Buddhist Backgrounds of the Burmese Revolution

Abstract

The Buddhist tradition of Burma's history. Buddhist traditions about a perfect society, its decline and the origin of the state. Republican institutions in pre-Buddhist India and in the Buddhist order. The Buddhist welfare state of Ashoka. Survival of Ashokan social and political traditions in Theravada kingship. On the problem of social ethics of Theravada Buddhism. Emergence of the Bodhisattva ideal of kingship in Theravada Buddhism. Pre-Buddhist fertility elements of the charisma of Burmese kingship. Economic implications of the Buddhist ideal of kingship. The Bodhisattva ideal of Burmese kingship. Kamma and Buddhist merit-causality as rationale for medieval Burma's social order Buddhist ethics against the pragmatism of power under the Burmese kings. Static cosmological models for the medieval Burmese state as microcosm. Hindu-Buddhist universalist ideals of a world state. The Cakkavatti ideal as a factor in the expansion and fall of the Burmese Empire. Burma's ideological crisis in the British conquest. The dis-establishment of Burmese Buddhism. Protestant