Thomas Nathan Patton
Biographic Data
| ID | 1085243 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Nathan Patton |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas Nathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Patton |
| SIGNATURE | PATTON T N |
| AFFILIATIONS | City University of Hong Kong |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2450-1670 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 6 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 6 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Balinese concepts of letters in a Burmese context
Over the years of studying the magical powers of words in the Burmese Buddhist context, I spent much of my research on the inner workings of the letter and phrase combinations and how the correct construction, combination and usage of these words, known in Burmese as inn , aing , and sama made for a potent prophylactic against a host of maladies. So focused had I been on the words that I had not taken the time to consider the individual letters, …
The Buddha's Wizards: Magic, Protection, and Healing in Burmese Buddhism
Wizards with magical powers to heal the sick, possess the bodies of their followers, and defend their tradition against outside threats are far from the typical picture of Buddhism. Yet belief in wizard-saints who protect their devotees and intervene in the world is widespread among Burmese Buddhists. The Buddha's Wizards is a historically informed ethnographic study that explores the supernatural landscape of Buddhism in Myanmar to explain the p…
Phantasmagorical Buddhism: Dreams and Imagination in the Creation of Burmese Sacred Space
Despite the growing research done on sacred spaces in Buddhist Myanmar, no attention has yet been given to the role dreams play in the selection and development of such spaces. This article will address this lacuna by exploring how dreams are regarded by 20th-21st centuries Buddhists in Myanmar, as evidenced in autobiographies, ethnographic work, and popular literature in relation to the creation and evolution of sacred places. Although there are…
The Wizard King's Granddaughters: Burmese Buddhist Female Mediums, Healers, and Dreamers
This article on visions, possessions, and healing examines the Burmese cultural atmosphere in which stories, devotional literature, and religious magazines all recognize, endorse, and publicize the ways Buddhist weizz a ̄ (wizard-saints) interact with their female devotees to heal specific illnesses. Devotees possessed by a weizz a ̄ and carrying out his bidding can be seen as a creative yet culturally sanctioned response to restrictive gender ro…
Buddhist Salvation Armies as Vanguards of theSāsana: Sorcerer Societies in Twentieth-Century Burma
Since the early twentieth century, groups of Burmese Buddhist sorcerers and their followers have taken on the duty of guarding the Buddha'ssāsanafrom colonial, ideological, and Islamic threats.Sāsana(broadly, the teachings of the Buddha and the institutions and practices that support them) and how it should be sustained in the face of its inevitable demise have been central concerns of these societies, expressed in both their textual and oral rep…
In pursuit of the sorcerer's power: Sacred diagrams as technologies of potency
Drawing upon research for a dissertation on lived religion in Myanmar as it pertains to various religious cults and followers whose devotions are directed towards Buddhist sorcerer saints (weizzā), this article examines the technologies at work in potency practices involving the production and use of in (cabbalistic squares) and sama (diagrams and drawings using specific Burmese syllables). In particular, the paper will examine how such devices a…
Buddhist Salvation Armies as Vanguards of theSāsana: Sorcerer Societies in Twentieth-Century Burma
Since the early twentieth century, groups of Burmese Buddhist sorcerers and their followers have taken on the duty of guarding the Buddha'ssāsanafrom colonial, ideological, and Islamic threats.Sāsana(broadly, the teachings of the Buddha and the institutions and practices that support them) and how it should be sustained in the face of its inevitable demise have been central concerns of these societies, expressed in both their textual and oral rep…
The Wizard King's Granddaughters: Burmese Buddhist Female Mediums, Healers, and Dreamers
This article on visions, possessions, and healing examines the Burmese cultural atmosphere in which stories, devotional literature, and religious magazines all recognize, endorse, and publicize the ways Buddhist weizz a ̄ (wizard-saints) interact with their female devotees to heal specific illnesses. Devotees possessed by a weizz a ̄ and carrying out his bidding can be seen as a creative yet culturally sanctioned response to restrictive gender ro…
Balinese concepts of letters in a Burmese context
Over the years of studying the magical powers of words in the Burmese Buddhist context, I spent much of my research on the inner workings of the letter and phrase combinations and how the correct construction, combination and usage of these words, known in Burmese as inn , aing , and sama made for a potent prophylactic against a host of maladies. So focused had I been on the words that I had not taken the time to consider the individual letters, …
In pursuit of the sorcerer's power: Sacred diagrams as technologies of potency
Drawing upon research for a dissertation on lived religion in Myanmar as it pertains to various religious cults and followers whose devotions are directed towards Buddhist sorcerer saints (weizzā), this article examines the technologies at work in potency practices involving the production and use of in (cabbalistic squares) and sama (diagrams and drawings using specific Burmese syllables). In particular, the paper will examine how such devices a…
The Wizard King's Granddaughters: Burmese Buddhist Female Mediums, Healers, and Dreamers
This article on visions, possessions, and healing examines the Burmese cultural atmosphere in which stories, devotional literature, and religious magazines all recognize, endorse, and publicize the ways Buddhist weizz a ̄ (wizard-saints) interact with their female devotees to heal specific illnesses. Devotees possessed by a weizz a ̄ and carrying out his bidding can be seen as a creative yet culturally sanctioned response to restrictive gender ro…
Buddhist Salvation Armies as Vanguards of theSāsana: Sorcerer Societies in Twentieth-Century Burma
Since the early twentieth century, groups of Burmese Buddhist sorcerers and their followers have taken on the duty of guarding the Buddha'ssāsanafrom colonial, ideological, and Islamic threats.Sāsana(broadly, the teachings of the Buddha and the institutions and practices that support them) and how it should be sustained in the face of its inevitable demise have been central concerns of these societies, expressed in both their textual and oral rep…
The Buddha's Wizards: Magic, Protection, and Healing in Burmese Buddhism
Wizards with magical powers to heal the sick, possess the bodies of their followers, and defend their tradition against outside threats are far from the typical picture of Buddhism. Yet belief in wizard-saints who protect their devotees and intervene in the world is widespread among Burmese Buddhists. The Buddha's Wizards is a historically informed ethnographic study that explores the supernatural landscape of Buddhism in Myanmar to explain the p…
Phantasmagorical Buddhism: Dreams and Imagination in the Creation of Burmese Sacred Space
Despite the growing research done on sacred spaces in Buddhist Myanmar, no attention has yet been given to the role dreams play in the selection and development of such spaces. This article will address this lacuna by exploring how dreams are regarded by 20th-21st centuries Buddhists in Myanmar, as evidenced in autobiographies, ethnographic work, and popular literature in relation to the creation and evolution of sacred places. Although there are…
Balinese concepts of letters in a Burmese context
Over the years of studying the magical powers of words in the Burmese Buddhist context, I spent much of my research on the inner workings of the letter and phrase combinations and how the correct construction, combination and usage of these words, known in Burmese as inn , aing , and sama made for a potent prophylactic against a host of maladies. So focused had I been on the words that I had not taken the time to consider the individual letters, …
Buddhism (6 works) · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography (5 works) · Burmese (5 works) · History (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Art (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Anthropology (3 works) · Archaeology (3 works)