sāsana), 1 and offer exorcism and healing to clients. The aim of these congregations was to promote and defend the Buddha’s dispensation ( P. These attracted large numbers of devotees, including many government employees, officials, and military officers. In the post-independence period in Burma, starting from 1948, a large number of hierarchical, initiatory, and secretive esoteric congregations were founded by charismatic leaders in urban areas. At the same time, this as well as other esoteric organizations have been ‘embedded in the state’ in intricate ways (Van Klinken and Barker 2009a).
From its own point of view, it is performing the state mainly ‘behind the scenes’, performing ritual violence in a ‘war’ to defend Buddhism and Burma’s national cultural legacy, with support from an ‘army’ of non-human beings. This article will especially highlight one such case: a Burmese esoteric Buddhist congregation I refer to as the ariyā-weizzā organization. However, performing the state may also assume quite unexpected manifestations, ones that seem to require the acceptance of certain ontological assumptions. Keywords: weizzā/weikza Buddhism state conflict politics Burma/MyanmarĪs suggested in the present issue, a variety of non-state militia/security groups are ‘performing the state’ independently of, or in interaction with, the state, occasionally exerting physical violence.
0 kommentar(er)
