DOCSLIB.ORG

Review: Kieffer-Pulz on Lammerts, 'Buddhist Law in Burma: a History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850'

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Review: Kieffer-Pulz on Lammerts, 'Buddhist Law in Burma: a History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850' H-SEAsia Review: Kieffer-Pulz on Lammerts, 'Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850' Discussion published by Allegra Giovine on Monday, April 6, 2020 Review recently published by H-Buddhism: Review published on Thursday, March 12, 2020 Author: D. Christian Lammerts Reviewer: Petra Kieffer-Pulz Kieffer-Pulz on Lammerts, 'Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850' D. Christian Lammerts. Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2018. 304 pp. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8248-7260-1. Reviewed by Petra Kieffer-Pulz (Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz)Published on H- Buddhism (March, 2020) Commissioned by Thomas Borchert (University of Vermont) Printable Version: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=55019 Buddhist Law in Burma is a brilliant study of the history and development of legaldhammasattha literature in Burma from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, demonstrating “the centrality of law as a sphere of Buddhist knowledge and literary production in Burma” (p. 1).[1] It represents the first scholarly engagement with this topic and is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in the development and character of Buddhist law in Burma and beyond. At the same time, it can serve as a guide through the wealth of dhammasattha texts in manuscript sources. D. Christian Lammerts has meticulously investigated these texts, to a large extent unedited and untranslated to date, and uses them as the basis of this study. In doing so, he manages to refute several preconceived notions that have shaped the view of the history of law in Burma in the past, such as the preconception that Buddhism “gave rise to no law aside from the vinaya” (p. 1); or that precolonial Burmese legalism was of an unchanging nature; or that the Burmese dhammasattha genre was born out of the Sanskrit dharmaśāstra literature;[2] or that the Dhammavilāsa dates back to twelfth-century Pagan; or that the anonymous Manu kyay or Manu raṅḥ akyay (before 1782) was the most authoritative Burmese legal treatise of the precolonial era, to mention only a few. The book consists of two parts: “Sources” and “Revisions and Reasons.” The first chapter introduces the topic and discusses it against the background of previous research. Chapters 2-4 (part 1) provide Citation: Allegra Giovine. Review: Kieffer-Pulz on Lammerts, 'Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850'. H-SEAsia. 04-06-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/11444/discussions/6095102/review-kieffer-pulz-lammerts-buddhist-law-burma-history Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-SEAsia a thorough and substantial study of dhammasattha literature, starting with traces of dhammasattha between 1250 and 1600 (chapter 2) and dealing in detail with the two oldestdhammasattha texts dating from the seventeenth century, the Dhammavilāsa dhammasat (chapter 3) and the Manusāra dhammasattha (chapter 4). The second part gives an overview of newdhammasattha s, produced between 1681 and circa 1850, their reception of the olddhammasattha s, and new developments (chapter 5). Chapter 6, which functions as the conclusion of the book, begins with a summary of the contents of the preceding chapters. Lammerts then proceeds to look into the questions of why the jurists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries advocated for the continuous production and use of the dhammasatthas, for whom they were compiled and to what end. The book provides a “Transliteration Table of Old Burmese, Burmese, Pali and Sanskrit Written in the Burmese Script,” an appendix with four dhammasattha bibliographies bolstered by rich notes, a bibliography, and a general index. Precolonial Burma knew a number of forms of law, such as the proceedings ofvinaya courts, collections of monastic judgments vinicchaya( , eighteenth to nineteenth centuries), the Pāli commentarial legal tradition, transcripts of disputes involving laypersons and sometimes monks from the epigraphic and manuscript corpus (twelfth to nineteenth centuries), the royal legal tradition since the thirteenth century, and theupade (Pāli upadesa) legislation by kings Mindon and Thibaw (nineteenth century). It is in the light of this legal diversity that Lammerts studies Buddhist law mainly as represented in the dhammasatthas, but also taking into account other witnesses. His two objectives are, first, “to map and describe the significance of the production, circulation, and transformation of dhammasattha treatises in precolonial Burma,” and, second, “to provide an account of the genre’s general jurisprudence—the way different treatises represent their authority and function, particularly in relation to Buddhism and Buddhist literature—and to examine how and why this jurisprudence changed over time up until the mid-nineteenth century, when British colonial rule began to encroach upon Burmese legal discourse and practice” (p. 2). Although no dhammasattha written before the seventeenth century has come down to us, the many mentions of the dhammasattha in epigraphic, literary, and legal contexts between the thirteenth and early seventeenth centuries indicate that dhammasattha “claimed jurisdiction over Buddhists” and that it was considered the final resort for judgments (pp. 43-44). This probably is based on the fact that (at least in part of the legal tradition) law was considered of cosmic, not man-made, origin, “retrieved off the boundary wall of the universe (cakkavāḷa)” by the seer Manu (p. 51). Manu was the judge of Mahāsammata, the first elected king of the world, and presented the law he had transcribed from the wall to the king. Even if this cosmic law is abbreviated, summarized, or distorted, its essence was considered to have remained unchanged throughout its transmission in these early times. As Lammerts puts it: “Witnesses to the circulation ofdhammasattha in Burma before the seventeenth century testify not to the presence of a corpus of variously authored and titled legal texts and commentaries but to the ongoing transmission of a sole authoritative treatise,” namely, “a dhammasat in the vernacular and associated with a figure named Manu” (p. 46). Chapter 3 deals with the Dhammavilāsa, the earliest securely dated example of the dhammasattha genre from Burma and Southeast Asia, written in the vernacular by an unknown author before 1637-38 (date of the exemplar of a manuscript copy of this text). As shown by Lammerts, the ascription of this text to twelfth-century Pagan goes back to the Monywe Sayadaw Ariyāvaṃsa Ādiccaraṃsī (1766-1834). The Dhammavilāsa is not one of the most commonly transmitted texts and Citation: Allegra Giovine. Review: Kieffer-Pulz on Lammerts, 'Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850'. H-SEAsia. 04-06-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/11444/discussions/6095102/review-kieffer-pulz-lammerts-buddhist-law-burma-history Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-SEAsia shows more substantial textual variations than other dhammasatthas, so that it sometimes “becomes hard even to speak of Dhammavilāsa as a single or unified text” (p. 57). Its largely independent recensions in Arakanese, Mon, and Shan manuscripts hint at an even greater variety. An overview of the contents shows the multiple topics covered: election of Mahāsammata and appointment of Manu as his judge; judges; witnesses and evidence; the biography of Manu; the thirteen characteristics of the Dhammasat; and a list of the eighteen titles of law, including the law of debt, deposit, sale without ownership, resumption of gifts, slavery, and inheritance. In several manuscripts the subgroupings are each introduced by a Pāli verse or prose text. The Pāli is followed by anissaya gloss, that is a work in which each Pāli word is translated into Burmese, sometimes also with additional literary or explanatory material (occasionally thisnissaya gloss is also missing). The intention (adhippāya) is then explained in an entirely vernacular passage. The jurisprudence visible in the Dhammavilāsa is at the same time “resembling and differing from figurations preserved in transregional Pali literature” (p. 179). Chapter 4 examines the Manusāra dhammasattha written in Pāli and vernacular, and authored in 1651-52 by a monastic, the Taungbhila Sayadaw Tipiṭakālaṅkāra, and a layperson, the judge Kaingza Manurāja. It is the first Burmese law text to differentiate between monastic (corpus vinaya) and lay jurisdictions (corpus dhammasattha). It consists of a Manusārapāṭha written in Pāli verse (about 525 stanzas; this is the pāṭha text), with a nissaya (the pāṭha text seems to not have been circulated independently). The nissaya in part deviates so much from the pāṭha text that Lammerts suggests the pāṭha to be a recension of an independent earlier work. The “Manusāra is the first dhammasattha to include an explicit discussion of laws regulating the inheritance of property belonging to the saṅgha as a community whose rules differ from those of nonmonastics” (p. 112). These secular laws disagree with the monastic law, a fact referred to by the authors, though no solution is offered. Lammerts provides us with a detailed and highly welcome biography of one of the authors, namely, of the monk Tipiṭakālaṅkāra, who also is the author of the Vinayālaṅkāra, a commentary on Sāriputta’s twelfth- century Vinayasaṅgaha, important for the monastic legal history of seventeenth-century Burma. Part 2 (chapter 5) addresses the reception of the olddhammasattha s in the dhammasatthas that originated between 1681 and the middle of the nineteenth century and discusses changes in the genre. The latter resulted mainly from the evaluation of dhammasattha law in light of the piṭakat (Pāli tipiṭaka). In 1681 the court of Ava had enacted a royal order to create a catalog of the piṭakat (Piṭakat samuiṅḥ) implemented by a number of monks. With the exception of Uttamasikkhā the authors of these catalogs excluded the dhammasatthas from the piṭakat.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Laws Governing Monastic Inheritance in Seventeenth-Century Burma
    Please do not remove this page Genres and Jurisdictions: Laws Governing Monastic Inheritance in Seventeenth-Century Burma Lammerts, D. Christian https://scholarship.libraries.rutgers.edu/discovery/delivery/01RUT_INST:ResearchRepository/12643453730004646?l#13643493720004646 Lammerts, D. C. (2014). Genres and Jurisdictions: Laws Governing Monastic Inheritance in Seventeenth-Century Burma. https://doi.org/10.7282/T35H7HWB This work is protected by copyright. You are free to use this resource, with proper attribution, for research and educational purposes. Other uses, such as reproduction or publication, may require the permission of the copyright holder. Downloaded On 2021/09/25 09:49:28 -0400 BUDDHISM AND LAW An Introduction EDITED BY REBECCA REDWOOD FRENCH MARK A. NATHAN CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY IOOI3-2473, USA Cambridge University Press is parr of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this tide: www.cambridge.org/9780521734196 © Cambridge University Press 2014 To Frank E. Reynolds This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutoty exception and to the provisions of relevant collecrive licensing agreements, for his lifelong work in the field no reproduction of any parr may take place without the written and his steadfast commitment to establishing permission of Cambridge University Press. Buddhism and Law as an accepted academic pursuit First published 2014 Printed in the United States ofAmerica A caralog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data Buddhism and law : an introduction I Rebecca Redwood French, State University of New York Buffalo Law School; Mark A.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhism and Written Law: Dhammasattha Manuscripts and Texts in Premodern Burma
    BUDDHISM AND WRITTEN LAW: DHAMMASATTHA MANUSCRIPTS AND TEXTS IN PREMODERN BURMA A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Dietrich Christian Lammerts May 2010 2010 Dietrich Christian Lammerts BUDDHISM AND WRITTEN LAW: DHAMMASATTHA MANUSCRIPTS AND TEXTS IN PREMODERN BURMA Dietrich Christian Lammerts, Ph.D. Cornell University 2010 This dissertation examines the regional and local histories of dhammasattha, the preeminent Pali, bilingual, and vernacular genre of Buddhist legal literature transmitted in premodern Burma and Southeast Asia. It provides the first critical analysis of the dating, content, form, and function of surviving dhammasattha texts based on a careful study of hitherto unexamined Burmese and Pali manuscripts. It underscores the importance for Buddhist and Southeast Asian Studies of paying careful attention to complex manuscript traditions, multilingual post- and para- canonical literatures, commentarial strategies, and the regional South-Southeast Asian literary, historical, and religious context of the development of local legal and textual practices. Part One traces the genesis of dhammasattha during the first and early second millennia C.E. through inscriptions and literary texts from India, Cambodia, Campå, Java, Lakå, and Burma and investigates its historical and legal-theoretical relationships with the Sanskrit Bråhmaˆical dharmaßåstra tradition and Pali Buddhist literature. It argues that during this period aspects of this genre of written law, akin to other disciplines such as alchemy or medicine, functioned in both Buddhist and Bråhmaˆical contexts, and that this ecumenical legal culture persisted in certain areas such as Burma and Java well into the early modern period.
    [Show full text]
  • Hinduism and Buddhism
    HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM AN HISTORICAL SKETCH BY SIR CHARLES ELIOT In three volumes VOLUME III ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL LTD Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane, London, E.C.4. 1921 First published 1921 Reprinted 1954 Reprinted 1957 Reprinted 1962 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY LUND HUMPHRIES LONDON - BRADFORD CONTENTS BOOK VI BUDDHISM OUTSIDE INDIA CHAPTER PAGE XXXIV. EXPANSION OF INDIAN INFLUENCE 3 XXXV. CEYLON 11 XXXVI. BURMA 46 XXXVII. SIAM 78 XXXVIII. CAMBOJA 100 XXXIX. CHAMPA 137 XL. JAVA AND THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 151 XLI. CENTRAL ASIA 188 XLII. CHINA. INTRODUCTORY 223 XLIII. CHINA ( continued ). HISTORY 244 XLIV. CHINA ( continued ). THE CANON 281 XLV. CHINA ( continued ). SCHOOLS OF CHINESE BUDDHISM 303 XLVI. CHINA ( continued ). CHINESE BUDDHISM AT THE PRESENT 321 DAY XLVII. KOREA 336 XLVIII. ANNAM 340 XLIX. TIBET. INTRODUCTORY 345 L. TIBET ( continued ). HISTORY 347 LI. TIBET ( continued ). THE CANON 372 LII. TIBET ( continued ). DOCTRINES OF LAMAISM 382 LIII. TIBET ( continued ). SECTS 397 LIV. JAPAN 402 BOOK VII MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF EASTERN AND WESTERN RELIGIONS LV. INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA 409 LVI. INDIAN INFLUENCE IN THE WESTERN WORLD 429 LVII. PERSIAN INFLUENCE IN INDIA 449 LVIII. MOHAMMEDANISM IN INDIA 455 INDEX 463 BOOK VI BUDDHISM OUTSIDE INDIA CHAPTER XXXIV EXPANSION OF INDIAN INFLUENCE INTRODUCTORY The subject of this Book is the expansion of Indian influence throughout Eastern Asia and the neighbouring islands. That influence is clear and wide-spread, nay almost universal, and it is with justice that we speak of Further India and the Dutch call their colonies Neerlands Indië. For some early chapters in the story of this expansion the dates and details are meagre, but on the whole the investigator's chief difficulty is to grasp and marshal the mass of facts relating to the development of religion and civilization in this great region.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Law in Burma: a History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850
    Journal of Buddhist Ethics ISSN 1076-9005 http://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics Volume 27, 2020 Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850 Reviewed by Nyi Nyi Kyaw National University of Singapore and University of Sydney [email protected] Copyright Notice: Digital copies of this work may be made and distributed provided no change is made and no alteration is made to the content. Reproduction in any other format, with the exception of a single copy for private study, requires the written permission of the author. All enquiries to: [email protected] A Review of Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850 Nyi Nyi Kyaw 1 Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850. By D. Christian Lammerts. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2018, xi + 288 pp., ISBN 978- 0-8248-7260-1 (hardback), $65.00. D. Christian Lammerts’s academically groundbreaking and elegantly writ- ten study of Buddhist legal discourse and jurisprudence in dhammasattha texts in Burma breaks new ground in four essential ways. First, Buddhist Law in Burma revisits and corrects two dominant views in Buddhist legal studies held and promoted by Max Weber and T. W. Rhys Davids, among others. Namely, that there is no Buddhist law except for the Vinaya, or the monastic code of law, and furthermore, that ethics and customs took the place of Buddhist law as such. Second, it critiques colonial-era European scholarship, pioneered by John Jardine and E. Forchhammer, that argues that precolonial Burmese Buddhist law only concerns customary or famil- ial issues such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance.
    [Show full text]
  • Petra Kieffer-Pulz on D. Christian Lammerts: Buddhist Law in Burma: a History of Dhammasattha Texts An
    D. Christian Lammerts. Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2018. 304 pp. $65.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8248-7260-1. Reviewed by Petra Kiefer-Pulz (Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz) Published on H-Buddhism (March, 2020) Commissioned by Thomas Borchert (University of Vermont) Buddhist Law in Burma is a brilliant study of The book consists of two parts: “Sources” and the history and development of legal dham‐ “Revisions and Reasons.” The first chapter intro‐ masattha literature in Burma from the thirteenth duces the topic and discusses it against the back‐ to the nineteenth centuries, demonstrating “the ground of previous research. Chapters 2-4 (part 1) centrality of law as a sphere of Buddhist knowl‐ provide a thorough and substantial study of dham‐ edge and literary production in Burma” (p. 1).[1] It masattha literature, starting with traces of dham‐ represents the first scholarly engagement with this masattha between 1250 and 1600 (chapter 2) and topic and is an indispensable tool for anyone in‐ dealing in detail with the two oldest dham‐ terested in the development and character of Bud‐ masattha texts dating from the seventeenth centu‐ dhist law in Burma and beyond. At the same time, ry, the Dhammavilāsa dhammasat (chapter 3) and it can serve as a guide through the wealth of dham‐ the Manusāra dhammasattha (chapter 4). The sec‐ masattha texts in manuscript sources. D. Christian ond part gives an overview of new Lammerts has meticulously investigated these dhammasatthas, produced between 1681 and circa texts, to a large extent unedited and untranslated 1850, their reception of the old dhammasatthas, to date, and uses them as the basis of this study.
    [Show full text]
  • Kingship in Islam: a Historical Analysis S
    Kingship in Asia and early America Titulo Basham, A. L. - Compilador/a o Editor/a; Autor(es) Lugar El Colegio de México Editorial/Editor 1981 Fecha Colección Aspectos culturales; Monarquía; Aspectos sociales; Gobierno; Budismo; Islam; Temas Hinduismo; Historia; Asia; América Latina; India; China; Japón; México; Libro Tipo de documento "http://biblioteca.clacso.org/Mexico/ces-colmex/20200911021041/kingship-in-Asia-and-early-America.pdf" URL Reconocimiento-No Comercial-Sin Derivadas CC BY-NC-ND Licencia http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.es Segui buscando en la Red de Bibliotecas Virtuales de CLACSO http://biblioteca.clacso.org Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) Conselho Latino-americano de Ciências Sociais (CLACSO) Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) www.clacso.org XXX INTEllNATIONAL OONG.U:SS OF HUMAN SCIENCES IN ASIA AND NOR.TH AFR.ICA Kingship in Asia and Early America Editor A. L. Basham El C.olegio de Mexico Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-onCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by- ncnd/4.0/ Priam-a edici6n 1981 D.R.© 1981 EL COLEGIO DE MEXICO Camino al Ajuaco !O Mmco !O. D.F. lmprao y hecho en M&ico Printed and made in Medco ISBN 968-12--0107-8 Contents List of Participants 1 Preface 3 Introduction 5 Sacral and Not-so-Sacral Kingship in the Ancient Near East John van Seters 13 Kingship in Islam: a Historical Analysis S.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Monastic Education in Burma and Thailand from the Seventeenth Century to the Present
    Between Idealism and Pragmatism A Study of Monastic Education in Burma and Thailand from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (D. Phil) In the Faculty of Oriental Studies University of Oxford By Khammai Dhammasami St. Anne’s College Trinity term 2004 Between Idealism and Pragmatism A Study of Monastic Education in Burma and Thailand from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Khammai Dhammasami St. Anne’s College Oxford University Thesis submitted for D.Phil Trinity term 2004 Abstract There has been in recent decades an increased academic interest in the Sangha, the community of monks, in Burma and Thailand. However, monastic education is still often misunderstood there, particularly in the context of the relationship between the Sangha and the monarchy. The introduction by the king of monastic formal examinations has simply been assumed to be evidence of royal devotion towards the Order, which was perceived to be in decline and was therefore in need of royal intervention. This thesis attempts to reveal the complex relationship between the Sangha and the kings on the question of monastic education, arguing that the need for a monarch to control his people during war led him to interfere in monastic education. It also examines the Sangha’s inability to define the objectives of its education systems. A large part of the thesis is devoted to reconstructing the historical process by looking at the impact of geopolitical developments on teaching methods. The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One introduces monastic education, its current problems and the conflict between idealists and pragmatists within the Sangha.
    [Show full text]
  • Gornall & Ruiz-Falqués
    Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume II: Lives Editor-in-chief Jonathan A. Silk Editors Richard Bowring Vincent Eltschinger Michael Radich Editorial Advisory Board Lucia Dolce Berthe Jansen John Jorgensen Christian Lammerts Francesco Sferra LEIDEN | BOSTON For use by the Author only | © 2019 Koninklijke Brill NV Contents Prelims Contributors ............................................................................................................................................................. xi Editors and Editorial Board .................................................................................................................................. xxxiii Primary Sources Abbreviations........................................................................................................................... xxxv Books Series and Journals Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... xxxvii General Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... xlii Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. xliv Section One: Śākyamuni: South Asia .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Barlaam and Josaphat ...........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Volume 1 Number 2 2018
    i Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Volume 1 Number 2 2018 Table of Contents V Editor’s Note 1 Understanding the Law and the Legal System as Practiced in the Buddhist Tradition Nandana Sri Talaguné 31 An Analysis of Compliance and Policy Gaps in Nation Building Tax in Sri Lanka K.K. Sanath Hettiarachchi and J.M. Ananda Jayawickrama 49 Appearances are Deceptive: Identity Crisis in Plautus’ Menaechmi and Amphitruo Muditha Dharmasiri 63 Personal Disability or Social Inability – Social Construction Interpretation and Community Partnership for Welfare of PWDs Sarathchandra Gamlath 83 Ālaya-vijñāna in the Yogācāra School & Bhavaṅga-citta in Theravāda Abhidhamma in Relation to the Process of Rebirth Ven. Zu Guang 101 Negotiating Marginal Subject Positions: The Dynamics of Class and Culture in the English Department Discourse of a State University in Sri Lanka Thilini Prasadika 113 Book Review Social and Cultural History of Sri Lanka from 13th Century AC to 15th Century AC N.A. Wimalasena Reviewed by S.B. Hettiaratchi ii Editor’s Note… It is with great pleasure that we witness the completion of the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (JHS), Number 2 of Volume 1, in December 2018. After months of hard work, overwhelmed with so much to do but with very little time, the effort has finally come to fruition. It is indeed rewarding to end with having the Journal as a spectacularly finished product in our hands. The JHS, the official publication of the Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS) of the University of Peradeniya, is here again containing a rich combination of research contributing to knowledge in the areas of Social Sciences and Humanities with pragmatic value.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Burmese History and Language Within
    A STUDY OF BURMESE HISTORY AND LANGUAGE WITHIN THE SOUTHWESTERN SILK ROAD REGIONAL SPHERE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Qiao Dai May 2019 © 2019 Qiao Dai ABSTRACT This thesis is about interstate cultural interactions along the Southwestern Silk Road regional sphere. My exploration incorporates two sections from the perspective of history and linguistics. Chapter 1 examines the historical sources regarding music performances sent from the Pyu kingdom in modern-day Myanmar to the Chinese Tang court around the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 9th century. I argue that the religious interactions of this region along the Southwestern Silk Road are overshadowed by the political situation on the border between Tang China, Nanzhao and a kingdom in Burma. Chapter 2 investigates the selection between causative and non-causative verbs together with the suffixes within the context of The Glass Palace Chronicle. I consider the influence of Pali language so that we can see the selection of causative and non-causative verbs in Sino-Tibetan language interacts with an Indo-European language through the religious influence. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Qiao Dai was born in Beijing, China in January of 1995. After graduating from Beijing National Day School, she attended Peking University from September 2013 to July 2017. She was first a student in the Burmese major and then she joined a combined major in World History and Foreign languages in her sophomore year. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she began her master’s study at Cornell University in the Department of Asian Studies in August of 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Lammerts Department of Religion, Rutgers University
    Dietrich Christian Lammerts Department of Religion, Rutgers University 70 Lipman Drive, Loree 130, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA email: DCL96 at rutgers.edu, web: http://rci.rutgers.edu/~dcl96, fax: +1.732.932.1271 Employment 2012–present. Assistant Professor of Buddhist and Southeast Asian Studies, Department of Religion, Rutgers University 2011–2012. Visiting Lecturer, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore Fellowships and Research Appointments 2015 (Spring). Visiting Scholar, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University 2014–2015. American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship 2014 (Fall). School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton (declined) 2010–2011. Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2008–2009. Fulbright-Hays Fellowship 2005–2006. Blakemore Freeman Fellowship for Advanced Study of Burmese Education 2010. Ph.D., Asian Religions, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University (Minor fields: Southeast Asian History, South Asian Studies) 2005. M.A., Southeast Asian Studies, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University 2002. M.A., Southeast Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1997. B.A., Philosophy, Williams College Publications I. Book Forthcoming (2018). Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250–1850. University of Hawai'i Press. II. Edited Volume 2015. Buddhist Dynamics in Premodern and Early Modern Southeast Asia, edited by DC Lammerts. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Reviews: Justin T. McDaniel. "Review of Lammerts, D. Christian; ed., Buddhist Dynamics in Premodern and Early Modern Southeast Asia." H-Buddhism, H-Net Reviews. July, 2016. [URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=47060] Natasha Reichle.
    [Show full text]
  • Development of Thai Buddhism and Challenges to It in 21St Century
    DevelopmentNew Theology of for Thai the Buddhism21st Century and Challenges to it in 21st Century ISSN 0972-1169375 April 2001, Vol. 1/IV Development of Thai Buddhism and Challenges to it in 21st Century Dr. Bachchan Kumar uddhism originated in India but it flourished in Asia and other countries of the world. In Thailand, Bpeople are devoted to Buddha. Buddha is in the heart of Thai people. During my recent visit to Thailand, I noticed activities of various anti Buddhism forces and evil practices which induced me to write this paper. This is not a microlevel study but it can be considered a macrolevel study. In this paper I discuss the development of Buddhism during various dynastic rules and examine various aspects of Thai Buddhism. I have also tried to delve the problems which are challenges to Buddhism in the beginning of this millennium. A large number of papers have been published by the scholars related to Buddhism but no one has drawn their attention to the challenges of Buddhism. Thai people are closely associated with Buddhism and is the national religion of Thailand. History of Thailand is the history of Buddhism. Since the foundation of Thai state, Buddhism played an important role in the social and economic life of Thai people. It is very difficult to say which form of Buddhism, Thais were adherent to during ancient period. No doubt, during the formation of independent Thai state, Davaravati kingdom, around 7th century A.D. in Central part of Thailand, Thai were adherent to Hinayana form of Buddhism as many Theravada Buddhist objects and monuments have been discovered.1 In later phase, Mahayana form of Buddhism was adopted by the Thais as several votive tablets and images of Avolakitesvara Bodhisattva and Maitreya have been discovered from this area.
    [Show full text]