The Four Khruba Stupa: Religious Place and Social Memory in Lan Na

Abstract

Theravada Buddhism in Lan Na culture area, which covers the borderlands area of the five nations of China, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, has its distinctive traditions that included (1) the uses of Dhamma script; (2) share similar Buddhist literature, folklores, and several legends; (3) synthetic Buddhism, and the belief in the Buddhist
saint or ‘Ton Bun.’ This article agrues that in the changing historical contexts which lead to the dislocation of Northern Thailand, the Khruba (charismatic Buddhist monk) phenomenon, which is perceived by ordinary peoples as the avatar of Ton Bun, can not only be understood as a form of religious revivalism, as Paul Cohen suggested, but also a process of social memory construction, and the Khruba is a
remembered person. Accordingly, the ideas, belief, and traditional practices that lay peoples in Lan Na culture area express and conduct, in paying their respect to Khruba, can be seen as a reflection of the local practice of social memory, in which ordinary peoples have to encounter with changes and uncertain lives and the living life in modern society.