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.