Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière is a research director at the Centre Asie du Sud-Est (EHESS/CNRS). She received her PhD in social anthropology at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris, in 1984. She is presently based at Yangon for IRASEC, Bangkok. Address: Centre Asie du Sud-Est, CNRS-EHESS, 190 av de France, 75013 Paris, France. E-mail:
關鍵詞
Reincarnation; Buddhism; Religion; Cults; Death -- Religious Aspects
摘要
Burmese conceptions manifested by death rituals reveal a variety of concepts related to spiritual components of the self, such as leikpya, wignan, wignin, nam and manaw and a complementarity of beliefs and practices linked to the soul stuff (leikpya) and the karmic theory. These concepts are further examined in the opposite extreme situations of bad and good deaths that both produce beings, inconsistent with the Buddhist karmic theory, ghosts or spirits (nat) on the one hand, weikza or saints on the other hand. Nat and weikza, equally anomalous from the point of view of the Buddhist theory, are nevertheless the object of institutionalized cults and display strongly contrasted features. This is exemplified by the comparison of the performing sessions in which they manifest in this world through contrasted forms of possession. Finally, too good or too bad deaths both similarly prevent rebirth and thus leave the space for various after-death agencies in this world.
目次
Burmese conceptions of the self 62 Processing soul stuff and transferring merit at death 62 Violent death and spirit possession 63 Good deaths and continuing action in this world 65 Variations in forms of possession 66 Weikza and nat seances compared 68 Conclusions 71 Acknowledgements 72 Notes 72 References 73
