Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power
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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 vipassana meditation has brought about a change of worldview for millions of individuals, enabling them to think and act independently of the totalitarian regime. Jordt explains how the movement has been successful in its challenge to the Burmese military dictatorship where democratically inspired resistance movements have failed. Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement is a valuable contribution to Buddhist studies as well as anthropology, religious studies, and political science.
List of Illustrations ixPreface xiIntroduction 1Rise of the New Laity and the Restitution of the Ternary Order 15The Phenomenology of Satipatthana Vipassnna Meditation 56Sacred Giving and the Politics of Sincerity 96The Double Order of Law Monks, Gender, and Resistance 139From Relations of Power to Relations of Authority The Dynamics of Symbolic Legitimacy 170Epilogue 205Notes 221Glossary 245References 251Index 259
