Tipos de Redes Bayesianas

Having explored the way in which reading of poetry forms a crucial component of the teaching of traditional methods of meditation in Shan communities, I want to now explain the presence in Shan communities of the modern intensive meditation practice. I want to show how, although we might see intensive methods as a threat to the preservation of Shan Buddhism and culture, they were in fact introduced by reformists seeking to protect Shan communities and certainly not in hostility to traditional practice. This is particularly true of

118 Information aquired from SOAS research group’s zare survey as part of Shan Buddhism at the Borderlands Promect in Maehongson, 2009.

119 I have mentioned above that there is a great variety of Shan poetic literature. Interviews conducted among zares in Burma in 2010, mentioned above, showed a great difference in repertoire between those reported in our 2009 Maehongson survey. It may therefore be that further such fieldwork would reveal regional variation of meditation texts used, including Amat Long.

72 the Mingun (MMG) centres (see below), where we now sometimes see the two methods of meditation practice – both traditional and modern intensive – integrated with each other.

Modern intensive meditation instruction is available from specialised centres that run

‘intensive’ meditation courses and operate independently of traditional monasteries. The actual meditation techniques that are practised and taught in these centres derive from the same ultimate source, the teachings of meditation in the Pali canon, especially the

Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, but they will vary in the detailed manner of their delivery and focus in accordance with the lineage or tradition, the expertise and the experience of the teachers.¹²⁰ Teachers may belong to different meditation traditions including Mingun, Mahāsī, Mogok, and Sunlun. Gustaaf Houtman discusses these traditions and the lineage of meditation masters including Mingun Zeidawun (Jetawun) Sayadaw, whose methods of intensive meditation practice has been recognized as the root of the Shan modern intensive meditation practice.¹²¹ Houtman also mentions Sao Shwe Thaik (also spelled as ‘Thaike’),¹²² who was a pious Shan Buddhist ruler and the then first president of the Union of Burma and also

involved Buddhist movements including the involvement of meditation practices¹²³ and Shan Tipiṭaka Translation Project in the 1950s,¹²⁴ as shall be discussed further below. In fact, amongst these traditions, the tradition of Mingun meditation has reached furthest and

penetrated most deeply into Shan communities. For this reason, the Mingun tradition will be explored in most depth here. The tradition takes its name from its founder, Mingun Zetawun Sayadaw U Nārada (1869-1954, see Fig. 2. 1.),¹²⁵ who lived and taught meditation in the early 20^th century, with his base in Thaton,¹²⁶ a town in lower Burma. Although the official

120 A desirable direction of future research would be a detailed examination of the actual variety within these practices, which may vary in terms of such things as whether movement or study is involved, or the precise way of dealing with distractions, for example.

121 Houtman 1990, pp. 289, 308. The term ‘Zetawun’ has its Pali origin ‘Jetavana’, a famous name of a

monastery during the Buddha’s time. Other western spelling of the term closed to Burmese accent is ‘Zeidawun’

as also used by Gustaaf Houtman.

122 Sao Shwe Thaik was the ruling prince of Yawnghwe state and became the first president of the Union of Burma after its independence 1948. He also played an important role in the Sixth Buddhist Council. For more information on the biography of Sao Shwe Thaik (or Chao Shwe Thaike), see in his children’s

autobiographies, such as Yawnghwe 1987, The Shan of Burma: Memoirs of a Shan Exile, and Simms 2008, The Moon Princess: Memories of the Shan States.

123 Houtman 1990, pp. 275, 297-298.

124 Yawnghwe 1987, p. 7.

125 Houtman 1990, p. 289.

126 Thaton, called by Shan as Sathung, is located in modern Mon State, between the cities of Pegu (Bago) and Molemine, of Burma. It is a historical town within the area that has been identified by some scholars as Suvaṇṇabhūmi, to which Emperor Asoka of the 3^rd century BC is said to have sent two senior monks, Soṇa

73 name of the tradition is known as “Sathung Mūla Mingun Zetawun Sāsana Man Aung” [‘The Origin of Sathung Mingun Zetawun’s Teaching for the Defeat of Evil One’],¹²⁷ it will here be referred to as “Mingun Meditation Group” (henceforth MMG).

Fig. 2.3. Mula Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw (1868-1955)

Photo: Inside cover of Mingun Vipassanā Sudanī Baung-kyok hne Taw Lei-shie Ahpwin [‘A Collection of Mingun Vipassanā Meditation Technique and the Commentary of the Forty Forest-Practices’], published 1960.

Despite the fact that MMG is Burmese/Mon in origin, as being traced to the tradition or source of knowledge from a Burmese meditation master, U Nārada, and his works on

and Uttara, for Buddhist missionary work in the region. See, for example, Donald K. Swearer’s discussion of such legendary accounts of the arrival of Buddhism in mainland South East Asia in “Thailand” in Buswell 2003, Encyclopedia of Buddhism, vol. 2, pp. 830-836.

127 The Sāsanānuggaha Organisation, which is the root of Mahāsi Meditation centres, was founded by Sir U Thwin and Prime Minister U Nu in November 1947, about 3 months after the establishment Mingun

Kammathan centre in Lang Khur, Shan State. See www.mahasi.org.mm, and MMG 1967, Pap phuen lik mai mi upate pannyat khyak muk zum (mula) mingun thammazariya tara pya sara zueng tai [The Book of Rules and Regulations for Meditation Masters of Mūla Mingun, Shan State], and MMG 1998, Pap mai taung pi kaun kham sathung mula minkun zetawun sasana man aung [‘The Recording Book of the Golden Jubilee of Sathung Mūla Mingun Zetawun Sāsana Man Aung’].

74 meditation, it (MMG) has played an important role in the revival of Shan Buddhism and the maintenance of Shan Buddhist identity. MMG is associated to some extent with Burmese language and nationalism and was introduced into Shan Buddhism from the Mon/Burmese part of the Union of Burma. Note that the terming of Mon/Burmese or Burmese/Mon is problematic here because of the nature of the complexity of Mingun Sayadaw’s biography.

Despite the fact that he is ethnically a Burman and most (if not all) of his early education was taken in Burmese at several monasteries in Mandalay and other parts of Burma, his

establishment of and reputation for his method and practice of meditation began in Thaton, a small town in the Mon State.¹²⁸

The Mingun tradition of meditation practice was first introduced to Shan Buddhist communities in 1936. It was brought by U Myat Kyaw,¹²⁹ a pupil of Mingun Zetawun Sayadaw U Nārada. U Myat Kyaw, who also taught meditation courses in Yangon (Rangoon), which seems to have been his main base, travelled to Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State, where he gave a talk on the meditation method that he had learned from U Nārada. After the talk, at the request of some of the audience, including two local Shan leaders, Lung Heing Yan-pe and Khun Htun,¹³⁰ a seven-day intensive meditation course in this practice was conducted at the Yawnghwe Palace under the instruction of U Myat Kyaw.

It is interesting that the Yawnghwe Palace, 20 miles away to the south of Taunggyi, was used as a room for the first modern meditation course, indicating royal patronage in meditation from one of the most well-known Shan royal families at that time. Today, there are over 30 MMG centres, operating under the same tradition and a single administration. Teachers at these centres include monks, novices and laypeople.

Teachers, meditators and supporters of MMG have been mostly Shan, who are familiar with the tradition of poetic literature. However, the method of meditation instruction given at MMG centres is mainly based on the works of U Nārada and his pupils U Myat Kyaw, U Khun Htun and U Sucintā, and most of these works particularly those by U Nārada and U

128 For more details of Mingun Sayadaw’s biography, see Houtman 1990, p. 289.

129 MMG 1998, pp. 17-18. U Myat Kyaw was formerly known as U Pandidama when he was a monk, see Houtman 1990, p. 44. Another well-known pupil of U Nārada is Mahāsi Sayadaw, whose meditation centres exist all over the country and outside Burma, such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Kornfield 1996, Living Dharma: Teachings of Twelve Buddhist Masters, p. 51.

130 Khun Htun later became one of U Myat Kyaw’s successors for teaching meditation generally among Shan.

MMG 1998, pp. 19-20.

75 Myat Kyaw are in Burmese.¹³¹ All teachers employed at MMG centres have been advised to read those works and understand them clearly. One problem here is that most teachers and practitioners at MMG centres are Shan although there are a few MMG centres in the Pa-Oh and Dhanu areas in the far south and southwest regions of Shan State. Thus, the

recommendation of the reading list to MMG teachers seems to be MMG’s advice rather than a strict rule. The reason for this is that most of the recommended books were written in Burmese while many MMG Shan and Pa-Oh teachers cannot read or understand Burmese language. Another reason could be the indication of authority of source and privileging of Burmese over Shan and other minority languages (as will be discussed in Chapter Four).

Most Shan poetic literature is not mentioned in the MMG’s recommended reading list, despite the fact that the performance Shan poetic meditation literature takes place at MMG centres. Only one recommended book on the list for MMG teachers is written in Shan. It is U Sucintā’s Satipaṭṭhanadīpanī : a thik pae lae khaw sap laeng man. Neither Amat Long’s Mahāsatipaṭṭhān (1875) nor Zao Wora Khae’s Kyam nae tang nibbān (c.1930s), both written in Shan and actually performed at MMG centres, are mentioned in the MMG’s recommended reading list and yet they are available at such centres. In fact, the audio recording of Zao Wora Khae’s Kyam nae tang nibbān was sponsored by a meditation centre.¹³² It is apparent that the recitation of poetic literature performed at MMG centres was influenced by the Shan traditional method of meditation practice, yet it remains to be seen to what extent the

emergence of MMG will eventually influence or undermine the practice of meditation through temple sleeping. Certainly I think it has affected the presentation of Shan meditation practices, as for the outsider the intensive meditation centres are a more visible, obvious and

131 There are 24 books written by U Nārada, namely 1. Peṭakopadesa-aṭṭhakathā [‘The Commentary of the Principle of Pitaka’], 2. The Peḍakopadesaṭṭhakathā nissaya translation (in Burmese), 3 volumes, 3.

Sajjetāvidhi-visajjanā (in Pali), 4) Ārambhā-vidhi-visajjanā (Pali), 5. Visuddhi-magga-aṭṭhakathā nissaya (new edition), 6. Taw lay saeh aphwin [‘the commentary of 40 kinds of forests’], 7. Milinda-pañha-aṭṭhakathā (in Pali), 8. Nibbāna-kathā, 9. Nibbān lan nyun desanā, 10. Nibbān Sa Tan, 11. Satipaṭṭhān Sa Tan, 12.

Satipaccaye – vinicchaya-muha, 13. Kathina-vinicchaya, 14. Kathin-nissaya 15. Phala-samapat, 16. Mahā-saḷā-yatana-sutta-nissaya, 17. Mūla-pariyāya-sutta-nissaya, 18. Pādāpādaraha-vinicchaya, 19. Paḍiññāta-karana-vinicchaya, 20. Thein Khan [‘the role of ordination hall’], 21. Vipassanā-nyān-zin-gyam-gyi, 22.

Anussaya-saing-yā, 23. Atirit-pyu-bon, and 24. Vipassanā-nyān-man-ya-ye. U Myat Kyaw’s works are: 1.

Gambhīrattha-pakasanī-gyam, 2. Vipassanā-dīpanī-gyam, 3. Nibbāna-magga-dīpanī-gyam, 4. Vipassanā-let-zwe-gyam, 5. Vipassanā-ḍīkā-gyam (2 volumes), 6. Ariyā-magga-dīpanī-gyam, 7. Gambhīra-dhamma-desanā-gyam (3 volumes), 8. Dhamma-kathika-let-zwe-gyam (2 volumes), 9. Abhidhamma-Gambhīra-dhamma-desanā-gyam (2 volumes), and Wut-yut-zin [‘Texts of Chanting’]. U Sucintā’s work, written under the guidance of U Khun Htun, is Satipaṭṭhān-dīpanī (in Shan). For the list in Burmese and Shan scripts, see MMG 1967, pp. 78-80, 106-107.

132 I have obtained a copy of this recording in CD Rom from Zao-sra Nandiya of Wat Muoi Taw, Panglong during my fieldwork in 2004. I am grateful to Zao-sra Nandiya for his generosity, giving me a copy of each of his CD collections on the recitation of lik long texts and other Shan Buddhist sermons.

76 accessible resource for finding out about meditation practices among the Shan. Moreover, while temple sleeping is aimed at older members of the community, i.e. forty and over years of age, the meditation centres were also aimed at younger people due to the new approach to the role of meditation in modern societies promulgated by such centres.

2.5. The Influence of Modern Intensive Meditation on Shan Buddhism and