The thesis entitled “A Study of Beliefs in Making Large Buddha Statues in Thai Society: A Case Study of Sisaket Province” consisted of three objectives: 1) to study the making of large Buddha statues in Buddhism, 2) to study the making of large Buddha statues in Thai society, and 3) to study beliefs in making large Buddha statues in Sisaket province. This is a qualitative research that was created through the descriptive analysis of documents related to the topic therein with the in-depth interview of experts.

The results of research were as follows:

1) The making of Buddha statues started for more than 600 years after the passing away of the Buddha. It’s assumed that it was born from either the Gandhara or Mathura art. While, the making of large Buddha statues first appeared in Gandhara art, such as the Buddha statues of Bamiyan etc.

2) The making of large Buddha statues was an important phenomenon in Thai society for a very long time since in an ancient era such as in Rattanakosin era where it’s believed that there existed the biggest making of Buddha statues in all times. This reflected the abundance and prosperity of Buddhism and the country.

3) From the study of beliefs in making large Buddha statues in Sisaket province, it was found that they’re the continual beliefs since from the ancient times. Nowadays, these beliefs had been adapted and used in many aspects such as playing a role of medias to promote Buddhism and having an influence on mental values, the Buddhist teachings, social values, historical values and the promotion of tourism economy. The main beliefs in making large Buddha statues were to accumulate the merit in order to be born in the Ariya Metteyya Buddha’s period and attain Nibbana, considering as the highest goal of all Buddhists. While, for the beliefs in making large Buddha statues in Buddhist arts, most of them were made according to the traditional contemporary art styles. The most popular style was the Sukhothai’s art having mixed with the local art.

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