Burma s Mass Lay Meditation Movement

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.

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Burma at the Turn of the 21st Century

This is the first study in a half century of one of the least known societies in the contemporary world. Burma at the Turn of the 21st Century provides insight into the everyday lives, concerns, and values of the people of this reclusive nation. Prominent anthropologists and religion scholars with in-depth, long-term knowledge of central Burma offer detailed analyses of the ways in which Burmese actively manage and create lives for themselves in the shadow of a military dictatorship. Their research crosses the domains of religious, political, and social life, examining public festivals and performance, local-state relations, literary life, lottery frenzies, mass meditators, political rumors and black humor, the value of children, changing male identities, and more in this impressive, wide-ranging collection.

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The Culture of Giving in Myanmar

How can people living in one of the poorest countries in the world be among the most charitable? In this book, Hiroko Kawanami examines the culture of giving in Myanmar, and explores the pivotal role that Buddhist monastic members occupy in creating a platform for civil society. Despite having at one time been listed as one of the poorest countries in the world in GNP terms, Myanmar has topped a global generosity list for the past four years with more than 90 percent of the population engaged in 'giving' activities. This book explores the close relationship that Buddhists share with the monastic community in Myanmar, extending observations of this relationship into an understanding of wider Buddhist cultures. It then examines how deeply the reciprocal transactions of giving and receiving in society – or interdependent living – are implicated in the Buddhist faith. The Culture of Giving in Myanmar fills a gap in research on Buddhist offerings in Myanmar, and is an important contribution to the growing field of Myanmar studies and anthropology of Buddhism.

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Global and Local Televangelism

An exploration of the many faces of televangelism in our world today, including Christian, Islamic and Hindu. The collection analyses the correspondences and major differences between global and local televangelism, focusing on the main individuals involved in televangelism, their practices and the social and cultural impact of their ministries.

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The Contemplative Practitioner

Meditation is a simple and practical activity that can enrich our lives and work in innumerable ways. It allows us to connect more deeply to ourselves and others and to the environment. In this book, John P. Miller, an expert in the field of holistic education, looks at mediation and how it can be integrated into one’s work and daily life. Twenty years after it was first published, Miller’s book remains one of the best guides to applying contemplative practice, covering a variety of theoretical, empirical, historical, and cross-cultural approaches. For this new edition, Miller has updated the text to reflect the growth of the mindfulness movement, new research into the brain, and his years of experience teaching and practising contemplation in teacher education. Whether one is interested in exploring how meditation can be used in the classroom or the workplace, or simply seeking to integrate it into one’s personal life, The Contemplative Practitioner is the perfect companion.

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Doctrinal Backgrounds of Vipassana Meditation

Vipassan -meditation (or practice) has become popular in South East Asia and the West. However, these practices aiming at reaching insight are taught in many varieties. The focus of this book is on the doctrinal sources of a number of vipassan -practices. Part one considers a number of methods by modern teachers and scholar-monks about vipassan -meditation, and compares these with the canonical Pali discourses they refer to.In Part two the author analyses which principles related to insight and practices to develop insight have been widely accepted in the Pali discourses. Futhermore, a comparison with some discourses available in English from Chinese versions is offered. This study is written for those who have a practical or theoretical interest in meditation techniques such as mindfulness and vipassan . In particular participants in retreats, who note that many different methods are taught, will find this a useful book."

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Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar

For centuries, Burmese have looked to the authority of their religious tradition, Theravada Buddhism, to negotiate social and political hierarchies. Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar examines those moments in the modern history of this Southeast Asian country when religion, culture, and politics converge to chart new directions. Arguing against Max Weber's characterization of Buddhism as other-worldly and divorced from politics, this study shows that Buddhist practice necessitates public validation within an economy of merit in which moral action earns future rewards. The intervention of colonial modernity in traditional Burmese Buddhist worldviews has created conjunctures at which public concerns critical to the nation's future are reinterpreted in light of a Buddhist paradigm of power. Author Juliane Schober begins by focusing on the public role of Buddhist practice and the ways in which precolonial Buddhist hegemonies were negotiated. Her discussion then traces the emergence of modern Buddhist communities through the colonial experience: the disruption of traditional paradigms of hegemony and governance, the introduction of new and secular venues to power, modern concerns like nationalism, education, the public place of religion, the power of the state, and Buddhist resistance to the center. The continuing discourse and cultural negotiation of these themes draw Buddhist communities into political arenas, either to legitimate political power or to resist it on moral grounds. The book concludes with an examination of the way in which Buddhist resistance in 2007, known in the West as the Saffron Revolution, was subjugated by military secularism and the transnational pressures of a global economy. A skillfully crafted work of scholarship, Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar will be welcomed by students of Theravada Buddhism and Burma/Myanmar, readers of anthropology, history of religions, politics, and colonial studies of modern Southeast Asia, and scholars of religious and political practice in modern national contexts.

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Asian Ethnology

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Speaking Rights to Power

How can "Speaking Rights to Power" construct political will to respond to human rights abuse worldwide? Examining dozens of cases of human rights campaigns and using an innovative analysis of the politics of persuasion, this book shows how communication politics build recognition, solidarity, and social change. Building on twenty years of research on five continents, this comprehensive study ranges from Aung San Suu Kyi to Anna Hazare, from Congo to Colombia, and from the Arab Spring to Pussy Riot. Speaking Rights to Power addresses cutting edge debates on human rights and the ethic of care, cosmopolitanism, charismatic leadership, communicative action and political theater, and the role of social media. It draws on constructivist literature from social movement and international relations theory, and analyzes human rights as a form of global social imagination. Combining a normative contribution with judicious critique, this book shows how human rights rhetoric matters-and how to make it matter more.

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New Left Review

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2600 Years of Sambuddhatva

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Ethnology

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Losing My Religion

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Choice

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IBR

The IBR, published again since 1971 as an interdisciplinary, international bibliography of reviews, offers book reviews of literature dealing primarily with the humanities and social sciences published in 6,000 mainly European scholarly journals. This unique bibliography contains over 1.2 millions book reviews. 60,000 entries are added every year with details on the work reviewed and the review.

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The Middle Way

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Buddhist Studies Review

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Anthropology News

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The British National Bibliography

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W F B Review

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