Changing Buddhist Practice in Burma - Online Burma Library

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Chapter Two Buddhism and Buddhist practice in early Burmese Politics Buddhist ideas and practices provided a blueprint for the organization of the early Burmese states. The significance of Buddhist practice in society is evidenced in the relations between laity and state. The main aims of state were to spread Buddhism and maintain the Burmese social and political organizations. Traditionally the Burmese king had a primary duty to propagate Buddhism, primarily by giving material support to the monks; and the role of monks was to preach. The propagation of Buddhism was thus largely conducted through maintaining and making the sacred canonical text, constructing religious buildings, pagodas, and architectures which were mainly donated by the kings, the queens, and the wealthy. Meditation as a personal practice may also have been practised by monks and a few laity. Buddhism in early Burma According to historical records, Buddhism was introduced into Burma after a 309 B.C. religious mission led by Sona and Uttara from the kingdom of Emperor Asoka in India to the Mon kingdom of Thaton (known also as Ramanna and Suvannabhumi) located in lower Burma. Buddhism reached central Burma in 1057 A.D. in the form of a sacred text by a Burmese king, 24
Annawratha, after his military conquest of Thaton. 1 With the sacred text and the help of a learned monk, Mahathera Arahan (known also as Shin Arahan), the king established Buddhism as the principal religion of the state and from there the religion was propagated to other parts of Burma. 2 With monarchical support, Buddhism gradually established itself over other existing religious beliefs and practices including the influential Brahmanism and the religion of the indigenous Pyu in Central Burma (Than Tun 1988: 23-6). Stone inscriptions (kyauk sar) provide evidence of religious practices in the first three periods: Pagan (1044-1354); Myin-zaing, Sagaing and Pin-ya; and Ava (1364-1555) (Hla Pe 1985: 36). Most of these inscriptions were set up by the rulers and ministers and their families, describing their good deeds and religious motives. With the proliferation of literature in fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Buddhist teaching in the form of verse and prose genres gradually became available to the people through learned monks and the writing of scholars (Hla Pe 1971: 60-8, Than Tun 1988: 27-37, Houtman 1997: 324). Theravada Buddhism influenced the foundation of early Burmese society in some very specific ways (Hla Pe 1971, 1985, Than Tun 1988, Mendelson 1975, Spiro 1982, Furnivall 1956: 17), similar to other Theravada Buddhist countries (Tambiah 1976, Gombrich 1988a, Bentley 1986: 290-3). 3 The traditional Burmese states exhibited unique symbolic and functional relations between Buddhism and society, with their history dating back perhaps more than a thousand years. 4 Buddhist ideas, belief systems, and practices are 25
Page 1 and 2: Changing Buddhist Practice in Burma
Page 3 and 4: To my teachers with gratitude To my
Page 5 and 6: Roles of laity and monk 36 Purifica
Page 7 and 8: Notes about the English spellings o
Page 9 and 10: Abstract Changing Buddhist practice
Page 11 and 12: Burma. The establishment, which thi
Page 13 and 14: scores of children as well) sitting
Page 15 and 16: contrast an ideal life for laity, i
Page 17 and 18: the thirty-one planes of existence
Page 19 and 20: practise meditation they actually l
Page 21 and 22: involves a 'physical group' includi
Page 23 and 24: of the meditator, i.e. the changing
Page 25 and 26: Anthropology of religion and the ch
Page 27 and 28: way meditation is practised by the
Page 29: Concentration and filled with raptu
Page 33 and 34: espoused by king and his court and
Page 35 and 36: This pulsating pattern is "a realis
Page 37 and 38: polity tradition as universal right
Page 39 and 40: Buddhist literature, and taught lai
Page 41 and 42: foremost merit maker needs the sang
Page 43 and 44: observing precepts, and listening t
Page 45 and 46: [strong king] might "attempt and ev
Page 47 and 48: parami meditation and satipatthana
Page 49 and 50: Endnotes I There are two major diff
Page 51 and 52: 23 Furnivall described the life sty
Page 53 and 54: Vispassana emerged in response to c
Page 55 and 56: always made an effort toward calmne
Page 57 and 58: With the breakdown of the tradition
Page 59 and 60: very distinctive. "Unlike the newly
Page 61 and 62: individual practice to cope with th
Page 63 and 64: government in 1954 hosted the inter
Page 65 and 66: Buddhism as the essential social an
Page 67 and 68: and its economic enterprises were t
Page 69 and 70: The first known reference to the id
Page 71 and 72: socialist economy. In the same way
Page 73 and 74: Under the socialist regimes, specif
Page 75 and 76: Secretary of NLD. They alleged she
Page 77 and 78: Aung San Suu Kyi practiced vispassa
Page 79 and 80: model, which is associated with NLD
Page 81 and 82:
having the 'white elephants', 30 ha
Page 83 and 84:
parami, and therefore redefines the
Page 85 and 86:
had parami as teachers to give guid
Page 87 and 88:
17 "Since 1988 over 5,000 Burmese M
Page 89 and 90:
Conclusion This thesis has focused
Page 91 and 92:
were increasingly aligned with soci
Page 93 and 94:
seemed to be accompanied by more th
Page 95 and 96:
irteinal-orul boundary Natcnal capi
Page 97 and 98:
Sources: http://www.mahasi.com The
Page 99 and 100:
Source: http://www.mahasi.org.mm/,
Page 101 and 102:
Source: http://www.mahasi.com/ 95
Page 103 and 104:
Bentley, G. C. (1986). "Indigenous
Page 105 and 106:
Houtman, G. (1997a). "Beyond the cr
Page 107 and 108:
Min Si Thu (1992). Myan-mar-naing-n
Page 109:
Tambiah, S. J. (1987). The Buddhist
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