Abstract
This dissertation examines the Tai Zawti (or Zawti), an elusive Theravada Buddhist tradition found across the Myanmar-China border. The Zawti are closely associated with the Tai (Shan) ethnolinguistic group who live throughout South China, mainland Southeast Asia and northeast India. The term ‘Zawti’ derives from the monk Shin Varajoti/Varazawti, who established the monastic lineage in the late 17th century in Sagaing, Burma. Among scholars and the wider Shan community, the Zawti have been labelled both as heretics and as extremely strict practitioners, and treated as peripheral to mainstream Shan Theravada. Until now, little has been known about them outside of the group itself, despite being enigmatically mentioned in scholarship since the 19th century and, incorrectly, traced back to the 18th century.This thesis reveals that Zawti communities are in fact found throughout modern Myanmar, across the border in China, and even further afield. It aims to provide an accurate depiction of the Zawti history and the contemporary tradition by drawing on new translations I have made of key Zawti texts, and through multisite ethnographic fieldwork conducted within Zawti communities during August 2019-February 2020. The thesis identifies a long history of strategies to avoid centralised control and persecution in order to protect their strong commitment to a strict and literal interpretation of the Theravada canon, especially its monastic codes. This creates unique features – a single, very small monastic community that has almost no contact with the laity, an emphasis on lay leaders of rituals and learning, a widely dispersed lay community also identified by its association with the monastic lineage and by its adherence to strict precepts. Because of its long history, and its avoidance of centralised reforms and responses to colonialism, the Zawti also allow us to challenge some assumptions about the nature of modern Theravada.
| Date of Award | 1 Oct 2023 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Kate Crosby (Supervisor) |