Control,Change, and Suffering: The Messages of Shan Buddhist Sermons

Shan villagers are Buddhists, but their main access to Buddhist ideology is through the sermons the local monks preach. We describe the content of a number of sermons. These outline a system where lack of control causes change which causes suffering. The sermons teach about the acquisition of knowledge where the objective is not to control but to escape from the system. Power, gained through withdrawal or relationships with powerful beings, gives more control, consequently less change, and less suffering. One can convert impermanent material wealth into changeless merit by offering it to the monks or temple. Offerings to non-reciprocating monks are competitive and define a hierarchy of both power and prestige. The ideology so outlined is one aspect of the Shan world view based on morally neutral power and is related to Shan political and economic forms. The monks serve state power not only by defining this ideology and receiving offerings but also by preaching about the benefits of making offerings and the importance of people behaving properly in their positions in the hierarchy.