Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière, Guillaume Rozenberg, and Alicia Turner, eds. Champions of Buddhism: Weikza Cults in Contemporary Burma. Singapore: NUS Press, 2014, xxvii+261p.

Abstract

Champions of Buddhism: Weikza Cults in Contemporary BurmaBENEDICTE BRAC DE LA PERRIERE, GUILLAUME ROZENBERG, and ALICIA TURNER, eds.Singapore: NUS Press, 2014, xxvii+261p.Exciting things are happening in study of Burmese Buddhism. Recent years have seen publication of very important contributions to our understanding of this field. In particular, investigations of roots of mindfulness meditation phenomenon as Burmese reaction to colonialism have garnered attention far beyond scholarly audience concerned with Burma exclusively (for example, Braun 2013). Though fascinating, this focus on origins and spread of so-called vipassana meditation movement has neglected what Kate Crosby, in preface to Champions of calls the Other Burmese Buddhism, by which she means popular yet politically marginal set of practices belonging to so-called weikza-path. It is to examining this path that Champions of Buddhism is devoted, both as an introduction to this under-investigated phenomenon and as stimulus to further inquiries into nature of Buddhism in Burma and global modernity in general. In both respects, it succeeds marvelously.Unless they are experts in Burmese readers may at this point wonder what exactly is meant by term weikza. In foreword to volume, editors give good idea by describing weikza as a religious virtuoso (p. ix). Because of his behavior, meditation skills, and expertise in magical arts, weikza attains ability to live very long, with purpose of being present when next Buddha, Maitreya, appears in our world. Though usage of magic with explicit purpose of lengthening one's life may not sound very Buddhist to some, one argument that this volume forcefully makes is that such practices are as as monks singing sutras or meditating in temples. In her preface (the book has both foreword and preface, but-puzzlingly-no introduction), Crosby explores this alternative Burmese Buddhism by sketching practical, political, and ideological motivations that have kept it in obscurity for so long. Together with Steven Collins' postscript, Crosby's piece connects materials in volume to larger context, context that is sometimes lost in detailed accounts collected here.The main body of volume is divided into three thematic parts. In first, weikza phenomenon is further defined by contrasting it to number of other Burmese and non- indigenous practices. In chapter 1, Patrick Pranke distinguishes weikza from another, better known ideal, that of arahant (Sanskrit: arhat). Whereas latter are ultimate goal of practitioners in vipassana tradition, former belong to different, esoteric path. Nevertheless, both arhats and weikza are revered after their physical body has disappeared (which does not mean that they are considered dead). In course of his description, Pranke provides useful history of Buddhism in colonial and postcolonial Burma, serving to orient reader for chapters to come. In next chapter, Juliane Schober expands this comparison between vipassana and weikza practices by affirming that, although weikza are certainly marginalized politically (not having strong connections with Burmese leaders), doctrinally they are firmly Theravada Buddhist. In last chapter of first part, Benedicte Brac de la Perriere introduces final distinction, namely between different types of spirit mediums: on one hand, there are nat gadaw, who contact spirits of dead Burmese kings. On other, there are bodaw or medaw, who contact spirits of physically departed weikza. Brac de la Perriere's discussion is interesting for several reasons, not in least because division she describes is gendered: whereas weikza mediums tend to be male, nat gadaw tend to be female.The second part of book then details role of weikza as protectors of Buddhism. …