constitutes wisdom. Are these elements reflected in the Buddhist traditions in which wisdom plays an overarching role? Are Buddhist ideas of wisdom compatible with these new operationalized factors of wisdom? Are Buddhists prepared to widen their understanding of wisdom as an attainable this-worldly value and thus to enhance the quality of life in samsara?

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Andrew Skilton

King’s College

Mindfulness or vipassanā meditation has recently been adapted to be of great use in therapeutic interventions in Western medicine. Such meditation technique is applied for a variety of purposes, including the relief of depression – which we might tentatively view as the opposite of happiness. While we can analyse the nature of happiness itself, we can also look to an ancient form of meditation, borān kammaṭṭhāna, that is no longer widely practiced, but which places the development of happiness at the beginning of the Buddhist path. This meditation technique prioritises the development of delight and happiness as physically experienced qualities, allowing us to speculate on the potential therapeutic value of such a practice.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Sujung Kim

DePauw University

The emphasis on Western empiricism and individualism has generated renewed fascination for Buddhist meditation. With the growing interest in meditation and scientific findings on its practical benefits, Buddhist meditation has been promoted in the mass media as a key to happiness. However, in this embrace of what effectively is a form of the American pursuit of happiness, the complex tradition of Buddhism is reduced to a “tool” for becoming happy, while Buddhism struggles to redefine its identity in the modern world where the power of science is dominant.

This paper examines the recent discourse on the relationship between Buddhism and neuroscience. While understanding Buddhist thinking on happiness is the form that a modernized Buddhism has taken in the West, in this paper I argue that the idea of happiness is not universal, but reflects a culturally and historically specific experience. I further argue that a more critical examination of suffering as fundamental to human experience is essential to achieving sustainable happiness.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Venerable Guang Xing

The University of Hong Kong

Nirvāṇa is one of the concepts in Buddhism that causes much misunderstanding and misinterpretation as it can be understood from different perspectives. We can understand nirvāṇa from: (1) a moral point of view; (2) an experiential point of view; (3) a knowledge point of view; (4) a psychological point of view; and (5) an ultimate reality point of view. From the experiential point of view, nirvāṇa is nothing but happiness since all suffering (dukkha) has been eliminated. Thus, it is said in the Suttanipata that Nibbāna is described as the highest form of happiness.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Venerable Misan

Joong-ang Sangha University

According to the Buddha’s teachings, real happiness can be attained through consistent practice of “dependent origination and the middle path” in one’s daily life. This paper shows that the teaching of mindful relationships and harmonious action is the foundation of real or sustainable happiness. This paper analyzes the Mahāmangala Sutta in terms of its role in the pursuit of practical happiness in human relationships, experiential happiness in concentration meditation, and supreme happiness in insight meditation. Real happiness cannot be achieved on a conceptual dimension, but can be attained through actual and concrete practice, i.e., mindful action, compassionate meditation and the cultivation of wisdom. These topics are fully dealt with in this paper, including insights and practical skills that can enhance real or sustainable happiness, all from the early teachings of the Buddha.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Venerable Chongdok C. H. Park

Joong-Ang Sangha University

This story is contained in the Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) compiled by Iryeon in 1281. In this story, known as “Josin’s dream”, a monk falls in love with the daughter of a county prefect. He prays for assistance in his love, but the daughter marries another man. He has a dream where she appears and tells him that she secretly loves him and decides to spend her life with him. They live together for fifty years, have five children, but struggle with poverty. A son dies of starvation; a daughter becomes a beggar. Realizing their love has led only to suffering, they decide to part. Waking from the dream, Josin visits the spot in his dream where he buried his son and finds a Buddha statue buried instead. He establishes a monastery at the spot and dedicates his life to good deeds.

This story is told in a very literary style and consists of four scenes: the desire of the monk, the marriage of the monk, the monk’s loss of happiness, and the enlightenment of the monk. Whether or not this tale is about a real person, it teaches an essential Buddhist concept that the secular joys of this world are an illusion and can only lead to unhappiness. This point is doubly made by both the narrative line of the story and the later recognition that the experience was in fact a dream. The primary function of this story is to reinforce traditional Buddhist concepts and to confirm Buddhist monastic practice. The story would have had importance both to the monastic community itself and the laity.

Dreams play an uncelebrated, but important role, in the Buddhist tradition. This story uses dream as a vehicle to understand the impermanence of secular happiness and shows that dreaming itself can be a practice for awakening or ultimate happiness.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Alka Singh

Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia

‘Happiness’ is an abstract term which can be described by philosophy and psychology in different ways. In general, happiness is an experienced feeling that comes from the outer stimulus which we feel through the outside pleasures and comforts. That is why happiness is a short-term emotional state that disappears with a change in the situation or behavior of other people. Desire and fear are two backbones of happiness. When a desire is satisfied, or the cause of a fear is removed, the surface agitation of our mind subsides, and, as a result, impermanent calm and peace arises in our mind which bring sensuous pleasure. Hence, it is a sensual emotional state that varies from person to person and situation to situation as it totally depends on individual perception.

In Buddhism, morality, concentration and wisdom are in a true sense the foundation stone of happiness. Compassion or loving-kindness is the true way to bring about happiness. For each living organism, the elimination of hatred brings calmness to the mind and this calm mind is the master of all our action and directs us towards cultivating morality, concentration and wisdom. In simple words, morality means good behavior and generosity; concentration means meditation. By following and practicing morality and meditation, we can increase our power of concentration and will be able to distinguish between the most important things and the less or useless things that cloud our mind. Finally, wisdom means knowledge. Hence, an ignorant person can never understand happiness being one who believes in sensuous pleasure as happiness, which is absolutely temporary. On the other hand, spiritual happiness is real happiness, which is characterized by feelings of contentment, perfect calmness, inner peace of mind, serenity, fulfillment, compassion and loving-kindness, all with mindfulness.

Consider our modern education system where students are anxious and pressured with the anticipation and thoughts of the future while enduring academic pressure which results in stress, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and personality disorders. We often read about suicide cases, violent behavior and other unsocial incidents by students in the news, indicating that psychologically they are in an unstable age. Today, students are indulging in short term happiness to escape from the present situation, leading a life full of fantasy and illusion. Therefore, the real concept of happiness according to Buddhism should be taught in classrooms by integrating this concept into the curriculum to help students focus attention, improve their memory, self-regulate behaviors – such as self-acceptance, self-management skills, self-understanding – and calm emotions. These are all crucial factors for achieving academic and social success in school and in life.

The present paper tries to explore the conceptual understanding of happiness with a Buddhist perspective, providing a framework to integrate happiness into our education system. This is in order to promote academic and social-emotional success among students since the present student life is full of stress and pressure from external stimulus. Thus, the paper is focused on presenting the path of happiness in today’s education system, and sets out to open up discussion about its value, practices and relevance in education through a Buddhist context.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

Hwang Soonil

Dongguk University

Can we achieve sustainable happiness in this life? Can happy feelings last forever? Buddhists have been exploring the real meaning of happiness behind the simple feeling of joy. The feeling of happiness cannot last forever because of impermanence, one of the three marks of the phenomenal world. Happy feelings, instead, cause pain to the person who is attached to the object about which one felt extremely happy.

In the early canon, we can frequently see a dialogue between the Buddha and Māra, the evil demonic king, usually appearing as two contesting poems. One such poem in the Suttanipāta shows Buddhist attitudes towards the feeling of happiness.

‘One with sons rejoices because of sons’, said Māra, the evil one. ‘Similarly the cattle-owner rejoices because of cows. For acquisitions (upadhi) are joy for a man. Whoever is without acquisitions does not rejoice.’

‘One with sons grieves because of sons’, said the blessed One. ‘Similarly the cattle-owner grieves because of cows. For acquisitions (upadhi) are grief for a man. Whoever is without acquisitions does not grieve’.

In this presentation, I will discuss Buddhist attitudes towards the real meaning of happiness by clarifying a punning exchange of words applied in the poems and by examining different attitudes towards joy and grief according to the Buddha and to Māra. This will show that real happiness can be replaced by a state where there is no more unsatisfactoriness.

(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)

ADVISORS

Prof Dr Pirom Kamolratanakul
     President, Chulalongkorn University

Prof Dr Mongkol  Techakumphu
     Vice President for Research and Innovation, 
     Chulalongkorn University

Asst Prof Dr MR Kalaya Tingsabadh 
     Vice President for Academic Affairs,
     Chulalongkorn University

Asst Prof Dr Prapod Assavavirulhakarn
     Dean, Faculty of Arts, 
     Chulalongkorn University

Prof Dr Pranee Kullavanijaya
     Chair, Faculty Promotion Committee, 
     Chulalongkorn University

CHAIR

Assoc Prof Dr Suchitra Chongstitvatana
     Director, Institute of Thai Studies,
     Chulalongkorn University

COMMITEE

Asst Prof Sunij Sutanthavibul
     Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs
     Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Asst Prof Dr Arthit Thongtak
     Deputy Director of Administrative Affairs
     Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University

Asst Prof Ritirong Jiwakanon
     Deputy Director of International Affairs
     Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University

Dr Pram Sounsamut
     Deputy Director of Research Affairs
     Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University