Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement : Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power

Authors

• Ingrit Jordt

Files

Series

Research in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series

Description

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.

Copyright Statement

Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement © 2007 and 2014 by Ohio University Press is licensed under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language

eng

ISBN

9780896804579

Publication Date

7-31-2014

Publisher

Ohio University Press

City

Athens

Keywords

Myanmar (Burma), Buddhism, Vipassana meditation, meditation movement, religion and politics, military dictatorship, authoritarianism, political resistance, human rights, social movements, Buddhist practice, political culture, religious influence, anthropology, Buddhist studies, Ingrid Jordt.

Disciplines

Asian Studies | Buddhist Studies | Ethnic Studies | Political Science | Religion | Social Welfare | Sociology of Religion

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Jordt, Ingrit, "Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement : Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power" (2014). Ohio University Press Open Access Books. 120.
https://ohioopen.library.ohio.edu/oupress/120