Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power
by Ingrid Jordt
Ohio University Press, 2007 Paper: 978-0-89680-255-1 | eISBN: 978-0-89680-457-9 Library of Congress Classification BQ438.J67 2007 Dewey Decimal Classification 294.309591
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power describes a transformation in Buddhist practice in contemporary Burma. This revitalization movement has had real consequences for how the oppressive military junta, in power since the early 1960s, governs the country.
Drawing on more than ten years of extensive fieldwork in Burma, Ingrid Jordt explains how vipassanā meditation has brought about a change of worldview for millions of individuals, enabling them to think and act independently of the totalitarian regime. She addresses human rights as well as the relationship between politics and religion in a country in which neither the government nor the people clearly separates the two. Jordt explains how the movement has been successful in its challenge to the Burmese military dictatorship where democratically inspired resistance movements have failed.
Jordt's unsurpassed access to the centers of political and religious power in Burma becomes the reader's opportunity to witness the political workings of one of the world's most secretive and tyrannically ruled countries. Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement is a valuable contribution to Buddhist studies as well as anthropology, religious studies, and political science.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Ingrid Jordt is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She has conducted research in Burma since 1988.
REVIEWS
“Ingrid Jordt presents an insightful account of Burmese Buddhism, lay meditation and the construction of political legitimacy. Her analysis shows the complex ways in which Burmese culture mediates popular beliefs concerning power and millennial expectations. This book will be required reading for students of Buddhism, anthropology, religion, political science, and those with geographic interests in Southeast Asia, and particularly Burma.” —Juliane Schober, Department of Religious Studies, Arizona State University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
List of Illustrations 000
Preface 000
Introduction 000
Chapter One. Rise of the New Laity and the Restitution of the Ternary Order 000
Chapter Two. The Phenomenology of Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation 000
Chapter Three. Sacred Giving and the Politics of Sincerity 000
Chapter Four. The Double Order of Law: Monks, Gender, and Resistance 000
Chapter Five. From Relations of Power to Relations of Authority: The Dynamics of Symbolic
Legitimacy 000
Epilogue 000
Notes 000
Glossary 000
References 000
Index 000
Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power
by Ingrid Jordt
Ohio University Press, 2007 Paper: 978-0-89680-255-1 eISBN: 978-0-89680-457-9
Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power describes a transformation in Buddhist practice in contemporary Burma. This revitalization movement has had real consequences for how the oppressive military junta, in power since the early 1960s, governs the country.
Drawing on more than ten years of extensive fieldwork in Burma, Ingrid Jordt explains how vipassanā meditation has brought about a change of worldview for millions of individuals, enabling them to think and act independently of the totalitarian regime. She addresses human rights as well as the relationship between politics and religion in a country in which neither the government nor the people clearly separates the two. Jordt explains how the movement has been successful in its challenge to the Burmese military dictatorship where democratically inspired resistance movements have failed.
Jordt's unsurpassed access to the centers of political and religious power in Burma becomes the reader's opportunity to witness the political workings of one of the world's most secretive and tyrannically ruled countries. Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement is a valuable contribution to Buddhist studies as well as anthropology, religious studies, and political science.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Ingrid Jordt is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She has conducted research in Burma since 1988.
REVIEWS
“Ingrid Jordt presents an insightful account of Burmese Buddhism, lay meditation and the construction of political legitimacy. Her analysis shows the complex ways in which Burmese culture mediates popular beliefs concerning power and millennial expectations. This book will be required reading for students of Buddhism, anthropology, religion, political science, and those with geographic interests in Southeast Asia, and particularly Burma.” —Juliane Schober, Department of Religious Studies, Arizona State University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
List of Illustrations 000
Preface 000
Introduction 000
Chapter One. Rise of the New Laity and the Restitution of the Ternary Order 000
Chapter Two. The Phenomenology of Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation 000
Chapter Three. Sacred Giving and the Politics of Sincerity 000
Chapter Four. The Double Order of Law: Monks, Gender, and Resistance 000
Chapter Five. From Relations of Power to Relations of Authority: The Dynamics of Symbolic
Legitimacy 000
Epilogue 000
Notes 000
Glossary 000
References 000
Index 000
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC