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This to me is really unclear...or, maybe involves multiple forces at work. Most of the arguments regarding the State and Buddhism in Thailand, including those in this article, work along the lines of seeing the systematic institutionalization of Buddhism, organized around Bangkok power, as distinctly modernist. A homogenization of belief and practice, and one could imagine that these trends toward homogenization that work against the variety and detail of "femeu" Muay Thai are rooted in that very homogenizing, modernist project. Erasing differences, and localization. These forces, if I'm not mistaken, also worked against the forest tradition you are practiced in, and against some of the animist traditions that lay beneath Buddhism in the country. This is to say that Buddhism and State power seem like they are possibly quite at work in rooting these same commercializing, globalizing forces that currently are degrading Muay Thai. On the other hand, I would totally agree that the "aggro" fighting of international kickboxing and MMA, that aesthetic, is powerfully opposed to the Buddhistic philosophy that grounds Muay Thai in what it is. It really boils down to just "what" is the source of femeu diversity and development? Is it the proliferation of de-centralized locations of power and knowledge, a kind of Garden of Eden, Amazon Rain Forest of ecosystems of fighting, village by village, festival by festival? I see that as an attractive thought. If so, then perhaps Buddhism has had a kind of push-pull effect on that art. Maybe it is worth while drawing comparisons between magico-practices of spiritual belief and femeu fighting diversity, both in terms of State Buddhism and capitalism/consumerism? I say this all in appreciation of your thoughts.