Religion
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Animism
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The Nats
Individual Documents
| Title: | | "Nats' Wives" or "Children of Nats": From Spirit Possession to Transmission Among the Ritual Specialists of the Cult of the Thirty-Seven Lords |
| Date of publication: | | 22 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | Transmission processes in the Burmese cult known as the cult of the Thirty-
Seven Lords are examined here through the analysis of three succession cases
among the ritual specialists of this cult. I seek to understand how transmission
works in a cult whose main ritual manifestation is spirit possession that
involves the logic of inspiration and vocation, rather than the logic of reproduction
and succession. A careful examination of contrasted cases reveals that
succession among spirit mediums, rather than obeying fixed rules, actually
involves the differentiated transmission of assets made of ritual property,
functions, positions, and knowledge. Various combinations -- of spirit possession
and affiliation or fictive kinship, of inspiration and tradition -- appear to
operate at different levels of the cult, with inversions of values sustaining both
its dynamics and its reproduction.
keywords: spirit possession--ritual specialists--transmission--succession--tradition |
| Author/creator: | | Benedicte Brac de la Perriere |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009 via The Free Library |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Asian+Ethnology/2009/September/22-p52621 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | A New Palace for Mra Swan Dewi: Changes in Spirit Cults in Arakan (Rakhine) State |
| Date of publication: | | 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | This article illustrates the relationship between religion and political power
in a particular process of contemporary Burmese nation building. I highlight
the symbolic appropriation of a specific national territory through the mediation
of a spirit, and the recent building of a sanctuary in Arakan state by
the wife of a Burmese military officer posted in the region, an action that is
akin to concluding an agreement with a local spirit and then establishing the
foundation of central authority over a local population. It highlights a process
whereby the use of religion by the Burmese in the configuration of territory
is observed as a way of maintaining or legitimizing hegemony over the country's
marginal population groups. The article also shows how this process is
made possible thanks to a specific segment of the local Arakanese elite, perceived
to be the referring authority...
keywords: Arakan state--spirit cults--nation building--territory--
locality--authority and power--tradition |
| Author/creator: | | Alexandra de Mersan |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture: "Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Asian+Ethnology/2009/September/22-p52621 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Festival Time at a Nat Shrine |
| Date of publication: | | September 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | "A village celebrates its invisible rulers...
Text By Aung Lwin Oo and photos by Olivier Pin-Fat
Burma’s biggest nat festival takes place every August in the village of Taung Pyone, original home of two of the 37 original names in the nat pantheon.
For five days each year Taung Pyone village becomes a fairground.
Taung Pyone, 14 km north of Mandalay, has about 7,000 nat shrines, nearly 2,000 of them elaborate ones dedicated to the village’s famous sons—the brothers Shwe Phyin Gyi and Shwe Phyin Lay.
They are said to have been executed by the 11th century Pagan ruler King Anawrahta for failing to help in the construction of a chedi to enshrine Buddha relics. The story is kept alive today by the symbolic absence from the ancient chedi of two bricks which the two brothers were instructed to contribute..." |
| Author/creator: | | Aung Lwin Oo |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 12, No. 8 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=4029 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 11 November 2004 |
|
| Title: | | Where Spirits Dwell |
| Date of publication: | | September 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | Ancient nat cult still rules in Burmese households...
The wedding announcement in a Burmese newspaper read like any other. But there was one startling discrepancy—the bridegroom was dead.
The bride, though, believed she was marrying someone who could support her as well as any living being. Her chosen partner was a nat, an influential member of the spirit world. She became a nat kadaw, or nat spouse.
Such “unions” are quite common in Burma, even though the country is devoutly Buddhist. As in neighboring Thailand, Theravada Buddhism exists happily enough alongside a widespread belief in the existence of a spirit world, and it’s commonly accepted that the Lord Buddha himself went through cycles of being a nat..." |
| Author/creator: | | Yeni |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 12, No. 8 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 11 November 2004 |
|
| Title: | | The Cult of the 'Thirty-Seven Lords' |
| Date of publication: | | October 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | "The cult of the 'Thirty-Seven Lords', known in Burma as the thirty-seven 'naq' is
commonly viewed as being a remnant of practices prevalent before Buddhicization, that is
to say, as superstitions having their origins in the obscure period predating the
establishment of Burmese civilization. This article will argue against this assumption and
will assert that this cult cannot be properly understood if it is not considered as a part of
the Burmese religious system still evolving with Buddhist society. The socio-religious
structure of the 'naq' cult shows that it is neither a pre-Buddhist remnant, nor is it
borrowed from India. Close analysis of the actual cult, of its legends of foundation, and of
the historical evidence, clearly shows that it is a construct of Burmese Buddhist kings or,
in other words, a produce of the localization of Buddhism in Burma..." |
| Author/creator: | | Benedicte Brac de la Perriere |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Newsletter, Issue 25, International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Friends in High Places (about) |
| Date of publication: | | 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | directed by Lindsey Merrison – Burma, 86 minutes.
56 minute version also available.
video sale $225 rental $65
“Buddhism and nat worship are like mangoes and bananas”
"...Whether contending with a deceitful daughter-in-law, forecasting financial prospects for a tea
shop, or freeing a husband from government detainment, Friends in High Places reveals the
central role of nats and spirit mediums in alleviating the day to day burdens of modern
Burmese life..". |
| Author/creator: | | Lindsey Merrison |
| Language: | | English |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.der.org/films/friends-in-high-places-preview.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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Buddhism
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Buddhist relics
Individual Documents
| Title: | | "Venerating the Buddha's Remains in Burma: From Solitary Practice to the Cultural Hegemony of Communities" |
| Date of publication: | | 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | The veneration of Buddha relics and images is a neglected, yet central organizing principle of Theravada culture and religious practice. My essay is informed by a historised understanding of Eliade's hierophany, a manifestation of a universal Buddhist sacred reality that defines and identifies cultural orders at the centers of local, historical contexts. I further rely on Bells' work on ritual and Gramsci's writings on hegemony to describe Burmese veneration of the Buddha's remains in diverse social and religious contexts. These range from the solitary practice, meditation and personal service in the Ananda mode to the Royal mode that defines social hierarchy in public rituals and expresses socio-religious aspirations of individuals and communities through culturally salient metaphors. |
| Author/creator: | | Juliane Schober |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 6 (2001) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.91MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.niu.edu/burma/publications/jbs/vol6/index.shtml |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 March 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Sariputta and Moggallana in the Golden Land: The Relics of the Buddha's Chief Disciples at the Kaba Aye Pagoda |
| Date of publication: | | 1999 |
| Description/subject: | | In this article, the author reconstructs and documents the story of the relics of the Buddha's chief disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana, at the Kaba Aye Pagoda in Burma. Using previously unpublished archival materials, including first-hand archaeological reports and internal museum documents, as well as contemporary newspaper accounts, the author details the discovery of the relics by British military officers in 19th-century India, the subsequent removal of the relics to England where they were placed on museum exhibition, and their eventual reenshrinement in Burma and India 100 years later. |
| Author/creator: | | Jack Daulton |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 4 (1999) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.84MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.niu.edu/burma/publications/jbs/vol4/index.shtml (Vol. 4) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 March 2009 |
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Burmese Buddhism outside Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | A Dying Presence |
| Date of publication: | | September 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | Monks from Burma may soon be just a memory in a corner of Thailand crowded with Burmese temples...
"The three women, clad in white, knelt before the elderly abbot and gently helped the forgetful old man recite his mantra as he accepted their alms. It was a scene that was to be found in many similar forms in monasteries throughout Thailand that day—the birthday of the country’s queen, when Thai women traditionally pay tribute to their revered matriarch.
What made this event so special, however, was that the 87-year-old abbot, Sayadaw U Dhamananda, is Burmese. His temple, Wat Tha Ma Oo, is one of nine built by wealthy and influential Burmese traders in the northern Thai city of Lampang in the 19th and early 20th centuries..." |
| Author/creator: | | Jim Andrews |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 9 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8442 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 29 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Under an October Moon |
| Date of publication: | | November 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | Burmese exiles in western Thailand honor religious tradition and cultural heritage during this year’s Festival of Lights..."...Despite the challenges facing Mae Sot’s culturally diverse population, the city’s Burmese and Thai communities put aside their suspicions and came together under a full moon in October to celebrate an ancient religious festival. While the revelry of the coming evening’s festivities is a large part of the celebration, the day of October’s full moon begins on a solemn—and appropriately religious—note. Before dawn, the city’s monks emerge from their monasteries and walk single-file according to the rank of ordination to accept the day’s alms from crowds of devotees..." |
| Author/creator: | | Yeni |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 11 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 May 2006 |
|
| Title: | | In the Name of Mandalay |
| Date of publication: | | June 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | Preserving Burmese traditions in Thailand...
"In 1886 the British finally conquered Mandalay, the historic capital of the last independent Burmese kingdom. San Toe, a servant of the beleaguered King Thibaw and a devout Buddhist, fled the newly colonized city, bringing with him an image of the Buddha crafted by Mandalay artisans. He worked in the logging business as an employee of the Bombay Burma Trading Corporation before settling in the town of Mae Sariang in northern Thailand. There he built a Burmese monastery in 1909 to house his cherished Buddha image.
Historically, the Burmese have viewed the city of Mandalay as a source of pride and an important link to Burma’s rich cultural and religious traditions. The name of the monastery in Mae Sariang, Wat Mandalay, reflects this connection and honors the lineage of the monastery’s central religious artifact—the Mandalay-made Buddha image..." |
| Author/creator: | | Yeni |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 6 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 28 April 2006 |
|
| Title: | | A Tale of Two Temples |
| Date of publication: | | November 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "Religious restrictions and visa regulations for foreign monks threaten to put an end to the long tradition of Burmese Buddhism in Thailand...
Upon entering the compound of Wat Pafang in Thailand�s Lampang Province guests are greeted silently by its manicured green lawns palm trees and a golden stupa at the back. Inside the prayer room, centuries-old Buddha images meditate placidly while visitors admire the thick wooden poles covered with gold leaf.
The landscape may be fairly typical of other Buddhist temples around the country but as one of the oldest Burmese temples in northern Thailand, Wat Pafang has had a unique history. But now these temples and their monks are feeling the effects of government regulations passed over a decade ago, leaving the future of Burmese Buddhism in Thailand in doubt..." |
| Author/creator: | | Aung Zaw |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" vol. 10, No. 9 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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Burmese Buddhist scholarship
Individual Documents
| Title: | | On the Ambivalence of Female Monasticism in Theravada Buddhism: A Contribution to the Study of the Monastic System in Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | 22 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "How have Buddhist nuns in Myanmar engaged themselves in monastic relationships
while being officially excluded from the monastic institution (the
Sangha) since the female order disappeared? This article examines the term
"nuns" and monastic status through the way it is embodied in everyday interactions.
I begin by presenting the main characteristics of the ambivalent status
of Buddhist nuns and the methodological problem this raises -- an analysis
of donation interactions between nuns and lay donors indicates the different
paths that lead to monastic identification. I then focus on the various relationships
in which nuns are engaged in Myanmar, with a description of the
combination of relationships between nuns, monks, and lay donors that highlights
the monastic system as a network of dynamic relationships in which
monastic social identity and its processes of legitimation can take place...
keywords: Theravada Buddhism--female monasticism--donation
interactions--monastic relational system |
| Author/creator: | | Laure Carbonnel |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture: "Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.thefreelibrary.com/On+the+ambivalence+of+female+monasticism+in+Theravada+Buddhism%3A+a..... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Power, Authority, and Contested Hegemony in Burmese-Myanmar Religion |
| Date of publication: | | 22 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "THE INITIAL inspiration for this collaboration came from the experience garnered at an international conference on Burmese studies in 2002, titled "Burma-Myanmar Research and Its Future." (1) It was convened to reflect on social science and humanities-based scholarship on Myanmar in the past half century, which had started in earnest in the 1940s, and culminated in the first wave of publications based on empirical research in the 1950s and 1960s. (2) At the start of the millennium, the conference acknowledged a new era in engaging in constructive discussion amongst scholars in many areas of Burmese-Myanmar studies. Some of the articles in this special issue were originally presented as part of a panel on religion convened by the guest editors of this issue, Hiroko Kawanami and Benedicte Brac de la Perriere, whilst others were written anew to fit the theme of power, authority, and contested hegemony in the field of Burmese-Myanmar religion. Although most approaches are generally phenomenological or anthropological, some have undertaken analysis from a historical perspective or a hermeneutical approach to enrich the discussion. What must also be highlighted here is that the scope of this issue was restricted to those concerned primarily with social phenomena that have relevance to Buddhism, it being the religion of the majority population in Myanmar. Other religions such as Islam and Hinduism that are also adhered to by Myanmar people of other ethnic origins, as well as Christianity and indigenous religions practiced by minority groups, were left out here. (3)....." |
| Author/creator: | | Hiroko Kawanami |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Asian+Ethnology/2009/September/22-p52621 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Relics, Statues, and Predictions: Interpreting an Apocryphal Sermon of Lord Buddha in Arakan |
| Date of publication: | | 22 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "This article presents an apocryphal Buddhist text that contains a speech of
the Buddha listing the relics linked to his former existences in Arakan, as well
as prophecies regarding the historical succession of kings. Looking at various
aspects such as the geographical distribution of the relics and the typically
Buddhist representation of kingship, the author argues that the text can best
be understood in the eighteenth-century context of the political decline of
the Arakanese kingdom. As this article shows, apocryphal texts have authority
because they build on traditional concepts and beliefs and are still a poorlyexploited
source of historical enquiry."...
keywords: Arakanese Buddhism--history of Arakan--Buddhist relics--
apocryphal Buddhist texts--prophetical literature |
| Author/creator: | | Jacques P. Leider |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009, 333-364 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | The Cult of Thamanya Sayadaw: The Social Dynamism of a Formulating Pilgrimage Site |
| Date of publication: | | 22 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "This article analyzes the cult of the monk Thamanya Sayadaw and examines
the process by which a community-based village-dwelling monk became a
forest-dwelling monk, and then a nationally prominent cult figure. Focusing
on the social dynamics which led to the community becoming a major
center for pilgrimage, I describe how a large-scale enterprise has emerged
around this monk. The materialization of such power suggests that the cult
of Thamanya Sayadaw emerged out of a dialectic transaction between the
donation of religious land, and a popular belief in the prosperity of the followers
as the realization of the material manifestation of the power of saints.
I also argue that we need to pay attention to the participation of his followers
as well as the practices of the monk himself, and also distinguish two types of
participation: the participation of the residents who have settled on this land,
and that of pilgrims...
keywords: cult of a saint--materialization of power--engaged Buddhism--
pilgrimage--religious land--forest-dwelling |
| Author/creator: | | Keiko Tosa |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 December 2010 |
|
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Burmese pagodas and other religious buildings
See also the Architecture and Archaeology sections
Individual Documents
| Title: | | A TIGRESS ON THE SHWEDAGON: A RESEARCH NOTE |
| Date of publication: | | December 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Donald Stadtner brought the following piece of history regarding the Shwedagon to our attention and sent a
photograph of glasswork that recorded the event, together with the text below from Walter del Mar, The
Romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1906, 27-28). We reproduce it
further below along with a detail of the glass painting, from a private collection in Yangon. The scene
depicts the incident quite literally , with the soldier climbing "to the roof of one of the smaller
shrines....." Although del Mar refers to the animal as a tiger, it was in actuality a tigress and the
events discussed below occurred on 3 March 1903, the tigress having moved to the vicinity of the
Shwedagon from Gyophu Lake..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research 6, 2008 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (292K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | U Khan Dee: The Hermit on the Hill |
| Date of publication: | | June 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "More than fifty years after his death, U Khan Dee, the hermit of Mandalay Hill, is still remembered as one of the most remarkable figures of Burma's late colonial period. During the latter half Burma's colonial rule, pious visitors to Mandalay Hill would recount their tales of the venerable hermit monk who possessed remarkable powers. Some spoke of his great height, others claimed he was invisible, still others said he could turn silver into gold. And although people all over Burma today still speak reverently of U Khan Dee, his life was marked by controversy. Also known as Yathee Gyi U Khan Dee (the Great Hermit U Khan Dee), his legendary status was achieved only through a long uphill struggle. In 1908, U Khan Dee first arrived at Mandalay Hill from Yamethin Township, Mandalay, after leaving the Buddhist monkhood where he spent 12 years. He was driven by the strong desire to reconstruct religious buildings and restore Buddhist statues that were severely damaged by the series of fires that ravaged the city around the turn of the century..." |
| Author/creator: | | Aung Zaw, Shawn L Nance |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 10, No.5 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 May 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Text and New Contexts: Shwedagon and Kyaikhtiyoe today |
| Date of publication: | | December 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | "Texts and Contexts",
December 2001 Conference,
Universities' Historical Research Centre,
Yangon University...
Abstract:
The paper discusses the use of texts in current renovation of pagodas in
Myanmar, taking as examples aspects of work undertaken at the
Shwedagon and Kyaikhtiyoe in the last two years. Different types of
texts, from inscriptions and traditional accounts to contemporary
technical reports, are used to illustrate the complex tradition found in
the country today. These are presented in the context of past interaction
including Mon influence and the Hsandawshin (Sacred Hair) heritage,
as well as present links such as planetary aspects and the role of
renovation in encouraging the sustenance of Theravada practice. |
| Author/creator: | | Elizabeth Moore, |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Myanmar Historical Research Journal, University of Yangon [forthcoming] |
| Format/size: | | pdf (747K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Shwedagon Through the Ages |
| Date of publication: | | May 1999 |
| Description/subject: | | History has not always been kind to Shwedagon, Burma's most sacred pagoda, but after two and a half millennia, it still stands as a timeless monument to the spiritual aspirations of Burmese Buddhists. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 7. No. 4 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Remarks on the Subject [of the Senbyú Pagoda at Mengún] |
| Date of publication: | | 17 April 1879 |
| Description/subject: | | "In a paper describing what I had seen of architectural remains of Hindu character in
Java, which was read before the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in October, 1861, there
occurred the following passage in reference to that magnificent monument of
Buddhism, the Boro Bodor:—
“Mr. Fergusson, who gives a good account of the Boro Bodor in his
Handbook of Architecture, considers it to be a kind of representation of the great
Buddhist monasteries, which are described in the Ceylonese writings as having been
many stories high, and as containing hundreds of cells for monks....." |
| Author/creator: | | Col. Henry Yule, C.B |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2004, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (278 K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/soas-bulletin-of-burma-research-volume-2-issue-1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Some Remarks upon COL. YULE'S Notes on the Senbyú Pagoda |
| Date of publication: | | 23 June 1869 |
| Description/subject: | | "With reference to the interesting account of the Senbyú Pagoda at Mengun, read at
the last meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, and more particularly with reference to
the remarks by Col. Yule on the Buddhas of the Boro Bodor, I would, with the
greatest deference to the writer, beg to offer some suggestions derived from personal
observation of the manner in which many groups of figures of Buddha (Sákya Muni)
are sculptured in Bengal and the North-West Provinces of India..." |
| Author/creator: | | C. HORNE, F.R.A.S. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (17 K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/soas-bulletin-of-burma-research-volume-2-issue-1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Some Account of the Senbyú Pagoda at Mengún, near the Burmese Capital, in a Memorandum |
| Date of publication: | | 06 January 1868 |
| Description/subject: | | "...1. The Pagoda was built in the reign of king Bodo Piyah,1 in the Burmese year 1178
(A.D. 1816), by his grandson, Noungdau Gyee, now known as Bagyeedau Piyah,2
which specifies his relationship as paternal uncle to the present reigning king.
2. It is situated at Mengoon, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, a couple of
hundred yards only from the huge brick ruin which is known as the Mengoon pagoda..." |
| Author/creator: | | CAPT. E. H. SLADEN, Political Agent at Mandalé |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (260 K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/soas-bulletin-of-burma-research-volume-2-issue-1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 December 2010 |
|
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History of Buddhism in Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | THE BUDDHIST KINGS OF CHIENGMAI AND PEGU, THE PURIFICATION OF THE SANGHA, AND THE MAHABODHI REPLICAS IN THE LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY |
| Date of publication: | | December 1996 |
| Description/subject: | | "In the late fifteenth century two similar and interesting events took place. Two Southeast Asian kings, both claiming to be Buddhist world rulers, built replicas of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India. The first king was Dhammacetti (1462-1492) of Pegu, who built the Shwegugyi Temple in Pegu in 1479. The other king was Tilokaraja (1441-1487), of Chiengmai, who began building the Wat Cet Yot in 1455 (although the building went on for over a decade). Both the Shwegugyi and the Wat Cet Yot are replicas of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya, India, in their general architectural design, their use of the seven stations in their layout, and their association with the bodhi tree.
The Mahabodhi temple is important to Buddhism, because it was built next to the bodhi tree under which the Buddha sat when he was enlightened. The seven stations at that temple refer to the seven different sites where the Buddha spent each of the seven weeks after enlightenment. This means that the Mahabodhi temple, the bodhi tree, and the seven stations there are directly tied to the foundation of the sasana and to the purity of the sasana. The construction of the two Mahabodhi replicas is even more interesting because only two other replicas of the Mahabodhi were built in Southeast Asia, one in Pagan built in 1215 by Nadaunmya (Htilominlo), and a minor one at Chiengrai, which cannot be dated or attributed.
It is difficult to find out, however, why two kings in neighboring areas built Mahabodhi replicas at about the same time and why such replicas were not built in Southeast Asia for the 250 years before this time or at anytime afterwards.6 The chronicles and inscriptions explain that Tiloka and Dhammacetti were performing meritorious acts by building the Mahabodhi replicas. The chronicles and inscriptions also claim that these two kings were trying to unify and purify the sangha in their lands. However, the chronicles and inscriptions do not say why Mahabodhi replicas were built by Dhammacetti and Tilokaraja around the same time and not by every king before and after who tried to gain merit or be a dhammaraja by purifying and uniting the sangha. I think it is important to find the underlying reasons for the similar event occurring in Chiengmai and Pegu in the late fifteenth century.
I will try, using the information that is available, and general information regarding the social, political, commercial, religious, agricultural, and demographic trends of that period, to provide the best possible answer to the questions (1) why the Mahabodhi replicas in Chiengmai and Pegu were built, (2) why they were built in these two places and not somewhere else, and (3) why they were built at this time.
My argument, which I will develop and explain more fully below, is that the most significant factor in the adoption of Mahabodhi replicas and the repurification of the sangha in late fifteenth century Chiengmai and Pegu was international trade. During the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, mainland Southeast Asia was politically (small and numerous states) and religiously (small and numerous sects) divided and not many kings had the resources or power to prove their claims of being dhammarajas by unifying or purifying the sangha or support the construction of temples on the same scale as Pagan. During the same period, however, trade grew as did agricultural
cultivation and the population). By the late fifteenth century, central kings gained money for religious patronage of the sangha and for political patronage of (and more prestige in the eyes of) local rulers and probably better control of their kingdoms outside of the capital. The links that Chiengmai and Pegu had with international trade also brought ideas for rulers and monks. The religious reform and the building of Mahabodhi replicas of the late fifteenth century in Pegu and in Chiengmai came from ideas, brought along trade routes (maritime and within Southeast Asia), strengthening the prestige of Sri Lanka as a center of pure Buddhism. Also, Buddhist monks travelling along Southeast Asian trade routes seem to have spread beliefs in the royal capitals (as trade centers) that religious reform should also include a replica of the Mahabodhi temple. The monks who took advantage of these ideas won the support of the central ruler over rival sects since they had a better claim to religious purity. The central kings had more resources and control than their predecessors over their kingdoms and could make the selection of a particular sect and the religious repurification more significant throughout the kingdom. Finally, to reinforce their image as dhammarajas who unified and purified the sangha, and as cakravartins or world Buddhist rulers, Dhammacetti and Tilokaraja tried to replace Pagan with their own capitals as the chief center of Buddhism (which meant that their capitals also had to have Mahabodhi replicas)." |
| Author/creator: | | ATSUKO NAONO |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.2MB-low res; 2.3MB-medium res; 4.3MB - high res) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Naono1996-ocr-mr.pdf
http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Naono1996-ocr-hr.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 04 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Buddhism in Myanmar: A Short History |
| Date of publication: | | 1995 |
| Description/subject: | | Contents:
* Preface
* 1. Earliest Contacts with Buddhism
* 2. Buddhism in the Mon and Pyu Kingdoms
* 3. Theravada Buddhism Comes to Pagan
* 4. Pagan: Flowering and Decline
* 5. Shan Rule
* 6. The Myanmar Build an Empire
* 7. The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
* Notes
* Bibliography |
| Author/creator: | | Roger Bischoff |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Access to Insight |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | The Kalyānī inscriptions erected by King Dhammaceti at Pegu in 1476 A. D. - Text and translation |
| Date of publication: | | 1892 |
| Description/subject: | | "...In 1478, King Dhammazedi from the Mon kingdom of Ramannadesa, erected ten stone inscriptions written with Mon and Pali language. ... The stone inscription is known among scholars as the "Kalyani Sima" or "Kalyani Inscription". The inscription deal mainly with the the reform undertaken by the king to purify Theravada Buddhism in his kingdom..." |
| Author/creator: | | TAW SEIN KO,(trans) |
| Language: | | Pali, Mon, English |
| Source/publisher: | | Government of Burma |
| Format/size: | | pdf (3.38MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924011724808 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 04 October 2010 |
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Monastic education
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Idealism and Pragmatism: A Dilemma in the Current Monastic Education Systems of Burma and Thailand |
| Date of publication: | | 23 May 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusion:
"In both Burma and Thailand the debate is far from over. While both the idealists and the pragmatists agree that the principal aim of the monastic education systems should be to train monks in the Dhamma and Vinaya, the two sides cannot agree whether or not steps should be taken to help fulfil some educational needs of the society by bringing in some secular subjects in monastic schools.
Today, in Burma, the curricula for the various monastic examinations focus exclusively, also narrowly, from the very beginning on the study of Pali and the TipiTaka. No English, mathematics, geography, philosophy nor history are included because they are considered secular subjects.[24] As a result, even educated monks find it difficult to relate the dhamma to lay people's lives.
In Thailand, too, the main curricula, such as the nak tham and the Pali parian, have remained exclusively religious. Although, since 1970 there has been a new curriculum, called sai saman suksa (lit. general way of education)[25], which combines the religious and the secular, it does seem this curriculum has been forced on the leadership and has not been a well thought through policy. This curriculum has too many subjects at each level means student-monks do not have sufficient time to learn properly either Pali and Buddhism or secular subjects.[26] In addition, this curriculum has been designed neither to replace nor to complement the traditional religious curricula, such as the nak tham and the parian curricula. It has thus the potential to distract, which I think it has done, the young monks from the nak tham and parian curricula. Indeed, its separate existence from the two highly regarded religious curricula, the nak tham and the parian, suggests that the idealists and the pragmatist have yet to work out the objectives of monastic education."...
Presented at the conference on "Burmese Buddhism
and the Spirit Cult Revisited - Revisiting Buddhism and the spirit cult in Burma [and Thailand]...
at Stanford University, USA by
Venerable Khammai Dhammasami, Oxford University, UK, 22-23 May 2004 |
| Author/creator: | | Venerable Khammai Dhammasami |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Stanford University, USA |
| Format/size: | | pdf (70.9 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.dhammadownload.com/images/Venerable-Dr-Khammai-Dhammasami-Biography.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 September 2010 |
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Wizzar cults
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Review by Bob Hudson of "Wonders of Mebegon Village" (Ashin Kunsal Kassapa (trans). |
| Date of publication: | | April 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "...This account in English of a contemporary wizzar cult has been
translated from Burmese and edited by a Spanish-born Buddhist monk.
It is a sometimes loosely-linked compilation, comprising hagiographies
of three wizzars, a biography of the medium through whom they speak,
testimonials from devotees and a glossary. Its value is increased by the
amount of detail provided: lists of participants in ceremonies, the prayers
recited, the quantities of ingredients and offerings, the timing of rituals..." |
| Author/creator: | | Bob Hudson |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS BULLETIN OF BURMA RESEARCH 5 2007 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (113K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 October 2010 |
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Hinduism, Brahminism
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Specialists for Ritual, Magic and Devotion: The Court Brahmins (Punna) of the Konbaung Kings (1752-1885) |
| Date of publication: | | 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | Abstract: "Though they formed an essential part of Burmese court life, the Brahmins
have hitherto attracted no scholarly interest outside Burma. Based on a
study of royal orders and administrative compendia as well as recent
Burmese research, this article gives for the first time an overview of
the origins, the ritual and ceremonial functions and the organization
of the punna. The main section is preceded by an overview of sources
and research questions. Special emphasis is given in the last part to the
noteworthy role played by punna in King Bodawphaya�s reform policies." |
| Author/creator: | | Jacques P. Leider |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Journal of Burma Studies" Vol. 10, 2005/06 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (804K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.niu.edu/burma/publications/jbs/vol10/index.shtml (JBS Vol. 10) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 December 2008 |
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