Buddhism, Power and Political Order
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BUDDHISM, POWER AND POLITICAL ORDER Weber’s claim that Buddhism is an otherworldly religion is only partially true. Early sources indicate that the Buddha was sometimes diverted from supra- mundane interests to dwell on a variety of politically related matters. The significance of Asoka Maurya as a paradigm for later traditions of Buddhist kingship is also well attested. However, there has been little scholarly effort to integrate findings on the extent to which Buddhism interacted with the polit- ical order in the classical and modern states of Theravada Asia into a wider, comparative study. This volume brings together the brightest minds in the study of Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Their contributions create a more coherent account of the relations between Buddhism and political order in the late pre-modern and modern period by questioning the contested relationship between monastic and secular power. In doing so, they expand the very nature of what is known as the ‘Theravada’. This book offers new insights for scholars of Buddhism, and it will stimulate new debates. Ian Harris is Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Cumbria, Lancaster, and was Senior Scholar at the Becket Institute, St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, from 2001 to 2004. He is co-founder of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies and has written widely on aspects of Buddhist ethics. His most recent book is Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice (2005), and he is currently responsible for a research project on Buddhism and Cambodian Communism at the Documentation Center of Cambodia [DC-Cam], Phnom Penh. ROUTLEDGE CRITICAL STUDIES IN BUDDHISM General Editors: Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism is a comprehensive study of the Bud- dhist tradition. The series explores this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of perspectives, using a range of different methodologies. The Series is diverse in its focus, including historical studies, textual translations and commentaries, sociological investigations, bibliographic studies, and con- siderations of religious practice as an expression of Buddhism’s integral religiosity. It also presents materials on modern intellectual historical studies, including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary, critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive and imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research works that inform and advance our knowledge and understanding of the Buddhist tradition. A SURVEY OF VINAYA THE RESONANCE OF LITERATURE EMPTINESS Charles S. Prebish Gay Watson AMERICAN BUDDHISM THE REFLEXIVE NATURE OF Edited by Duncan Ryuken Williams and AWARENESS Christopher Queen Paul Williams IMAGING WISDOM ALTRUISM AND REALITY Jacob N. Kinnard Paul Williams PAIN AND ITS ENDING Carol S. Anderson BUDDHISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS EMPTINESS APPRAISED Edited by Damien Keown, Charles David F. Burton Prebish, Wayne Husted THE SOUND OF LIBERATING WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS TRUTH OF THE BUDDHA Edited by Sallie B. King and Paul O. Kathryn R. Blackstone Ingram BUDDHIST THEOLOGY ZEN WAR STORIES Edited by Roger R. Jackson and Brian Victoria John J. Makransky THE BUDDHIST THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF UNCONSCIOUS PURNA William S. Waldron Joel Tatelman INDIAN BUDDHIST THEORIES EARLY BUDDHISM – A NEW OF PERSONS APPROACH James Duerlinger Sue Hamilton ACTION DHARMA CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST Edited by Christopher Queen, Charles ETHICS Prebish & Damien Keown Edited by Damien Keown TIBETAN AND ZEN INNOVATIVE BUDDHIST BUDDHISM IN BRITAIN WOMEN David N. Kay Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo THE CONCEPT OF THE TEACHING BUDDHISM IN BUDDHA THE WEST Guang Xing Edited by V. S. Hori, R. P. Hayes and J. M. Shields THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE IN THE EMPTY VISION BUDDHIST PALI CANON David L. McMahan David Webster SELF, REALITY AND REASON THE NOTION OF DITTHI IN TIBETAN PHILOSOPHY IN THERAVADA Thupten Jinpa BUDDHISM Paul Fuller IN DEFENSE OF DHARMA Tessa J. Bartholomeusz THE BUDDHIST THEORY OF SELF-COGNITION BUDDHIST Zhihua Yao PHENOMENOLOGY Dan Lusthaus MORAL THEORY IN S´ A¯ NTIDEVA’S RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION S´ IKS. A¯ SAMUCCAYA AND THE ORIGINS OF Barbra R. Clayton BUDDHISM Torkel Brekke BUDDHIST STUDIES FROM INDIA TO DEVELOPMENTS IN AMERICA AUSTRALIAN BUDDHISM Edited by Damien Keown Michelle Spuler DISCOURSE AND IDEOLOGY BUDDHISM IN THE PUBLIC IN MEDIEVAL JAPANESE SPHERE BUDDHISM Reorienting global interdependence Edited by Richard K. Payne and Taigen Peter D. Hershock Dan Leighton BRITISH BUDDHISM BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND Teachings, practice and development APPLIED PSYCHOLOGICAL Robert Bluck RESEARCH Edited by D. K. Nauriyal, Michael S. BUDDHIST NUNS IN TAIWAN Drummond and Y. B. Lal AND SRI LANKA A critique of the feminist perspective BUDDHISM IN CANADA Wei-Yi Cheng Edited by Bruce Matthews NEW BUDDHIST MOVEMENTS BUDDHISM, CONFLICT AND IN THAILAND VIOLENCE IN MODERN SRI Toward an understanding of Wat Phra LANKA Dhammaka¯ya and Santi Asoke Edited by Mahinda Deegalle Rory Mackenzie THERAVA¯ DA BUDDHISM AND BUDDHIST RITUALS OF THE BRITISH ENCOUNTER DEATH AND REBIRTH Religious, missionary and colonial Contemporary Sri Lankan practice and experience in nineteenth century its origins Sri Lanka Rita Langer Elizabeth Harris BUDDHISM, POWER AND BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT POLITICAL ORDER Buddhism, religion, modernity Edited by Ian Harris Richard Cohen The following titles are published in association with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies conducts and promotes rigorous teaching and research into all forms of the Buddhist tradition. EARLY BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS Noa Ronkin MIPHAM’S DIALECTICS AND THE DEBATES ON EMPTINESS Karma Phuntsho HOW BUDDHISM BEGAN The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings Richard F. Gombrich BUDDHIST MEDITATION An Anthology of Texts from the Pa¯li Canon Sarah Shaw REMAKING BUDDHISM FOR MEDIEVAL NEPAL The Fifteenth-Century Reformation of Newar Buddhism Will Tuladhar-Douglas METAPHOR AND LITERALISM IN BUDDHISM The Doctrinal History of Nirvana Soonil Hwang THE BIOGRAPHIES OF RECHUNGPA The Evolution of a Tibetan Hagiography Peter Alan Roberts THE ORIGIN OF BUDDHIST MEDITATION Alexander Wynne BUDDHISM, POWER AND POLITICAL ORDER Edited by Ian Harris First published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2007 Editorial selection and matter, Ian Harris; individual chapters, the contributors This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-94749-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–41018–5 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–203–94749–5 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–41018–2 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–94749–4 (ebk) CONTENTS Contributors xi Preface xv 1 Introduction – Buddhism, power and politics in Theravada Buddhist lands 1 IAN HARRIS 2 Idealism and pragmatism: A dilemma in the current monastic education systems of Burma and Thailand 10 VEN. KHAMMAI DHAMMASAMI 3 Rajadhamma confronts Leviathan: Burmese political theory in the 1870s 26 ANDREW HUXLEY 4 Colonial knowledge and Buddhist education in Burma 52 JULIANE SCHOBER 5 Reconstructing the Cambodian polity: Buddhism, kingship and the quest for legitimacy 71 PETER GYALLAY-PAP 6 The Cambodian hospital for monks 104 JOHN MARSTON 7 Buddhism, power and political order in pre-twentieth century Laos 121 VOLKER GRABOWSKY ix CONTENTS 8 Past, present and future in Buddhist prophetic literature of the Lao 143 PETER KORET 9 In defence of the nation: The cult of Nang Thoranee in northeast Thailand 168 ELIZABETH GUTHRIE 10 King, sangha and brahmans: Ideology, ritual and power in pre-modern Siam 182 PETER SKILLING Bibliography 216 Index 233 x CONTRIBUTORS Ven. Khammai Dhammasami was educated in Buddhist monasteries from his early years. He also studied Buddhism and Pali in Sri Lanka, where he obtained two MAs and an MPhil, and completed his DPhil at Oxford in 2004. He is now a trustee of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and abbot of the Oxford Buddha Vihara. His interests include vipassana¯ meditation, monastic education, and Pali and Shan Buddhist literature. Volker Grabowsky is Professor of South East Asian history at the West- fälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. He has specialized in the history and culture of the Tai peoples in northern Thailand and Laos. He worked at the Department of Southeast Asia Studies, Passau University (1990– 94), and subsequently joined the Department of Thai and Vietnamese Studies, Hamburg University (1994–96). From 1996 to 1999, he taught traditional Lao literature as a DAAD lecturer at the National University of Laos, Vientiane. He is currently supervising a research project on ‘trad- itional Tai polities and state formation in pre-colonial South East Asia’. His postdoctoral thesis Population and State in Lan Na: A Contribution to the Demographic History of South East Asia (in German) has recently been published (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004). Together with Andrew Tur- ton, he edited the volume The Gold and Silver Road of Trade and Friend- ship: The McLeod and Richardon Diplomatic Missions to Tai States in 1837 (Bangkok: Silkworm Books, 2003). Elizabeth Guthrie was born in 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Dunedin, New Zealand in 1980, where she lives with her husband and three adult children.