history of thai massage

The origin of Thailand’s traditional medical massage is found in the story of its people. Throughout the course of history, Thailand has seen many waves of different cultures pass through. Situated along a major international trade route between India and China, Thai culture is an amalgam of many foreign influences. The fascinating history of traditional Thai medicine is interwoven within the cultural imprint left by these peoples.

One of the great historic movements into the land that would become Siam (and later Thailand) came from the West. The diffusion of Buddhism from India across Southeast Asia started some 2,500 years ago, bringing with it Ayurvedic principles, hatha yoga poses, and Buddhist spiritual practice. Mixing with indigenous Thai medicine, this Indian influence forms a significant basis of what is now Thai hands-on work bodywork.

A key player figure in this movement was Doctor Shivaka Komarpaj, personal physician to the living Buddha. Dr. Komarpaj is credited as the founder of Thai medicine and the Father of traditional Zen Thai Thai massage. The Pali Canon, a Buddhist scripture still used today throughout many Southeast Asian countries, mentions him with reverence. A prayer chant to “the Father Doctor” is still recited each day by massage practitioners in Thailand.

None of the Zen Thai Thai Massage procedures were written down—they were passed orally through the generations. Eventually, medical texts (including descriptions of techniques) were recorded in the Pali language on palm leaves. These were held as sacred religious texts in the old Siamese capital city of Ayutthia until the 18th century Burmese invasion. At that time, Ayutthia was overrun and much of the Thai and Buddhist culture was destroyed.

In 1832, to preserve the valuable records that were left, King Rama III ordered all surviving texts inscribed in stone as epigraphs at Wat Pho, the largest temple in Bangkok. The epigraphs consist of 60 stone plaques, 30 depicting the front of the body and 30 of the back. Each demonstrates the energy lines (sen lines) and pressure points along these lines used for therapeutic and diagnostic application.

These stone carvings are all that remain of the theoretical foundations of Zen Thai Thai massage as we know it today. Therefore, much of the history and tradition has been obscured in time and is somewhat mysterious. The epigraphs can still be seen at Wat Pho, the national center for the teaching and preservation of traditional Thai medicine.