Without Buddhism, Thailand would not be what it is today. Owing to the tremendous influence Buddhism exerts on the lives of its people, Thailand is called by many foreigners "The Land of Yellow Robes," for yellow robes are the garments of Buddhist monks.

Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school. Nearly 95% of Thailand's population is Buddhist of the Theravada school, though Buddhism in this country has become integrated with folk beliefs such as ancestor worship as well as Chinese religions from the large Thai-Chinese population. Buddhist temples in Thailand are characterized by tall golden stupas, and the Buddhist architecture of Thailand is similar to that in other Southeast Asian countries, particularly Cambodia and Laos, with which Thailand shares cultural and historical heritage.

Buddhism originated in the southern Nepal with the teachings of Siddharta Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. He renounced his royal life to find the way to be out of the cycle of life which he considered suffering. After years of studies of Hinduism in several schools and self- mortification, he found that those practises would not allow him to see the salvation. He then continued to quest the truth of life by meditaing. Upon meditation under the bodhi tree, Siddharta got the thorough knowledge of the world, called the Four Noble Truths, becoming the Buddha or the Enlightened One.
Nowadays, development and technology of the modern world has somehow changed the traditional lifestyle of Thai people, especially in big cities. Despite that, with the deep perception of Buddhism within them, Thai people still adopt Buddhist philosophy of simplicity and moderacy to lead their ways. Thus making Thai society much more tolerant and peaceful if compared with those societies which are suffering the stress from our competitive world today.