The Formation And Development Of Local Theravada Buddhist Organization

13th to 16th century,Theravada Buddhism has gradually spread to the southewestern part and western region of Yunnan Province,China,and has become an important part of the traditional culture of the Dai.Early 21st century,under the background of the global religious revival and cultural rejuvenation,the Chinese Theravada Buddhism developed rapidly and some new changes appeared.Among them,the "Dhammacakka" association is also a group of Theravada Buddhist in the secularity formed in this situation,and gradually emerged from the crowd,which has a very important impact on the local society.This study chose MioN mao Town in Ruili City,Dehong Prefecture as the main fieldwork site,and took the Ruili "Dhammacakka" as the object of study,and took the emergence,development,status quo and social impact of specific religious groups in a particular social environment as a main angle of view.By personally participating in the activities of the Dhammacakka,the author was able to conduct participatory observations of its activities and conduct in-depth interviews with its members,and obtain informative first-hand datum.On the basis of the field survey datum,applying functionalism and the "four elements" theory of religion,this paper comprehensively described the organizational formation and cultural formation of the Dhammacakka,and analyzed its function and value as a sociocultural phenomenon.In the end,this study emphasize:Firstly,the emergence of Ruili Dhammacakka benefited from the broad membership basis provided by the Theravada Buddhist belief,the influence of Mujie City in Myanmar and the local attempt to inherit the Dai culture.Secondly,the group developed a relatively perfect organizational formation after more than ten years of history.It has unified commandment,unified clothes,independent economic source and a member organization of tetrad-ecoagricultural pattern——mank guidance group-management team-village leader-ordinary member,as well as networked group organization.And it shows the following characteristics:female subject characteristics,homageneous nationality transnational character,non-governmental characteristics,locality,ect.Besides,the cultural form of the Dhammacakka is those Buddhist ritual activities in specific time and space,and they are combination of education,public welfare and religion.Finally,Dhammacakka has positive aspects in inheriting Dai culture,strengthening identity,integrating Ruili’s Dai society,regulating menber’s psychological state,promoting social mutual assistance,promoting border governance and interaction among border residents.Of course,there may be hidden negative factors that need to be moderately guided and regulated.