Monastic Authority and Legitimizing Religio-Political Activism

Buddhist Nationalist Monks in Myanmar

Bibliographic Data

ID9204811
AuthorsNiklas Foxeus (0000-0002-1859-4789, Department of History of Religions, ERG, Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume70
Issue5-6
Pages542-574
Publication date2023-09-04
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNumen (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0029-5973 • E-ISSN: 1568-5276
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/15685276-20231705
OpenAlexW4386516624
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited25

The Buddhist nationalist movements that emerged during the political and economic liberalization of the second parliamentarian period (2011–2021) in Burma/Myanmar provide unique material for the study of monastic authority. The aim of this article is to examine two overlapping dynamics regarding how monastic authority is established and undermined. As for the first dynamic, the article examines three strategies in Buddhist nationalist sermons aiming to provide legitimacy for the nationalist monks. The second dynamic is a political outgroup criticism that became more common during the period in question. The article makes a distinction between generic monastic authority, which is the fundamental one, and nationalist monastic authority, as they are legitimized and established in different ways. Finally, the article argues that recognition of monastic authority by laypeople is based not merely on trust and respect but tends to be a more complex process

Aesthetics · Buddhism · Legitimacy · Nationalism · Period (music) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Cambodian History and Society · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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