Page 30 - The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand Vol.XIII-2021

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XIII – 2021

Und wo kein Aufruhr ist, da ist And if there is no revolt,
es besser, daß die Stadt it were better that the city

untergeht should perish
Durch ein Feuer, bevor es Nacht wird! In fire before night falls!

(Brecht 1964: 61) (Digitalized by RevSocialist for Socialist Stories: 44)

The thought process of Shen Te portrays the following scheme: good
intention → incorrected and unappropriated acts according to Buddhist teaching
→ disappointment → outrage → blaming others → fury → vengeful feeling.
The process corresponds to the processing of the “mind” in its nature, never

being satisfied with any knowledge to anything, nor being content with doing
something. The mind sticks neither to a thought nor a thing, but thinks all the
time, from one thought to another. A human is not able to acknowledge each
thought or count them one by one (Pornsan Watanangura, 2012). It is the Five

Senses, which perceive all the feelings and emotions (รับอารมณ์), process them,
finding their meanings (เทียบเคียงหาความหมาย), working on them (ปรุงแต่ง) and live
them up (เสวยอารมณ์). The process explains ultimately the flight of Shen Te into the
figure of Shui Ta.

Shui Ta’s harshness and heartlessness as well as his egoism to all people
who have been supported by Shen Te are emphasized in the drama. Shui Ta has
broken off all the promises and help offered by Shen Te to the inhabitants of
Sezuan. With regards to these, Shui Ta excludes the possibility for the people of
Sezuan to choose whatever they want. They have to accept everything offered

unsatisfied. Shui Ta stopped the cake theft, refused persistently the unfair job and
the quote of the carpenter. He negotiates with Mi Tzü, the owner of the house,
about the rent until the price is affordable. In the end, Shen Te’s promise in favour

of Yang Sun, the pilot, has been released by Shui Ta, because he has seen through
him. The cousin buys back the store, fills in the empty check from the barber Shu
Fu with the amount of 10,000 silver dollars, makes money, builds a tobacco factory
and within a few months, he is called the “King of Tobacco”. With that, Shui Ta has
created jobs for Yang Sun and all inhabitants of Sezuan. He himself, as a competent

20 Bertolt Brecht: “The Good Person of Szechwan” – Anti-Capitalist, Anti-buddhist?