| 1. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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A Bo Min Ghaung Temple
- 2006
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Ingår i: Burma Studies Conference 2006.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 8. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Contemporary Burmese Buddhism
- 2017
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Ingår i: The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism. - New York : Oxford University Press. - 9780199362387 ; , s. 212-235
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contemporary Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar is diverse and manifold, and the variety of “modern” forms of Buddhism have evolved since the colonial period in dynamic interplay with modernization, colonization, nation-building, and shifting socioeconomic circumstances. Complex hybrids have emerged, combining a wide variety of sources and influences, drawing both on the pre-colonial developments and novel ones introduced during the colonial period onward, reflecting the interests of those involved, identity politics, and power struggles. This chapter investigates the development of a textual, doctrinal Buddhism, defense and promotion of the Buddha’s sasana, moral community, and national identity in a diversity of movements: the Buddhist lay associations, systematic meditation, and Abhidhamma studies for the laypeople, the insight meditation movement and the esoteric congregations, Buddhist nationalism, socially engaged Buddhism, and individualist trends and prosperity Buddhism.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Esoteric Theravāda Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar
- 2013
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Ingår i: Digital religion. - Åbo : Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History. - 9789521228971 ; , s. 55-79
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Från dödsfruktan till lukrativt samarbete : individualistiska, instrumentella och performativa buddhistiska besatthetsritualer i en burmesisk ”ockult ekonomi”
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Detta paper kommer att behandla individualistiska, instrumentella och performativa besatthetsritualer i en burmesisk ”ockult ekonomi”, ritualer många ägnar sig åt bl.a. för att få framgång i affärer. Dessa ritualer utgör innovationer och verkar ha konstruerats i ett dynamiskt samspel med de ekonomiska reformer och moderniseringsprogram, som implementerades under den föregående militärjuntans (SLORC/SPDC) styre (1988-2011). Dessa ritualers popularitet har ökat dramatiskt i samband med de ekonomiska och politiska reformer samt den vidare liberalisering av den kapitalistiska ekonomin som den nuvarande semi-demokratiska regeringen inledde under den ”demokratiska våren” år 2011.Detta paper kommer att fokusera på föreställningen om en ”pakt” människor skall ha ingått i en tidigare existens med andeväsen från underjordiska skattkammare. För att inte behöva dö och återvända till skattkammaren i unga år, måste denna pakt bekräftas och förnyas med en speciell livsförlängande ritual kallad athek-taung, ”en vädjan om (förlängd) livstid” i den mänskliga världen. Ritualen etablerar samtidigt ett samarbete mellan andeväsendet och människan, som gynnar andeväsendet, den enskilde individen och den buddhistiska samhällsordningen. Dess utförande varierar från ett dramatiserat performance av besatta deltagare iförda dyra kostymer till en enkel ritual den enskilde själv kan förrätta framför ett altare.Jag kommer att beröra fyra aspekter av ritualerna: 1) bekräftelse av pakten med underjorden; 2) ekonomisk framgång; 3) starka emotioner; 4) upprätthållandet av den ”traditionella” sociokulturella ordningen och källan till kollektiv identitet. Det senare syftar på en rad förkroppsligade religiösa praktiker och andra handlingar med syfte att stärka buddhismens ställning i samhället i en tid av omvälvande sociala, politiska och ekonomiska förändringar då många oroar sig för att buddhismen är hotad.
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| 13. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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“I am the Buddha, the Buddha is Me” : Concentration Meditation and Esoteric Modern Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar
- 2016
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Ingår i: Numen. - : Brill. - 0029-5973 .- 1568-5276. ; 63:4, s. 411-445
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In postcolonial Burma, two trends within lay Buddhism — largely in tension with one another — developed into large-scale movements. They focused upon different meditation practices, insight meditation and concentration meditation, with the latter also including esoteric lore. An impetus largely shared by the movements was to define an “authentic” Buddhism to serve as the primary vehicle of the quest for individual, local, and national identity. While insight meditation was generally considered Buddhist meditation par excellence, concentration meditation was ascribed a more dubious Buddhist identity. Given this ambiguity, it could be considered rather paradoxical that concentration meditation could be viewed as a source of “authentic” Buddhism. The aim of this article is to investigate the issue of identity and the paradox of authenticity by examining the concentration meditation practices of one large esoteric congregation and tentatively comparing its practices with those of the insight meditation movement. It will be argued that the movements represented two varieties of so-called modern Buddhism (rationalist modern Buddhism and esoteric modern Buddhism) drawing on different Buddhist imaginaries and representing two main trends that are largely diametrically opposed to one another. They therefore represent two ways of constructing an individual, local, and national identity.
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| 14. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Leaving Theravāda Buddhism in Myanmar
- 2019
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Ingår i: Handbook of Leaving Religion. - Leiden : Brill Academic Publishers. - 9789004331471 - 9789004330924 ; , s. 116-129
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 16. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Mimicking the State in Burma/Myanmar : Royal, Nationalist and Militant Ideology in a New Buddhist Movement
- 2016
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Ingår i: Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. - : Brill. - 0006-2294 .- 2213-4379. ; 172:2-3, s. 197-224
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the early post-independence period in Burma, a large number of hierarchical, initiatory, and secretive esoteric congregations were founded by charismatic leaders in urban areas. These attracted many devotees, including representatives of the state. The relationship between the state and the esoteric congregations was tense, especially during the rule of the military governments (1962–2011), and the state sought to suppress the congregations in the early 1980s.In this article, one esoteric congregation—the ariyā-weizzā organization—is taken as an example of these congregations. First, the article demonstrates how the members of this congregation view themselves as performing the state, and shows what kind of power they perceive themselves to exercise. Second, in socio-political terms, the article seeks to explain why tensions emerged between the state and the esoteric congregations, and it demonstrates how these congregations have contributed to performing the state.
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| 17. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Monastic Authority and Legitimizing Religio-Political Activism : Buddhist Nationalist Monks in Myanmar
- 2023
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Ingår i: Numen. - 0029-5973 .- 1568-5276. ; 70:5-6, s. 542-574
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 18. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Possessed for Success : Prosperity Buddhism and the Cult of the Guardians of the Treasure Trove in Upper Burma
- 2017
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Ingår i: Contemporary Buddhism. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1463-9947 .- 1476-7953. ; 18:1, s. 108-139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Following the global spread of capitalism from the early 1990s, individualistic, non-institutionalised prosperity religion and ‘occult economies’ have emerged throughout the world, including South-East Asia, but have seemingly not yet been investigated with respect to Burma/Myanmar. This article focuses on the cult of the guardians of the treasure trove – a form of ‘prosperity Buddhism’ – in Upper Burma, wherein predominantly business women of lower middle classes perform possession dances to become successful in business. It has partly evolved from the lower status ‘traditional’ possession cult of the 37 Lords. The aim of this article is threefold. Firstly, it examines novel kinds of ‘Buddhicised’ possession rituals of higher status that discard religious specialists. These practices represent a democratisation of public spirit-mediumship and provide a route for success in business, agency and empowerment. Secondly, it is demonstrated that these cults seek to preserve Buddhism in the face of the current rapid changes in Burma. Thirdly, this article shows how these novel cults emerged in dynamic interplay with recent economic, social and political changes in Burma, as well as an increasing impact of globalisation.
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Prosperity Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar : Capitalism and Protecting Buddhism
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Following the global spread of capitalism in the early 1990s and an increasing impact of globalization, novel kinds of prosperity religions have emerged in Southeast Asia, including Burma/Myanmar. In the latter, it has entailed a gradual transformation of the religious field, with new movements, material infrastructure, rituals and imaginary. After the collapse of the socialist planned economy of General Ne Win’s government, SLORC-SPDC, another military government, seized power in 1988, which implemented modernization programs and a limited market economic system. In interplay with increasing globalization and the gradual development of a capitalist system in the 1990s, a number of “Buddhist” prosperity cults have emerged in Burma/Myanmar and have mushroomed quite recently, especially since 2011, at which time a semi-democratic government replaced the military dictatorship and has implemented a further liberalization of the economy. This paper will demonstrate that a variety of changes in the field of religion in Burma have occurred in interplay with the aforementioned social, economic and political transformations, and will especially focus on a novel kind of possession rituals, in which devotees engage to become successful in business and the like. Moreover, this paper will argue that such phenomena –prosperity religion/Buddhism –can be more conservative than what has otherwise been assumed.
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| 23. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Spirits, Mortal Dread, and Ontological Security : Prosperity and Saving Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of the American Academy of Religion. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0002-7189 .- 1477-4585. ; 86:4, s. 1107-1147
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Following the global spread of capitalism and increasing impact of cultural globalization since the 1990s, prosperity religion, nationalist movements, and religious fundamentalism have emerged throughout the world. This article argues that such global tendencies intersect in certain forms of "prosperity Buddhism" that have emerged in recent years in Burma/Myanmar. As this article demonstrates, a novel Buddhist imaginary linked to prosperity Buddhism has evolved that represents a transformation of previous notions. The article argues that it can serve as a resource mainly for women to get success in business and can provide them with a way to negotiate Buddhist identity and acquire a sense of ontological security in rapidly changing urban areas. It can also serve as a means for social control and maintaining hegemonic power relations. For ritual specialists, these novel cults serve as the recurrent strategy of saving the Buddha's dispensation in the face of rapid change.
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| 25. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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The Buddha was a devoted nationalist : Buddhist nationalism, ressentiment, and defending Buddhism in Myanmar
- 2019
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Ingår i: Religion. - 0048-721X .- 1096-1151. ; 49:4, s. 661-690
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since 2012, Buddhist nationalist movements – especially the 969 movement and Ma Ba Tha – have emerged in Burma/Myanmar seeking to defend Buddhism against mainly the Muslim minority, with monks delivering nationalist anti-Muslim sermons to huge audiences. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how a discriminatory nationalist agenda can – by appealing to the common trope of Buddhism-in-danger – appear to be justified to Buddhists. Based mainly on nationalist sermons, as well as on fieldwork and nationalist publications, this article examines discourse on the Buddha as a nationalist. First, it argues that Burmese Buddhist nationalism, analytically, should be understood as a ressentiment ideological discourse that also informs a Buddhist-nationalist discipline claimed to bring karmic merit. Second, it traces the roots of this ideology to the colonial period. Third, the article outlines and seeks to define how ‘Buddhist nationalism’ should be understood in an emic sense.
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| 26. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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The Buddhist Vidyādharas (Weikza/Weizzā) in Burma/Myanmar
- 2022
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Ingår i: Oxford Research Encyclopedias. - : Oxford University Press.
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The notion of the vidyādhara, “bearer of wisdom/practical knowledge/ritual lore,” was a common figure in various Indian traditions and appeared in Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain texts, as well as in Indian narrative literature. Originally, these beings were depicted as semi-divine, youthful figures flying about in the atmosphere between heaven and earth, endowed with supernormal powers. Later, this figure came to be viewed as a soteriological state that a human being could attain in his/her present life through religious practice, thereby becoming a kind of superhuman, god-like being. This interpretation was mainly encountered in Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain tantric traditions. In Indian Buddhism, the ideal of becoming a vidyādhara came to be linked to a variety of practices, including alchemy, meditation, and the recitation of mantras, by which supernormal powers could be acquired. Such practices were also performed to achieve spiritual success by a bodhisattva on the long path to buddhahood. The concept of a vidyādhara as a soteriological ideal for humans to realize in their present lives has been emphasized not merely in Indian but also in Tibetan and Burmese traditions, where it became localized and adapted to the local culture and society.
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| 27. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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The Buddhist World Emperor's Mission : Millenarian Buddhism in Postcolonial Burma
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In early postcolonial Burma, a number of so-called royal esoteric associations with a millenarian and eschatological orientation, and founded by persons believed to be the world emperor, emerged in response to political turmoil, nation-building projects, modernization, and after-effects of colonialism. These Theravāda Buddhist esoteric congregations, revivalist and innovative at the same time, were indicative of a general crisis of authority and identity. Like other new religious movements that emerged in Southeast Asia in the wake of World War II, the royal esoteric associations represented a resurgence of religion and a quest for identity in the postcolonial era. This dissertation, based on fieldwork (2005–2008), is a study of one such royal esoteric association founded in the early 1950s. The aim is to analyze the variety of discourses (tenets, practices, speeches, etc.) of the congregation. It is demonstrated that its royal, nationalist, bodhisatta, and millenarian discourses and rhetoric served as important sources of identity and empowerment in the face of modernization and the pervasive presence of the colonial legacy and Western political ideologies. The latter were perceived as threatening to undermine the authority and validity not only of Buddhism but of the indigenous traditions and culture as well. One solution to this postcolonial predicament was a cosmic “battle” against the evil forces, fought by supernatural means, with the aim to decolonize the Burmese mind and society. It is also shown that at least three different discourses competed with regard to what constitutes “authentic” Buddhism in postcolonial Burma. Finally, the study critically examines previous scholarship on the royal esoteric associations and seeks to present a new interpretation of this phenomenon.
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| 28. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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The Weizzā traditions of Burma
- 2007
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Ingår i: Religion on the Borders.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 29. |
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| 30. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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The World Emperor's Battle against the Evil Forces
- 2012
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Ingår i: The Journal of Burma Studies. - : Project Muse. - 1094-799X .- 2010-314X. ; 16:2, s. 213-250
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In early postcolonial Burma, millenarian prophecies about the imminent arrival of Setkya Min, the world emperor, circulated. This exalted personage was expected to protect Buddhism, and usher in a golden age for Buddhism and Burma. In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, the anthropologists Michael Mendelson and Melford E. Spiro encountered a perplexing phenomenon — a few so-called royal esoteric congregations whose leaders behaved as kings and were treated as such by their followers. These leaders were held to fulfill the prophecies and thus to be impersonations of the powerful figure Setkya Min, a weikza, a future Buddha, and a righteous king.Mendelson and Spiro understood these congregations as being continuous with the anti-colonial and even the pre-colonial millenarian rebellions. Until now, this interpretation has remained uncontested, probably due to lack of empirical evidence, since most scholars have assumed that these kinds of congregations ceased to exist long time ago. However, there still exists one such congregation in Burma, and was founded in the early 1950s. This article demonstrates how this congregation has waged a "battle" with supernatural means against what it perceived as the evil, anti-Buddhist forces to save Buddhism from extinction, and that it is just as anti-colonial and anti-Western as the anti-colonial rebellions. Moreover, the article argues that this congregation is similar to those studied by Mendelson and Spiro, and that these kinds of congregations should be understood as new Buddhist movements emerging in response to crises of authority and identity, to projects of modernization and nation-building, and to political turmoil in the postcolonial period. These congregations represented a quest for identity (individual, communal, and national), and are comparable to the other new religious movements that emerged in Southeast Asia in the postwar period.
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| 33. |
- Foxeus, Niklas, 1967-
(författare)
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Vidyādhara (weikza/weizzā)
- 2016
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Ingår i: Oxford Bibliographies. - : Oxford University Press.
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In various Indian traditions, the vidyādhara, “bearer of wisdom/practical knowledge/ritual lore,” was known as semi-divine, youthful, beautiful, and amorous being flying about in the atmosphere between heaven and earth, possessing supernormal powers, usually holding a sword and being proficient in the art of mantras. These beings appeared in the religious texts of the Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain traditions in India. Originally belonging to a category of semi-divine beings, the vidyādharas later came to be regarded as a soteriological state possible for humans to achieve in their present life through their own effort. In the Pali canonical texts of the so-called Theravada tradition the vidyādhara (Pali vijjādhara) is not in general depicted as a soteriological figure and an ideal that the practitioners should emulate and seek to realize themselves. The goal of becoming a vidyādhara was especially linked to later Mahayana texts and tantric Buddhism, Vajrayāna, and it was also evident in tantric Hindu traditions and in Jainism. Although the vidyā in which the vidyādhara excels is usually understood to consist of spells or mantras, the state of vidyādhara could also be attained by cremation ground practices, external alchemy, asceticism, ritualized sexual practices, yoga, or hatha yoga. In the later texts, vidyādharas refer both to humans and to semi-divine beings. Being a kind of semi-divine or superhuman figure that had transcended the human limitations, the vidyādharas could acquire almost immortal life and acquire supernormal powers (Sanskrit siddhi or ṛddhi), especially the ability to fly. Moreover, the vidyādhara often appeared as a heroic figure in Indian narrative literature, in which a human attained the state of a vidyādhara and/or sought to become a lord of these beings. The path of the vidyādhara was apparently quite widespread within a variety of Indian traditions in the course of the first millennium ce, and it was later replaced by other figures, for example, the siddha. The notion of the vidyādhara spread with Buddhism and texts belonging to other Indian religions (especially Hinduism and Jainism) to other parts of South Asia, such as Tibet; East Asia; and to Southeast Asia, where the concept became localized and vernacularized. The significance of the concept of a vidyādhara as a soteriological ideal for humans to realize in their present life has especially been emphasized in Indian, Tibetan, and Burmese traditions, and a considerable space in this article has therefore been devoted to these countries, in particular, Burma/Myanmar since the colonial period onward.
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