Patton, Thomas Nathan (Author)
Columbia University Press
Publication date: 2018
Language: English
Physical Details: 240
Wizards with magical powers to heal the sick, possess the bodies of their followers, and defend their tradition against outside threats are far from the typical picture of Buddhism. Yet belief in wizard-saints who protect their devotees and intervene in the world is widespread among Burmese Buddhists. The Buddha’s Wizards is a historically informed ethnographic study that explores the supernatural landscape of Buddhism in Myanmar to explain the persistence of wizardry as a form of lived religion in the modern era. Thomas Nathan Patton explains the world of wizards, spells, and supernatural powers in terms of both the broader social, political, and religious context and the intimate roles that wizards play in people’s everyday lives. He draws on affect theory, material and visual culture, long-term participant observation, and the testimonies of the devout to show how devotees perceive the protective power of wizard-saints. Patton considers beliefs and practices associated with wizards to be forms of defending Buddhist traditions from colonial and state power and culturally sanctioned responses to restrictive gender roles. The book also offers a new lens on the political struggles and social transformations that have taken place in Myanmar in recent years. Featuring close attention to the voices of individual wizard devotees and the wizards themselves, The Buddha’s Wizards provides a striking new look at a little-known aspect of Buddhist belief that helps expand our ways of thinking about the daily experience of lived religious practices.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Francesco Paolo de Ceglia;
Pierroberto Scaramella;
(2022)
I demoni di Napoli: Naturale, preternaturale, sovrannaturale a Napoli e nell’Europa di età moderna
Book
Monica Black;
(2020)
A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany
Chapter
Francesco Paolo De Ceglia;
(2022)
I vampiri di Partenope. Riflessioni sui limiti della natura, tra Napoli e l’Europa
Book
Kyle Falcon;
(2023)
Haunted Britain: Spiritualism, Psychical Research and the Great War
Book
Dániel Bárth;
(2020)
The Exorcist of Sombor: The Mentality of an Eighteenth-Century Franciscan Friar
Chapter
Lorenzo Leporiere;
(2022)
Eusapia: medium, isterica, ossessa. Le innumerevoli narrazioni sui fenomeni spiritici
Chapter
Pierroberto Scaramella;
(2022)
Chiesa e antispiritismo a Napoli, in Italia, in Europa (1853-1932)
Chapter
David Armando;
(2022)
Fluidi, sonnambuli e spiriti fra Napoli, Roma e l’Europa
Article
Matthew Drage;
(2018)
Of Mountains, Lakes and Essences: John Teasdale and the Transmission of Mindfulness
Article
Daniel Burton-Rose;
(2017)
Desiderata for the Principles of Compilation of a Canon of Buddhism and Medicine
Article
Meaney, Audrey L.;
(2011)
Extra-Medical Elements in Anglo-Saxon Medicine
Article
Olsan, Lea T.;
(2003)
Charms and Prayers in Medieval Medical Theory and Practice
Article
van der Lugt, Maaike;
(2013)
The Learned Physician as a Charismatic Healer: Urso of Salerno (Flourished End of Twelfth Century) on Incantations in Medicine, Magic, and Religion
Book
Thomas Waters;
(2020)
Cursed Britain: A History of Witchcraft and Black Magic in Modern Times
Book
Hanegraaff, Wouter J.;
(2012)
Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture
Book
Parés, Luis Nicolau;
Sansi-Roca, Roger;
(2011)
Sorcery in the Black Atlantic
Book
Jason A. Josephson-Storm;
(2017)
The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences
Book
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas;
(2008)
The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction
Book
Alison Bashford;
(2025)
Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic
Book
Kristen Gallerneaux;
(2018)
High Static, Dead Lines: Sonic Spectres & the Object Hereafter
Be the first to comment!