Buddhism, Modernity, and the State in Asia: Forms of Engagement PDF
Preview Buddhism, Modernity, and the State in Asia: Forms of Engagement
B , M , UDDHISM ODERNITY AND S A THE TATE IN SIA This page intentionally left blank B , M , UDDHISM ODERNITY AND S A THE TATE IN SIA F E ORMS OF NGAGEMENT Edited by John Whalen-Bridge and Pattana Kitiarsa ISBN 978-1-349-46200-1 ISBN 978-1-137-32617-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-32617-1 BUDDHISM, MODERNITY, AND THE STATE IN ASIA Copyright © John Whalen-Bridge and Pattana Kitiarsa, 2013. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-33294-3 All rights reserved. First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–1–137–33294–3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: July 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Dedicated to Pattana Kitiarsa, 1968–2013 Pattana Kitiarsa, who has died at 45, was an exceptional, inspiring yet humble scholar. Born in Nong Khai, a northeastern province in Thailand, Pattana joined the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, in 2007. He was an exemplary colleague who selflessly gave of himself to students and coworkers. During his life he worked tirelessly to produce an enormous number of works, in Thai and English, and established himself as a respected scholar of popular Buddhism and transnational migration. His publications helped propel the cultural lifeworlds of Thai magical monks, migrant workers, and Muay Thai boxers into prominence in international academic debates. Battling illness he completed his last book, Medium, Monks, & Amulets, which came out less than three months before his death. What is even more spectacular is how Pattana was devoted to community service for the benefit of Thai migrant workers in Singapore. Even his deteriorating health by late 2012 did not stop him from his volunteerism, a reason why the Thai migrant community turned out in full force to pay their respects during his wake. Pattana will be greatly missed but his life, deeds, and scholarship will live on in our hearts and minds. He is survived by wife, Rungnapa, daughter, Nanrawee, and son, Tantham, aged 15 and 13 respectively. —Goh Beng Lan This page intentionally left blank CO NTENTS Introduction: “Buddhist Politics” as Emptiness: History and the Forms of Engagement in Asia 1 John Whalen-Bridge and Pattana Kitiarsa Part I Dependent Originations and Changing Destinations 1 Buddhists Confront the State 1 7 Charles F. Keyes 2 “Foremost among Religions”: Theravada Buddhism’s Affairs with the Modern Sri Lankan State 4 1 Mahinda Deegalle 3 Schools, Ritual Economies, and the Expanding State: The Changing Roles of Lao Buddhist Monks as “Traditional Intellectuals” 6 3 Patrice Ladwig Part II The Political Role of Sacred Things 4 Post–Pol Pot Cambodia and the Building of a New Stupa 9 5 John Amos Marston 5 The Relic and the Rule of Righteousness: Reflections on U Nu’s D hammavijaya 1 15 Tilman Frasch 6 Sacred Site or Public Space? The Shwedagon Pagoda in Colonial Rangoon 1 39 Donald M. Seekins viii CONTENTS Part III Monks, Nuns, and . . . Trees 7 Angry Monk Syndrome on the World Stage: Tibet, Engaged Buddhism, and the Weapons of the Weak 1 63 John Whalen-Bridge 8 Rebirth Control: Contemporary Inner Mongolian Buddhism and the Religious Authority of the Chinese State 209 Jonathan Mair 9 Do Buddhist “Nuns” Need the Thai Sangha? 2 29 Monica Lindberg Falk 10 Sacred Protests and Buddhist Environmental Knowledge 2 45 Susan M. Darlington Notes on Contributors 263 Index 269 I NTRODUCTION : “BU DDHIST P OLITICS ” AS EM PTINESS : H ISTORY AND THE F ORMS OF EN GAGEMENT IN A SIA John Whalen-Bridge and Pattana Kitiarsa I n an essay from 1962 entitled “Buddhism and Asian Politics,” Joseph M. Kitagawa wrote, “in any part of the world, the relation of religion to politics defies simple interpretation” (Kitagawa, 1962, p. 10), and this claim stands strong 50 years later. The particular ways of relating Buddhism and politics have, however, been debated through- out this half-century, and the notion that Buddhism is inherently qui- etist about the individual’s responsibility regarding the social causes of pain, a point also made by Kitagawa, has been debated by scholars associated with Engaged Buddhism. Perhaps, the turning point in how twentieth-century scholars thought about Buddhism in relation to the state would come a year later, with Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation. From Kitagawa’s vantage point in 1962, Buddhism and political activity were not very likely to be caught in the “strange bedfellows” position, and Kitagawa saw this separation as the natural consequence of Buddhism’s supposedly apolitical development: “Buddhism as such has never articulated what might be termed a Buddhist social or political philosophy” (1). As Kitagawa’s Buddha did not attempt to change the social order significantly, “the transformation of society would come only as a by-product of the religious transformation of individuals who constitute the social group” (1). And yet, the scholars in this volume insist that Buddhism has been intimately involved in Asian political history, sometimes as the source for socially progres- sive values that have been used to put pressure on governments to respect human rights, sometimes as an institutional force committed primarily to the enhancement of its own prestige, and at other times as a partner in ethnocentric repression. To refer to “Buddhism” and
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