For the last few years an imaginative programmе for training Buddhist monks in basic health care has been in operation in Thailand. The scheте, originally based on two wats (temples) in Bangkok, is now being extended to the Northeast where poverty and malnutrition are most acute. This article is based on fieldwork conducted in Thailand in 1983. It evaluates the programme from the point of view of participant monks, setting it against the background of traditional and modern medical practice.
