Ledi Sayadaw, Abhidhamma, and the development of the modern insight meditation movement in Burma

About this book

Scholars in Buddhist Studies and related fields have long acknowledged the Burmese monk Ledi Sayadaw (1846-1923) as an important figure in the start of the modern insight meditation (vipassana) movement in Burma, yet no scholarly work to date has focused on his specific role in shaping that movement. This dissertation is an intellectual biography of Ledi Sayadaw that analyzes the nature and extent of his contributions to the complex origins of insight meditation in the modern era. This study connects the events of Ledi Sayadaw's life--from his birth in the Konbaung dynasty of Burmese kings to his death in the fully entrenched British colonial state--to particular texts he authored that shed light on his understanding of what meditation is and what it can do. His writings show that his vision of the ideal Buddhist life for the laity stressed doctrinal study, especially of the Abhidhamma, in addition to simplified meditative practices formulated through an Abhidhammic perspective. Using print technology, preaching, and social organizations, Ledi Sayadaw promoted meditation and study as key means for Buddhists to make sense of the modern world. Doctrinal study and meditative practice were understood to work together in a Buddhist's life for soteriological and social benefits. Examination of Ledi Sayadaw's life and work offers not just the chance to understand local circumstances in Burma that contributed to meditation's modern efflorescence; it also offers the opportunity to view how a conservative figure negotiated the disjuncture between the pre-colonial world in which he was born and the challenges to Buddhism presented by the colonial transformation of Burmese society. Pre-colonial knowledge and practices served as the resources for Ledi Sayadaw's development of meditation as he responded to the perceived threats posed by the technological developments, societal fragmentation, and missionary attacks of the colonial period. Ledi Sayadaw stands as an example of someone who had clear connections to a pre-colonial heritage, even while he reformulated Burmese Buddhism into a modern form that promoted insight meditation as a mass movement.