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Muangsiri, çthe temple functioned as a re- or gossip and taking intoxicating substances.

pository of medical knowledge that had been At this stage, the transmission of knowledge
salvaged after the destruction of was free of charge. The student used to live
[17]
Ayutthayaé . King Rama II (1809-1824) has with his teacher, the relationship was similar
also left a great contribution to the revival of as father and son. Negative impacts on
Thai traditional medicine; during his reign, change 1: from the point of view of researcher,
the worst cholera epidemic led the King to none.

restore çhealing methods and medicinal pre- Change 2: Thai society developed more,
scriptions that had been lost during the and with the concern for the preservation of
[17]
Ayutthaya war with Burmaé . The restora- Thai traditional medical wisdom, the ùfirst
tion remains inscribed on the walls of Wat open universityû was established, by King
Ratchaorot. King Rama III (1824-1851) contin- Rama III at the Wat Pho. çRare medicinal herbs

ued the work started by the King Rama I at were planted so that the people could study
Wat Pho, and the medical knowledge collected and use for self-care without confining them

was inscribed in the walls of Wat Pho. These for use only in any particular family. The Wat
revival projects turned as an important and is thus considered as the çfirst open universityé
[18]
historical moment for the preservation of Thai in Thailandé .
traditional medicine. But, even though the Positive impacts on change 2: At this
knowledge was compiled, the oral teaching stage, with an ùopen universityû, the trans-
was still important for the transmission of mission of knowledge changed again. The

knowledge. Scriptures were only used as a knowledge became available to people in
support of transmission of knowledge. general, free of charge. Teachers no longer
Positive impacts on change 1: With this could choose their students, but they could

development, the Thai traditional medical still preserve their transmission of knowledge
knowledge became available to other fami- by selecting those who want to study. In this

lies, not limited to a family of traditional doc- sense, the student-to-be should ask permis-
tors. The tradition is still preserved, because sion to study with the teacher, and it was up
in order to protect the Thai traditional knowl- to the teacher to decide whether the indi-

edge, the teacher used to choose his stu- vidual could become his apprentice or not,
dents, based on the precepts of Buddhism: which an initiation, asserted before, would

refraining from harming living things, taking be necessary. Here, the knowledge may be
what is not given, sexual misconduct, lying still free of charge, the student may live with