The doctrine of the sky-blue one in Myanmar: disenchanted Buddhism

Abstract

ABSTRACT While the predominant forms of Buddhism in Southeast Asia are enchanted, some novel interpretations of Buddhism are disenchanted rejecting anything supernatural and metaphysical. One such case is the teaching of the controversial, blue-robed monk Ashin Nyāna in Burma/Myanmar. The aim of this article is, first, to examine Ashin Nyāna's own objectives of his doctrinal and moral reform of Buddhism, and how his followers make sense of his teaching. Second, it argues that Ashin Nyāna's reformist Buddhism, which is characterized by a this-worldly orientation and an absence of supernatural, metaphysical, and transcendent dimensions, can be understood as disenchantment in the Weberian sense and referred to as disenchanted Buddhism or a disenchanted Buddhist discourse that has emerged through a critique of enchanted forms of Buddhism, and in interplay with modern urban life. Third, the article suggests that the concept of a disenchanted Buddhist discourse might have some advantages as a comparative concept.