In this Book

  • Champions of Buddhism: Weikza Cults in Contemporary Burma
  • Book
  • Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière, Guillaume Rozenberg, and Alicia Turner
  • 2014
  • Published by: NUS Press Pte Ltd
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summary
Hidden at the margins of Burmese Buddhism and culture, the cults of the weikza shape Burmese culture by bringing together practices of supernatural power and a mission to protect Buddhism. This exciting new research on an often hidden aspect of Burmese religion places weikza in relation to the Vipassana insight meditation movement and conventional Buddhist practices, as well as the contemporary rise of Buddhist fundamentalism. Featuring research based on fieldwork only possible in recent years, paired with reflective essays by senior Buddhist studies scholars, this book situates the weikza cult in relation to broader Buddhist and Southeast Asian contexts, offering interpretations and investigations as rich and diverse as the Burmese expressions of the weikza cults themselves. Champions of Buddhism opens the field to new questions, new problems, and new connections with the study of religion and Southeast Asia in general.

Table of Contents

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  1. Title Page, Copyright
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. List of Illustrations
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. Foreword
  2. pp. ix-xvi
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  1. Acknowledgements
  2. pp. xvii-xviii
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  1. Note on Transcription
  2. pp. xix-xx
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  1. Preface
  2. Kate Crosby
  3. pp. xxi-xvii
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  1. Part One: Locating Weikza Cults in the Burmese Religious Landscape
  1. Chapter 1: On Saints and Wizards: Ideals of Human Perfection and Power in Contemporary Burmese Buddhism
  2. Patrick Pranke
  3. pp. 31-59
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  1. Chapter 2: The Longevity of Weikza
  2. pp. 60-81
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  1. Chapter 3: Spirits versus Weikza: Two Competing Ways of Mediation
  2. Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière
  3. pp. 82-108
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  1. Part Two: Defenders of Buddhism: Weikza Rituals for Safeguarding Religion
  1. Chapter 4: The World Emperor’s Battle against the Evil Forces
  2. Niklas Foxeus
  3. pp. 111-140
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  1. Chapter 5: From Bricks to Pagodas: Weikza Specialists and the Rituals of Pagoda-Building
  2. pp. 141-168
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  1. Part Three: Technologies and Figures of Power: Weikza Specialists as Diagram-Makers, Diviners, and Exorcists
  1. Chapter 6: In Pursuit of the Sorcerer’s Power: Sacred Diagrams as Technologies of Potency
  2. Thomas Patton
  3. pp. 171-191
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  1. Chapter 7: Healing through Weikza: Therapeutic Cults in the Arakanese Context
  2. Céline Coderey
  3. pp. 192-215
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  1. Chapter 8: Powerful Yet Powerless, Powerless Yet Powerful: Being an Exorcist in Burma
  2. Guillaume Rozenberg
  3. pp. 216-243
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  1. Postscript: What Kind of Buddhism is That?
  2. Steven Collins
  3. pp. 244-255
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  1. Glossary
  2. pp. 256-258
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  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 259-274
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 275-279
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 280-289
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