Theravada Buddhism Husa The Achang Neighborhoods Dissemination And Impact

Husa is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious area co-inhabited with Buddhist Achang and other minority groups with different religion beliefs. Theravada Buddhism is the dominant but not exclusive religion belief of the Achang. Basing on written history, oral history,historical relics, extensive fieldwork and interviews, this dissertation reconstructs the history of Theravada Buddhism in Husa and examines the historical factors which affected its rise, prosperity, decline and revival. It presents the status quo of Achang style Theravada Buddhism,discusses the uniqueness and diversity of Achang Buddhism. At last it probes the profound impact of Theravada Buddhism on social life and its positive role on the development of Achang community.This dissertation includes five chapters:Chapter One:Introduction. This chapter states the significance of the topic, previous achievements related to this topic and research methods used in this study, and it defines key terms which are frequently used in the following chapters.Chapter Two:Spread and Development of Theravada Buddhism. This chapter tries to find out the multiple sources of Achang Buddhism by examining the folklores, historical documents, stone inscriptions and oral history materials. It shows the rise, prosperity, decline and revival of Theravada Buddhism in Husa, and it probes the impact of regional political change and economic development on the rise and fall of Theravada Buddhism.Chapter Three:Theravada Buddhism of Achang Style. This chapter sketches out the whole picture of Achang Buddhism with elaborate description of the Buddha, temples, sects, rituals, festivals, clerical and secular activities etc. And it extract unique features of Achang Buddhism.Chapter Four:Theravada Buddhism and other religions. This chapter discusses the relationships between Theravada Buddhism and indigenous animism, Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, Islamism as well as Christianism, The religion of Achang is not pure Theravada Buddhism, but mixed with some elements from indigenous religion, Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, it analyzes the causes which lead to this eclectic situation. It examines when and why the Islamism and Christianism spread to Husa, and discusses their relation with Theravada Buddhism, at last it analyzes why these two religions were not accepted by the Achang.Chapter Five:Social Impact of Theravada Buddhism. This chapter discusses the profound impact of Theravada Buddhism on rural politics, social ethics, ecological ethics, customs of the Achang community. Finally, it concluded that Theravada Buddhism plays a positive role in promoting ethnic unity, social stability, ecological harmony.