NegotiatingDhamma amid Uncertain Democratization: A Perspective on Myanmar’s Buddhist Responses to Sociopolitical Change
Keywords:
Myanmar Buddhism, sociopolitical change, nationalist monksAbstract
This essay examines some ways that the Buddhist monastic community (sangha) in Myanmar has been part of the political transition in that country after 2010. It relates these recent Buddhist-state interactions to deeper developments in Myanmar society and culture, especially those from the early 20th century. It argues that current developments in the Buddhist sangha and Myanmar’s political transition toward democracy are part of an ongoing and uncertain negotiation process. These negotiations are between a new, hybrid, and still embryonic democratically-elected government constrained by military power and diverse evolving forms of Buddhist organization and practice. Both arc entangled within an anxious and fractious society that is experiencing uncertain socioeconomic changes and conflicted transnational forces. The negotiations of a diverse Buddhist community thus have complex and unresolved relations to Myanmar’s society and its fledgling democratization.
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