Leaving Theravāda Buddhism in Myanmar

Bibliographic Data

ID20084101
AuthorsNiklas Foxeus (0000-0002-1859-4789, corresponding author)
Year2020
Pages116-129
Publication date2020-02-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueHandbook of Leaving Religion (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789004331471_010
OpenAlexW2979944530
ISBN9789004331471
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited7

This chapter examines narratives of Burmese Buddhists who have left the “traditional” Theravāda Buddhism in Burma, into which they were born, for the teachings – stamped “heretical” and illegal by the state – of a dissident Buddhist monk, Ashin Nyāna. His teaching is claimed to represent the Buddha’s original doctrine, in contrast to the allegedly later and corrupt Theravāda Buddhism. Based on fieldwork in Myanmar, the aim of this chapter is to – using various theoretical and analytical frameworks – investigate interlinked deconversion and conversion narratives of my informants divided into three different groups, based on their attitudes (secular, devotional, or spiritual seekers) and the kind of Buddhist practice in which they were mainly engaged before converting

Buddhism · Burmese · Doctrine · Gautama Buddha · Narrative · Theology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Cambodian History and Society · History · Philosophy · Religious studies · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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