When this important day comes around, believers take the opportunity to pay homage to the Buddha as a way of expressing gratitude for his goodness. It is declared a public holiday by the government so that people have a chance to make merit - practising generosity by helping the poor and needy, observing the Buddhist precepts and listening to dharma. We call this kind of merit-making paying homage to the virtues of the Triple Gem - the Buddha, the dharma and the Sangha (or monks). The Buddha gave birth to Buddhism. Dharma is his teaching. The Sangha helps to propagate Buddhism. Buddhism is impossible without the Triple Gem.

We normally make offerings of flowers, candles and incense to pay homage to the Buddha, dharma and Sangha. This represents material homage. It shows our generosity and our virtue. But it reflects only a worldly homage. If we want to move to a higher level of homage, we have to practise the Buddha's teaching, such as meditation or purifying our minds so that we may attain the highest form of goodness.

This is the heart of Buddhism, which has never been too difficult to understand. But most Thais nowadays treat Buddhism as if it were a legacy of the past, old-fashioned or failing to keep pace with their desire for material gain. Indeed, there are different levels for us to practise Buddhism. We can practise Buddhism in order to be reborn again as a better person. Or, ultimately, we can practise Buddhism in order to break away from the cycle of birth and death - the ultimate goal that Buddhists eventually hope to attain.

However, if even we practise only the lower level of Buddhism, we will do away with all the problems we now face. Thailand has been bitterly divided by political polarisation. The poor have been pitted against the middle class and the rich. Some political parties simply want to retain power, without thinking what is right or wrong. Money politics has prevailed, holding righteousness in ridicule. Thais are very vulnerable to power and money, and follow whoever will provide them. If this continues, there is no hope for national reconciliation in the foreseeable future.

Buddhism teaches us not to be in a state of ignorance, not to be greedy, not to stray from virtue, not to take advantage of others, not to show or express our anger, not to practise vice, and not to hold our own interest above others'. As we can see, Thai politics has been getting uglier since we first faced the crisis last year. If only we had followed our conscience by sticking to virtue, the country would not have been in the mess we are now experiencing. If the MPs had done their job, if the independent agencies had really worked independently, if the government agencies had followed what was right, if the Thai people had been able to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys, we would not have prolonged the pain of the country this long.

Thailand should not have come to this: the nullification of an election; a coup; the dissolution of political parties and the banning of the politicians from politics for five years. All of these events could have been avoided if all of us had just stopped to think about the interest of our country as a whole. Instead, we used our own interests as the benchmark. And when interests clashed, we end up with conflict of galactic proportions.

There is no easy way out save for all of us to consider carefully whether we love our country or not. If we do, we must sacrifice a bit so as to let the healing process begin. Thailand can't afford more violence and uncertainty. We should stop fighting for power. Let the country run its course and let us contribute to its stability. The country has already suffered so much; let's at least think about it.