"Thai Kings and Buddhism" publicly introduced

BANGKOK, August 17 (TNA) - Thai Permanent Secretary for Culture Somchai Sianglai and former deputy prime minister and former finance minister Amnuay Weerawan have publicly introduced a new book, "Thai Kings and Buddhism", to honour Thailand's monarchy and to promote the Buddhism. Amnuay, who initiated the new publication project, told a press conference in Bangkok on Thursday that Buddhists account for more than 90 per cent of the total population in Thailand, where there are also more than 40,000 temples and more than 250,000 monks. Amnuay said he believes that the prosperous Buddhism in Thailand has greatly been contributed and supported by the Thai monarches since the old days, for over the past 700 years. Amnuay revealed that the cover of the book is printed with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's own paintings, and that the Ministry of Culture, along with allied public and private entities, have published 92,000 copies of the book in Thai to be given to the National Office of Buddhism and the National Library, free of charges, in order for the people to learn more about the history of the Buddhism Thailand. The Ministry of Culture, meanwhile, plans to translate the book into English, set to be complete by the end of this year, and to later translate the publication into other languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Russian. (TNA)