<p>Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the first Thai woman to be ordained as a Theravada monk and current abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery, has been listed as one of the BBC&rsquo;s&nbsp;100 Women&nbsp;in 2019.</p>

<div> <div>Thai soap operas play a crucial social role in constructing political ideas of nationalism, Buddhism and morality. This mechanism, however, is not a stagnant process. The recent airing of a nationalistic soap has shown how Thai soaps adapt to changing political contexts. </div></div>

<p>The police have said that they will summon a key leader of a rally of monks for allegedly breaking the Public Assembly Act, while Buddha Issara, a well-known ultra-royalist monk, is pressing criminal defamation charges against him.</p>

<p>About two years ago, Prachatai columnist and university lecturer Surapot Thaweesak met a monk from the Dhammakaya Temple who visited his university to propose a joint Buddhist training programme for students.&nbsp; He was told that his university would have to recruit students to attend the programme and they would be required to pay for Dhamma books and other expenses.&nbsp; However, the temple provided a promotion discount for the expenses if his university decided to join the programme immediately.</p>