In the 1950s, young independent Burma looked to Buddhism for a foundation to modern nation statehood. Inspired by the teachings of Mahasi Sayadaw, who codified the esoteric practice of vipassana “insight” meditation for lay people, prime minister U Nu believed in mass enlightenment not just as a path to revitalizing Burmese Buddhism and establishing the authority of a new political order, but as a basis for universal virtue. “Buddhism is the only ideology which can give peace to the world and save it from war and destruction…” Burma’s attorney general, Chan Htoon, declared. This outlook chimed with postwar liberal humanism and became one facet of Burma’s engaged Buddhism. Exported through “the mindfulness movement”, insight meditation served as Burma’s face to the world and a component of its foreign policy. With the 1960s military takeover began the erosion of this vision of engaged Buddhism, as domestic or foreign policy. Nevertheless, in the mass lay meditation movement that peaked before the 21st century, the earlier ideals of mass enlightenment remained strong; even during strictest military suppression, meditation as engaged Buddhism continued to be exported. Since the opening of the country and democratic by-elections in 2012, rather than a recrudescence of these ideals, Burmese political Buddhism seems to have embraced an “embattled” form of engagement. Ultranationalists, including sangha members, perceive the Burmese Buddha world as under threat by Islamic incursion as well as secularist cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism and commercial freedoms, perceived as at odds with Buddhist ideals and national religious autonomy.
