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Appendix
1
Mental culture and
politics in myth
Buddhist
mental culture did not come to play the role it did in Burmese government
without prior foundation in concepts of royal discipline and myth. These
practices and their resultant mental processes run through the very core of the
Burmese value system and underpin its vital legal and political institutions.
1.
Vipassana – a late historical transformation of the institution of
sacrifice
Buddhism and
its teachings on vipassana did not arise until after the Buddha's
attainment of enlightenment some time in the fifth century BC. The Buddhist
texts share with the earlier Upanishads strong scepticism of the emphasis in the
early Vedas on ritual and sacrifice. In the older Vedic teachings, rituals of
sacrifice (yajman) are seen as efficacious in stabilising cosmological
imbalances in the relationship between humans and gods. Such sacrificial rituals
have proved essential ingredients in conceptions of authority and government and
in the restoration of order. Buddhism, on the other hand, favours the view that
‘moral endeavour, contemplation and meditation are more exalted than Vedic
ritualism’.
In Buddhism the older concepts of sacrifice have been reinterpreted to become
activities of mental culture, as well as merit-making,
without, in my view, necessarily foregoing some of the social and political
impact of the sacrificial ritual itself. A major difference in this shift,
however, is the interiorisation of the cosmology within the person.
Shwe Aung, a
Sanskrit scholar and former Director of the Department of Religious Affairs,
argued that the Buddha introduced vipassana as the final and most
efficacious replacement for Vedic sacrifice and austerities.
First, they put
their trust in sacrificial offerings (yajati [sacrifice]) (to devas) so
as to enable them to build their lives as they wanted. When they became
dissatisfied with ‘yajati’, they turned to ‘tapa’
[austerities] practices. Again, when they became dissatisfied with ‘tapa’
too, they took up ‘bhavana’ (meditation [mental culture]). As the ‘bhavana’
they practised was not ‘vipassana bhavana’ … they could not achieve
the object they wanted.
Shwe Aung's
front cover encouraging the practice of vipassana as a form of
self–sacrifice, saying ‘daring to sacrifice little by little will ensure
good future existences.’
The first
phase, namely the transformation from the sacrifice of live animals to the
practice of austerities has been described by Heesterman in his Broken world
of sacrifice. In this, instead of physically killing to sustain the gods
with food so that they may provide the cosmology with continuity, sacrifice is
instead internalized into a mental construct which transforms the physical
killing into a ritual performed by vegetarian Brahmins. These Brahmins are
devoted to ascetic practices and turn the fire of sacrifice inwards while
engaged in the questions of life and death. This development has been
characterised as the ‘internalizing and psychologising of Brahmanical
sacrifice’.
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p344/392
The second
phase, namely the transformation from tapa to bhavana has been
described by Steven Collins as representing yet a further development in the
internalization of sacrifice.
The social
function of the irrationality of final nibbana is, I would suggest, the
preservation of the Buddhist tradition as an Indian religious system separate
from, and in certain crucial respects opposed to, the Brahmanical one. Just as
socially the Buddhist tradition has provided an alternative to the Brahmanical
religion of the sacrifice, with its supposed cosmic significance, so, too,
psychologically Buddhism has refused to recognize the microcosmic correlated of
the sacrifice in Brahmanical thought, the ‘self’ or ‘person’ within. The
absolute indescribability of nirvana, along with its classification as anatta,
‘not-self’, has helped to keep the separation intact, precisely because of
the impossibility of mutual discourse.
Collins
proceeds to argue that the reversal in Buddhism of the sacrificial fire-imagery
is linked to the Brahmanic concept of non-self.
The
opposition between Buddhist and Brahmanical ideas is expressed clearly and
symbolically by the reversal of fire-imagery. For Brahmanical thought, the fire
of the cosmos-sacrifice-self is the focus of all value; virtuoso practice to
gain ‘release’ involves burning off the distracting bodily and mental
accretions to this inner self by the heat of asceticism (tapas). For
Buddhism it is the cooling of the fire of craving by the detached practice of
the Middle Way between sensual indulgence and asceticism which is the task of
the virtuoso search. Thus, both the fire of desire, and the fire of life-in-samsara,
go out. Throughout Buddhist thought, we must recognize this reaction of
opposition to Brahmanical ideas and practices; the denial of self (atman)
is the most fundamental example, and symbol, of this attitude.
Because of
different ideas about loka and sacrifice, there is no longer a need, as
in Brahmanism, to undergo the ‘three births ritual’ of a man symbolic to the
sacrifice in order to attain to the sacred loka. Here, ‘the sacred
reality of [Brahmanic] ritual [as gaining entry into ritually sacred loka]
is replaced by states of consciousness attained temporarily in [mental
culture]’.
Also, the states of consciousness developed temporarily during one's life, are
identified with the same states that are attained at the end of one's life. In
other words, it is through mental culture, and not sacrifice, that one attains
the powers of cosmic travel, and even the attainment of nibbana in this
very life. The efficacy of ritual generally (including sacrifice) in making the
cosmos work is entirely attained in the act of mental culture itself. Vipassana
extinguishes the fire of craving within in a way that permits a transcending of
the entire cosmological system in the attainment of nibbana.
What I argue
in this book, however, is that we are dealing with a real world and a real
political context – we are not just dealing with philosophical texts. Though
the mental culture of politics begins with an inward turn, once it becomes
externalized through a new political philosophy, the insight contemplative act
continues, like the sacrificial act prescribed in the Vedas, to fulfil its
original political function as a fire sacrifice responsible for restoring order
to the universe.
Furthermore, the continued samadhic basis upon which vipassana
attainments rest have, in themselves, continued political significance since
these permit identities to persist in the conventional sense.
The
prevailing meaning of the Brahmanic idea of sacrifice in the Sutta-Pitaka,
the sayings of the Buddha, has been in terms of ‘the Great Charity’ [Maha-Dana],
i.e. the gift or oblation to the monastic order. This represents charity from
the lay person's point of view as an act difficult to perform. It is difficult
to successfully offer ‘without regret’, ‘without attachment’ and ‘with
the right aims’. Often, when Burmese monks preach they will emphasize not so
much the social benefits of the gift to the monastic order (how monks will enjoy
it, and so on), but more the great mental struggle that a donor must go through
if the donation is to be performed with any sense of perfection. In the ritual
of the gift, this struggle will include the loving-kindness meditation (metta-bhavana)
at the water libation ceremony marking the formal relinquishment of the gift,
and the subsequent distribution of merit to all planes of existence. This is
where Spiro's view of Burmese society, as based on Kammatic Buddhism, fails.
Today, in Burma, with the economic circumstances as they are, the donor is aware
more than ever before of the difficulties surrounding the successful
accomplishment of a donation, and is encouraged to practise mental culture and
to reflect on the impermanence of their existence.
Masefield has
argued that it is not just the donors who perform a sacrifice, but that his
readings of the Buddhist texts support the view that the recipients of charity,
namely the Buddha and the Buddhist saints, may themselves also be regarded as
representing the sacrifice.
They were for all intents and purposes a particular class of Brahmin who managed
to be more responsive to the needs of the people than caste Brahmins.
They perpetuated many Brahmin
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p345/392
practices, though with different meanings. He
argues that, ‘the savakasangha [the congregation of the eight aryas]
– and particularly the Buddha – were looked upon as Agni in both his aspects
as fire and the sun’; and that the significance of the spontaneous
combustibility of food offerings and the bodies of the holy ones, continue to
perpetuate this ideal of sacrifice.
It should also be noted that the requisite tools for sacrifice (pa-reik-hka-ra
[prikðra], P. parikkhara
[prikðr]),
have in Buddhism been reinterpreted as the monks’ Eight Requisites.
Traditions of
mental culture appear to maintain the institutional relevance, or fit into the
ritual niche, of sacrificial offerings in the old political traditions, but are
now adapted to a new context. Until the last century, Burmese monarchy worked by
means of advice from the Brahmanic community specially kept at the court for
that purpose. They were specialists in Brahmanic sacrifice that underpinned the
continuation and manipulation of the mundane world (loka). Mindon
attempted to turn his new capital Mandalay into a city state supreme in the
Buddhist practice of the forest tradition, which also signalled a change in
balance: it represents a relatively greater emphasis on ‘high Buddhism’, in
particular vipassana, over Brahmanism.
The view that a vipassana understanding would contribute to the
prosperity of the country was reasserted in the U Nu period. Now once again, it
resurfaces in the culture of post-military politics.
That
‘mental culture’ is perceived as aiding the restoration of cosmological and
political imbalance may be comprehended if we understand it as a ritual of
sacrifice. As Nyanaponika put it:
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A man with a
meditative mind lives at peace with himself, and with the world. No harm or
violence will issue from him. The peace and purity he radiates, will have
conquering power and be a blessing to the world. He will be a positive factor in
society even if he lives in seclusion and silence.
It is this
politically charged conquering power and intense heat of contemplative silence
that Weber misapprehended in his analysis of Buddhism as an essentially
world-denying religion.
2.
The role of mental culture in the world-origin myth
In Burmese
origin myths there is a direct correlation between the deterioration of mental
processes and the decline of worlds. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say
that Buddha history is the history of the cosmology, for cosmologies come into
being and end within the period of manifestation of new Buddhas.
The
best-known myth, with which most legal and historical works start, concerns that
of the origin of our current world, humankind, society and government.
Entry into the Brahma planes of existence, which are the twenty uppermost
cosmological planes, is attained by means of jhana as the result of
concentration meditation (samatha), a technique that includes brahma-vihara
or byahma-so tayà. The Byahmanas who live there are presumed to be there
exactly because they were successful in their concentration meditation, for
‘without Jhana there is no rebirth in the Brahma-world’.
The top
realms (nos 21–31), corresponding to the attainment of the fourth jhana
up to the fourth formless jhana, are not subject to destruction when the
world-system is destroyed. The other planes are destroyed by wind (nos 18–20,
third jhana), by water (nos 14–17, second jhana), and by fire (nos
12–13, first jhana) respectively. The lower eleven planes, including
the realms of the devas and the human realm, are destroyed more readily.
With the
longest life-spans in the Byahma realms, within the cosmology jhanas
provide refuge from disaster. They provide an extension of life to bridge
certain events deemed undesirable (e.g. disasters deemed to happen in some
realms). They also permit control over rebirth into realms that are desirable
(e.g. the appearance of a Buddha). Therefore, these heavens provide a depository
for future worlds, with continuity of life and the longest memory. They are a
reservoir of occult knowledge. This is why concentration meditators often
attempt to tap into these realms for ancient knowledge hoping to gain unusual
powers.
According to
the world origin myth, the world is destroyed by natural disasters. However,
these disasters are brought on directly by a-meritorious and immoral behaviour
brought about by the mental defilements of greed (lobha), anger (dosa),
and craving (tanha), which arise when the three ‘Buddha periods’ [budÎ
eKt\] (of his birth, authority and his sphere) diminish in influence in
the world. In Burmese, Buddhas, like kings ‘rule [worlds]’, i.e. it is
possible to speak of ‘Buddha rule’ [budÎlk\Tk\]
just as it is possible to speak of ‘king's rule’ [Burc\lk\Tk\].
At this time, human beings begin to live shorter and shorter lives. Fire
destroys all that has material manifestation. This link between natural
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p346/392
disaster
and mental defilements on the part of the inhabitants of the world is evident in
the classification of the Three Disasters [kp\ 3
på:], two of which, namely drought and war, are attributed to greed and
anger respectively, and lead to low forms of rebirth as a ghost and in hell
respectively.
Once the
earth recovered from the ravages of natural disasters, Byahmanas descended from
the higher heavens (in particular no. 17) upon expiry of their kamma.
They licked a tasty earth which had grown, developed craving [t%Ha],
and as a result they lost their self-illumination. Having lost their radiance,
they became frightened of the dark. The sun and moon rose, as did stars,
constellations and time.
Because their
spiritual power could no longer sustain them (unlike Byahmanas), they were in
need of more than spiritual food [nt\ûqza],
i.e. mere nutritive essence suitable for spirits without material manifestation,
and so they began to partake of solid food (the thought itself was no longer
sufficient), growing of food (food no longer grew spontaneously), preparation of
food (food became too coarse and could no longer be eaten raw), the need to work
arose (food had to be cultivated and cooked), gender differentiation occurred
(crudeness of food led to openings in the body to evacuate bodily waste), sexual
desire arose (brought about by prolonged a viewing of the material difference
between the sexes), and finally, differences in commitment to work (laziness of
some leads to hoarding), property (the need to hide in houses while having sex),
boundaries (to protect property), and the emotion of greed arose to accumulate
property and satisfy the senses.
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Hence, crime
evolved through property and greed. Thus, there evolved the need to elect
government and officers of the law who could mediate in disputes and guide the
people to good behaviour, and who would punish those who ought to be punished.
In return, the people would provide one-tenth of their rice. It is often
commented that, among the Indian religions of that time, only in Buddhism
evolved this concept of social contract between a people and their rulers.
This king was
known as Mahasamata, or Elected One, who was also the future Buddha.
He had attainment in moral virtue [qIl], a
one-pointed mind [qmaDi] and understanding
[pva]. Though at the time true
understanding was supposedly not available to the first human beings as there
were no Buddhist teachings,
and we are referring here mainly to the practice of tapas [C32], today
the latter two qualities, which are crucially dependent on the first, are
commonly interpreted as the result of successful ‘concentration meditation’
(samatha) and ‘insight contemplation’ (vipassana)
respectively. King Thibaw, the last king of Burma, was held to be 334,571st in
line of succession from Mahasamata.
King Mindon, the penultimate king, was exhorted at his coronation (abhiseka)
ceremony to ‘please act always as the good and righteous kings from
Mahasammata at the beginning of the world onwards’.
The Burmese royal line of descent, thus primarily serves to cope with the mental
defilements that arose as the result of the appearance of the human body and the
desire and greed that is associated with bodily existence.
However,
parallel to the institutionalization of government there was another
development, namely the attempt, rather than attempting to restore order by
electing a king, simply to totally renounce from the wrongs perpetrated in
society of man into the state of homelessness.
‘Good’ and ‘virtuous’ people spontaneously renounced this immoral and
degenerate human society to retreat into the forest. They attempted to return to
the original pre-human jhana state of Byahmana, which was the best state
attainable at a time when the Buddha period had expired.
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At that time some
men were thieves, some liars, some revilers, some punishers. Unseemly practices
had become common. Men who were replete with virtue [qIl],
concentration [qmaDi] and wisdom [SFa],[24]
that they might expel[25]
these ameritorious practices [`:g\egZmMYadkMam:egkToa:m;p>md],
made small huts of leaves and branches in the jungle, and lived there,
supporting themselves by begging in towns and villages which were under a king.
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p347/392
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Men who so put
away evil practices, were called Byamana or Brahmins.
It is at the
low-point of moral behaviour and the pending threat of natural disaster that the
practices leading to the attainment of jhana are called for most, for as
we have already noted, they provide a refuge even outside the Buddha period.
The state of jhana arrests the disturbance of the mental defilements so
that a clarity of perception may be attained without inhibition. This is what
inheres in the Burmese ironic expression, when faced with a person's impossibly
bad behaviour, ‘this is good for meditation’ [kmî@an\:k¥sraekac\:qv\].
Jhana
attainments are closely associated with the most important concepts of
(supernatural) power in the Burmese language, including: tan-gò,
theik-dí,
it-di,
and a-beik-nyan.
Political leaders, doctors and legal minds who cannot command these powers
themselves need a hermit, monk or Brahmin who has attained them.
Buddhas are
conceived as ‘reigning’ over world-systems by virtue of their superior
mental processes; as their minds are undefiled, they modify nature for the good
of all creatures, and accomplish good things in this world by having a good
influence with little or no need for authority. As long as their teachings and
practices prevail, derived from their intensive mental culture, then the world
system will not be destroyed. Their teachings encourage and help perpetuate the
correct mental processes which permit an orderly universe. The degree of
disappearance of the Buddha's teachings is often associated with a decreased age
at which people marry, human lifespan generally and also with calamities, for
without Buddhist teachings which instruct people to practically uproot their
mental defilements, there can be no order in this world. Furthermore, worship of
those with advanced attainment in the Buddha's teachings, and in particular
arahats, is often associated with the manipulation of weather-related phenomena
(as in the worship of the arahat Shin Upagupta) and misfortune (as in the Nine
Hpaya Ritual [Bura:9SU], which focus on
the Buddha and the nine arahats).
3.
Mental culture in Manu's legal tradition
The Manugye
describes how the law is discovered by the earliest judge known as Manu. As the
result of his mistaken judgment in a legal question concerning the ownership of
a cucumber that straddled two gardens, he renounces this life as a judge to
become a hermit in recognition of his own inadequate knowledge of the law.
Practicing concentration meditation [qmT]
he travels the world system in a state of jhana bliss, which permits him
to fly freely from place to place. While travelling like this, he discovers the
true laws written on the walls of the universe which he takes back to the
people. From these, supposedly, the Burmese laws were derived.
After his
renunciation he becomes known in the fullest sense as ‘Lord hermit who is
named Manu and who is true son of the king of Byahmas’ [òbhîamc\:fqa:rc\:òPs\eqax
mNumv\eqaRHc\req.]. His superior knowledge of the law and his status as
‘son of the king of Byahmas’ is directly related to his attainment of the jhana.
Thus, there
is a strong correlation between samatha, the Byahma realm, memory of the
past and legal judgment. This underpins concepts of territorial rights and state
authority.
4.
Mindlessly spilt honey drop causes destruction of Benaris
If the
attainment of a one-pointed mind is the attribute of a Byahmana (both as a
heavenly being and as a renouncer), a good king and a good judge, absence of
this attribute causes the downfall of entire kingdoms.
In the
concluding part of Manugye, there is an account of how the kingdom of
Benaris fell in an apparently innocent dispute over ‘a single drop of
honey’.
King Brahmadat, its ruler, had carelessly let a honey drop fall onto a
white cloth from his table while in conversation with a Brahmin. Neither the
Brahmin nor the king cleaned it up. Starting with a fly eating the honey, it
ends up with the dog attacking the cat that ate the rat that ate the lizard that
ate the spider that ate the fly. Neither the king nor the Brahmin interceded.
Eventually, the owners of the dog and cat came into dispute, causing dissension
in the royal family and bringing down the kingdom.
The concept
for ‘mindlessly’ here is ^eóNã K¥uuuuuop\qv\
which is often used jointly with ‘one-pointed mind’ (samadhi),
a characteristic of concentration meditation. Mindlessness is also the opposite
of the state of mind of ‘awareness’ and ‘mindfulness’ [qti]
stressed in the vipassana traditions practised by the NLD leadership. In
short, a king lacking in the state of mind brought forth by meditative practice
can bring down a kingdom.
5.
Royal discipline requires mental culture
There is a
significant overlap between royal discipline and mental culture. Out of the Ten
Royal Duties [W>md:o>mbMYad10Sád!W>mdk:a>mdW>mdWpMmMegb|:o>mb[Mm10Sád]
there is one in particular that pertains to attainment in mental culture, namely
no. 6, ‘austerity’ or tapas [tpM]
[C32].
This practice, observed in particular by the teachers Alara and Udaka of
Siddharta as a bodhisattva until he found the vipassana method to
become a Buddha,
is extremely close to the practice of samatha, which is similarly defined
as suspending the impurities in one's being. Today, these are still practised by
hermits who are mythically represented in opposition, or in support of, royal
authority.
In Burmese
history, kings were commonly conceived of as bodhisattva who strive for
enlightenment through the attainment of the Ten Perfections (parami). In
linking kingship with imminent Buddhahood, mental culture has significant
political and social implications.
6.
The mandala – enlightenment and political structures
Mental
culture is conceived of as affecting the course of nature and the political
order. The Buddha's attainment of enlightenment had a profound effect on the
entire universe, ‘causing all the ten thousand world systems to vibrate and
resound’, and as a result of which ‘the whole of the ten thousand world
systems reached the height of beauty’, with flowers and fruits growing out of
season.
With such
great effects on nature, it is no surprise that his enlightenment should also
have significant effects on the political order of the kingdom he was in at the
time and that of neighbouring kingdoms. As Sarkisyanz has argued, both Buddha
and king orient themselves and their powers towards the same ideal cosmological
centre.
The great
influence of enlightenment on political order is evident from the way
enlightenment is brought into Burmese history. After referring to the Buddha's
attainment of enlightenment (by means of vipassana) the Burmese chronicle
Glass Palace Chronicle (§35:50, §41:62)
refers to demarcated regions which arose surrounding the place of
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p349/392
enlightenment:
‘Having arrived at this bodhi mandala
districts and states arose in its circumference’ [NegkUaPeWLemÊh>mkYa:mYa
`YSm:egSMmZFm[QmdYnZo:m Meg>md:sfdSpFm:sfdMegb\FmTpAm:gQm|]. Various
lists are subsequently given of regions which thus arose, including the sixteen
provinces, the twenty-one provinces, the twenty countries, as well as various
royal lineages.
That royal
chronicles invariably start with events leading up to and including the
Buddha’s enlightenment. That fact that his enlightenment precedes and gives
rise to the structuring of political order is a measures of the importance of
enlightenment to royal history as a genre and to political history as a whole.
Mara is
conceived of as intent on preventing enlightenment and invading the
Bodhi-mandala, but due to the exceptional qualities of the Buddha, he was
‘unable to enter the immediate vicinity of the Maha Bodhi Tree (Maha Bodhi mandala).’
Once his enlightenment was attained, as he himself responded to Mara, ‘…
when I have attained the all-knowing truths, I shall be triumphant over the
regions of the world.’
In this context the enlightened and the right-viewed hold the cosmological
centre ground, as opposed to the wrong-viewed adherents of Mara-style intrigues
who are forced to occupy the margins in the distribution of power.
The
importance of the mandala to Burmese conceptions of political domain is
underlined by Thahkin Kodawhmaing who, concerned about the tendency to join with
India in the dyarchy question, referred to the positive effects of ‘the mandala
pillar of home rule’ [hun\:rU:pn\:tiuc\m‹ioc\Ta:liu>].
This concept was taken up by U Nu who, in his broadcasts in 1948, referred to
‘the mandala pillar of democracy’ [dImiukersIm‹ioc\]
and to ‘the mandala of pillar of national unity (harmony)’ [vIvæt\m‹ioc\].
7.
Vipassana and the founding of the Burmese State
It is this
potent, all-encompassing, transformative effect of the meditative and
contemplative mind, that inspired the legend of King Anawratha being moved upon
meeting the Mon monk Shin Arahant in 1056, to do two things. First, he used Shin
Arahan to introduce Theravada Buddhism to Pagan and purified the
‘degenerate’ Ari monks, subverting their local authority. Second, he
established the first Burmese Buddhist state in which regional spirit cults were
made subservient to Sakka, the Buddhist king of the gods. Shin Arahant
recommended the building of the Shwezigon Pagoda in which the nat statues
are represented. The Buddhist pagodas built during this post-conversion period
lend Pagan its fame today.
The meeting
is described as follows:
-
Shin Arahan
arrived in the vicinity of Pagan and was discovered in his forest dwelling by a
hunter. The hunter who had never before seen such a strange creature with a
shaven head and a yellow robe thought he was some kind of spirit and took him to
the king, Anawratha. Shin Arahan naturally sat down on the throne, as it was the
highest seat, and the king thought: ‘This man is peaceful, in this man there
is the essential thing. He is sitting down on the best seat, surely he must be
the best being.’ The king asked the visitor to tell him where he came from and
was told that he came from the place where the Order lived and that the Buddha
was his teacher. Then Shin Arahan gave the king the teaching on mindfulness (appamada),
teaching him the same doctrine Nigrodha had given Emperor Asoka when he was
converted. Shin Arahan then told the monarch that the Buddha had passed into
Parinibbana, but that his teaching, the Dhamma, enshrined in the Tipitaka, and
the two-fold Sangha consisting of those who possessed absolute knowledge and
those who possessed conventional knowledge, remained.
Shin Arahan
is alleged to have been a yahanda, and so his vipassana attainment
was supposedly complete. He preached to the citizens of Pagan, and Anawratha
left behind clay tablets with images of the Buddha, the king's name and Pali and
Sanskrit verses in which he expressed his aspiration, ‘through this may I
obtain the path to Nibbana when Metteyya is awakened’.
It should not
be thought that this is just an ancient myth with no contemporary relevance, for
Shwe Aung concludes his book with a long section on the renovation of
Htee-ta-hsaung Pagoda at Taung-pya village, near Pagan, where Shin Arahan is
thought to have gained pari-nibbana as a full yahanda. The Pakkoku
Sayadaw had made a search for it lasting more than 60 years beginning in 1929,
and today Shin Arahan's relics are enshrined in this renovated shrine.
Furthermore, there is mention that ‘the great … nationalism and patriotism
[that] had developed in the people of Bagan’ was ‘the result of the
teachings and the leadership of Shin Araham and the samgha’. It was only
through Shin Arahant's ‘great insight’ that Anawratha and he met. Hence Shin
Arahant and the Ariya that followed him were ‘the greatest
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p351/392
benefactors of the
Myanmars’. They literally permitted Myanmar to arise.
8.
The powers of the universal monarch
The voluntary
contract between the monarch and the people at the beginning of the world
supposedly came into conflict with reality when it ‘was replaced by the
capacity of the king to conquer, coerce and rule’.
When the Buddha was asked who was the ‘ruler of rulers’ he answered that it
was dhamma.
One who aims to make the dhamma the central concept of government, rather
than the thamada-contract, is characterised as a Universal King, or set-kya
mìn (short for set-kya-wa-deì Mìn [A:ra[kMdW>md],
from P. cakkavatin, ‘he who sets rolling (vatteti) the Wheel (cakka)’).
The physical
and outward qualities of universal kings are virtually indistinguishable from
those of universal Buddhas. In this concept, the cultivation of the ten ethical
qualities of the king involved ‘a long and strict regimen of deep meditation
and intense and constant introspection’. The symbols of the Cakkavartin were
acquired ‘through a mystic contemplation and communion and the source of all
his charismatic power is Dhamma itself’.
His chief emblem, the wheel, is a mystical symbol likened to the disc of the
sun.
-
In order that it
may appear before him a Cakkavatti has to keep the uposatha (fast
and penance) on the full moon day, purify himself and meditate.[49]
It is his personal acquisition and cannot be handed down in succession and it
sinks or slips down a little as the king approaches the end of his life.[50]
The notion
exists that restoration of political order must precede the advent of the next
Buddha. During the life before Gautama attained Buddhahood, he was a universal
king.
Many Burmese historical personalities have been proclaimed as, or expressed the
desire to be, cakkavatti in the past.
It suffices to note here that in the Burmese classification five kinds of cakkavatti
are recognized. The fifth type concerns those who have attained superior
knowledge through samatha meditation and ‘worldly knowledge’ (loki
panna).
Burmese
tradition recognizes these five types of universal king [A:raW>md5Wohed]
[source: :[ek\M†h
WEêj\a:oWmd]
as follows:
i) [`a[gP
A:ï[M†e]
A universal king who rules by means of forceful weapons [‘Z:mQ:mA:raW>mdWohed'
], e.g. atomic weapons in the contemporary era, or King Azathat in the
former era [`a[gP A:ï[M†e].
ii) [SgF[K
A:ï[M†e
YaCa] A universal king who rules by means of patronage by the wealthy.
iii) [`aLa
A:ï[M†e
YaCa] A universal king such as Thirídhammathàwká who has the authority
to command Kala Naga Min, the king of the dragons, and Karaweik, the king of the
birds.
iv) [SgFSO
A:ï[M†e
YaCa] Universal kings such as Mahathokdaná and Kaleingá Bàwdí who
have the marks of a universal king on their feet, and govern Yugando mountain up
into the five spirit realms.
v) [<RÎYf
A:ï[M†eYaCa]
In ancient writings this is referred a universal king by means of ‘traditional
skills’ [‘:R†Y
`MMm’]. It concerns:
a) the skills
of transforming [;o:mZgSmReg>mk`a>m]
elements such as lead [;l], iron [\n], mercury [SpOád] and
copper [k:rdQf] into precious silver and
gold alchemic stones by means of the mind [kÙwk>tWkQaWX
PáMmZgndWoad TpAmk`a>m], or
b) the
ability to enter the earth [kWpZõohed]
and fly in the sky [Weg=mdSon], or
c) the
ability to enter the earth [kWpZõohed]
and fly in the sky [Weg=mdSon] by means of
the powers [MQm;ged] derived from mundane
medicine [kZa:fSkXa<], such as the
wonderful gahta, mandan, mantarà, ìn, aing,
hkàhlé, lethpwé. It refers to the collection of mundane weikza
[kZa:f[eCêa]
and maw-hsaya [kWamBYa], who can
thus make happen what they want, and who thereby become gandari universal
kings ‘known as thama payàwgá itdí wádúná sekkayaza’ [‘\WîSkXa<
xOÎe[KgQ
A:ïYaCa
k;c' <RÎaYf
A:raW>md MegbTpAm:r:gQm|].
9.
Burmese identity, nationalism and brahma-vihara (samatha)
There is a
confluence between ideas about Burman ethnic identity and appropriate mental
culture for Burmese people. For example, dictionary compilers such as Hok Sein
put the derivation for both Myanma [òmn\ma]
and Burma [bma] as Brahma [òbahî].
This Brahma should be taken to mean the brahma of the Brahma realms, the highest
realms
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ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p351/392
of the cosmology.
Myanmar
[òmn\ma] and Bama [bma],
the words for Burma, are popularly interpreted as having derived from Brahma [òbhîa]. This has, for
example, been entered in the Burmese Encyclopaedia.
It is accepted in numerous books and in particular in ideological and
nationalist treatises, for example, on warfare.
Thahkin Kodawhmaing (Saya Lun) wrote a series of articles entitled ‘A chapter
in royal chronicle history’ [razwc\ AKn\:k‹].
In this he argued that prior to literary history, the Burmese were known in
Arakanese history as ‘those who derive from the lineage of the first Brahma
nats’.
Brahma has at
least three meanings in Burmese Buddhism. First, it is used to designate the
realms from which heavenly beings migrated at the beginning of this world-system
to become human beings. Second, it designates beings who renounced society into
the forest prior to the election of the thamada. Third, in Buddhism
Brahma is associated with a particular kind of ethics (see the citation from Dhammapada
below).
In other
words, it is a term closely related to the beginnings of human society prior to
material differentiation between individuals and groups, and prior to politics.
This term in turn, as has already been noted, is closely associated with the
attainment of jhana through samatha meditation and the practice of
byama-so tayà. These in turn, are associated with the political concept
of national unity through harmony [vIvæt\er:], prior to
political differentiation because of greed.
In Thahkin
Tika, Kodawhmaing furthermore traces the meaning and nature of the Dobama
movement in terms of its ultimate referent of Burmese (Bama) as derived from
Brahma.
He analyses a whole range of meanings to do with Dobama: the meaning of the
Dobama concept, the Dobama song, the meaning of ‘us’ (dó tiu>),
what we call Brahma, ways of reading (pronouncing) Brahma, a question posed by
Manle Sayadaw, the reply by (Zedawun?) Mingun Sayadaw, evidence from the Pagan
Chronicle on Myanma, the concept of Myanma as referred to by Shin Okkan, the
concept Myanmar from the Handbook of Words [ewåhartÊpkaqnIk¥m\:],
Salin Sayadaw's use of Brahma, the transposition between Bama and Byahma, and
about Bama as used in Padasodhana ganthi [pdeqaDng‹ik¥m\:].
He also mentions the Taunghpila Sayadaw as having drawn attention to the
relationship between Brahma and Bama.
Though modern
linguists might deride such popular derivations, we must not forget that this is
not a consideration held only by the Burmese, for the languages which had early
contact with Burma, such as the Indian and the European romance languages, Burma
was commonly referred to as Brahma. Indeed, even today in Hindi, Burma is known
as Brahma-desa. Though further research is needed to substantiate this,
it is likely that, since Portuguese contact with India predates contact with
Burma, the Portuguese name for Burma, Brahma, may have been derived from early
European contact through the languages of India.
Furthermore,
in a letter of 1759 in Dalrymple's Oriental Repertory (published
1791–97), the English briefly referred to Bûraghmahs and in the same source
in 1767 to the country as Buraghmagh. It is not until Sangermano's time that
‘Burmese’ had come into common usage, which Sangermano nevertheless
recognized as a bastardization of its Portuguese equivalent: ‘In fact in their
own language their name is not Burmese, which we have borrowed from the
Portuguese, but Biamma’.
Hobson &
Jobson identify ‘Mran-ma’ and ‘Burma’ as ‘identical with that (Bram-ma)
by which the first and holy inhabitants of the world are styled in the (Pali)
Buddhist scriptures’, and ‘Brahma-desa was the term applied to the
country by a Singhalese monk’ familiar to the authors of the [Hobson &
Jobson] Dictionary who returned to Ceylon.
There is,
therefore, no doubt that this etymology was popular, and it permitted a
particular conception of Burmese ethnicity. Some have played on this to work on
the origins of Burmans.
Thaùng Lwìn looks at popular
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33,
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999, ISBN
4-87297-748-3, p352/392
derivations, weaving together Burman identity as
not only having originated with deities from the Brahma realms, but associating
Burman identity more specifically with the attainment of the jhana, with
descent from the first king, and in turn, linking this to the Dobama slogan of
the 1930s.[63]
-
The
first time the term Myanma [WpQmWa]
is used is in 552 (1190 AD) in the Pagan inscriptions [Sg<nkMa>m<iQfVgYadk:oa:mAa]
though the term had been used 90 years prior spelt in a different way [mr
above ma] in Kyanzitha's QQmdMFmWtQmk:oa:mAa.
In Pali this is rendered as Maranmá [WYWî]
or Myanmá [WpWî].
Abots in former times, dating from the Taung Hpila [kMa>mTfZa
1578-1651], refer to Burma also as
Byahma [Up^îa].
-
The
\fYeUOãR†QRã
WaZaBYakMam who prepared kUaPUoa:YLQe]X:oWmd,
wrote Ze:ðe]nWgOÎ
WgOÎkUaP]
Up^îUa\aXQe]Xn
in SLaWaOe kZd<áNa and
page 4 of the footnote explained:
-
Up^îVa\a^i}4>md,
Up^îaM†Y^i}4>md,
WpQmWaSpFmk^aSYeXaXm\OãáMegb:egV[e\ouSikYa:m:oWmd,
\fYPYk:a\A\FmMegb~ :egXmMeg>mkMtbWp>mY\Tp>mbWpWî^gWAf:gndVl
Up^î^i}
WuQm:Qmk\a\Oãá:eg`Woad\eAe
-
As
is evident in Bawishapuran Kyan and the Thiridarakawtha the usage
of Up^îaVa\a
and Upk^îaM†Y
as instructional grammar used in Burma, I use, in order to inform others, Byahmá
[Up^î]
instead of Myanmá [WpWî],
which is the correct usage.
-
When
we inquire into the meaning of Bama, we find it has changed from the Pali
brahma [Up^îa]
and Sanskrit UY^îa.
As is often said, among the three creatures – humans, deities and Byahma [ZiQMmUp^îa]
– the word Byahma [Up^îa]
means living creatures known as Byahma [ Up^îa]
up there in the sky.
-
According
to this meaning Burman ethnicity [UWaZiWohed]
means Brahmanic ethnicity [ Up^îaZiWohed]
or to be in the lineage of Brahma [Up^îa].
It also means the kind of kings of the Saki lineage [\a:f[>mW>mdWohed],
the lineage of `\WèfRÏ;M†eX
which is the direct descendent of the Mahasamata (the first king) [W^a\WØMW>md],
emerged from the first four Great Byahma [Up^îa:rfd].
From that belief comes the patriotic [`Wohed\adCaMeWaQmSp]
slogan ‘Saki kind, hey us Burmans!’ (Saki-myò Heí Dó-Bama ["\a:fWohedk^b-OegUWa"]).
Besides, in the noble practice of Brahmacariya [Up^îAaYeX],
instructions of Byahmá [Up^î]
preaches eminence. According to this, the Burmese are superior to other peoples.
According to Hinduism, among four kinds of people, namely the warrior/king,
Byahmana/Brahmin, Vassa/Trader and Tuda/Poor [;M†eX
/ W>md, Up^ØL / SgLÌad, []
/:gQm\Fm, MgOÎ
/\iB>mdYl] the Burmese are the ‘lineage of warriors and the lineage
of the sun kings’ [;M†eX`RtXm
\:o\a:f[>mW>mdWohed], which is the highest of the four. It seems to
mean that Burmese are of ‘the lineage of the sun kings’ [\a:f[>mmW>mdWohed],
the lineage of `\WëeRÏ;M†eX
directly descended from Mahasamata [W^a\WMW>md],
who emerged from the four Great Byahma [Up^îa:rfd]
who are eminent. This is the belief from a religious point of view without
critical historical and linguistic analysis.
In this book,
I have presented the notion that practising byama-so tayà and dwelling
in brahma abodes is seen as doing the right thing for the country, and as
performing the highest politics irrespective of political ideology –
monarchists, socialists, democrats and dictators have all sang its praises. The
discourse of Burman as Byahma therefore lends credibility, at least, to the
repeated assertion by politicians that to practise this makes for better
Burmanness. The practice of samatha and the attainment of the jhana
thereby play an important role in assertion of ethnic identity. It has
historically played a major role in warfare, in the revolutionary tendencies of
the 1930 Saya San rebellion (who was regarded and proclaimed cakkavattin
by means of the above classications of universal kings (v.c) and in Thahkin
Kodawhmaing's political writings.
Nevertheless,
the chief characteristic of the concept is that Brahma is about ethics that go
beyond gender, age, status and culture. So the search for original Myanmar
culture will have to come to terms with this legacy beyond culture, as ethics
and wisdom.
The third
meaning of Brahmana, alluded to above, is a particular ethics. In the Dhammapada
published by the Department for the Promotion and Propagation of the Sasana in
1993, there is an interesting chapter that would appear to provide the ultimate
values of such Brahmana, namely chapter XXVI, in which Brahmana is identified
with those who take mental culture to its ultimate destination and become
arahat.
-
383. O
Brahmana, cut off the stream of craving with diligence, and abandon sense
desires. O Brahmana perceiving the cessation of the Conditioned, be an arahat
who realised Nibbana, the Unconditioned.
-
384. When the
brahmana is well established in the two dhammas (i.e. the practice of
Tranquillity and Insight Meditation), ten, in that knowing one, all fetters are
destroyed.
-
385. Him I
call a brahmana, who has for him neither this shore (i.e. the sense bases) nor
the other shore (i.e., the sense objects), and who is undistressed and free from
moral defilements.
-
386. Him I
call a brahmana who dwells in seclusion practising Tranquillity and Insight
meditation and is free from taints (of moral defilements), who has performed his
duties and is free from moral intoxicants (asavas) and has reached the highest
goal (arahatship). …
-
388. Because
he has discarded evil he is called a ‘brahmana’; because he lives calmly he
is called a ‘samana’ and because he gets rid of his impurities he is called
a ‘pabbajita’.
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series
33, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa,
1999, ISBN 4-87297-748-3, p353/392
-
389. One
should not strike a brahmana; a brahmana should not get angry with his
assailant; it is shameful to get angry with one's assailant.
-
390. For a
brahmana there is not benefit at all, if he does not restrain from anger to
which his mind is prone. Inasmuch as the intention to harm is desisted, to that
extent dukha ceases.
-
391. Him I
call a brahmana who does no evil in deed or word or thought, who is restrained
in these three respects.
-
392. If from
somebody one should learn the Teaching of the Buddha, he should respectfully pay
homage to that teacher, as a brahmin worships the sacrificial fire.
-
393. Not by
wearing matted hair, nor by lineage, nor by caste, does one become a brahmana;
only he who realises the Truth and the Dhamma is pure; he is a brahmana.
-
394. O
foolish one! What is the use of your wearing matted hair? What is the use of
your wearing a garment made of antelope skin? In you, there is a forest (of
moral defilements); you can clean yourself only externally.
-
395. Him I
call a brahmana, who wears robes made from rags (picked them up from a dust
heap), who is lean with veins standing out, who meditates alone in the forest.
-
396. I do not
call him a brahmana just because he is born from the womb of a brahmana mother.
He is just a bhovadi brahmin if he is not free from moral defilements. Him I
call a brahmana, who is free from moral defilements and attachments. …
-
398. Him I
call a brahman, who has cut the strap (of ill will), the thong (of craving) and
the cord (of wrong views together with latent defilements), who has lifted the
bar that fastens the door (of ignorance), and who knows the Truth.
-
399. Him I
call a brahmana, who, without anger endures abuse, beating and being bound to
whom the strength of patience is like the strength of an army.
-
400. Him I
call a brahmana, who is free from anger, who practises austerity, who is
virtuous and free from craving, who is controlled in his senses and for whom
this body (i.e. existence) is the very last.
-
401. Him I
call a brahmana, who does not cling to sensual pleasures just as water does not
cling to a lotus leaf, or the mustard seed to the tip of an awl …
-
403. Him I
call a brahmana, who is wise and is profound in his knowledge, who knows the
right way from the wrong way, and who has attained the highest goal (i.e.
arahatship). …
-
405. Him I
call a brahmana, who has laid aside the use of force towards all beings, the
perturbed as well as the unperturbed (i.e. the arahats), and who does not kill
or cause others to kill.
-
406. Him I
all a brahmana, who is not hostile to those who are hostile, who is peaceful
(i.e., has laid aside the use of force) to those with weapons, and who is
without attachment to objects of attachment. …
-
408. Him I
call a brahmana, who speaks gentle, instructive and true words, and who does not
offend anyone by speech.
-
409. Him I
call a brahmana, who, in this world, takes nothing that is not given him, be it
long or short, big or small, good or bad …
-
414. Him I
call a brahmana, who, having traversed this dangerous swamp (of passion), this
difficult road (of moral defilements), the ocean of life (samsara), and the
darkness of ignorance.
(c)
ILCAA 1999 - Gustaaf Houtman. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics.
ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series
33, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa,
1999, ISBN 4-87297-748-3, p354/392
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