DISSERTATION Titel der Dissertation A Quest for Transpersonal Ways of Knowing in Anthropology of Religion and Consciousness Burmese Approaches towards Healing, Salvation and Realization Verfasserin Mag. Veronica Futterknecht angestrebter akademischer Grad Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr. Phil.) Wien, 2012 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 092 307 Dissertationsgebiet lt. Studienblatt: Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie Betreuerin / Betreuer: Ao. Univ. Prof. Dr. Manfred Kremser 2 Picture 1: Bagan, Upper Burma (Veronica Futterknecht © 2007) 1 2 For Leon and René, My Beloved Companions 3 4 CONTENT CONTENT ....................................................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................. 11 INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL APPROACH TOWARDS RELIGION AND CONSCIOUSNESS AND MOTIVATION FOR THIS DISSERTATION .............. 13 BACKGROUND: THE FIELD ......................................................................... 17 ALONG THE WAY... ...................................................................................... 19 1 CENTRAL QUESTIONS, METHODS, THEORIES AND STATE OF RESEARCH ................................................................................................... 21 1.1 ORIENTATION IN THE FIELD .........................................................................21 1.2 CLARIFICATION OF TERMS, CENTRAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION ..................................................................... 22 1.2.1 ‗Religion‘ and its manifold dimensions ............................................ 22 1.2.2 Aim of the Dissertation ‗in a nutshell‘ and Central Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 25 1.2.3 Structure and Composition of the Dissertation ............................... 28 1.3 AN APPROACH TOWARDS A REFLEXIVE, AUTO/BIOGRAPHIC ETHNOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 31 1.3.1 Traditional Ethnography and the Positioning of the Researcher .... 31 1.3.2 Reflecting and Locating an Embodied Self in an Interpersonal, Interconnected, and Relational Field: Reflecting the ‗I‘ and the Divine Inspiration of Science ................................................................................... 37 1.3.3 The Necessity, Benefit and Authenticity of Exposing the Self and Making Transparent the Personal Transformation Process in the Field ... 40 1.3.4 The Personal and Interpersonal Dimensions of Fieldwork ............. 42 1.3.5 Reflexive, Narrative Ethnography, and Autoethnography ............. 44 1.4 THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES FOR THE STUDY OF TRANSPERSONAL EXPERIENCES........................................................................... 50 1.4.1 Behind the Scenes .............................................................................. 50 1.4.2 The Contribution of Transpersonal Psychology and the Idea of State-Specific Sciences: Personal Background ............................................ 56 1.4.2.1 Scientific Worldviews: The Cartesian-Newtonian Paradigm and the Perspective of Quantum Physics .............................................................................. 57 1.4.2.2 Development of Transpersonal Psychology and Main Themes ........... 64 1.4.2.3 Transpersonal Theory and the ‗Participatory Turn‘ ............................. 66 1.4.2.4 Scientific Paradigms: Limitations and Potentialities ........................... 71 5 1.4.2.5 Charles Tart: A Leading Proponent of the Transpersonal View ........... 77 1.4.2.6 State-Specific Sciences ............................................................................ 81 1.4.2.7 The Potential of Eastern Philosophy and Mental Training: Rosemarie Anderson‘s Intuitive Inquiry ................................................................................... 84 1.4.2.8 Intuitive Research Skills ........................................................................ 87 1.4.2.9 Organic Research: The Parable of a Tree .............................................. 90 1.4.3 Transpersonal Anthropology: Methodological Approaches in Anthropology of Religion and Consciousness .............................................. 94 1.4.3.1 The Origins of Transpersonalism in Anthropology: Early Representatives ........................................................................................................ 94 1.4.3.2 Main Ideas of Transpersonal Anthropology ......................................... 96 1.4.3.3 Training for Transpersonal Anthropologists according to Charles D. Laughlin ................................................................................................ 100 1.4.3.4 Embrace ................................................................................................ 104 1.4.3.5 Extraordinary Anthropology ............................................................... 106 1.4.3.6 The Experiential Approach in Anthropology of Religion and Consciousness ......................................................................................................... 108 1.4.3.7 Edith Turner and the Anthropology of Experience ............................. 114 1.5 PAST AND PRESENT RESEARCH ............................................................... 123 1.5.1 State of Research Within Social- and Cultural Anthropology concerning the Variety of Religious Phenomena in Burma ....................... 123 1.5.2 The Weikza-Phenomenon in Anthropological Literature ............... 125 1.5.2.1 Past Scholarship .................................................................................... 125 1.5.2.2 Present Scholarship .............................................................................. 131 1.5.2.3 Methods and Approaches in Studying the Weikza Phenomenon ...... 137 2 RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND SPIRITUAL PLURALISM ...................... 141 2.1 BUDDHISM IN BURMA ............................................................................ 141 2.1.1 Worldview and cosmological perspectives ..................................... 141 2.1.2 History of Burmese Buddhism ........................................................ 143 2.1.3 Contemporary Theravada Buddhism ............................................. 144 2.1.3.1 Vipassana- Meditation Movement in the 20th Century ....................... 144 2.1.3.2 Vipassana Meditation and its Main Characteristics ............................ 149 2.1.3.3 S.N. Goenka and the Worldwide Spreading of Vipassana Meditation151 2.2 COMPLEXITY OF BURMESE RELIGION: BUDDHISM AND THE SPIRIT CULT ........................................................................................ 153 2.2.1 The Cult of the Nats and the Cult of the 37 Lords ........................... 157 2.2.2 Characteristic Features of Nat-Worship: Nat-Pwe ........................ 159 6 3 GROWING INTO THE WORLD OF WEIKZAS ...................................... 161 3.1 THE JOURNEY BEGINS … ........................................................................ 161 3.2 THE ORIGINAL RESEARCH PLAN ............................................................ 164 3.2.1 Living, Learning and Laughing in Sayagyi‘s House ..................... 166 3.2.1.1 Pictures of Spirits? ................................................................................ 176 3.2.2 Consulting the Personal Oracle ...................................................... 182 3.2.3 Bo Min Gaung .................................................................................. 187 3.3 BURMESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE ....................................................... 192 3.4 SAYAGYI U SHEIN: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY ................................................... 195 3.5 IN U SHEIN‘S TEMPLE ............................................................................ 205 3.6 UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL HEALING .................................................. 212 3.6.1 Diagnosis of Dis-Eases: Natural or Supernatural ......................... 215 3.6.2 Relationships with the Spiritual World .......................................... 225 3.6.3 Embrace .......................................................................................... 236 3.7 GROWING INTO THE WORLD OF WEIKZAS .............................................. 239 3.7.1 Different Paths to Perfection .......................................................... 243 3.7.2 Alchemy: U Shein and the Gold Ash Powder ................................. 249 3.7.2.1 Brief Historical Account and Main Concepts of Burmese Alchemy .. 252 3.7.2.2 The meaning of the Elements, Mercury, and the Philosopher‘s Stone ................................................................................... 255 3.7.2.3 Major Stages of Gold Ash Powder Production .................................... 261 3.7.2.4 Healing with Alchemical Medicine ...................................................... 271 3.8 ENCOUNTERING THE WEIKZA ............................................................... 280 4 EMBRACE ........................................................................................... 303 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 313 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................325 INDEX OF PICTURES .......................................................................................... 325 INDEX OF INTERVIEWS .....................................................................................