Richard A. Rosengarten
Editor
The Journal of Religion

Dear Editor:
Please find enclosed my manuscript entitled “Buddhism, Copying, and the Art of the Imagination inThailand,” which I request you to consider for publication as Original Article in The Journal of Religion.
Through this study, I present a hypothesis on new urban religioscapes in metropolitan Bangkok. Bangkok
is a city that comprises contradictory modernities; in other words, it contains cultural contexts that aremodern and essentialist at the same time. To this end, I examined the architecture of two contrasting

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Buddhist monasteries—Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Sanam Chan Monastery—through fieldwork
conducted between the years 1998 and 2002. The former represents the modern affinity of order anddiscipline of the radically neo-conservative Dhammakaya Movement (Body of Dhamma), and the latter isa chaotic, flamboyant, and kitsch monastic space located on the outskirts of the Bangkok. In addition,
Sanam Chan Monastery shares similarities with the contemporary consumerist “Buddhist” stylearchitecture consisting of shopping centers and arcades. Therefore, I argue that Sanam Chan is apostmodern representation of sanctity, a response to modernity, while Dhammakaya, besides its
spectacular beauty, reflects the essentialist conditions that are inherent in modernity.
The most notable aspect of these monasteries, however, is that regardless of the stark difference, both themonastic spaces challenge the established religious hierarchy, its perceived orthodoxy, legitimization, andthe ethical bases of the civic religion in Thailand. Thus, my study is the first of its kind to theorize urban
religioscapes on the basis of the symbolism that their architecture depicts, pertaining to how theyrepresent the development of Buddhism in Thailand. In this vein, I also propose that these dissimilarities
as well as commonalities are one of the major reasons for Thailand’s historical dilemma in attempting
neutralization or negation of the existing cultural differences.
I believe that the findings of this study are relevant to the scope of your journal and will be of interest toits readership. The manuscript has been carefully reviewed by an experienced editor whose first language
is English and who specializes in editing papers written by scientists whose native language is not
English.

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This manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal. I
have approved the manuscript and agree with submission to The Journal of Religion. There are noconflicts of interest to declare.
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,Sam Sung
Department of Religious Studies
Seoul National University

26, Sangil-ro 6-gil,
Gangdong-gu,Seoul, Korea
Phone No: +82-2-2053-3000
Fax No: +65436765289
Email Address: sam.sung19@snu.com

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