In this final part of a three-part Special Report on Thailand, Straits Times Thailand Correspondent NIRMAL GHOSH looks at how Buddhism is struggling to stay relevant in a changing society.
Mr Montree Leelavichitchai, a 25-year-old resident of Thailand's southern commercial hub Hat Yai, this year followed a well-trodden path to a Buddhist temple to sample the disciplined life of a monk.
As Thai tradition has dictated, he was instructed in Buddhist values and principles - waking at the crack of dawn, eating one meal a day, meditating and listening to senior monks.
But to this age-old quest, Mr Montree added a modern twist - a week later, he was back at his office in town working on his family business.
His story is more typical now than it was even just 10 years ago. Once, young Thai men lived at temples for three months during the rainy season.
Today, time is precious, many staying only briefly - and some not bothering at all.
'People are in a hurry now, to finish their degrees, or to work,' says Phra Bhante Kantasilo, a senior monk in Wat Boworniwet, a royal temple in Bangkok's Banglamphoo district.
'Many don't really understand anything of the practice.'
Phra Bhante, a US native of Indiana who came to Thailand 24 years ago, says he agrees with what many social critics say that Buddhism in Thailand is in crisis.
'Since I came in 1979, there have been many changes. And almost in the blink of an eye, many sacred values have fallen by the wayside. Today you see things totally unheard of before,' he told The Straits Times.
Like many, he has been appalled by a constant stream of scandals involving monks.
Stories of sex, drugs, women, corruption and violence emerge from temples and find their way in gory details to the front pages of newspapers.
Each sentence drives another nail into the coffin of the credibility of the sangha, or the community of monks.
The lurid scandals are an extreme example of what can happen when a religion that is a way of life becomes rigidly hierarchical and unaccountable to outside authority, and fails to modernise its ancient teacher-disciple structure.
The awe and deference with which laymen treat monks offers opportunities for some to exploit power.
Temple finances are not subjected to external audit and are therefore usually controlled by a cabal of monks - who again may fall under the influence of a charismatic individual.
'Crossroads' and 'crisis' are words that are in danger of being overused today in any discussion about Buddhism in Thailand. Essentially, the religion and culture that are synonymous with Thailand's national identity are feeling the pressure of change.
In the throes of the country's adjustment to a new, fiercely competitive globalised world, cracks are appearing in that integrated sense of identity.
For many, religion and national identity are peeling away from each other.
The traditional teacher-disciple relationship characteristic of Thailand's educational system - of which temples have always been a part - and the sangha is being coerced by the demands of the new world: competitiveness, debate and innovation.
Academic Chiawat Khamchoo writes: 'Though Buddhism remains a powerful political and psychological force in Thailand, the religion is undergoing some difficult changes.
'All government publications state that more than 90 per cent of the Thai population is Buddhist and the Constitution mentions Buddhism explicitly. Nonetheless, according to the Asia-Europe Survey (2002), only four out of 1,000 people considered themselves part of a religious community or group.
'People have become increasingly disillusioned with the government-supported Buddhist clerical order and have moved closer to 'personality-based' religious practice associated with particular Buddhist monks.
'People do not view the government's role or legitimacy as resting on Buddhism, judging the government instead on its success in making and implementing policies.
'The government is also unwilling or unable to exert control over religious organisations and personalities.
'In early 2002, a draft law to change the structure of the sangha's leadership council elicited such heated debate that the government withdrew the law from Parliament, presumably to mediate a compromise between various groups before introducing it again.
'Overall, while Thai people are still quite religious, religion has become increasingly less connected to the government and more of a personal pursuit.'
Outspoken social critic and iconoclast Sulak Sivaraksa, a staunch nationalist not popular with the government and some others, put his opinion across with customary bluntness when he told The Straits Times: 'The sangha in this country is dead.
'Mainstream Thais from the Prime Minister onwards feel success is to be prominent in the age of globalisation. That uproots us from our spiritual-cultural tradition. To use Buddhism for consumerism - something even some monks are doing - is to lose our soul.
'The sangha... is only in form, not substance. Take these young people who ordain for just a few days - I don't think there is any point teaching them about Buddhism.'
Amid all the scandals and the sectarian backbiting within Thailand's Theravada Buddhism sangha, there are many senior monks whose integrity is intact and who are widely revered.
Buddhist monks in rural areas are often the voices of their communities; in the north, monks have ordained trees to prevent a dam project from submerging a forest.
Phra Paisal Visalo, in his early 40s, far away from any city in his forest temple in Chayaphoom, writes in Thai and English, runs a website on Buddhism, and translates literature from other schools of Buddhism into Thai from English - something older traditionalists shrink from.
He lives a simple life and believes in reviving the traditional role of monks in the community - offering counselling, education and even shelter to those in need.
In short, the sort of 'socially engaged Buddhism' that Dr Sulak also advocates.
Another respected senior monk, Phra Payom Kalayano, in his mid 40s, runs a plethora of social, community-related activities from his busy temple just outside Bangkok.
On a busy afternoon minutes before a scheduled lecture to a busload of visitors, Phra Payom - known for his directness and sense of humour - told The Straits Times: 'Yes, people are less interested in Buddhism and seek happiness in other ways, like in sex shows.'
But he said he was not pessimistic and preferred being pro-active. One of his methods is to tape sermons on CDs and cassettes and send them by the thousands across the country.
He said it was well known that thugs and criminals manipulated the sangha, taking refuge in monks' robes. But while many said they should be barred, he could not refuse them if they wanted to ordain.
But he was in favour of some sort of monks' police organisation.
'Sometimes parents come and leave their boys here. I have to accept them and try to help them,' he said.
'Some of them don't have money and need shelter and education, even if they are bad people. In this Wat we help people and teach people, we don't hire ourselves out for funeral ceremonies.'
Phra Bhante said it is not just Western influence that is to blame.
'It is a global phenomenon,' he says. 'There's a nasty modern culture developing. People forget that the message is important, not the messenger.
'Young men in need of free education come to the Wats, get degrees and then disrobe and leave, absorbing nothing about the faith.
'The sangha is in crisis, but there are no simple answers or solutions.'