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The Poetic Dhamma of Zao Amat Long’s Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta and The Place of Traditional Literature in Shan Theravada Buddhism
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The Poetic Dhamma of Zao Amat Long’s Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta and
The Place of Traditional Literature in Shan Theravada Buddhism

Jotika Khur-Yearn

Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Study of Religions
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

April 2012

1

DECLARATION

I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of
Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material
presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in
part by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published
or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I
present for examination.

Date : 21. 09. 2012

2

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines the role of traditional poetic writings, lik long, in the practices
and teachings of Theravada Buddhism among the Shan people of northern Thailand and the
Union of Burma using archival work, fieldwork and textual criticism. It focuses on a Shan
version of the
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta written by one of the ‘classical’ composers of Shan
literature, the 19
th-century scholar Zao Amat Long. The thesis also analyses how the lik long
draws on and enfolds other literature from the Theravada tradition, including the
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta Pali canon, the locus classicus of instruction for mindfulness and
insight meditation in Theravada, the 5
th-century commentary by Buddhaghosa and
Cakkinda’s 19
th-century Burmese commentary, nissaya, on the same text as well as other
‘orthodox’ Theravada sources. The close adherence to these texts in terms of content allows
us to question commonly held assumptions that Shan Buddhism is ‘heretical.’ Cataloguing
Shan temple collections confirms this picture, especially the fondness of the Shan for
Abhidhamma works, while Shan do preserve many narrative texts such as ‘apocryphal’ jtaka
alongside versions of the Pali ‘canonical’ jtaka. Closely examining the unique literary
qualities of Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn, on the other hand, and the religious context in
which such texts are read to an audience, allows me to identify the uniqueness of such
literature and the way it is adapted to hold the attention of the laypeople who listen to it as the
core practice of ‘temple sleeping’ on holy days. It also problematises the assumption that
vernacular literature is easily accessible. I explore the full religious context of the production
of such texts, from the merit-making sponsorship of their production to the occasions for their
use, and the skills needed by traditional scholars,
zare, to perform them. I discuss how
political suppression, economic issues and modernity threaten this tradition.

3

DEDICATION

To Mae-zang Noan, my mother,
Who is an illiterate Buddhist practitioner,
But learned Buddhism through the traditional
Shan Buddhist ritual of listening to
lik long poetic literature
A way of learning to be a good Buddhist and meditator.

4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

On this long and eventful research journey I have encountered and received support
from many individuals, groups and associations. Without them it is impossible to reach the
goal of this journey. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all of them.

First and foremost, to my supervisor, Dr Kate Crosby, I owe my deepest gratitude for
guiding me through my research with her intellect and never failing understanding and
kindness, both on and off the field of my research including career opportunities and all kinds
of support. I truly feel privileged to work under her supervision, because she is a great
teacher, who often goes beyond the call of duties. Without her assistance it would have not
been possible for me to complete this thesis.

I am also indebted to Dr Andrew Skilton and Ven. Dr Khammai Dhammasami for their
invaluable comments as well as proofreading an earlier draft of my thesis and offering
helpful guidance regarding academic English. However, I take full responsibility for any
errors and all theoretical approaches in this research including the translations from Shan to
English and for my transliterational, translational and comparative practices.

My thanks also go to Paw-zang Zinta and Mae-zang Phaung, my godparents, for
providing me with a rare copy of Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn, which is the primary
focus of and resource for this thesis. I also want to thank Venerable V
yma of Pang Hu
temple, for his moral support and encouragement throughout my study years, especially his
generous support during my first trip of fieldwork in the Panglong area in 2004-05. My
thanks also go to Venerable Phra Siwan Warinda, the abbot of Wat Tiyasathan, Mae Taeng,
Chiang Mai, Thailand for his determined support for my further studies abroad, and
generously allowing me and the SOAS-based research group to work on his temple collection
of manuscripts during our several research trips to his temple between 2004 and 2010.

May I also express my heartfelt appreciation to the generous funders who helped me
complete my Ph.D. research, attend conference, or undertake research relating to the subject:
the SOAS Additional Research Fieldwork Awards and the University of London’s Research
Grants for my major fieldwork research; the Sutasoma grants from SOAS Centre of Buddhist
Studies and the SOAS Hardship Fund toward my third year tuition fees; the Jordon Travel
Grant, the SOAS Research Committee’s Fund (SSEASR Conference, Mahidol, Bangkok,
2007), SOAS Library’s Staff Development Fund (SEALG Annual Meeting, Marseille, 2008),

5

the organisers of Burma Studies Conference at Northern Illionois University, DeKalb,
Illinois
, 2008, the ASEASUK-British Academy grants to Shan Buddhism at the Borderlines
project, 2009, the organisers of the International Conference on Shan Studies, Chulalongkorn,
Bangkok, 2009, the MacArther Foundation Grants 2010, the SOAS Library’s Staff
Development Fund to go to SEALG/EUROSEAS Conference, Gothenburg, 2010.

I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to the traditional Shan scholars, Zare, who have
played their part in my fieldwork for this thesis and the team work research on Shan Buddhist
literature; to name only the most prominent: Zare Saw (Maehongson), Zare Pa Mule
(Maehongson), Zare Saw (Wan Jong, Wiang Haeng); also thanks to Dr Sai Pe, Ven. Zao-sra
Nandavamsa Mueang-Kut, Ven. Zaokhu Devinda Yeehsai, and Ven. Zaokhu Indacara; I am
grateful to Ven. Indacara for his help with transcribing the
Mahsatipaṭṭhn from old Shan
script to the modern Shan script. I would also like to thank Dr Peter Skilling, Founder and
Director of the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation in Bangkok for allowing me to access his
collections of Shan manuscripts, acquired from tourist markets on Thai-Burma borders.
Thanks also go to the Shan people in Nothern Thailand and Shan State, who shared their
knowledge and experiences and all that it meant to them during my fieldwork.

I also want to thank my colleagues, Ven. Bhikkhu Ngasena (Head of the Plaistow
Buddha Vihara) for his corrections and comments on an earlier stage of my work on the
annotated translation, Dr Susan Conway for allocating MacArther Foundation Fund for me to
do a survey of Shan manuscripts collections at Wat Pa Pao, Chiang Mai and co-teaching a
Shan Buddhism course at SOAS in the academic year 2010-11, and my colleagues at SOAS
Library, particularly to my line-managers Mr Nicholas Martland, Ms Barbara Spina, Mr Peter
MacCormack, and Ms Beth Clark for their encouragement and moral support.

I would also like to express my appreciation and thanks to my longstanding friends Mr
Cirabandhu Kamolsen and Ven. Phramaha Somchai Wirawat, both founding members of Wat
Buddharam in East London, who have given me their support in many ways; I also want to
say big thanks to my PhD friends at SOAS - Phibul Choompopaisal, Catherine Newell,
N
gasena Bhikkhu, and David Azzopardi for sharing the unforgettable times and experiences
at lectures and in the SOAS Canteen.

Finally my loving thanks go to my family for their constant support and inspiration
throughout my research and writing of this thesis, especially to those who became my family
during the writing of this thesis, my wife On and daughter Amara.

6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page ………………………………………………………………………… 01
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………. 03
Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………… 05
Abbreviations …………………………………………………………………….. 10
A List of Illustrations & Maps …………………………………………………… 12

INTRODUCTION
A Background of this Study and Overview of the Chapters 14-25

1. The Shan People ……………………………………………………………… 15
2. The Study of Shan Buddhism ………………………………………. 16
3. The Place of Shan Literature within the Study of the Shan …………… 19
4. Research Approach and Fieldwork ………………………………… 20
5. An Overview of the Chapters of this Thesis …………………………… 23

CHAPTER ONE
The Shan
Lik Long Poetic Literature: Tradition, Threat, and Survival 26-56

1.1. Lik Long and Shan Poetic Dhamma ……………………………………… 26
1.2. Tradition and Context of
Lik Long Literature ……………………………… 29
1.3. The Commissioning of
Lik Long Manuscripts: Production and Collection … 31
1.4. The Characteristics of
Lik Long Poetic Literature ………………………… 36
1.5. The Significant Features of
Lik Long Poetic Literature …………………… 40
1.6. The Ritual of Listening to
Lik Long Poetic Literature……………………….. 43
1.7. The Physical Preservation of
Lik Long Poetic Literature ………………… 46
1.8. Conclusion 56

CHAPTER TWO
The Place of
lik long in Temple-sleeping and Meditation Practice 57-88

2.1. Varieties of Shan Meditation Methods and Practices ……………………
2.2. Sleeping overnight in the Monastery: A Traditional Shan Way of Learning

Buddhism and Practising Meditation ………………………………………
2.3. The Recitation of
Lik Long Poetic Literature on Meditation ………………

57

62
70

7

2.4. The Introduction of Modern Meditation Practice into Shan Buddhist
Communities ……………………………………………………………… 71

2.5. The Influence of Modern Intensive Meditation Practice on Shan Buddhism
and Literature ……………………………………………………………… 76
2.6. Richness of
Lik Long Texts on the Subject of Meditation ……… 78
2.7. A Select List of
Lik Long Texts on the Topics of Meditation ………… 79
2.8. A List of
Lik Long Texts on the Satipaṭṭhna Sutta in Shan Literature ……… 84
2.9. Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn: A Justification for Annotated Translation 87

2.10. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….

CHAPTER THREE

88

An Annotated Translation of Zao Amat Long’s Mahsatipaṭṭhn
“The Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness Meditation” 90-188

3.1. Introduction: A Biography of Zao Amat Long ……………………………… 90
3.2. Notes for the Translation of the
Mahsatipaṭṭhn ……………………………… 98
3.3. Anotated Translation of
Mahsatipaṭṭhn: Author’s Homage ……………… 100
3.4. The Anouncement of the Teaching on the Foundation of Mindfulness …… 105
3.5. The Contemplation of Body: The Section of Breathing ……………… 110
3.6. The Contemplation of Body: The Section of Postures …………………… 114
3.7. The Contemplation of Body: The Section of Clear Awareness ……… 118
3.8. The Contemplation of Body: The Section of Reflection on Repulsive … 121
3.9. The Contemplation of Body: The Section of Reflection on Elements …… 139
3.10. The Contemplation of Body: The Section of the Nine Charnel-fields

Observations …………………………………………………………… 149
3.11. The Contemplation of Feeling …………………………………………… 164
3.12. The Contemplation of Thought …………………………………………… 179

CHAPTER FOUR
A Comparative Textual Analysis of Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn

4.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………

  1. 4.2.  The Use of Pali and Burmese Terms in the Mahsatipaṭṭhn ………

  2. 4.3.  The Distinctive Characteristics of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn ……………………

190-223

190
191
204

8

  1. 4.4.  A Comparative Study of Zao Amat Long’s Mahsatipaṭṭhn and U Cakkinda’s
    Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta Nissaya: Similarities and Differences ……………… 209

  2. 4.5.  A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn in Comparison with
    the
    Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta Vannan, the Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta Nissaya and
    other Commentarial Works on the
    Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta ……………… 211

  3. 4.6.  A Significance of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn: The Expression of Saddh/Devotion… 216

  4. 4.7.  A Significance of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn: The Expression of Savega ……… 218

  5. 4.8.  A Significance of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn: The Emphasis of Anatt/Non-self … 222

4.9. Chapter Summary ……………………………………………………………

CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………

  • Glossary ……………………………………………………………………

  • Appendix One: A note of Transcription ……………………………… ……

  • Appendix Two: A List Lik Long Manuscripts at Wat Papao, Chiang Mai ……

  • Appendix Three: Annotated Transation of Mahsatipṭṭhn – Part Two ……

  • Appendix Four: A Fomula of Chanting for Temple-sleepers to Chant before

    Leaving the Temple to Return Home (in Shan Script) ………………

  • Bibliography …………………………………………………………………

224

226-230

  231
  232
  235
  255

320

321

9

ABBREVIA TIONS

CB Contemporary Buddhism, an interdisciplinary journal

DN Digha Nikaya, the long length sayings

GPC Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma (English version)

HM Hmannan Mahayazawin-daw-gyi (original version of GPC)

JBRS Journal of the Burma Research Society

JRAS Journal of Royal Asiatic Society

JSAS Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press)

JSS Journal of the Siam Society

MMG Mingun Meditation Group

MN Majjhima Nikya, the middle length sayings

MSS Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta

MSV Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta Vaṇṇan

MSN Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta Nissaya, written by U Cakkinda (1873)

MSP Mahsatipaṭṭhn, written by Zao Amat Long (1875, printed by Shan Piaka
Press, Taunggyi, 1968)

MSP-AT The Annotated Translation of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn of Zao Amat Long,
translation with notes by Jotika Khur-Yearn, 2011. (The translation is based
on the printed version of
MSP edited by Zao Sophana (1968).

NLD National League for Democracy
PED Pali-English Dictionary, edited by Rhys Davids T.W. and Williams Stede,

1998, PTS, Oxford. (First printed by PTS 1921).
SBBP Shan Buddhism at the Boderlines Project

10

SED Shan-English Dictionary, by Cushing J. N., 1881 and updated by Sao Tern
Moeng, 1995.

SN Samyutta Nikya

SNLD Shan Nationalities League for Democracy

SSA Shan State Army

SSSO Shan State Sagha Organisation

SPTC Shan Piaka Translation Committee

SV Sumagalavilsin

VM Visuddhimagga, The Path of Purification, translated by Bhikkhu
namoli 1956 (Reprinted by BPS 1991)

VMA Visuddhimagga Aṭṭhakath

11

ILLUSTRA TIONS

  1. Fig. 1.0. A Map of Featuring Shan State and Northern Thailand

  2. Fig. 1.1. Poetic Recitation at the Religious Practice of Temple Sleeping at

    Wat Huoi Pha, Maehongson, Thailand, 2009.

  3. Fig. 1.2. A Shan monk reading his poetry especially composed for the

    honorary ceremony for monks who passed the higher examination in

    Buddhist studies at Piaka Temple, Panglong, Shan State, 2004.

  4. Fig. 1.3. Six Shan Classical Authors as recorded by Lung Khun Maha

    (1970)

  5. Fig. 1.4. A collection of lik long manuscripts at Wat Tiyasathan, Mae

    Taeng, Chiang Mai, 2004.

  6. Fig. 1.5. A wall painting scene of Shan ritual of poetic recitation

  7. Fig. 1.6. A Comparative Tai and other scripts of Mainland Southeast Asia

  8. Fig. 1.7. An example of using Burmese scripts for Pali texts in Shan

    Buddhist literature. Source: Amat Long’s MSP, 1968, p. 49.

  9. Fig. 1.8. Zare Saw of Wan Jong, copyist of lik long, demonstrating how his

    traditional ink is waterproof, 2009

  10. Fig. 1.9. Team Work on Cataloguing of lik long Collections at Wat

    Tiyasathan (Sai Pe, Kate Crosby, Jotika Khur-Yearn, Indacara, and

    Nandavamsa, 2009)

  11. Fig. 2.1. Practice of Temple sleeping at Wat Piang Luang, Chiang Mai

  12. Fig. 2.2. A group of temple sleepers (left), led by Zare Oo (right), having an

    informal reading out and listening to lik long poetic text on the terrace of

    Wat Pang Mu on the 9th August 2006

  13. Fig. 2.3. Fig. 2.1. Mula Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw (1868-1955)

  14. Fig. 2.4. Zao Khruwa Bunchum, Zaokhu Sukhaminda and Zaokhu

    Dhammasami at the opening ceremony of Wat Tai Khuwa Bunchum

    Buddhagyin 2008

  15. Fig. 3.1. Zao Amat Long. Photo Source: Lung Khun Mah1996, p. [104].

  16. Fig. 4.1. A Shan version of the Buddha’s footprint, taken from a Buddhist

    manuscript kept at Samsan Village monastery, Panglong, Shan State

13
27

27
30

34
44
48

48
53

55
67

69
73

78
92

217

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13

INTRODUCTION

A Background of this Study and Overview of the Chapters

This thesis examines the place of traditional poetic writings, lik long, in the practices,
beliefs and teachings of the Theravada Buddhism of the Shan ethnic group whose homeland
mainly straddles the modern nation states of Thailand and the Union of Burma. I examine the
copying and sponsorship of such texts, the occasions for their use, the threats to the
continuity of this tradition and attempts to ensure its continuation. Most of my evidence for
this comes from uncovering and cataloguing manuscript collections, mainly in northern
Thailand, and from fieldwork interviewing traditional poetry performers,
zare, and
practitioners, as well as through participant observation of the main temple practice at which
they are used, the lay practice of ‘temple-sleeping’ on holy days in both Thailand and Burma.
Recording the way
lik long poetic texts are used for the teaching of even very advanced
doctrine and practice captures the distinctive, now at risk, ways of transmitting the
dhamma
among the Shan. I note the potential of such literature to tell us much about 19th century
merit-making and sponsorship practices because of the lengthy introductions recording the
occasion of sponsorship, introductions that neither I nor colleagues working in the textual
study of Theravada have so far found elsewhere in its manuscript traditions. I then take the
investigation of the place of
lik long in Shan Buddhist practice further by providing an
annotated translation of a
lik long used for teaching meditation, a subject of training that we
have come to associate with teacher-pupil lineages or meditation centres, yet which in Shan
contexts is taught through listening to poetry. The text in question is Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta written in the 19th century. I use this text to explore the way in which
Shan
lik long literature draws on but differs from Pali and Burmese literature, as well as to
look at the use of Pali and Burmese, including Burmese loanwords, in Shan. Taking this
particular text, a Shan version of the
locus classicus for Theravada meditation in the canon as
the focus of study, allows us to investigate the relationship between Shan Buddhism and Pali
and Burmese forms particularly well because of the text’s Pali and Burmese precursors and
parallels. The thesis explores the genre and distinctive characteristics of
lik long poetic
literature through a close reading of this text and attempts to explain how it captures the
imagine of the specifically Shan audience. Examining this text also allows us to challenge
two other popular views in academic writings. One is the assumption that writing in the

14

vernacular is automatically accessible. The other is that Shan Buddhism is somehow
‘heretical.’

1. The Shan People

The Shan are ethnically and linguistically members of the Tai ethnic group to which the
Thai and the Laotian also belong. This association is reflected in the various names for this
ethnic group when we look at the terms ‘Shan’ and ‘Siam’, and ‘Tai’ and ‘Thai’. There are
suggestions that the term ‘Shan’ came from the same root of ‘Siam’ and ‘Syam’. Of them,
‘Syam’ seems to be the older term in that it is found in early Southeast Asian inscriptions.
Saimong Mangrai, with reference to G.H. Luce’s work, points out some traces of the word
‘Syam’ found in some early Southeast Asian inscriptions, such as the Cham inscriptions of
11th CE, the bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat of 12th CE and the Pagan inscriptions of 1120 CE.
Some, however, claim that the word ‘syam’ originated in Mon language, meaning ‘stranger’
or ‘foreigner’ by tracing the etymology back to the Mon word “rhamanna” (“rham” in
Burmese). Still others are of the opinion that ‘Shan’, ‘Siam’ or ‘Syam’ is derived from the
Pali or Sanskrit word ‘syama’, which literally means ‘golden’ or ‘dark’ colour and that is
how the Tai people, who have such skin colour, were called by their neighbours.
1 In
Burmese, they write ‘syam’ or ‘rham’ and pronounce ‘shan’, and the British followed them,
adopting this name for the group, when they ruled over Burma in 19th CE. Thus, it is likely
that through the British, and on the basis of Burmese pronunciation, the Tai people in Burma
became known to the world as ‘Shan.’ From the Thai perspective the Shan are identified as a
sub-group of the Tai ethnic groups by the name Tai Yai, which means ‘great Tai’ or, in other
words, ‘original Tai.’ In this thesis, even though Shan refer to themselves as Tai, I shall – for
the sake of clarity at the international level – use the term ‘Tai’ to refer to the broader group
of Tai peoples and ‘Shan’ to refer to the specific group.

Today, most of the Shan inhabit the ‘Shan State’, the North-East of the Union of
Burma/Myanmar (henceforth Burma).
2 Over 60,000 sq miles in size, compared to England

1 For more opinion and discussion on the terms Tai, Thai, Siam and Shan, see Luce 1969, vol 1, p. 27; Saimong
Mangrai 1965, pp. 16, 44; S
sanananda 1986, pp. 16-19; Terwiel 2003, Shan Manuscripsts, pp. 9-15; and
Sukhaminda 2008, pp.1-18.

2 Many important names and official places had been changed under the rule of the military junta who took over
power in 1988. In 1989, the formal name Burma was changed into Myanmar. However, political parties and
democracy campaigners both within and outside Burma refuse to use the new name as the changes were made
without consultation with the people. I shall use the term ‘Burma’ throughout this thesis.

15

and Wales combined, the current Shan State is the biggest state in the Union of Burma. It is
about a quarter of the whole country of the Union, which comprises 261,218 sq miles
(676,552 sq km), although its population is only about eight million, less than 20 % of the
total population of Burma, which is 54.3 millions and the majority of which are the
Burmans.
3 Outside the Shan State, there are some groups of Shan speaking inhabitants
scattered throughout other parts of Burma and neighbouring countries, such as Tai Khamti or
Khamti Shan in the Sagaing division, Tai Ahom in the northeast of India, Dai people in the
Yunnan province of southern China, and the Tai Yai people in northern Thailand. Note that
they are known in different names due to their different regions.

2. The Study of Shan Buddhism

Over ninety per cent of the Shan people share a belief in Buddhism in common with
their neighbours of Southeast Asia, such as the Burman, the Chinese, the Thai, the Laotian,
the Mon and the Khmer. Although it is not known when the Shan had their first contact with
Buddhism, their legendary accounts and early historical sketches hint at the arrival of
Buddhism in the Shan regions before the earliest date of Shan written records still extant.
They also indicate that the Shan – in parallel to other Buddhists throughout the region –
believe their Buddhism to date back to the time of the historical Buddha. Some date the
reception of Theravada Buddhism to the region to the 16th century under Burmese influence
and like to see Shan as retaining something essentially un-Theravada or ‘heretical’. However,
there is no evidence of the former beyond Burmese chronicle claims,
4 nor have we in the
work for this thesis found any evidence of the latter. Rather we have found complex texts
reflecting an in-depth knowledge of advance
Abhidhamma such as that found in the Pali
commentarial traditions that we associate most with notions of orthodoxy, with a holding to
the distinctively Theravada interpretation of the make up of the universe and the path to
nibbna, and we have found many people, lay and monk, who dedicate large amounts of their
time, especially as they become senior members of the community, to acquiring an
understanding of such texts and doctrine.

3 The term ‘Burman’ is used here to refer to the ethnic ‘Burmans’ who comprise about 68% of the population of
Burma. The term ‘Burmese’ is used in a more general and broader sense when referring to the Burmse
language, history, state, culture, etc. For details of the country’s ethnic population, see
http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/MTR/Myanmar.pdf (2004/05) and
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bm.html.

4 Scott 2009, p. 156.

16

To state that I have yet to find evidence for this ‘heretical’ Buddhism is not, however,
to say that Shan Buddhism is identical to that found among the majority ethnic groups in
either Burma or Thailand. The uniqueness of Shan Buddhism can be seen in the form of its
ritual practices and the richness and complexity of it Buddhist literature, and the manuscript
culture through which it is mostly preserved. The alluring theory that Shan Buddhism is
‘heretical’ has remained untested till now, however, as their religious practices most related
to doctrine and, especially, their literature have been far less studied compared with that of
their neighbours, especially that of the Thai and Burmese. This has remained the case for
over a century, despite the fact that there were a few Western scholars who showed great
interest in Shan in the early 19th century CE and made observations that I still find useful in
undertaking research on the Shan today. Exceptions to such silence have come not from
Buddhologists or textual scholars, but from anthropologists. Nicola Tannenbaum and Nancy
Eberhardt, especially, have documented with great sensitivity the rituals, everyday beliefs
and rites of passage of Shan Buddhism in northern Thailand.
5 Examining the more complex
doctrines and literature of Shan Buddhism, however, is a subject which falls between textual
scholarship and anthropology, since it requires an examination of texts barely catalogued (see
Chapter One on cataloguing projects), let alone studied, and of which virtually no examples
have been translated into a European language before now. Not being in Pali or one of the
better known Southeast Asian languages, they have remained a mystery to scholars even of
Theravada, and as such this thesis is a further extension of a recent move in Theravada
studies towards the consideration of regional vernacular materials in their social and religious
context such as that by Justin McDaniel and Daniel Veidlinger.
6 In contrast to those works,
however, I include an in-depth study of the literary qualities and content of a complex and
previously untranslated work. As an aside, I would like to point out that the absence of in-
depth study of Shan literature other than by Shan themselves in conjunction with the recent
blossoming of cataloguing projects (see Chapter One and Appendix One) has meant that an
attempt to create a standardised transcription of Shan into Roman script is only a recent and
ongoing discussion. I offer a transcription system, which I use in this thesis, and give an
update of the current situation in Appendix One. Meanwhile from an ethnographic
perspective, to look in any detail at the significance and use of
lik long beyond a basic
description of their presence on ritual and festival occasions requires more immersion in

5 Tannenbaum and Eberhardt, both speak and write Shan and work on research in Maehongson since late 1970s
and early 1980s respectively, see more details of their works in the bibliography of this thesis.

6 McDaniel 2008 and Veidlinger 2006.

17

texts, monasticism and long-term participation in a narrow range of activities than such
fieldwork either allows for or encourages. My study, therefore, specifically focuses on this
gap between the textualist’s and anthropologist’s purview. My own training from a young
age in Shan, Burmese and Sri Lankan monastic and university education as well as the kind
instruction of and close listening to traditional
zare, in conjunction with my exposure to
modern Theravada studies at SOAS, have placed me in a unique position to attempt this. At
the same time my findings challenge so many assumptions and raise so many further
questions that it has been hard to know at times which aspects are most deserving of
representation.

In the past ten years Shan Buddhism has begun to receive greater representation, with
scholars in Australia, Europe, Japan, Thailand and the USA paying greater attention, albeit
still in small numbers. Recently collaborations by Shan interested in the preservation,
definition and revival of Shan culture with such scholars have led to a greater awareness of
the subject internationally. Such collaboration ranges from the participation of
zare in
academic research projects, as shall be described further in Chapter One and the “First
International Conference on Shan Buddhism and Culture held at the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London (SOAS) in December 2007, a joint venture between
SOAS, the Shan Cultural Association UK and well-wishers. It attracted over 20 speakers and
led to a dedicated volume of essays bringing together scholars from disparate fields and
methodological approaches, an audience of c.150 to its papers, and over 800 people to the
two evenings of cultural events that framed it.
7 I like to reflect that both events, in which I
was involved, have led to more attention is being given to the subject of the Shan, including
with further international conferences, such as the one held in October 2009 at
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand and forty-one research papers were
presented at the conference, and projects such as the Bodleian Library’s
Revealing Hidden
Collections,
mentioned further below.8

7 Selected papers of the conference were published as a special issue of the journal of Contemporary Buddhism
vol. 10, no. 1 (summer 2009).

8 Selected papers of the conference were published as a special issue of the Journal of Asian Review, vol. 22
(2010) and also as a book entitled
Shan and Beyond: Essays on Shan Archeology, Anthropology, History,
Politics, Religion and Human Rights,
Proccedings of Conference on Shan Studies, 15-17 October 2009,
Chulalongkorn University, published by the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, 2011.

18

3. The Place of Shan Literature within the Study of the Shan

A number of scholars who have done relatively extensive research on the history of the
Tai race also provide general accounts of Tai language, culture and customs. Nevertheless,
from the historical perspective also, compared with other subjects about Shan people, very
little work has been done on Shan literature, particularly the early Shan poetic Buddhist
literature. I will now – having identified the gap between anthropology and Buddhology
above - provide some more detail on why the literature of the Shan might be challenging
even for those who are otherwise using historical sources in Shan language, by pointing out
the challenging complexity of Shan literature.

Ornamented in a poetic style, which poses a great challenge even for the composer and
reader who recites to an audience aloud, Shan poetic literature is an even more demanding
form of writing for its audience, let alone outside researchers.
9 The compiler faces the
sophistication, for instance, of the rhyming across lines and the reciter with the skills
acquired only through highly specialized training. The metrical forms of Shan poetry can be
perplexing in their variety with different types of metre, each with different names
corresponding to the rhymes and tones, the keys for the making of Shan poetry. A text can be
composed in a way that the reader must develop a keen sense of anticipation about the metres
and rhymes that lie immediately ahead. In my interviews with Shan ‘temple-sleepers’ (See
Chapter Two), they revealed that they could not initially understand the poetry that they
listened to during their extended stays in the temple, only acquiring the ability over the years
of their increased participation of such study. In my interviews with highly regarded poet-
readers (see Chapter One), they revealed that they had started their intensive study to become
zare mainly when they were very young, from the age of seven to thirteen, even though they
often were only regarded as experienced
zare after the age of 40 or so, once they had also
reached the status as being ‘seniors.’
10

The most complex and sophisticated form of Shan poetic literature is called lik long,
which is composed by a learned man (or in rare, but famous cases, a woman) to be recited
aloud to both literate and illiterate listeners. While a written form, its main method of
preservation depends much on the oral transmission that occasions is copying. For that
reason,
lik long may even be considered as oral literature in a broader definition, which

9 Also see in Crosby and Khur-Yearn (2010), pp. 1-27 and more discussion in Chapter One.
10 Tannenbaum 1995, pp. 161-162.

19

includes recitation of epic poems.11 It is the place specifically of lik long literature, i.e. the
practices that revolve around its production and performance, which is the focus of this
thesis.

4. Research Approach and Fieldwork

I have pursued the research that informs this thesis first as a monk, a Shan monk hailing
from Burma and then – after studies in Burma and Sri Lanka – coming to England to do my
doctorate; and then as a librarian specialising in Southeast Asia at the School of Oriental and
African Studies in London. As such the period over which I conducted my research is quite
extensive. My first fieldwork research was conducted in 2004-05.
12 I spent about a month in
Shan State visiting at nine important places for my research. Five of them were meditation
centres while others were Buddhist temples where I observed Shan religious rituals and came
to know of collections of Shan manuscripts, some of which were hundred years old. I also
met some scholar monks and meditation masters and had discussions with them about my
thesis interests. There were many other places I intended to visit but I could not do so for the
transportation system and the roads were in poor condition and the political and military
situation was also dangerous.

At this time I also spent about two months in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, visiting
two Shan temples. One is Wat Papao in the Chiang Mai city where I met a young Shan poet,
Zare Ka Kham, who was teaching the art of reading Shan poetry to students there. The other
temple is Wat Tiyasathan in Mae Taeng district where about two hundred Shan manuscripts
are preserved. As the manuscripts were uncatalogued, I went through them one by one and
noted down the titles and dates. This initial work revealed an extraordinary range of texts,
some unknown elsewhere and containing almost no duplicates, and so became the focus of
the cataloguing project in 2009 that I describe more fully in Chapter One. In 2005, I also
visited the centre of EFEO (l’École française d’Extrême-Orient) in Chiang Mai and the
library of Chiang Mai University where I acquired useful access to western works on Shan
including some rare works essential for my thesis. I also visited the library of the FPLF
(Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation) in Bangkok, where – thanks to Peter Skilling– I was able

11 For more information on oral literature, see www.oralliterature.org/about/oralliterature.

12 My fieldwork research in 2004-05 was jointly funded by the University of London’s Research Fund and the
SOAS Additional Fieldwork Award.

20

to examine the collection of over three hundred Shan manuscripts kept there. My main aim of
visiting the FPLF was to find a Shan version of the
Satipaṭṭhna texts found in the Pali canon
and an ongoing source of inspiration for commentaries and practice, especially among the
different Buddhist groups of Burma, for by this time I had the idea to examine how
meditation prior to the setting up of specialised centres had been transmitted. However, as the
manuscripts were not yet catalogued, I went through them one by one, noting down the title
of each manuscript, which I hoped would also make a small contribution towards the
cataloguing of the collection. I returned to London on 21st March 2005.

In 2006, with the support from a Jordan’s travel grant, I was able to make my second
research trip to Southeast Asia. During this trip, my interest having focused on the use of
poetry in Shan Buddhist meditation practice, I presented a paper on the ‘Temple Sleepers and
Poetic Literature, a Shan Worldview’ at Burma Studies Conference held at the National
University of Singapore, and recommenced my earlier fieldwork in Northern Thailand.
Especially, I dedicated time to listing the manuscripts at Wat Tiyasathan, Mae Taeng and
observing the ritual practices of temple sleeping at Wat Piang Luang and Wat Pang Mu.
13

In 2007, I took up my post as subject librarian for South-East Asia and Pacific Islands
in SOAS library, but continued to work on this subject, including by giving papers at two
conferences: one at the South-East Asian Librarian Group’s annual meeting in Marseille in
2008 and another at the EUROSEAS Conference in Gothenburg in 2010.

In 2009, I made two research trips to Thailand, in connection with the group project
described a little more in Chapter One, which was funded by the British Academy Committee
ASEASUK in July-August, and partly the International Conference on Shan Studies held at
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, mentioned above.
14 In 2010, I led a project of work on
the collection of manuscripts at Wat Papao. I was told by Phra Inta, the abbot of Wat Papao,
that the collection was catalogued in Thai by Chiang Mai University’s Thai-German Project,
some 20 years ago. A copy of the catalogue was kept at the temple and another was kept at
Chiang Mai University but the copy that was kept at Wat Papao has been missing.
Fortunately, each of the manuscripts has a label containing the code numbers, titles of the
texts and the year of composing or copying. Therefore, I decided to create a list of the

13 The fieldwork result was presented at SSEASR Conference, held at Mahidol, Bangkok, 2007.
14 This resulted in two papers: Crosby and Khur-Yearn 2009 and 2010.

21

manuscripts by typing those data of information into the computer. There are 471 manuscript
texts; most of them are on Buddhism, such as
Jtaka, folk tale, Buddhist doctrine,
Abhidhamma, ethics, life of the Buddha, chanting and Pali grammatical works. They were
written in old Shan scripts, also mixed with some Burmese and Pali in Burmese scripts. The
list of the manuscripts is included in the appendices/Appendix Two, since it allows one to see
the range of themes to which Shan Buddhists have given their attention in their sponsorship
and composition of
lik long.

As a part of this project, we also digitized seven lik long manuscripts. The seven lik
long
texts are: 1. Satipaṭṭhn (s.e.1260), 2. Satipaṭṭhn (s.e. 1291), 3. Maeng Si Hu Ha Ta, 4.
Brahmavihra (s.e. 1239), 5. Nang Kin Pu, 6. Ma Hok To [‘the six horses’], and 7. Sutta Ho
Tham (Ho Tham Zu).

Throughout all this work I continued to observe the use of these texts especially in the
temple-sleeping practice described later in this thesis. In 2009 I was able to conduct extensive
interviews with temple-sleepers and the poet-readers (see Chapter One) who compose, copy
and perform these texts. Several more interviews were conducted on my behalf by Zaokhu
Devinda Yeehsai in Shan State, allowing me to see detailed differences between audience
expectations across the two regions, with a continued greater interest in the more complex
topics of
Abhidhamma, doctrine and meditation in Shan State, in comparison with Thailand.

Alongside this archival and fieldwork research I steadily translated Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn into English, annotating features of the writing style as well as aspects of
doctrine, etc. I then conducted both style and source criticism, comparing Amat Long’s text
with the Pali canonical version of the text, the commentary by Buddhaghosa which is
partially embedded in Amat Long’s version, as well as with Cakkinda’s Burmese
nissaya
which Amat Long also used and cited, being a great admirer of Cakkinda’s work.

I have therefore combined archival research, fieldwork, and lower and higher textual
criticism in this work. I hope that it will become clear that through this combination of
approaches I have established the nature of this type of text and its use, and identified that it
represents a unique method for transmitting meditation teaching. I do, however, have one
regret, particularly given the importance at this time both of meditation and of preserving
Shan culture, and that is that I was unable, on the basis of this work, to also give time to
identifying whether – though based on the same Pali canonical text – there is any significant
difference in the actual method of practising
satipaṭṭhna between the new meditation centres

22

and the temple-sleepers, or if the difference is in the method of delivering the instruction
only.
15 My hope is that this work highlights the place of Shan classical poetic literature, and
an appreciation of the rich history and great endeavour that has supported its production, as
contemporary Shan communities and practice continue to face an uncertain future negotiating
their current socio-economic position particularly in the socipolitical climate of Burma.

5. An Overview of the Chapters of this Thesis

In the Chapter One, I discuss lik long, meaning ‘great text’, as a unique feature of Shan
Buddhism. I explore the religious activities that occasion the sponsoring and reading of
lik
long
, such as a funeral, the inauguration of a new house, and the practice of temple sleeping
on holy days. I observe the specific choices of genre for specific occasions, and the stories
known by Shan that encourage these choices and the activity of donating manuscripts. I look
at the recitation specialists for these texts, called
zare, their training in the specific ways of
reciting this poetry, and the complexity of the rhyming systems and writing systems. I
explain the materials such as ink and paper used for the physical creation of
lik long. I also
observe that, although this tradition of poetic performance is still preserved in many parts of
Shan/Tai communities today, there has been extensive loss of textual collections and there
are signs that this tradition is under the threat of dying out for a range of reasons.

In Chapter Two, I discuss the presence of two types of access to meditation in Shan
Buddhism. One form takes place at the local Buddhist monastery during the ritual of ‘temple
sleeping’ and the ritual of listening to poetic literature on Buddhist holy days, the focus of
this thesis. The other form usually takes place at the intensive meditation retreats provided by
meditation centres introduced from the 1930s onwards. The types of meditation are in a sense
similar, being ultimately based on the
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta of the Pali canon and its
commentarial traditions. However, there is a connection between them both and
considerations of Shan identity, and we find that while one might see the modern intensive
practice as a threat to traditional poetic literature, the advocates of one are often also the
advocates of the other. I then go on to explain how temple-sleeping is undertaken by
members of the Shan community and how the recitation of poetic texts on meditation fits into
that practice. The chapter then goes on to identify Shan poetic texts on the subject of

15 Throughout this thesis I have assumed a general familiarity with term such as Buddha, Dhamma, Nibbna,
satipaṭṭhna, karma, mindfulness, insight meditation, etc. as these term circulated in the Anglophone word
and appear in English dictionaries. I therefore only explain terms that are less familiar.

23

meditation before identifying those that specifically deal with mindfulness practice,
satipaṭṭhna, providing Shan versions of the canonical texts embedding various forms of
commentary
. I then identify the focus of the next two chapters of the thesis, the 19th-century
classical Shan poet Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn, one of the eleven such texts
identified.

Chapter Three is the longest chapter in the thesis, containing what – to my knowledge –
is the first complete translation of a
lik long into English. The translation is that of the 19th-
century classical Shan poet Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn with extensive annotations.
Given the great length of the text I have had to move a section to Appendix Three so that
there is room enough within the word limit of the thesis for the discursive and analytical
material found in the other chapters.

In Chapter Four I conduct a comparative textual analysis of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn.
Discussion includes the use of beautiful words and phrases in lik long literature. The terms
used to achieve this rich style are not only Shan but also loanwords adopted from the
Burmese as well as Pali. I assess their use in terms of Burmese-Shan political history but also
in terms of the desirability of these loanwords for both essential terms and decorative
features. I point out the difficulty that this poses to the listeners, and even to some readers. I
note also recent attempts to create Burmese-free Shan writings in recent years, due to the
political and military pressures experienced by the Shan since the breaking of the Panglong
agreement.

In the Conclusion, I bring together my findings in order to characterise Shan lik long. In
particular, I assess the significance for our understanding of Theravada and of Shan religion
of this first in-depth study of a Shan
lik long in the context of studying the religious practices
that revolve around their copying and reading, especially practice of temple sleeping.

The thesis has a number of appendices.

In Appendix One I provide a transcription table and not the ongoing, current
development of a standardised transcription for the Library of Congress.

In Appendix Two I provide the list of works from the library of Wat Papao mentioned
above, so that readers may see the range of texts included in a typical Shan temple library,
with its minority of Pali texts in Burmese scripts and its majority of Shan texts which are also
almost all likewise on Theravada Buddhist themes, just as the monks of the temples are in

24

Theravada Buddhist traditions. Although this information is in an appendix I use the evidence
to support my questioning of notions of Shan Theravada as heretical (See Conclusion).

In Appendix Three I place a section of the translation of Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta. I wanted to ensure that this thesis for the first time made such a text
available in translation in full. The size and the nature of the repetition to be found in such
texts is an important feature as it testifies to the degree of work involved for the author in
making the material available at several levels to a Shan audience. It also testifies to the
endurance needed by practitioners to listen to the entire text, let alone take it up as practice,
two issues addressed by the author throughout his text with his admonitions to the audience
to listen and his concern that they might not be able to continue and even a rather unusual,
sudden appearance of a break for this reason (See chapter Three). Yet the entire text is so
long that had I retained all of it within the word limit for the thesis I would have had no room
for any of the contextualisation and analysis. I mark where the extraction is taken from in
Chapter Three.

In Appendix Four I have provided in Shan script the formulae used by temple sleepers
transcribed and translated in Chapter Two.

25

CHAPTER ONE

Shan Lik Long Poetic Literature:
Tradition, Transmission and Threats to Survival

1.1. Lik long: Shan Poetic Dhamma

Shan Buddhists use a form of poetic literature to convey Buddhist teachings in an
interesting, or special, way. These poetic texts are read in the context of religious or social
activity on variety of occasions. The texts are called in Shan
lik long, ‘great writing/text’. Lik
long
is also known as ‘lik langka long’, ‘the text of great poetry’, on account of its
illustriousness and complexity.

The term ‘langka’ for Shan poetic works is probably derived from the Sanskrit or Pali
word ‘
alakra’, literally meaning ‘decoration’ or ‘ornamentation.’ It also means ‘poetics’ as
found for example in the title of the 12
th-century work the Subodhlakra by Sriputta,
which is a book of rules for poetic writing, written under the influence of Sanskrit
alakraśāstra. Hence, langka indicates ‘decorated/ornamented writing’ or ‘writing that is
decorated in a poetic style.’ The composer or reciter of poetic texts is usually called
zare,
which literally means ‘clerk,’ but refers to a poet or poetry reader in this context.
16 The type
of
lik long poetic literature used in Shan ritual performance covers a variety of subjects, from
the secular to the religious (see Fig. 1.1.), histories, folk tales, and manuals for particular
events such as the ceremony of ordination, the anniversary of a temple, honorary ceremonies,
etc. (see Fig. 1. 2.)

16 While the term zare has several meanings it usually refers to an educated person, such as poet, writer,
secretary and ex-monk. Although the term was widely used in the 19
th and 20th centuries, today it is rarely
used in either spoken or written Shan language for poets themselves. Instead, a new term,
Zao Khu Maw
[‘Intellectual’] was introduced in the late 20th century. However, since this latter term often refers specifically
to poets the term
zare does continue to be in use for the poetry reader and the copyist of the poetic literature,
some of whom do in fact also compose. The term often appears in the title of such people, as part of their
name, e.g. Zare Saw, Zare La Tun, Zare Auto, whom are also mentioned in my discussion in this thesis and in
the articles I co-authored with Kate Crosby in 2009 and 2010.

26

Fig. 1. 1. Poetic Recitation at the Religious Practice of Temple Sleeping
(Photo: Jotika Khur-Yearn, taken at Wat Huoi Pha, Maehongson, Thailand, 2009)

Fig. 1. 2. A Shan monk reading his poetry especially composed for the ceremony
in honour of monks who passed higher examination in Buddhist studies
(Photo: Jotika Khur-Yearn, taken at Panglong, Shan State, 2004.)

27

There is a great variety of Shan lik long poetic literature, as I have experienced during
my early education at Shan monasteries and also discovered at Shan (Tai Yai) temple
collections during my fieldwork research in Northern Thailand.
17 This richness and variety
can also be seen through examining Lung Khun Mah
’s Puen Khu Maw Tai Hok Zao and
Barend J. Terwiel and Chaichuen Kamdaengyodtai’s
The Shan Manuscripts, Part I. The
former is the most important history of Shan literature and means, ‘History of the six
Tai/Shan intellectuals’]. The latter is a catalogue of Shan manuscripts in German library
collections.
18 I shall refer to both these works in this thesis. I have also included as Appendix
Three a list of the works held at Wat (temple) Papao in Chiang Mai to give an illustration of
their range and the extent to which the choice of texts copied covers typical Theravada
Buddhist themes from popular narrative to demanding doctrinal and
Abhidhamma treatises,
even though all are composed for public performance (see below).

Despite the fact that the tradition of poetic literature and its ritual of recitation has been
practised in Shan Buddhist communities for centuries, in recent decades the tradition has
been under threat for a number of reasons, a topic to which we shall return in the section on
‘the Physical Preservation
Lik Long Literature’ later in this chapter. One aspect influencing
the care needed to preserve this tradition, however, is its unique characteristics and
complexity. Therefore in this chapter, I shall discuss the tradition, significance and
characteristics of Shan literature with a primary focus on Shan poetic
lik long literature in
which unique forms of Shan Buddhism and tradition are preserved.

My discussion will be based mostly on fieldwork research conducted between 2004 and
2010 (detailed above in the Introduction) among the Shan communities of northern Thailand,
although the practice is also familiar to me from my own background in the Southern areas of
Shan State, on the Burma Union side of the border, where I also conducted a limited amount
of fieldwork. In addition to fieldwork on my own, I also participated in a SOAS-based group
project on Shan Buddhism during which we conducted cataloguing of
lik long temple
collections and conducted fieldwork to assess the changing tradition of Shan Buddhism in an
area either side of the Burma-Thailand border. This project took place in the summer of

17 For more information on Shan temple collections in Northern Thailand, see the sections on the
‘Commissioning of
Lik Long Manuscripts’ and the ‘Physical Preservation of Lik Long later in this chapter.

18 Khun Mah1970, Puen Khu Maw Tai Hok Zao (reprinted 1996) and Terwiel 2003, The Shan Manuscripts,
Part I
.

28

2009.19 The group fieldwork that summer took place mainly at six Shan temples in northern
Thailand. Part of the group’s aim was to examine how the Shan have (or have not) managed
to preserve both the performance and the traditional manuscripts of Shan poetic literature,
particularly in Chiang Mai and Maehongson provinces of Thailand and over the border in the
Mueang Ton area of Burma. The area in Thailand is an area that has established Shan
communities but has also over recent decades received new Shan immigrants from
neighbouring across the border in the Shan State, Burma, where the turmoil of the recent
decades is a continuation of the insecurity over the past few centuries, with almost continuous
wars and insurgency. We were interested in how
lik long material has been preserved and
whether the education of the recitation specialists, the
zare, is continuing. The oral histories
we recorded included discussion of the impact of a whole series of wars and movements of
peoples in the area, and made the continued preservation of this complex literature,
particularly in an area where Shan is not a language of administration or government
education, seem particularly impressive. I shall draw on some of my group’s findings in the
final part of this chapter, particularly on the tradition of
lik long literature and the ritual of
listening to poetic texts.
20

1.2. The Tradition and Context of Lik Long poetic Literature

There are debates among scholars about the date of the earliest Shan literature,
including
lik long poetic works. Lung Khun Mah, whose history, Puen khu maw lik Tai hok
zao
published in 1970, I mentioned above, based his research in part on interviews with local
people. In addition he gathered from manuscripts information such as the bibliographical
details of authors, which commonly appear in the introductions to or, sometimes in the
conclusion of Shan poetic works. Through this work he provided a clearer picture of the dates
and lineages of some key poetic authors, taking us back nearly five centuries. For the dates of

19 The SOAS-based research project was funded by the British Academy committee for ASEASUK, and the
group fieldwork was led by Dr Kate Crosby. Other participants included including Dr Sai Pe, Ven.
Nandava
sa of Kesi, Ven. Indcra of Panglong, and a number of zare in northern Thailand, particularly a
group in Maehongson which is led by Zare Saw, who was originally from Kun Hing, Shan State. The main
zare to work on the project were Zare Saw himself and Pa Mule. In Maehongson we were also joined
temporarily by Prof. Nicola Tannenbaum and Dr Nancy Eberhardt who co-interviewed with us and with
whom we jointly observed a
poi haw lik. Also as part of the project, Ven. Devinda Yeehsai (Nam Kham) has
conducted interview with 14 well-known
zare in different areas of Shan State in 2010.

20 Crosby, Kate and Khur-Yearn, Jotika (2010) ‘Poetic Dhamma and the Zare: Traditional Styles of Teaching
Theravada Amongst The Shan Of Northern Thailand’, in
Contemporary Buddhism, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 7-10.

29

the classical authors of lik long provided in the first edition of Lung Khun Mahin 1970, see
Fig. 1. 3. below.
21

Fig. 1. 3. Six Shan Classical Authors recorded by Lung Khun Mah(1970)

It is worth noting that one of the 6 poets, Nang Kham Ku (1853-1918), is a female zare,
a rare woman scholar of her time, who learned from her father Zao Kang Suea (1787-1881)
to become a poet. During our fieldworks in Maehongson in 2009, we met another female
zare, Pa Mule, as we have discussed in detail in our article (co-authored with Kate Crosby):
Poetic Dhamma and the Zare: Traditional Styles of Teaching Theravada amongst the Shan of
Northern Thailand
.22

While the origin of Shan lik long poetic literature remains a subject for further study,
and may indeed be difficult to pursue due to the way texts are replaced with new versions, we
can at least confirm that the Shan tradition of poetic works was already flourishing in the 16
th
century CE. One of the six famous, classical authors of lik long, Zao Dhammadinna, who
remains popular to this day, was born in 1541 CE and died in 1640 CE.
23 One of the most
well known poetic works written by Dhammadinna is
Sutta Nibbna [‘The Discourse on
Nibb
na’], also called Sutta maun tham [‘The Essence of the Discourses’], Sutta Nibbna or
Sutta Maun Tham continues to be regarded as the best gift for relatives to offer to the temple

21 In his second edition published in 1985, Lung Khun Mahadded three scholars, namely, Zao Worakhae and
Zao Paññ
bhoga and Zare Kham Pang and become nine scholars. It is worth noting that of the latter three
scholars, Zao Paññ
bhoga is traditional poet, but he is added to the list because of his leadership for the
Project of translating the Burmese Nissaya version of Tipataka texts into Shan version and his reform of Shan
monastic education in the 1950s, which has so much impacts on the modern Shan monastic education system.

22 Crosby and Khur-Yearn 2010, in Contemporary Buddhism, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 8-10.
23 Khun Mah, 1970, Puen Khu Maw Tai Hok Zao, pp. 23-33.

30

as part of the memorial services for their departed relative and hence one of the favourite
texts for recitation. I have discussed more on offering texts as gift for memorial services in
the section of the commissioning of
lik long manuscripts, further below.

The date of lik long literature clearly goes back even further than the time of
Dhammadinna, since he represents an established tradition. Moreover, in an introduction to
one of his texts, Dhammadinna aspired to be ‘as intelligent as his teacher’, who was the abbot
of Wan Khang temple of Ze Hak, Mueang Ting district.
24 This description suggests that
Dhammadinna’s teacher also was an established poet, within an existing tradition, yet we do
not know of his work. With this last point, we can assume that the Shan poetic literature may
have existed long before the time of Dhammadinna, yet for how long is for now a matter of
conjecture. Such mention of teachers is in fact a common feature of Shan poetic works,
which, as already mentioned, often contain information on the biographies of the authors in
the introduction or – less commonly – in the conclusion of the text. Thus, while we are not in
a position to project the history of
lik long further back at present, there is a possibility of
tracing the lineage of early Shan
lik long poets by coordinated reading of different texts of lik
long
texts, a task which may become more feasible with the on-going cataloguing projects
that I describe above and also later in this chapter.

1.3. The Commissioning of Lik Long Manuscripts: Production and Collection

The commissioning of Shan lik long texts and manuscripts grew out of a traditional
Shan emphasis on Buddhist merit-making. This centuries old tradition has resulted in
collections of
lik long manuscripts, which can be found everywhere all over Shan State, in
temples as well as in peoples’ houses. There are very few Shan homes where you do not find
manuscripts. Nowadays, Shan manuscripts can also be found in the special collections of
research libraries around the world, such as those in the German holdings catalogued by
Terwiel and Khamdaengyodtai (2003) mentioned above. In Bangkok, there is a special
collection of Shan manuscripts in the collection of the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation’s
Library, still waiting for cataloguing, although I had made note for the title for most of the
manuscripts during my fieldwork in 2005. In terms of holdings in the UK, I shall mention
some of these when talking about the manuscripts I used for this thesis. An unpublished

24 Wan Khang village, Zehak sub-district, Mueang Ting (Mengding) district is now in Gengma County, Yunnan
Province, Southern China. Khun Mah
, 1970, pp. 23-25.

31

catalogue of the Cambridge University Library’s holdings was compiled by Sao Saimong
Mangrai, a Shan scholar who worked on the Scott Collections at Cambridge in the early
1980s,
25 and both the Oxford and Cambridge holdings are to be catalogued by a UK-based
research project funded by one of the biggest sponsors of Buddhist studies in the world today,
the Dhammakaya Foundation.
26

A common way in which the Shan promote the tradition of lik long literature is the
ritual of memorial service for a dead person.
27 Part of the memorial service is associated with
text donation and recitation. For example, when a member of a family has died, the
remaining members of the family request a
zare to produce a new copy of their favourite text
or a particularly auspicious text for such an occasion and donate it to the temple at the
memorial service. It is a tradition in Shan Buddhism that a manuscript is produced in
commemoration of a family member who died in the past year. However, sponsors may also
want to have a new text available, in which case they also ask the
zare to compose and have a
special first-reading of that new copy. Even these new texts are mostly connected with
commemorating the dead. They are not copied for the funeral itself, where an existing copy
of a different text may be recited, but commissioned even at a later date. The traditional
memorial service in which a ceremony of reading and listening to these new texts usually
takes place in the last fifteen days of the annual monastic rains retreat. It is the time of the
year when the new texts are donated to the temple, in order to commemorate relatives who
have died in the past year.
28 This tradition of donating a Buddhist text at a memorial service is
alive and continued today in many parts of the Shan communities of Shan State, Burma,
particularly in the countryside, although it is extinct in some other areas where Shan

25 Fore more information on Sao Saimong Mangrai, see http://mangraisofkengtung.blogspot.com/2007/04/sao-
saimong-mangrai.html
; Andrew Skilton gave a paper on this collection highlighting the work of Sao Saimong
Mangrai on it at the Shan New Year one-day conference on 27 November 2011, held at SOAS.

26 Key members of this project include Dr Gillian Evison (Director), Dr Andrew Skilton (Manager), and myself
(Shan specialist and Shan liaison). Other large sponsors of Buddhist studies internationally in recent years
have been the Numata Foundation and the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation.

27 I had an opportunity to present my paper, ‘A Book for the Dead: a Shan tradition of preserving manuscripts,’
at the Burmese Studies Conference at the Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illionois, 2008. I would like
to thank the organisers, particularly Professor Dr Catherine Raymon, Professor Dr John Hartman, Ven.
Sudhamma (Du Sai Noi) and Ven. Dr Milinda for their sponsorship of my travel and accommodation.

28 Existing copies of manuscripts on Buddhist sermons or meditation are used for poetic performance on holy
days where the
zare recites to the ‘temple sleepers’. I discuss ‘temple sleepers’ in Chapter Two.

32

populations are mixed with other cultures or have more contact with modernity.29

As I mentioned above, the lik long text Sutta Nibbna has had a great influence on
Shan tradition of donating a text for the dead. According to tradition, and as recorded in the
text itself, by donating this treatise,
Sutta Nibbna, the dead person will receive the benefit of
this merit and be reborn in a better world.
30 The story in the Sutta Nibbna is that during the
time of Buddha Vipass
– one of the former Buddha’s of this universe31 - there was a rich
couple who had two daughters. After they died they became black hungry ghosts. So one
night they appeared to their beloved daughters in a dream, asking them to go to the Buddha
Vipass
and ask whether anything could be done for them to get them out of their terrible
lives. The Buddha Vipass
then told the dutiful daughters to donate the Sutta Nibbna, the
scripture so precious that even the Buddha bows down before it in worship. The two
daughters, having heard this, called a writer skilled in copying the scriptures to write for them
a copy of the
Sutta Nibbna, which they then donated to a temple. Their parents, the ghosts,
gained the benefit instantly, changing their bodies into those of a good spirit-prince and -
princess. Thus, this story – a version of which was composed by the earliest Shan scholar for
whom we have detailed biographical information - authorises the Shan tradition of donating
Buddhist texts for a dead person. The practice is not confined to donations of this text,
although it is particularly popular, but includes other texts on religious themes. It is in
particular an outcome of this practice that copies of
lik long manuscripts are found
everywhere in Shan communities, even though they are also copied for other occasions and
reasons.

Copies of Shan lik long manuscripts are traditionally kept in three places: in the temple,
in private houses and in the personal collection of the
zare. In the temple, lik long are usually
kept in chests near the Buddha shrine. It is common in Shan Buddhism that the older the
temples are the more manuscripts have been collected. There are a few old temples in
Northern Thailand where such collections of manuscripts are found. In Maehongson, Wat
Pang Mu, which is believed to be the oldest temple in the area, has collected around 1,000
manuscripts. In Chiang Mai city, Wat Papao is probably the oldest Shan temple and has

29 Nicola Tannenbaum did not see such tradition practised in Thongmakhsan or that area where she has
conducted fieldwork research since the 1970s. Note from personal correspondence with Prof. Tannenbaum on
this in 2012.

30 Wilbur W. Cochrane observed the tradition of donating this text while doing research for his book The Shans
in the early 20th century. Cochrane 1915, The Shans, pp. 158-161.

31 For a list of former Buddhas, see in the introduction of the Jtaka, Online: http://www.sacred-
texts.com/bud/bits/bits002.htm

33

collected around 500 manuscripts. Wat Tiyasathan, 40 kilometres to the north of Chiang Mai,
was built in 1909 and has collected around 300 manuscripts (Fig. 1. 4.).
32 However, in the
case of Wat Tiyasathan the collection itself is not old, even though the manuscripts it
contains are. Rather, this collection was formed relatively recently (from 1970s onwards) by
efforts to save Shan manuscript in other temples and houses in the region from neglect or
mistreatment.
33

Fig. 1. 4. A collection of lik long manuscripts at Wat Tiyasathan, Mae Taeng,
Chiang Mai (Photo: Jotika Khur-Yearn, 2004)

As for collections of manuscripts at private houses, the tradition is that sometimes after
manuscripts were donated to the temple, with the permission of the head monk, the donors
would be allowed to take the texts back and keep them at their own house, usually on Buddha
alters or in cabinets under or near the Buddha alters. Some big families have collected as
many as 20 texts. During my fieldwork in Panglong, Shan State, in 2004, I had chance to
look at a family collection of
lik long texts at Lung Zang Zingta’s house. There are around 30
lik long texts in the collection and one among them is the printed version of Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn, published in 1968, the text that is the focus of the textual section of this

32 The survey of these temple collections was made during my fieldwork trips to the areas between 2004 and
2009. On the subsequent follow-up catalogue and fieldwork from the summer of 2009 onwards, see in the
section of physical preservation of Shan manuscripts in the later part of this Chapter, and Crosby and Khur-
Yearn 2010a and 2010b.

33 Crosby and Khur-Yearn 2010, ‘Poetic Dhamma and the Zare: Traditional Styles of Teaching Theravada
Amongst The Shan Of Northern Thailand’, in
Contemporary Buddhism, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 7-10.

34

thesis.34 Collections of manuscripts are also found at zares’ houses and the same pattern
applies to
zares in that the more senior zare the more manuscripts usually possesses. It is
worth noting that
zare may also keep duplicate copies of popular texts available for new
donors/sponsors, who wish to have a text for certain occasion, with a few blank pages at the
front, so that they can add details of the donor/sponsor when one requests that text.
35

Since the production of lik long manuscripts in any given year bears a relationship to
the number of Shan Buddhists who died that year, we can imagine that there is a consistent
production of relatively large numbers and from that perspective we must imagine that those
we have observed in our fieldwork and cataloguing form but a fraction, although, as I shall
discuss later in this chapter, they also are lost to the tourist and art trade, wilful destruction, or
reused. This reason for their production and the different places for storing them makes it
difficult, if not impossible, to record all of them properly. This situation was nicely observed
by W.W. Cochrane in the early 20
th century: “When asked about the number of Shan [lik
long
] manuscripts, the answer was ‘millions of millions’; they are innumerable.”36 Given
Cochrane’s position as a Christian missionary, we can imagine that the following comment
reflects his frustration when – in seeking an equivalent to the Christian bible – he found Shan
religious writings to be so extensive: “The Shan writers have been numerous and prolific;
they have also been Oriental in the exuberance of imagination, unbridled fancy running riot
in a wilderness of words.”
37

While Cochrane’s statement gives some indication of the fame and popularity of lik
long
literature as seen by a western researcher on Shan in the early 20th century, in it we can
also see the racism of the time and his personal ignorance of the discipline required to write
lik long and the tight parameters of the rules for composition. Zare Nanda Pa-Kang, one of
the
zares in Shan State that we interviewed as part of the 2009 project, comments that it is
important that a
zare follows the rules and systems of lik long, such as the long and short
rhythm, in order to attract a good audience and keep the tradition alive. He emphasises that
one cannot follow one’s whim. Zare Pa-Kang is one of the most active
zares for the

34 Even this print version of Mahasatipaṭṭhn becomes a rare matrial, as when I asked my friends to look for it
in the early 2003 (before I registered for PhD research at SOAS), the copy was found only in this private
collection.

35 This information was confirmed by Zare Saw (Maehongson) when we had an interview with him during the
SOAS-based group research fieldwork in 2009.

36 Cochrane 1910, ‘Shan Literature’ in Milne 1910, Shans at Home, p. 214.
37 Cochrane 1915, The Shans, p. 157.

35

promotion and commissioning of Shan lik long literature. He participated in three lik long
conferences held in 1990, 1993 and 2001 in Panglong, Taunggyi and Kengtung respectively.
He also taught the techniques of reading and writing
lik long literature to over 160 students at
6 classes run between 2001 and 2009.
38 With this information, we can assume that like Zare
Nanda Pa-Kang, there have been such traditional Shan scholars who have played a part in
actively promoting
lik long literature ensuring the preservation and continuity of lik long
manuscripts, following the training and discipline described by Zare Pa-Kang, which I shall
now describe in more detail.

1.4. The Characteristics of Lik Long Poetic Literature

As Zare Nanda Pa-Kang mentioned, the rules, which guide composers of lik long, are
quite strict. There are several forms of rhyming systems, which the composer must employ
and the reader must also recognize in anticipation to be able to recite appropriately.
39 The
compositions are not free or the production of ‘unbridled fancy running riot in a wilderness of
words.’ There are constraints of topic, influenced by religious tradition and sponsorship. We
shall see when looking more specifically at Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn how lik long
texts follow precursors and contain within them pre-existing canonical, commentarial and
hermeneutical texts. One of the most complex aspects of
lik long composition is the rhyming
system. J.N. Cushing, one of a few early westerners who showed great interest in Shan in the
19
th century CE, made this remark on Shan literature. Referring to lik long poetic literature,
he writes:

“The Shan language favours poetical composition, by the modulation of its tones,
and the abundance of its synonyms. Almost all religious books are written in a
metrical style.”
40

38 Zare Pa-Kang, aged 72 at the time of interview, was originally from Kio Yoi village, Mueang Luean track,
Mueang Naung Township, central Shan State. He currently lives in Kun Hing, southern Shan State. The
interview of Zare Nanda Pa-Kang was conducted by Zao Devinda Yee-hsai in the summer 2010 as an
extension of the 2009 Shan Buddhism at the Borderlands Project described above.

39 The SOAS Research Group found it very demanding to work on cataloguing of temple collections in Nothern
Thailand in 2009 because of the complexity of the material. Even members of our team who were highly
educated in Pali, Burmese and Shan literature (all mother-tongue Shan) struggled with the rhyming systems.
Even those familiar with some of the rhyming systems could not follow or identify those they had not come
across before. Had we not been able to recruit highly qualified
zare, we would not have been able to complete
our descriptive catalogue. (Crosby, Khur-yearn, Saw, forthcoming).

40 J. N. Cushing was a late 19th century Christian missionary worker. In 1865 he offered himself to the
American Baptist Missionary Union as a candidate for service in foreign fields, and in 1866 he sailed for
Burma, being assigned to the Shan tribes. To fulfill the aims of his mission of spreading the words of Christ
among the Shan, he first wrote his
Shan-English Dictionary (1881) and then books on Shan grammar for

36

A great challenge to the lik long or, more fully expressed, lik langka long poetic
literature, even for those literate in Shan language and script, is the variety of complexity of
the poetic style in which
lik long is written. Techniques include rhyming across lines, not
necessarily at the end but in the midst of phrases, and different rhymes reaching across one
another. In order to recite this kind of
lik long poetic literature to an audience, special training
is required. The art of reading such type of poetry is, perhaps, almost as hard as the art of
composing it. For a person who wishes to become a professional poetic reader needs not only
to be gifted with an articulate and mellifluous voice but also to receive special training and
practice. Specialist training is necessary for the performer to apply the rules and system of
poetic language specific to this genre of literature. The metrical forms of Shan poetry are
bewildering in their variety. There are verses in short lines, and very long lines, in couplets
and quatrains, regular and irregular. There are different types of metre and each metre has a
different name according to the rhymes and tones of the poetry. The rhyming or linking
words can be anywhere — at the end of lines, at the beginning, or anywhere between. As
mentioned already, it is not necessary for the rhymes or linking words to be at the end of the
line as in much English rhyming poetry. The rhymes can also be found in different
paragraphs crossing over verses or units of meaning.

There are different types of poetry that can be used for writing lik long, with names
such as:
kwam paut [‘short rhymed poetry’], saung kio [‘two strands’], sam kio [‘three
strands’],
ngu luean [‘snake-crawling’] and khet kyauk [‘frog-jumping’].41 Here, I shall focus
on the poetic style
langka sam kio [‘the poetry of three strands’] in order to explain a poetic
system. The reason I choose this as an example is that
langka sam kio style is found in a
number of works by celebrated authors such as Zao Amat Long, to whom we will pay more
attention later in the thesis, and Zao Naw Kham in the late 19
th century CE.

The poetic style langka sam kio is composed with the system of three strands of
rhyming – 1)
kio tang [‘the set up’], 2) kio hop [the rhyme’], and 3) kio lop [‘the end’].42 The
first strand is called the setting up of the rhyme, the second is the rhyme and the third is the
end of the rhyme. A new rhyme for the setting up begins immediately after the
kio lop or the

English speakers. Within a decade, he successfully translated the entire New Testament into the Shan
language. Cushing 1907,
Christ and Buddha, p. 25.

41 For more details of the types of lik long poetry, see Terwiel 2003, Shan Manuscripts, pp. 35-44 and Nandiya
2003,
Khulai taem / lu langka long tai [‘The technique of writing / reading Shan langka long’], pp. 7-37.

42 Nandavaa 2002, p. 186.

37

third strand. So, the composition will carry on and on by the cycle of the three strands from
the beginning to the end of the text. It is these three strands of rhyming that make this type of
poetry
langka sam kio [‘the poetry of three strands’].

Tones are used as the keys for the making of Shan poetry. There are five standard tones
in Shan language – 1) rising tone, 2) low level tone, 3) mid level tone, 4) high level tone, and
5) falling tone.
43 Of these, only the first tone, the second tone, the third tone and the fouth
tone are used for the poetry of three strands (
langka sam kio).44 Usually, the first and second
tones are used for the setting up, i.e. the first strand. If the first tone is used for the setting up,
it will also be used the same for the rhyme and the closing. In the same way, if the second
tone is used for the setting up, the rhyme and the closing will also be used by the second tone.
The third and the fourth tones are used for ‘leaving words’ (
kwam paet). Leaving words here
means the tones are not used for rhyming of the three strands but for separate rhyming of the
phrases being composed after the second strand of the three strands, i.e. they create further
rhyming within the phrasing created by the three strands. Usually there are two or three
phrases of words there by using the third or fourth tones for the rhyming. If the first tone is
used for the three strands, then the third tone is used for the rhyme of the leaving words. If
the second tone used for the three strands, then the fourth tone is used for the rhyme of the
leaving words. The fifth tone is never used for the rhyme of
lik long poetry, possibly because
of its short and fast sound while the long and slow sound is needed for
lik long poetry.45
Below is an example of lik long in the rhyming style of langka long. The underlined words
indicate the rhyming and linking words, such as the set up, the rhyme and the closing:

Okasa okasa okasa zang-nai panca-patitthita kaya vazi manaw zaw-zai-nalung-
sung-myo shi-kho-nga-ba tak-ma-u-khya phava-lya-lya katta-khup-to-tha twa-tai-
kung-
taw, (set up) wantana-mana puzasakkara-phazana pahulla wutthita tak-lai-
khup-wai-tai-zak taya-shit-kwak-yoshe-kheyya sakkari-tung sung-sae-ta-phung
purisa khaung-thaut khun-yaukkya-
kyaw, (rhyme) mo-takho-up-sam-tueang samsip-
et-
mueang kha-aw.

Nauk-nai wimuttirasa ekapintana thamma-winaya-pitakat kyam-myat
thammakkhantha le-zwa-karu pahu-wittan mak-le-tan pho-le-tan nibban-shwe-kyuk

43 Tern Moeng 1995, Shan English Dictionary, pp. viii-ix.

44 Nandiya 2003, p. 16.

45 For more details on Shan langka long poetry, see Nandiya 2003, Khulai Taem / Lu Langka Long Tai [‘The art
of writing and reading Shan
langka long’].

38

mukkha-pat zao-lat zao-phyat pitakat-sung-phaw, (end) a-sam-taw, sop-kha-dwang-
haum (set up) nan, nai-kaw te-thamma yazita pahulla-wut tvi-ta-thuk zatuk-sampatan
satthi-kan sip-nio-kha-ta-pe-taw tak-lai-ao-muean nuea-phuean-taung-lan pan-
pwang a-swang-mo-naung-nut-heo tang-tan-
zaum, (rhyme) tum-kao tak-kan-taw-
tra-
zao gaun-yao.

Nuea-nai mak-ariya pho-ariya sangkhahanam sam-sattuk uzuk-patik nik-saep
taep-sat tat-put khut-ao-phao-tai heng-pai-pan-phyang kwang-waeng ka-saeng-
phyan-phat-
phaum (end) zaum-wa-zi-phaw (set up) ton-sangkha-taw nan, nai-kaw
wantana-mana puza-sakkara zitta-puppaka-sampatan tutiyakam-sakat wiphat-
pathama-ling sung-king-sam-pauk kha-tak-karawa-mop-wai-tho-sikho-kom-kaw-
lyaw, (rhyme) yaw-yuk-mue-ta-teng-thung utik-yam-phung zao-kaun.46

The above extracts are the first three sets of the ‘three strands rhyming system’ of the 19th
century Zao Amat Long’s Mahsatipaṭṭhn, the work translated later in this thesis. The main
rhyming and linking words are shown in bold and underlined, showing the exact rhymes for
this type of poetry, which is called
langka-sam-kio, the poetry of three strands. The word
taw’ in the first paragraph is called to-tang or ‘the set up’. It rhymes with ‘kyaw’ in the
same paragraph and with ‘
phaw’ in the second paragraph. The first rhyme is called to-sap or
‘the rhyme’ and the second rhyme is called
to-hap or ‘the closing.’ Again, ‘haum’ in the
second paragraph is
to-tang, ‘zaum’ in the same paragraph is to-sap and the closing or to-hap
in ‘paum’ in the third paragraph. It will go on like this, i.e. the set up, the rhyme and the
closing,
till the end of the treatise. So, this type of poetry is called langka sam kio or ‘the
poetry of three strands’. The two linking words in bold but without the underline near the end
of each paragraph also show some types of rhyming, for examples,
tueang and mueang in the
last line of the first paragraph;
kao and zao in the last two lines of the second paragraph; and
thung and phung in the end of the third paragraph. This kind of linking words is called
leaving words (
kwam paet) as discussed above. So while the three strands create the overall
structure, more rhyming within each set of three is to be expected.

46 Amat Long 1968, p. 1.

39

1.5. The Significant Features of Lik Long Literature

The majority of Shan lik long poetic literature contains non-canonical texts, i.e. texts
not included in the ‘
Pali’ as established at the 5th and 6th Burmese Buddhist councils.47
Although some of these texts are based on or encompass commentaries to the canon (and so
also encompass the corresponding passages of the canon, mostly in Shan with Pali key
words), some of them do not seem to be found in or be based on the corpus of texts included
in the “Mah
vihra”-dominated Theravada Buddhist canon.48 Some may even be unique to
Shan Buddhism, although with relatively little work done on so-called apocryphal and
vernacular literature, it is hard to be sure at this juncture. While the majority of
lik long
literature is non-canonical, there are, as I mentioned, works that are based on Pali canonical
works and commentaries including those on meditation.

The types of popular folk literature transmitted through lik long include bodhisatta and
Jtaka stories. The terms used for Shan folk literature are: apum, alaung and watthu (also
pronounce as
wutthu). Apum refers to folk tales and alaung the stories of the Buddha-to-be
(
bodhisatta). Neither are necessarily derived from early Buddhist texts, or from known early
precursors, so are what elsewhere, when put into Pali, have been termed ‘apocryphal’
literature.
49 Some notable titles of works that belong to the alaung genre are: Alaung Khun
Haung
[‘The bodhisatta Khun Hong’], Alaung Yue Lao [‘The bodhisatta shooting the star’],
Alaung Ma Kao Hang [‘The bodhisatta-dog with nine tails’]. Watthu or wutthu texts are
stories based on Buddhist canonical literature, such as stories from the
Jtaka and
Dhammapada.

The questionares to 63 zares in Maehongson in 2009 indicate that in their experience
young people who are under 40 prefer listening to folk and J
taka literature.50 One of the
most popular J
taka stories is – as elsewhere in the Theravada world, the Vessantara Jtaka,
the story of Gotama Buddha-to-be’s penultimate lifetime in which he fulfills the moral
perfection whereby one gives away not only one’s outside material belongings including

47 For more information on the Burmese Buddhist councils, see Thakur 1996, Buddha and Buddhist synods in
India and abroad
, pp. 254-263 and Prebish 2005, “Councils: Buddhist Councils” in Jones ed.
2005,
Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 3. 2nd ed.

48 For more discussion on the “Mahvihra” Theravada Buddhist canon, see Collins, 2005, ‘On the very idea of
the Pali Canon’ (first published in 1990) in Williams, Paul, ed.
Buddhism: critical concepts in religious
studies, vol.1, Buddhist origins and the early history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia
, pp. 72-82.

49 On apocryphal jtaka in S.E. Asia, see P. Skilling, ‘Jtaka and Paññsa-jtaka in South-East Asia’ in The
Journal of The Pali Text Society
, Vol. xxviii, 2006.

50 Crosby and Khur-Yearn 2010: pp. 6 and 8. On this project, see above in this chapter.

40

one’s own wife and children but also one’s own life.51 Other popular stories include Temiya
J
taka (the story of fulfilling the perfection of tolerance), MahosathJtaka, (the story of
fulfilling the perfection of wisdom)
, Janaka Jtaka (the story of fulfilling the perfection of
endeavour) and
Suvaṇṇa-syma Jtaka, (the story about helping one’s parents because of
great gratitude towards them).
52 These are jtaka number 52, 539, 540, and 547 in the
canonical collection,
53 and are also found as a collection of ten in their own right.54 Zare La
Tun, also known as Zare Hai Pa, has recently composed all these Ten J
taka stories into his
own poetic version. I shall refer again to his project, which was undertaken at the request of
Venerable Khammai Dhammas
mi, Abbot the Oxford Buddha Vihara, Oxford, for the
commemoration of his 40
th birthday, later when discussing the use of Burmese loan words.55
Besides these, there are many other stories in the corpus of lik long literature, which have not
come from the main source of the Theravada Buddhist canon. These include
Lik namo long
[‘The great text of worship’], Lik phra lin neo [‘The Buddha image made of sticky soil’],
Loka-samutti [‘The conventional world’], Jampupati mang kyam [‘The treatise of King
Jambupati’],
Sutta Nibbna [‘The discourse on Nibbna’], Lik zao upakut [‘The story of
Upagutta Thera’]
, to name a few. In fact, in our cataloguing and interviews in the 2009
project mentioned above, we came across duplicates relatively rarely. These stories were
written by different writers with various styles of poetic writing, so that the readers or
listeners can develop and indulge wide-ranging tastes in poetic styles and topics. While the
variety enriches the style and taste of Shan poetic literature, yet there are some that are much
more popular, because of their association with particular occasions, merit-making,
entertainment value or a specific power.

Some lik long texts are regarded as sacred or especially powerful. One example is the
text
Cintmani. The text contains the story of a fox, which has found the stanza of Cintmani,
and as a result, all animals have to bow down before the fox. When a strange bird, such as a

51 Regarding the tradition of Vessantara Jtaka in the Kengtung area of eastern Shan State, see Pannyawamsa
2007.

52 For three relatively recent studies of the Pali canonical jtaka, see Appleton 2010, Kapur-Fic 2010 and
Meiland 2003, and for a recent translation of selected portions, see Sarah Shaw 2006.

53 Cowell ed. 1895-1913, The Jtaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births, 6 Vols plus an index volume.

54 For other Ten Jtaka Collection, see Horner 1957, Ten Jtaka stories: each illustrating one of the ten
P
ramitwith Pali text. Also see Ginsburg 2000, Thai Art and Culture: Historic Manuscripts from Western
Collections,
pp. 54-64 for examples of the productions manuscripts on the ten Jtaka stories which continues
to this day.

55 La Tun’s poetic versions of the ten Jtaka are kept at the Library of the Oxford Buddha Vihara, Oxford –
www.oxfordbuddhavihara.org.uk. For more discussion on Burmese loanwords, see Chapter Four.

41

vulture, owl or mangalo (a type of bird) enters the house, or when forest animals, such as
bears, barking deer, or tigers enter the village or the house garden, it is a bad omen. When
such circumstances occur, a ritual of reading and listening to the text of
Cintmani is held in
order to avoid any bad affect to the family or village. Alternatively, when one member of a
family is not well or has had a bad dream, they hold a ceremony of listening to
Cintmani.
For the Shans believe that holding a ceremony of reading and listening to Cintmani will
ensure they lead a healthy, happy and prosperous life. The performance of this text may also
be held at the inauguration of a new house. For the performance of a text, a special enclosure
is often made for the reader. For the
zare’s performance of the Cintmani, the special place
must prepared in a specific way with banana trees and sugarcane, and with paper flags
erected at the four corners of the place that is then surrounded with the lattice fence called a
rjamat that is typically used for enclosing or marking of a special area.56 Before performing
the text, all the audience, including the poetic reciter, the
zare, have to pay homage to the
three gems and observe the five precepts. Otherwise, the ritual of poetic recitation will be less
effective. The value placed on this text may be the reason why there are a number of different
versions of
Cintmani written by different poets.57 Its popularity also means that it is one of
the texts available in modern printed book form. When we observed a
haw lik of the
Cintmani by Zare Saw for temple sleepers at the temple at Huoi Suea Thao village,
Southwest of Maehongson, in July 2009, Zare Saw read from a printed version, even though
in his interview he explained that the hand-copied versions with the large format and
characters are in fact easier to read, even if less convenient for transporting given their large
format.

Another significant feature of Shan lik long literature is that Shan authors usually
transform the Buddha’s teaching from Pali into Shan poetic texts in a way that would suit the
Shan audience. At such, the style of
lik long literature often features humorous expression, a
way of entertaining the audience and to keep the audience awake during the long hours of
recitation ritual. For instance, the
lik long texts were composed in a way that the audience

56 Rajamat: lattice fence, usually of bamboo constructed with rhombic interstices, and erected by the side of a
road passed by great personages, or places where ceremonies are held. Tern Moeng, 1995,
Shan English
Dictionary,
p. 278. Tannenbaum 1995, pp. 163-164, has recorded the term as phaa ratsamat to the local Shan
accent and usage for this ritual practice in Maehongson Shan communities.

57 There seems to be different versions of Cintmai written by different poets. The version kept at the Shan
Literary and Cultural Office in Lashio was originally composed by Zare Nakio in 1254 SE (1892) and
sponsored by Chaofalong (chief ruling prince) of Mueang Tung. This version was copied in 1976 and
sponsored by Nailoiya Zaseng in commemoration of her late husband Puloi Zaseng. As it is a popular text, it
is also available in modern printed book form.

42

would be amused while listening to them. This characteristic of lik long applies even to
serious subjects, such as sermons and meditation texts. For instance, Zare Sucinta of
Loikham’s
Kat ha luk, ‘The five markets’, demonstrates this distinctive entertaining
characteristic of Shan literature.
58 Despite it being a work on meditation focusing on the
hindrances to Nibb
na, the author gives it the title ‘the five markets’, a worldly and familiar
place to everyone in the community. The purpose of using the phrase ‘the five markets’
seems to be that he would like to attract his readers or audience to pay more attention to his
text – in other words, he would like to make his text sound interesting, drawing his readers to
a common place, which is familiar with their daily life cycle, and to grasp a picture in their
heads. However, he uses the five markets only as an analogy for the ‘five senses,’ which are,
according to Buddhism, the hindrances to Nibb
na. This type of lik long text perhaps falls
into the category of entertaining literature because it makes the audience smile and amused as
they read it or listening it during the recitation ritual. It is worth noting that the content of the
poetic literature performed during the rains retreat is more solemn than that of literature
performed at other religious ceremonies or cultural events. I shall discuss more on the
contents of poetic texts on meditation, which is considered ‘more solemn and serious’, in the
next chapter.

1.6. The Ritual of Listening to Lik Long Poetry: What, When and Where?

As discussed earlier in this this thesis, lik long poetic texts are specially composed for
reading out loud to the audience. The reading of such poetic texts is called
haw lik [‘reading
out of texts’].
59 The ritual of poetic recitation or listening to poetic texts is known as poi haw
lik
[‘ceremony of reading out of texts’] or poi thaum lik [‘ceremony of listening to the text’]
(see Fig 1.5).
60

58 Kat ha luk was originally written in 1301 SE (1939) and the copy now kept at the Lum Kaw Lik Lai
(Literature Group’s office), Lashio, was written in 1313 (1951).

59 Tannenbaum 1995, pp. 161-162.

60 The terms poi haw lik and poi thaum lik are equaly important. Thaum = to listen, haw = to read out loud, lik =
text,
poi = ceremony/fetival. Hence whichever term is used, Shan people will understand it. Sometimes, the
word
pang = ceremony or festival is used instead of poi. So, both pang thaum lik or poi thaum lik refer to the
occasion of having poetic performance.

43

Fig. 1. 5. A wall painting scene of Shan poetic performance, poi haw lik or poi thaum lik
Source: Wall Painting from Wat Naung Kauk Kham, Wiang Haeng, Chiang Mai.

The position of the performance of Shan poetic literature is described by Leslie Milne,
who spent most of the period between 1906 and 1909 during her observation of social
conditions and customs among Shan communities in Northern Shan State. She writes:

“Many Shans read their scriptures with manifest sincerity and delight. In their homes, in
rest-houses, in monasteries, or gathered around an open fire, Shans may be seen listening
with reverence to the rising and falling cadence, as their reader chants a birth story of
their Lord Gautama, or of the beauty and bliss of Nirvana, pictured as the ‘Home of
Happiness’, the ‘city of Gems and Gold’, or smiling over semi-religious love songs, when
the lovers meet in the sky – when their star places come in conjunction – to renew their
love in perpetual youth.”
61

What is interesting here is that so much has been changed to the face of Shan
communities since the time of Leslie Milne. Some of those traditions as described by Milne,
such as the tradition of reading scriptures around an open fire (in a family home) have
disappeared in living memory. My contention here, however, is that some of that tradition,
for example, the ritual of listening to poetic texts at wider social or religious contacts, such as
a funeral or the inauguration of a new house or temple sleeping, still exists today among Shan
communities and reflects a broader use of poetry in Shan culture.

61 Milne 1910, Shans at Home, p. 214

44

The ritual of listening to poetic texts is performed at several places for several
occasions. Usually it takes place at monasteries on
wan sin, the precept days or Buddhist holy
days during the rains retreat. In Shan Buddhism, as in other Theravada Buddhist countries,
there are four holy days in each lunar month, namely, the 8
th of waxing moon, the full moon,
the 8
th of waning moon, and the last day of the month. Of them, the full moon day and the last
day the month are considered as more auspicious or bigger
wan sin. So, on those wan sin,
especially during the rains retreat, the Shans go to their local temples to make merit including
the performance of reading and listening to poetic literature. The audience for the ritual of
listening to poetic texts at the temple are usually the temple sleepers, who stay overnight in
the temple and practise the ritual of temple sleeping. More of the tradition of temple sleeping
shall be discussed in the Chapter Two.

Moreover, the ritual of listening to poetic texts also continues to take place at people’s
homes on particular occasions, such as funerals, memorial services, the inauguration of a new
house, or household blessing for good health and prosperity. There are specific texts for
specific occasions. During our fieldwork in Maehongson, Zare Saw told us from his
experience that at the inauguration of a new house, people prefer to listen to the texts like
Mangala sam sip paet and Cintmai, while Sang khaeng ko pa [‘The nine cemeteries’] and
Lik loka phe wot [‘The world of repaying for one’s own sin’] are usually recited at funerals
and memorial services, as already discussed above (previous section).

Although there are specific occasions when listening to the reading of such texts is
expected, a special ceremony of listening to poetic texts can also be held at any time of the
year. The term for such special occasions of listening to the texts is
poi tham or ‘dhamma
festival’, usually sponsored by generous people. To host such a ceremony is regarded as a
great honour and high privilege. For such a special occasion, sponsors may also want to have
a new text available, in which case they also ask the
zare to make a new copy of an existing
text, and then have a special first-reading of that new copy. For the special
dhamma
ceremony, the living room of the host’s house is decorated with colorful curtains and
banners, and a special place is prepared near the shrine for the recitation of the poetic text by
the specialist poet-reader, the
zare. This special place is small rectangular enclosure prepared
with banana trees and sugarcane, and paper flags erected at the four corners. It is marked out
by a low lattice fence called
rajamat of the type that Tannenbaum has observed are generally
use in Shan Buddhism to mark off special spaces, already discussed above. Tannenbaum also
observed that t
he hosts serve a sweet and/or a drink at a break and that most people leave

45

after the break; only the hosts (and the temple sleepers in the event of temple sleeping)
remain.

Another interesting aspect of the ritual of listening to the texts is the zare’s physical
position. In some areas, such as northern Shan State and Mong Yang of Kachin State, the
zare often faces the audience, whereas in southern Shan State and Thailand he faces the altar
of the Buddha shrine. While the former position of the
zare is an obvious and normal style of
teaching or preaching seen in other communities, the latter looks unusual in that the
performer has his back facing to the audience. The reason for the
zare facing the shrine seems
to be a way of showing respect to the Buddha, for giving one’s back to the Buddha, or even
to a senior person, is considered disrespectful in Shan communities.
62 Another reason for this
could be that this kind of poetic literature is more on meditation, so the practising of
meditation is possibly going on among the audience at the moments of listening to the
dhamma in poetry, and hence the poet-reader turns his back to the audience in order to avoid
any disturbance, such as eye contact, to his concentration on reading. This style of recitation
and practice, i.e. with the poet-reader facing the Buddha shrine and giving his back to the
audience, is perhaps a unique Shan tradition and not familiar to other Buddhist communities.

1.7. The Physical Preservation of Lik Long Poetic Literature

Until as late as the 1980s, most Shan poetic literature was written on native hand-made
mulberry paper or
zesa as it is known in Shan.63 Thus, most works of Shan poetic literature
are preserved in the form of traditional handwriting, even long after the arrival printing press.
Manuscripts continue to be made although printing is now used, especially for particularly
popular texts.

62 The tradition was recently explored at the Shan New Year event at SOAS in 2009 where a short poetic
performance was taken place as a part of Dr Kate Crosby’s presentation on the
zare culture basing on a SOAS
group research fieldwork in the Maehongson area of Northern Thailand during the summer 2009. The effort
was made to demonstrate this tradition by having the reader facing himself to the wall of the stage, where
normally the shrine is located in a Shan house, and showing his back to the audience, asking members of the
Shan Cultural Association UK (SCA-UK) to sit behind him on the stage as the audience. Many SCA-UK
members would not agree to it, saying it would confuse some in the audience who are not familiar with this
style and tradition. So, in compromising, we had a new style of performance instead — they sat behind the
reader facing the audience with their hands worshiping to the text in a lovely and respectful manner, while the
poetic reader was sitting between them and the audience, facing neither but to the side where the master of the
ceremony stood.

63 The term ze sa is defined as ‘a kind of mulberry paper made of the bark of the sa trees’. Tern Moeng 1995,
Shan-English Dictionary, p. 108.

46

Before dealing with the issue on the preservation of lik long literature, I shall first
address the variety of Shan scripts, in which Shan
dhamma texts were written. As discussed
in the introduction to this thesis, Shan is a broad term referring to a number of closely related
ethnicities. On the margins, as it were, of Shan identity, are the Tai Mao, Tai Khamti, Tai
Ahom, Tai Khuen, Tai Lue, and Tai Nuea. Shans of different regions use different scripts,
and these relate to the other scripts in use both by dominant neighbours, such as the Burmans
in the South, and by near neighbours and relatives, such as other members of the Tai family
of ethnicities. The Thai and the Laotians, two of the groups belonging to the Tai family have
their own scripts and writing systems. The Tai Lue of Sipsongpanna use the scripts and
writing system similar to the Lanna or Tham script, which is in use in Eastern Shan State of
the Union of Burma and northern part of Thailand, the area of which formerly known as the
Kingdom of Lanna.
64 Tai Mao, who inhabit parts of northern Shan State and southern China
employ their own scripts called
Lik Tai Mao officially recognized by the Chinese
government.
65 The Tai Ahom and Tai Khamti also have their own scripts. While these groups
all have their own scripts, most other Shan share a script. This script is known as
Lik Tai
Long
(great Shan or central Shan script). It is in this script that all the manuscripts and texts
that we have catalogued in Lashio, Maehongson and Chiang Mai are written.
Lik Tai Long,
great Shan script, which I shall henceforth refer to simple as ‘Shan script’, is closely related
to Burmese or Mon scripts, yet distinctive. It is not known exactly if/when the
Lik Tai Long
script was adopted from Burmese/Mon script. See Fig. 1.6., for variety of Shan scripts in
comparison with Thai, Mon and Khmer scripts.

Although Shan script is similar to Burmese script, until recently (see Chapter Four), it –
unlike Burmese - had insufficient consonants for writing Pali or Burmese loanwords, even
though many are found in the text. To accommodate this, and under Burmese influence,
Burmese script is used for these loanwords and thus one spots phrases in Burmese scripts
amidst the Shan script as seen in Fig. 1. 7. The underlined texts are Pali in Burmese scripts.

64 The Lanna script is also known Tai Tham script. For more information on Lanna scripts see, Udom
Rungr
‘angs, 1981, Rabop knkhan akson Lnn, [‘The System of Writing Lanna Scripts’], and
Thangpijaigul 1995,
The Lanna language: Background, dialogs, readings, and glossary.

65 An alternative spelling for Tai Mao is ‘Tai Mau’. Also see Young 1985, Shan Chrestomathy: An Introduction
to Tai Mau Language and Literature
.

47

Fig. 1. 6. A Comparative Tai and other scripts of Mainland Southeast Asia
(Source of image: Udom Rungr
‘angs, 1981, Rabop knkhan akson Lnn, p. 3.)

Fig. 1. 7. An example of using Burmese scripts for Pali texts in Shan Buddhist literature.
Source: Amat Long’s
MSP, 1968, p. 49.

Additional features of Shan script are old and new systems of the Tai Long script. The
period of the old system is counted from around the 13
th century up to the mid 20th century,
when the new system was invented during WWII by a Shan monk, Vijayananda (died: 1946).

48

The current system of modern Shan script was created by modifying the old Shan scripts.66 It
has been in use from the 1940s up to the present. Again, the old system could be divided into
several phases of development and minor changes in style occurred over the preceding
centuries, which is beyond the scope of our discussion here.
67 The old scripts have 16
characters and only three tonal marks to indicate the five or six tones, and thus require
enormous skill of the reader who has to work out the exact tone. The new system of Shan
scripts adds a couple of characters and has five or six tonal marks for the five/six tones to
accommodate in principal all the tones of different dialect groups of the Shan.
68 Although
Vijayananda adapted the new system of Shan script from the old, it only gained widespread
in the 1980s. Hence Shan texts before 1980 were written in the old system of Shan scripts.
Although a tiny portion of those texts have been printed in modern book form, most
traditional manuscripts, so
lik long, are preserved in the old Shan script. The disadvantage of
these
lik long manuscripts, however, is that most of them were written before the continuous
reforms of Shan scripts that took place over a period of 30 years from the 1940s to the 1970s.
This causes a disjunction between the script for reading
lik long and that used in printed texts
and taught in schools. This means that a young person taking up the reading of
lik long will
need extra training to read the old script. It also means dealing with the unfamiliar lack of
tone markers. Only a few
lik long texts were re-transcribed in modern Shan script and
published in book form. The majority of Shan poetic literature remains in the form of
manuscripts. This disjunction between the way in which manuscripts were and continue to be
written and the form of Shan used in modern books and what school education there is in
Shan effectively threatens the survival of this literature, as it becomes harder for younger
people to take up the practice.

Another threat to the Shan literature is that many old manuscripts were lost or
destroyed during the endless civil war that has been going on in Shan State, Burma for the
last fifty years and more. Although the Shan people do love and care about their tradition of
producing manuscripts and performing poetic literature, oppression by the Burmese regime
has also had an impact on the preservation of the literary tradition. For instance, under the
Burmese military government’s policy of relocating Shan villages, particularly after 1996,

66 Kam Mong 2004, History and Development of Shan Scripts, pp. 289-308.
67 A reform of Shan scripts took place in 1416 at Senwi during the reign of Zaolong Kham Kaifa. The shape of

Shan scripts have become round since then. Khur Sen 1995, Puen Khuea Tai lae Puen Mueang Tai, p. 168.
68 The third and the six tones are mostly identical but differentiated by regional dialects.

49

hundreds of thousands of Shan villagers were made homeless and many of them fled to
Thailand.
69 The villagers were forced not only to abandon their houses but also their temples,
which are the heart of Shan communities and cultural heritage. Many manuscripts were left
behind and lost, as many of those temples and villages were burned down by the Burmese
soldiers. Some Shan refugees prioritized bringing manuscripts with them when they fled to
Thailand. Some of these were donated to local temples but, in desperation, some were sold to
antique shops, as were other traditional artefacts that have a value in the tourist trade.
70

On the other hand, the traditional manual production of manuscripts has been in
decline. The main reasons for this could be the arrival of modern book printing technology,
particularly in the computer age, on the one hand, and the threat to the tradition by the
endless civil war forcing the traditional manuscript product producers to relocate their
villages, preventing them from continuing their work, on the other. There are some attempts
to resist the decline. During my fieldwork in northern Thailand, I had the opportunity to
interview some individuals and groups of people who are working on the preservation of
traditional Shan manuscript production in Piang Luang district near the Thai-Burma border.
One of them is Pawthao Aw, a producer of traditional Shan mulberry paper,
zesa, the main
material source for Shan manuscripts.
71 In 2004, Aw has set up a group called klum kradat sa
the main aim of which to preserve traditional sa paper production. Aw is a Shan native of
Keng Lom, a village in Nam Zang district, southern Shan State. When I was interviewing
Aw, he tried to recall his early years growing up among the
sa paper producers in Keng Lom.
Due to political conflicts and consequent endless war between the Shan and Burmese armies
in the area, Aw moved to Thailand in the 1970s and lived in Mauk Zam village,
72 Fang
district, for six years before he moved to Lak Taeng, a village on the Thai-Burma border. He
said the Keng Lom area, such a centre for traditional paper production, is now in ruins,
mainly because of the forced relocation of villages by the Burmese army between 1996 and

69 For more information on the relocation of Shan villagers, see in SHRF 1998, Dispossessed: Forced
Relocation and Extrajudicial Killings in Shan State
.

70 For more details of trading on Shan traditional artifacts, see Raymond 2009, ‘Shan Buddhist art on the market:
what, where and why?’ in the journal
Contemporary Buddhism, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 141-157.

71 Part of my fieldwork was also to observe the tradition of temple sleeping at Shan monasteries in the area,
particularly at Wat Piang Luang, as I discuss in Chapter Two.

72 Also spelled as Ban Mai Hmok Cham, a village set up by a Tai (Shan) community around 1960. In 1963 the
village became a base for a Tai guerrilla group of 200 people, as the area was not reached by Thai authorities
until 1970. Shalardchai Ramintanondh has done a wide range of research on the village, but did not mention
the Shan traditional
sa paper production. Ramintanondh 1998, pp. 195-221.

50

1998.73 After a few years of having moved to Thailand, Aw started making sa paper as part of
his family business. It is in 2004 that Aw and some
zares in Piang Luang district made some
efforts towards establishing a group project for the preservation of Shan traditional
sa paper
products. When asked about the progress and effect of the group, Aw replied, “It has been
very successful. The group has produced around six thousand sheets of
sa paper each year.”
But Aw also mentions some setbacks in regard to the
sa paper production, such as difficulty
in obtaining the bark of the
sa tree, due to the Thai government’s strict law to protect the
forest on the one hand, and being unable to import bark from Shan State due to the closure
since 2002 of the border checkpoint, on the other.
74

While discussing the overall group project of preserving the traditional Shan sa paper
production, I also learned from Pawthao Aw about the different sizes of
lik long texts.
Usually, three sizes of folded manuscripts were made for the texts of
lik long poetic literature,
namely, small, medium and large.
75 The Shan term for the size of lik long is angka, i.e. six
angka for the small size, eight angka for the medium and twelve angka for the large size, but
if a text is very long, it is usually divided into two volumes, for example, in two manuscripts
of the six
angka size. Hence, the cost of a lik long differs according to the size of the texts.
Only relatively rich people can afford to sponsor a long
lik long text, which is made in twelve
angka size or in two volumes.

The cost of a traditional Shan manuscript text is not cheap. The zares in Piang Luang
district told me that the price of a blank folded manuscript of ‘six
angka,’ the small size, is
about 500
baht and the fees for the zare writing the text is from 1200 baht, the amount of
which is equivalent to c.24 UK sterling pounds.
76 This means a traditional Shan manuscript
text would cost around 2000
bath or more. In contrast to the traditional manuscript text, some
of the Shan poetic texts, which were published in modern book form, are available in the
markets at a cheaper price, and this explains the replacement of the manuscript by printed
texts, even where manuscripts are preferred. Since they were imported from the Shan State,
such a book costs only around 500
baht, much cheaper than the traditional manuscript text.

73 Before the relocation of the villages 1996, there were 220 households in Keng Lom, one of the largest villages
in the area. SHRF 1999, pp. 12-15, 55

74 Interview with Pawthao Aw in October 2009.

75 The small size is approximately 8×32 inches and about 3 inches thick.

76 The exchange rate at that time (summer 2009) is around 52 baht to one British pound sterling. The value of
the British pound was notably down due to the economic crisis and the credit crunch that affected the UK
from early 2009. Before that a British pound would get not less than seventy Thai
baht.

51

Even so, only a few of those popular poetic texts have been published in modern book form,
while the majority of them remain in the form of manuscripts. There is then the risk that the
prohibitive cost might eventually reduce the variety of texts available, since most only
continue if copied in manuscript form. With such a difficult situation, we can see how the
attempt to preserve traditional manuscript making has been struggling and the knock-on
effect this may have on the preservation of Shan’s rich literary heritage.

Zare Saw of Wan Jong (Wiang Haeng) is one of a few people in the Piang Luang area
(Wiang Haeng District) whose work is mainly copying texts in manuscript. He also produces
the traditional
sa paper and traditional ink (See Fig. 1.8). Saw, aged 67, was originally from
Keng Kham, a village in Nam Zang, Shan State but moved to Thailand in 1990 following his
relatives who were already in Thailand. He has been working as producer of
sa paper as well
as being a
zare since he was in Keng Kham. He trained himself to become a zare partly under
the influence of his teacher who encouraged him to practise reading
lik long poetry when he
was a novice at the monastery. However, when he was at Keng Kham he produced
sa paper
only and did not bind them for the text of
lik long as the tradition of making lik long was
flourishing in the Keng Kham area and there were other experts in binding
lik long texts
there. Only when living on the Thai side of the border did he realize that there were very few
producers of
lik long. Thus, he began producing sa papers and then binding them for lik long
manuscripts. Since then he has been working more on copying of lik long texts rather than
performing them because there were other
zares already in the area before he arrived. On the
other hand, he has better skills in writing than recitation, which is also a reason for him to
become a
sa paper producer and copyist of manuscript texts.77

Zare Saw explained to me the method he uses for making a sa paper. He acquires the sa
tree bark from along the Mae Taeng river although sometimes he can also buy the bark from
Lisaw people from nearby villages. Zare Saw also uses traditional ink made by himself with a
mixture of fire soot and animal bile, particularly fish bile, which has better characteristics for
making ink. Dried fish bile can be mixed with soot and oil to produce waterproof ink. Thus,
Saw’s work in the production of
sa paper and manuscript texts reflect the traditional domestic
skills of making paper, pen and ink that have been handed down through generations.
78

77 Interview with Zare Saw of Wang Jong in October 2009.
78 ibid.

52

Fig. 1. 8. Zare Saw of Wan Jong, copyist of lik long, demonstrating how his traditional
ink is waterproof. (Photo: On Khur-Yearn, 2009)

Part of my trip to Piang Luang area was also to observe the Shan Buddhist traditional
practices including the revival of Shan Buddhism and the preservation of Shan traditional
Buddhist ritual practices, such as temple sleeping and listening to the text of
lik long poetry.
Piang Luang is not only the area where the majority of people are Shan but is also well
known for being the border area that was once a stronghold of the Shan resistance army,
SURA (Shan United Revolution Army) during the second half the 20
th century. Its founding
leader, Korn Zerng, also known as Moherng and often pronounced by Burmese Mohin, was a
pious Buddhist.
79 Hence, under the leadership of a Shan nationalist and Buddhist, it is not
surprising to see both Shan traditional Buddhist practices and the revival of Shan Buddhism
thriving in the area. One of the most remarkable works under the patronage or leadership of
Korn Zerng is that, during the period when he was rising to power in the 1980s, he managed
to have the main temple building and the
chedi of Wat Fa Wiang Inn built right on the
borderline of Burma and Thailand. His long hard fighting for the independent Shan State for

79 Korn Zerng, also spelled as Kon Zoeng. Yawnghwe 1987, The Shan of Burma, p. 209. He died of cancer in
1991. SURA, which was founded in 1964, was merged with Khun Sa’s SUA (Shan United Army) in c.1985.
His deputy, Gen. Ganzate, also known as Sang Maat, who is still alive but retired from army insurgency, is
also a strong believer in Buddhism and practitioner. Yawnghwe 1987, p. 172.

53

over three decades may be forgotten yet, but his religious works at Piang Luang and Wat Fa
Wiang Inn may remain and prosper for years to come.
80

Despite political deadlock and the closure of the border checkpoint, other social
activities, such as seasonal festivals, traditional Shan Buddhist ritual practices and cultural
events have been functioning and continuing in the area. Not surprisingly, most of the social
activities including some religious and cultural events taking place in the area are often
overshadowed or overwhelmed by the other issues mentioned above, leading one
anthropologist to call those social activities an ‘ethnography of religious practices.’ Ferguson
has described how “the ritual of
poy sang long creates a frame, or a down-beat for the events
of the six days, but it is also the outside moments, these gestures toward the Thai State, the
Burmese soldiers, the hope not just for
kuso [merit making/ religious ritual] but also
potentially a Shan nation.”
81 My interest here, however, is the tradition of religious rituals. I
am interested in how the production of traditional
lik long texts is preserved and performance
of poetic literature is continuing as I have discussed above.

Despite the fact that Piang Luang area was filled by recent refugees and migrants from
Shan State, there are some early settlements of Shan communities in the area. Wat Piang
Luang itself was built over 300 years ago,
82 but soon after the arrival of Korn Zerng, the old
building of Wat Piang Luang was knocked down and replaced with a new and bigger temple
in 1979.
83 The current temple buildings can accommodate over 300 people for the practice of
temple sleeping, where the performance of poetic literature usually takes place. At one of the
temple sleeping rituals in 2008, there were 262 temple sleepers, an encouraging factor for the
preservation of the Shan tradition of temple sleeping and the revival Shan poetic literature.
84

Moreover, there are other areas of Shan communities in northern Thailand, where
collections of
lik long manuscripts are kept, and attempts have been made for the preservation
of poetic literature and its ritual practices. For example, in 2009 project mentioned above, we

80 Information acquired from discussion with PhramahKraisorn Klynadharo, the abbot of Wat Piang Luang,
and local people during my several fieldwork trips to the Piang Luang area between 2006 and 2010.

81 Ferguson 2009, pp. 65-73.

82 A record of temple histories in Thailand mentions the date of the foundation of Wat Piang Luang as 2230 of
the Buddhist era, which is equal to the 1687 CE.
Prawat Wat Thua Ratchaanachak [‘History of the temples in
the whole kingdom’].

83 From a leaflet of Wat Piang Luang dated 2008, acquired from Phramaha Kraisorn Klynadharo, current abbot
of Wat Piang Luang, during fieldwork 2009.

84 Information acquired from PhramahKraisorn Klynadharo, the abbot of Wat Piang Luang, during my
fieldwork 2009.

54

were working on lik long manuscript collections at Wat Tiyasathan, which is near Chiang
Mai in northern Thailand. While I had done an initial survey in 2004-5, we created a fuller
list of characteristics to record for each manuscript, basing our catalogue design on a
combination of that produced by Terwiel and Chaichuen of Shan texts in Germany and that
being used by the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts project in Vientiane (see Fig. 1. 9.).
85
We also extended our cataloguing to include old and fragmentary manuscripts that had been
‘retired’ into crevices in the structure of the shrine room, separate from the main collection.

Fig. 1. 9. Team Work on Cataloguing of lik long Collections at Wat Tiyasathan
From left: Dr Sai Pe, Dr Kate Crosby, Mr Jotika Khur-Yearn, Ven. Indacara
(standing), and Ven. Nandavamsa (Photo: On Khur-Yearn, 2009)

Wat Tiyasathan was established by Shan traders 100 years ago in the village of Mae
Taeng. The abbot of Wat Tiyasathan, whose name is Ven. Phra Sriwan Warinda, after
leaving Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge crisis,
86 stayed at and visited a number of temples
in the Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai areas. In several temples there had clearly once been a
thriving Shan community who had donated Shan
lik long to the temple. However, if there
were no Shan monks at the temple, and in particular if there was a Burmese or Pa-o abbot,

85 Terwiel 2003, Shan Manuscripts, part I and www.laomanuscripts.net.
86 He had been a monk for the Shan mining community of Pailin.

55

the Shan manuscripts were not treated with the same care as Burmese or Thai manuscripts.
Ven. Warinda asked permission from the abbots to take Shan manuscripts and store them in
his own temple. Local Shan people also then moved their own manuscripts into Wat
Tiyasathan. As a result of Ven. Warinda’s efforts over the past thirty-five years, Wat
Tiyasathan has around three hundred
lik long. However, there is no current zare activity in
the Mae Taeng area and the library is not used as the source of new
lik long copies. A zare in
Chiang Mai described the interest in the Chiang Mai area as poor, mainly because there are
few Shan, and those who are present are scattered widely, meaning that there is an
insufficient concentration of the potential audience and no means for the older generation of
Shan, the traditional audience, to come together. There is a floating population of immigrant
Shan who come through Wat Tiyasathan from Burma seeking work in the local area, but they
tend to be poor and also scatter to different locations for work.
87

In the next chapter I shall in addition consider a further threat to the preservation of lik
long
that comes from a well-meaning source, Shan revivalists, because of the emphasis on
the modern type of meditation centre. Since that affects the use of
lik long for meditation
rather than more broadly, I shall deal with it there, where I am talking specifically about
satipaṭṭhna texts.

1.8. Conclusion

In this chapter we have looked at some of the features of Shan lik long in general,
including the beliefs behind the copying of them, the way they are made, written and recited,
how collections develop, the poetic systems and scripts used, the difficulties confronting the
tradition and attempts to preserve them. In the next chapter we shall look at a specific aspect
of the use of
lik long, namely their place in temple-sleeping and the teaching of meditation
practice, and I provide some information about the focus of the textual work of this thesis
Zao Amat Long, namely his
Mahsatipaṭṭhn, which I then translate to give the first full
length version of a
lik long in a European language (in Chapter Three).

87 I have reported these aspects of the development of the collection at Wat Tiyasatthan more fully in Crosby
and Khur-yearn 2010.

56

CHAPTER TWO

The Place of Lik Long in Temple Sleeping and Meditation Practice
2.1. Varieties of Shan Meditation Methods and Practices

There is a variety of methods and traditions of meditation practice in Shan Buddhist
communities. When studying these traditions, one can see that there are two contemporary
traditions of practice existing side by side, led by religious leaders, usually monks from
different sects. My discussions in this chapter on these traditions include the ritual of temple
sleeping, the Zawti Shan Buddhists, and local traditions of practices, such as the recitation of
meditative words in bed before falling asleep. The major difference between the two
traditions can be highlighted by reference to the general way in which they are practised, i.e.
while one is more informal and flexible, the other is more strict and systematic. In other
words, one is a more traditional way of practice which is commonly followed and practised
by large number of people, and the other is quite unsual and hence often known as reformed
or modern way of practice. While this thesis focuses on the first of these two, the Shan
Buddhist tradition of temple sleeping, which falls into the category of a more traditional and
flexible way of practising meditation, I shall also pay some attention in this chapter to the
Mingun Meditation Group (MMG), which falls into the category of a reformed or modern
way of practising meditation. I shall first explore Shan practice including aspects of
meditation more broadly before turning my focus to the two specific topics, i.e. the tradition
of temple sleeping and the MMG.

A common tradition of Buddhist practice in Shan communities is that both monks and
laypeople pay their homage to the Triple Gems in front of the Buddha shrine twice a day, i.e.
once in the morning and another in the evening. The contents of this ritual practice include:
the chanting of
Oksa in Shan poetry, also known as kwam kan taw ratana sam zao in Shan,
which is a formula of request for pardon in case one has committed wrong doing toward the
Buddha, the Dhamma or the Sa
gha; of Pali words on the qualities of the Triple Gems; of
Paritta or texs of protection; and of mental development on loving-kindness toward all living
beings (
metta bhvan). From these contents we can see that several parts of this ritual

57

practice are related to the practice of meditation, namely the buddhnussati and other
anussati practices, and mettbhvan.

Another common tradition of practice in Shan communities is that the Shan Buddhists
learn to memorise the Pali formula of the three characteristics “
anicca, dukkha, anatt
[‘impermanence, suffering, not-self’] from their parents or senior members of the family
from an early age. This is part of the words that they say it every night, as they lie down in
bed, before falling asleep.
88 Nicola Tannenbaum observed in Maehongson that the words
Kung Phra, Kung Tara, Kung Sang Kha [Noble qualities of the Buddha, of the Dhamma and
of the Sa
gha] are also parts of the formula for chanting in bed, which is also in fact true of
the Shan communties in the Panglong area where I was grown up.
Perhaps, we can consider
it as a daily meditation practice among the Shan Buddhists. In other words, we may call this
type of practice as ‘meditation in bed.’ Alternatively, one could see it also as a kind of
protection, yet the level of the meditation involved will progress from this ritual as the
individual grows up? Usually in their forties and beyond, Shan people will stay overnight in
the temple on precept days (Buddhist holy days) to spend more time on practising meditation.
From this time then, they are better known as temple sleepers, as shall be discussed more
below and in the next section. Here, the point is that the Shan Buddhists learn the Buddha’s
teaching on the Three Characteristics of the Word since their early days. For example, when a
boy or a girl sneezes or stumbles while walking, sometimes his or her parents would say
anicca’ for him/her or ask him/her to say it.89 Although the children learn to memorise and
say the word, they would not take its meaning seriously nor make any attempt to understand
it. However, as the perception is there throughout their life, they would catch the sense of it at
some points and learn more and practise more as they grow and get old. They would not say
only the Pali formula of “
anicca, dukkha, anatt” but also the meaning in Shan next to each
word in poetic style: “
anicca am-man-am-mye, dukkha khan-zai-sang-re, anattto-ha-am-
lai-wa
.” [‘anicca not steadfast, dukkha being distress and suffering, and anattnot my
body’]. This tradition of practice may have initially been passed down orally in one-to-one
interactions, i.e. the more experienced people taught the less experienced ones, rather than
through listening to
haw lik, which is widely discussed throughout this thesis. Tannenbuam
observed the custom of taking education or learning the words of recitation through oral

88 Personal contact with Tannenbaum, 2012.

89 From my own experience. This is perhaps similar to what the English people say ‘bless you’ to someone when
he/she sneezes.

58

tradition in Thongmaksan area of Maehongson when a friend was going to take up temple
sleeping – she talked to more experienced temple sleepers who taught her the words, how to
finger beads, what to say, etc.
90

Next and perhaps the most popular traditional way of practising meditation in Shan
Buddhist communities is the tradition of ‘temple sleeping’ (
naun kyaung), mentioned above.
It is also the focus of this thesis. The tradition of temple sleeping refers to those that follow
the method of transmitting meditation using
haw lik (the reading of lik long) in the context of
temple sleeping, as had been done by Shan Buddhists for centuries. The British missionary
Leslie Milne conducted research into Shan ritual practices in the early 20
th century Shan
States, in the context of which she also observed the traditional meditation practices and the
associated ritual of listening to poetic texts that she observed.
91 It is interesting that even Shan
Buddhist literature 19
th and early 20th centuries that relates to meditation also comes to us in
the form of poetry,
lik long, discussed in the previous chapter. In this chapter I shall look
more at the importance of poetic recitation, both as a form of meditation in itself and as a
method of communication, and how these roles are exemplified in the unique Shan tradition
of ‘temple sleeping.’ On temple sleeping occasions, laypeople stay overnight at their local
temple and perform the ritual of reading and listening to poetic literature on a variety of
advanced religious topics including the subject of meditation. One can say that the practice of
temple sleeping is a traditional and flexible Shan way of meditation practice as we shall see
more discussion in the next section of this chapter. By flexible, I mean that practitioners do
not need to spend certain amounts of time or specific times doing specific practice of
following a strict routine, unlike modern intensive
vipassanmethod. Rather practitioners,
after listening to the poetic teaching, have time in which they choose how to take their
practice further.

In contrast to the more common or traditional way of practices followed by the majority
of Shan Buddhists, there are groups and sects of reformed Buddhists. One of the early Shan
Buddhist reforms is known as Zawti sect, named after the sect’s founder Varajoti (
joti and
zawti are the same word, alternative spelling reflecting the Pali and Burmese/Shan
pronunciation respectively), who lived and taught in the 16
th and 17th centuries CE.92 Varajoti

90 Personal communication with Tannenbaum, 2012.

91 Milne 1910, Shans at Home, p.106.
92 The name Zawti seems to have originated from the Pali word ‘jot’ [light or radiance]. It was recorded by

Sangermano (1893: 111) as ‘Zodi’ and most Burman and Shan pronounce it as ‘zawti’ although some would
59

was a son of Shan ruler of Mueang Mao or the Mao Shan Kingdom, now the area along Mao
river valley of the present Burma-China borders.
93 With its headquarters in Mueang Yang,
now in Kachin State but still near Mueang Mao, the Zawti Shans were spread all over the
Shan State and other parts of Burma. One of the well known Zawti villages in the present day
is the Ninth Mile Shan Village of Mayangon Township in Rangoon. The village temple there,
Aung Mye Bon Tha Shan Kyaung, also known among Shan as Wat Tai Kao Lak, has 10
acres of land containing old Buddhist buildings built by the Zawti Shans when they
immigrated from their headquarters, Mueang Yang, to the area over a century ago. Up to the
1930s, when a history of the Zawti sect was written by its committee for a special religious
occasion, the temple had a lineage of 21 head-abbots. The history was added, with an
introduction by U Htay Hlaing, to his work
Dhammadta, volume 3.94 One of early, if not the
earliest, Westerners, to have written about Zawti Shan is
Vincenzo Sangermano (1758–
1819), a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Barnabite religious order, who served as a
missionary in Burma from 1783 to 1806, as described in his
The Burmese Empire a Hundred
Years Ago
, which was first published in 1833.95

Although the Zawti sect still exists it is not as powerful as it was and the numbers of
adherents have declined significantly. I therefore refer to them in the past tense, as
observations about their practice are mainly historical, including from my early life. Among
the many significant factors of the Zawti sect, i.e. a separate monastic lineage and attendant
lay followers, which is associated with meditation practice. The Zawti monks as well as their
lay followers are regarded by many Shan people as ‘extremists’ in that they are over strict in
their rejection of traditional ritual and their rigorous practice of meditation. One of their
meditation focuses is to control the 6
indriya (faculties): eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind.96
The monks get up at 4am in the morning to start their daily routines including the chanting of
prayers and practising meditation.
97 Other significant practices of the Zawti include praying
to the Nyan-daw, the godlike wisdom, which abides like a mountain of fire in the heavens,
invisible to mortal eyes; they also do not follow traditional indications of respect towards

pronounce it ‘zodi’. For more information on the Zawti sect, see Htay Hlaing 1991, pp. 367-386 and
Mendelson 1975, pp. 73-77. 231-234.

93 Htay Hlaing 1991, Dhammadta, vol. 3, p. 370.
94 Htay Hlaing 1991, pp. 371-372.

95 Sangermano 1893, pp. 111-112. The 1993 edition is the 3rd edition of this work.
96 Mendelson 1975, pp. 231.

97 For details, see Htay Hlaing 1991, pp. 373-385.

60

Pagodas, monks and Buddha statues. These kinds of practices were also found among another
range of groups, referre to as the Paramats. This
term is derived from the Pali word
paramattha, literally meaning the highest or ultimate truth. On a philosophical level, the term
is connect with understand reality through the concept of emptiness or non-self. The use of
the term here refers to the certain Buddhist sectarian groups regarded by mainstream
Burmese and some Shan as being on the fringe of orthodoxy, in fact refers to their emphasis
of
Abhidhamma (so their heightened interest in orthodoxy, from their own own perspective).
Their emphasis was upon intentional action
, rather than ritual, which they saw as empty, and
their tendency was to de-emphasize the ritual and priestly roles of monks.
98 In fact, there are
many Paramat groups among the Burman Buddhists and this has led some researchers, such
as Mendelson (1975: 75), to confuse the Shan Zawti sect with other Paramat groups, when he
is referring to Scott’s works (1909: 147149) on the Burman Paramat.

Moreover, the Zawti monks and their followers were strict with rules of moral conduct
and practices. The Zawti monks do not have face-to-face contact with women. They strictly
follow the ten
kusalakammapatha, or good course of conduct, which cover the acts of
generosity (
dna), morarity (sla) and meditation (bhvan).

Another interesting point of the Zawti sect is that the Zawti monks and their lay
practitioners were believed to ‘use the canonical Tipitaka texts in Shan.’
99 It is very likely that
the Shan Tipitaka texts here may be referred to the Shan
lik long poetic literature, which is
extensively discussed in the previous chapter and other parts of this thesis. I know, from
growing up in the Shan State, that their had a reputation for using poetry in their practice and
many well-known
zare were connected with the Zawti sect. Mong Yang village temple, now
in Kachin State, is in fact the Headquarters of the Zawti Shan Buddhists. It also is well
known place for teaching and learning
lik long poetry as well as producing lik long texts.
However, it is beyond the fieldwork research for this thesis.

Beside the Zawti, there are other Shan Buddhist reforming groups, such as the Yuan
sect, which was imported from Lanna (now northern Thailand) in the 14
th-15th century CE
and Mingun Meditation tradition, which was originated in Thaton, Mon State (now lower
Burma). I shall discuss the Mingun Meditation more in a later part of this chapter. In addition
to the reforming groups or sects, there are also individual monks, who are well known for

98 Mendelson 1975, p. 373.
99 Mendelson 1975, p. 231.

61

their exemplary religious way of life and meditation practices. Among them are Udaung
Taung Sayadaw, who lived and practised meditation in a cave at the south-west of Inle Lake
before he became known as a ‘holy’ monk and Zaokhuwa Bunchum, who has lived his life as
a forest monk since his novice-hood and he is highly respected by the Shan, Thai and Lao
Buddhists, as shall be discussed more later in this chapter. To sum up,
this is my attempt to
cover variations in practice in Shan Buddhist communities as far as I am able, but mainly this
is about lineage since I am unable to find details of the actual practices due to the lacking
resources and difficulties of access to the areas in the Shan State for my fieldwork research.
I
shall now discuss a more full account of temple sleeping, which is a traditional and flexible
way of practising meditation.

2.2. Sleeping Overnight in the Monastery: A Traditional Shan Way of Studying
Buddhism and Practising Meditation

The Buddhist practice of sleeping overnight in the temple both preserves and
promulgates the traditional practice of meditation in Shan communities. During the period of
such practice, although it is not always the case it is very usual that a poetry-reciter reads out
passages of poetic literature in a pleasant voice while the audience sits and listens quietly in
an appreciative manner. This Shan tradition of religious practice is called
Naun Kyaung,
meaning ‘temple sleeping.’

The tradition of temple sleeping usually takes place on the ‘precept day’ (wan sin)100
during the three months that make up the period of the “rains retreat” (wor wsa).101
According to Buddhist calendar, there are four precept or Sabbath days a month, i.e. the 8th of
waxing moon, the full moon, the 8
th of waning moon, and the dark moon or the last day of the
month. It is common in the Theravada Buddhist tradition that the three months period of the
rainy season is the time of the rains retreat. The rains retreat period according to the Shan
Buddhist calendar is from the first waning moon of the 8
th lunar month to the full moon of the
11
th lunar month, usually from July to October. During this period, monks do not travel far
for overnight stay but live in the same place to observe the rains retreat, and laypeople take

100 For more information on Buddhist precept days, see Gombrich 1991, Buddhist Precept and Practice:
traditional Buddhism in the rural highlands of Ceylon
, pp. 77-79, and Tannenbaum 2001, Who can compete
against the world?: Power protection and Buddhism in Shan worldview
, p. 21.

101 The Shan term wor wsis derived from Pali ‘vassa’ or Sanskrit ‘varsa’ literally meaning ‘rain.The Thai
follows the Sanskrit term ‘varsa’ and pronounces it in Thai accent ‘phan-s
.’ For more information on the
Buddhist rains retreat, see Gombrich 1991, pp. 326-7.

62

more seriously the practice of temple sleeping. In our interviews of zare in 2009 we also
found that this was a time, before modern education but in living memory, when other types
of teachers would come to temples to teach novices, monks and laypeople a whole variety of
skills, including secular skills such as martial art and mathematics.

The tradition of temple sleeping offers an opportunity for Shan Buddhist people to stay
overnight away from home and daily routines. Temple sleepers take on the Eight Precepts
102
and follow the restrictive eating practices of monks. The place where the temple sleepers stay
is called
sl, also called zayat or salaup, and usually there are several slbuildings, which
are located in the compound of a monastery or near to it. Sometimes, when there are more
temple sleepers than usual and all the
sls are full, some male temple sleepers stay in the
main hall of the temple. While staying in the
sla or in the temple observing the Eight
Precepts, they listen to poetic literature and practise meditation.
103 Referring to the Shan
tradition of observing the Eight Precepts, Leslie Milne wrote:

Shans do not sleep with their wives during the nights of the fast days of each
month; they carry their beds and mosquito curtains to the zayats near the
monastery. There they spend the night in reading aloud or listening while others
read portions of their holy books. The reading continues the whole night, as they
feel inclined. During these nights of fasting, women sometimes sleep in other
zayats set apart for women.
104

The tradition thus observed in the northern Shan State over a hundred years ago is still
preserved and practised among the Shan communities of present Shan State/Burma and
northern Thailand. Milne does not describe in detail whether the
lik long recitation she was
observing is the texts on meditation. Nevertheless, we can say that listening to the
lik long
itself is very much a type of meditation, especially during the practice of temple sleeping.
This type of meditation would fall into the category of meditation with ‘reflection’ (
anussati),
and in this case, the listeners are meditating on the
dhamma, reflecting on the noble qualities
of the
dhamma (buddhnussati kammaṭṭhna) rather than the contents of the dhamma.

102 The Eight Precepts are: 1) refraining from killing, 2) refraining from stealing, 3) refraining from sexual
misconduct, 4) refraining from telling a lie, 5) refraining from taking alcohol, 6) refraining from eating solid
food at the wrong time (after mid-day until the sunrise), 7) refraining from singing or listening to music and
dancing as well as using make-up and perfume, and 8) refraining from using higher seat or bed. Also see,
Gombrich 1991, pp. 77-79.

103 For more information on the Eight Precepts, see Hare 1935, The book of gradual sayings, vol. 4, pp. 170-171.
AN 8.41, and Gombrich 1991, p. 78.

104 Zayat’, a Burmese term equal to Shan word ‘salaup’ or Pali word ‘sla’, was also used by Shan of that time
as recorded by Leslie Milne. Milne 1910, p. 106.

63

Since I have grown up with the tradition of temple sleeping, I have seen the temple
sleeping often goes the recitation of
lik long literature. While I have grown up with such
tradition at Wat Panghoo in Panglong in the 1980s and 1990s, recently I also observed it at
during my fieldwork research in Northern Thailand, Wat Piang Luang (a border village
temple in Chiang Mai, and Wat Pang Mu (a village temple, near Maehongson town, 2006),
and more recently we, members of the SBB group research (see Introduction and Chapter
One), observed the tradition at Wat Huoi Suea Thao village temple and Wat Huoi Pha village
temple, both in Maehongson in 2009. Whilst living in a monastery as a novice, I have had
close observation and witness on the tradition of temple sleeping for many years at Wat
Panghoo and that area of Panglong, Shan State, where I started learning to read and Shan, and
then as a novice taking primary monastic education. I observed that the recitation of
lik long
poetic literature had taken place at almost every occasion of temple sleeping. Usually there
were two events of poetry recitation taken place at such an event of temple sleeping: one for
male temple sleepers and another for female temple sleepers.
105 This was done so because
male and female temple sleepers were staying at different
sla (salaup), as mentioned by
Milne above. At Wat Panghoo and also the surrounding temples in the area of Panglong,
Shan State, temple sleepers did not sleep in the main temple building, although this is not the
case in Northern Thailand, where Nicola Tannenbaum observed in Maehongson: men
‘always’ sleep in the main temple building, women in the
sla,106 and I myself also noticed at
Wat Piang Luang, Wiang Haeng in 2006, more of this shall be discussed below, that men
were sleeping in the main temple building, although there was also a
sla, which was full of
male temple sleepers. It is a common system of Shan monastic architecture and temple
layouts that one of the main purposes of having
sla or saloup buildings is for temple
sleepers during the rains retreat and hence it is more traditional and appropriate that all
temple sleepers, men and women, sleep in the
sla but not in the main temple building. For
there will be no body but temple sleepers in the
sla on the temple sleeping day, hence it is a
quiet and suitable place required for certain type of meditation practised during the time of
temple sleeping in this instance, where else the main temple building is a communal place;
usually the main temple building consist of the Buddha’s shrine, the abbot’s room and his
office (usually outside his room) and rooms for monks and novices; hence although it may
not be very noisy but it may not be quiet either. Therefore, it is very likely that having or

105 When needed, young monks and novices who would have done some training and practices of reading lik
long
were invited to read out lik long texts for temple sleepers.

106 In personal corespondance with Prof. Tannenbaum (2012).

64

allowing temple sleepers to sleep in the main temple building is a recent change or reform of
Shan Buddhism.

In addition to the ritual of listening to poetic literature, some laypeople memorise Pali
or Shan poetic formulas for recitation. For instance, they learn to memorise the formulas they
should recite during the practice of temple sleeping. As in other Theravada Buddhist
communities, the Shan use Pali formulas for the recitation of the Triple Gems and Precepts.
However, formulas used for other purposes, such as ‘the words of prayer’ (
kwam wai phra)
for paying homage at morning and evening chanting or at any religious ceremonies, and ‘the
words for sharing merit’ (
kwam yat nam) at the end of merit-making ceremonies, are usually
composed in Shan poetry. In poetic form, the formulas are easily memorised that help the
reciters or listeners to gain more devotion or faith in the Buddha and his teachings. Such faith
is an important factor for the Buddhist practice and meditation. The following is an example
of a Shan poetic formula called
kwam long kyaung [‘words of leaving temple’] that a temple
sleeper should recite before leaving the temple to return home.

Kwam Long Kyaung

Muea wa kha ma kham sin paet, kha te sim maet wai nai zai,
Zao akha kang nai, mon kham phra tra sum mung mai hom kan,
Sin paet kaw am pha, sin ha kaw am wang,
Sin saeng saung mang mang aun kwa na, na mueang zao pai la, kha te kham ao pin
sin ha khuen muea kha aw.
107

Below is my translation.

The Formula for Leaving the Temple

Yesterday, I came to observe the Eight Precepts; I will keep them in my mind.
At dawn, the blessings of the Buddha and the Dhamma are my shelter.
They are in fact like the leaves [of a tree] covering the branches.
I neither give up the Eight Precepts nor abandon the Five Precepts.

The light of the Jewel-Precepts leads me forward.
Now, this morning, I will re-observe the Five Precepts, as I have to return home.

As previously stated, the tradition of temple sleeping is practised on a ‘precept day’
(
wan sin) during the rains-retreat. Below is an account of my observation of the religious

107 For the formula in Shan scripts, see the Appendix Four. I have obtained this formula from a temple sleeper at
a Thai-Burma border village, where the Shan tradition of temple sleeping is maintained to this day.

65

rituals performed during the rains retreat at a Shan village monastery in Wiang Haeng
district, Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Early in the morning of the precept day of July 25
th
2006, Shan laypeople from the village carried offerings in their hands and made their way to
the local temple, Wat Piang Luang. Soon after arriving in the preaching hall (the main temple
building), each of them offered popped rice and flowers on three trays - one for the Buddha,
one for his teachings and one for the monks. Individual prayer then preceded the start of a
formal program for the collective performance of religious rituals. The program of the day
was divided into two sections. The first was for all people attending the ceremony and the
second was for the temple sleepers only, as preparation for their subsequent observation of
the Eight Precepts and overnight stay. When everyone had arrived, at around 9am, the formal
program started with a request for silence. This was made by a lay leader known as the
pu
mauk
[‘flower man’], also called pan taka, a Burmese and Pali loanword that has the same
meaning as
pu mauk or flower man.108 He then led the assembly to pay homage to the Triple
Gems, observe the Five Precepts and listen to the chanting of the
Paritta (a chanting text for
blessing and protection) and sermons by the monks. After that, the laypeople made formal
offerings of specific items such as food and other requisites to the monks. Finally, the
laypeople shared merit with all creatures – each of them chants his/her own words of
transferring merit, usually with pouring water and all chant together the formula of sharing
merit without pouring water
109— and this signified the end of the first section. Many young
people left the temple, and only those who were going to observe the Eight Precepts, mostly
older people, remained in the preaching hall. After a short break of 15 minutes the second
part of the ceremony commenced. This entailed the temple sleepers undertaking the Eight
Precepts under the instruction of a senior monk (Fig. 2.1.). On such occasion, the temple
sleepers also listen to sermons on meditation from monk either immediately after the ritual of
observing the Eight Precepts or after lunch in the afternoon.
110 On that particular precept day,
the 25
th July 2006, there were 202 temple sleepers and most of them (about two third) are

108 Pu mauk or pan taka always holds a bunch or tray of flowers in his hands while leading the performance of
religious rituals; hence he is known as “flower man.” Tannenbaum 2001 (pp. 31, 76) describes the ‘flower
man’ as the lay-leader.

109 There are varity of formula for sharing merit, most of which are in Shan poetry although some are also mixed
with Pali in
nissaya style. Recently, Khuwa Bunchum’s formula of sharing merit has been widely used in
Shan communities diaspora, and most notably the Pali term
bhvan, which refers to meditation in this case, is
also used in the formula. For the full text of Khuwa Bunchum’s formula for transferring merit in Shan script,
see the Appendix Five.

110 For Shan sermons delivered at other events including the subject relevant to meditation, see Tannenbaum
1995, pp. 101-122.

66

women. Venerable Phra MahKraison, the head monk of Wat Piang Luang, reported that this
number was slightly less than that of the previous full moon day, which had been the first day
of the rains retreat. Generally, more people are expected to attend religious ceremonies on the
more highly regarded
wan sin, such as full moon days.111

Fig. 2. 1. Practice of Temple sleeping at Wat Piang Luang at Thailand-Burma border,
Chiang Mai; the temple sleepers undertaking the Eight Precepts from the monk.
(Photo: Jotika Khur-Yearn, 2006)

One traditional method of meditation usually practised by the temple sleepers is
‘recollection of [the qualities of] the Buddha’ (
Buddhnussati) or ‘reflection on the three
characteristics of true nature of the world (
Tilakkhaa), subjects familiar to other forms of
Theravada.
112 This type of meditation practice for Shan temple sleepers is usually
accompanied by the practice of counting a rosary or ‘prayer strand’ called
mak nap,

111 Of the four wan sin or Buddhist holy days, the full moon and the dark moon days are considered as bigger
wan sin. Again, there is also different status of their importance among the bigger wan sin. For instance,
during the three months’ rains retreat, the first day and the last day of the rains retreat, both of which are full
moon, are considered as more important than other
wan sin.

112 For details on the recollection of the Buddha, see Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification),
translated by Ñanamoli 1956, pp. 206-230. The three nature of the world are impermanence (
anicca),
suffering (
dukkha) and selflessness (anatt). For details, see Anattalakkhaṇā sutta [‘‘Not-Self Characteristic
Discourse’]. Thaniss
ro Bhikkhu (tr.) 1993, Anattalakkhaṇā Sutta: The Discourse on the Not-self
Characteristic. SN
22.59.

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traditionally containing 108 beads.113 During retreat periods, a Shan might sit quietly in front
of the Buddha shrine and reflect on the qualities of the Buddha with his or her hands counting
the rosary. One of the most well known qualities of the Buddha that is used as a meditation
object is ‘
arahawhich literally means ‘worthy one.’114 A meditator recites arahain
his/her mind repeatedly using the rosary to count the number of repetitions until the final
bead is reached. Each cycle of the repetitions is then called
nueng haup in Shan. By
completing one cycle of the rosary with the recitation of
araha, one has then reflected on
the quality of the Buddha 108 times.
115 In this way, a meditator usually determines to
recollect the qualities of the Buddha for over a thousand times by completing ten cycles of
the rosary in one sitting meditation alone. The Shan also believe that this type of meditation
practice helps to accumulate merit, which brings good results to him or her later on in this life
or subsequent lives. As with other forms of merit making, the ritual of sharing merit follows
at the end of meditation practice.

Moreover, for the laity, whether they partake in the temple sleeping or not, the temple
is not only a place for religious activities but also for social gathering. For the temple
sleepers, staying overnight in the temple is not only a great chance to temporarily stay away
from their home, which is considered worldly, but it also offers a chance for having peace of
mind and relaxation, with the
dhamma in heart, under the shade of the monastery. My
observation of the tradition of temple sleeping at Wat Piang Luang during the rains retreat of
2006 reveals this socio-religious phenomenon. After having their lunch, most of the temple
sleepers were seen having a rest lying on their bedding,
116 while some were seen sitting round
a tea tray and discussing various subjects. On the basis of my observation at other temples, it
seems that conversations often involve the interpretation of matters concerning the
dhamma
and meditation. On the 9th August 2006, as I proceeded on my fieldwork trip from Piang

113 There are numerous interpretations on the 108 beads. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japa_mala. Here, in
doing a practice of counting the number of repetitions of the mala, 100 are counted as completed. The
remaining are said to cover errors or omissions.

114 Although now less common – rosaries not being commonly found in Sri Lankan Buddhism - the practice of
counting rosaries with the word ‘
arahawas also found among Sinhalese Buddhists in the 19th century as
observed by L. A. Waddell, ‘Rosaries in Ceylonese Buddhism’ in
JRAS (Jul., 1896), pp. 575-577.

115 In her article Tantric Theravada: A bibliographic essay on the writings of Francois Bizot and others on the
Yogavacara,
Kate Crosby has discussed the use of the word arahain other forms of Buddhist meditation and
ritual practice. Crosby 2000,
Contemporary Buddhism, vol. 1. no. 2, p. 147.

116 All temple sleepers have to bring their own bedding, which consists of a mat, a pillow and a blanket (also a
mosquito net in some areas, where there are mosquitoes). Also see Tannenbaum 2001, pp. 139-143.
Tannenbaum also learned from temple sleepers during his fieldwork that people do not take naps until after
lunch, beasue if they sleep before lunch, the
phi li (devat), who writes down the names of the temple
sleepers, will miss them. Note from personal corespodance with Tannenbaum in 2012.

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Luang to Maehongson, I had an opportunity to observe the practice of temple sleeping at Wat
Pang Mu,
117 a village which is about 5 miles away to the north of Maehongson town. That
day is the 9
th full moon day, one of the biggest precept days according Shan Buddhist
calendar, and there were 120 temple sleepers. A remarkable thing I observed here is that a
small group of temple sleepers spent their afternoon with having an informal reading out and
listening to
lik long poetic literature on the veranda/terrace of the main building of the
temple. The
lik long text they were reciting that day was Zao Maho (MahosathJtaka); it
was recited in turn by two Zares, namely, Zare Oo and Zare Sang Ken. As it is an informal
recitation event, the reciters and the audience were just sitting round of a tea tray as they
enjoy listening to the tale of Mahosath
. I also noted that they stopped the recitation at the
end of almost every paragraph to further discuss the content of the texts, see Fig. 2.2 below.
Note that all temple sleepers in Fig 2.2 are male, evidence that male and female stay
separately at different buildings during the ritual of temple sleeping. Even when they gather
for the recitation of and listening to
lik long, they still sit apart in group/section of male and
female as can be seen in Fig. 2.1 above.

Fig. 2. 2. A group of temple sleepers (left), led by Zare Oo (right), having an informal
reading out and listening to
lik long poetic text on the terrace of Wat Pang Mu on the 9th
August 2006. (Photo: On Khur-Yearn)

117 Wat Pang Mu also has a big collection of lik long manuscripts, and was a part of the SOAS-based group
research project on Shan Buddhsim at the borderlines in 2009 mentioed in Chapter One.

69

In general, temple sleepers spend their afternoon doing various things – it is a ‘free’, or
rather, flexible time that they can spend according to their own choice, within the
expectations of conduct for temple sleepers. While some were talking, others may also be
seen practising meditation or counting their rosaries. Others might listen to recorded sermons
from a tape or CD player. However, there are certain times when they are required to perform
collective religious activities, which usually take place in the main temple building. Such
collective religious activities usually take place late in the afternoon and in the evening and
the activities include the repetition or reaffirmation of observing the Eight Precepts or
listening to the sermon on meditation given by a monk or the recitation of poetic literature by
a
zare, as I shall now discuss.

2.3. The Recitation of Lik Long Poetic Literature on the Subject of Meditation

The recitation of poetic literature, haw lik, which addresses the topic of meditation
practices, usually takes place at the monastery during the period of temple sleeping. Hence,
the audience is mainly made up of temple sleepers. My main interest in describing the way
that Shan keep the tradition of temple sleeping during the rains retreat is to explain the
context in which this kind of Shan poetry is most often recited and heard. The poetic
recitation is usually performed by a
zare, who also participates in the practice of temple
sleeping. At such, Buddhist meditation is the subject of a significant body of Shan poetic
works, the performance of which plays a crucial role in religious ceremonies attended by
large numbers of the Shan lay community.

The significance of the recitation of these poetic meditation texts is that all the audience
are doing sitting meditation while listening to the poetry. The following description is based
on my observation of the poetic performance at Wat Piang Luang on the 25
th July 2006.
When evening arrived, at around 7pm, all the temple-sleepers, men and women, gathered in
the preaching hall for the ritual of listening to poetic texts on meditation. Most members of
the audience could be seen in meditation postures, sitting still, with their eyes closed and
listening to the poetry. If there is any question or topic to be discussed, there is a conversation
between the poetic reader and the audience at the interval or tea break, which is equivalent to
the question time at lectures or meditation courses that we know nowadays. The text that was
recited to the temple sleepers on that day (25
th July) was Zao Worakhae’s Kyam Ne Tang
Nibb
n [‘A Guide to Nibbna’]. There are other popular texts for recitation at the practice of

70

temple sleeping. These include Uk puk khan ya [‘The dialogue on Uposatha’], Mu suea khuen
sin
[‘The hunter observing precepts’], and Kaya sungma [‘A sermon on the body’].118 It is
worth noting that none of the
zare we interviewed in Maehongson ever mentioned Zao Amat
Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn, the meditation text for recitation at temple sleeping that is the focus
of the latter part of this thesis. Perhaps this indicates that the
Mahsatipaṭṭhn is for higher
level of meditation practice while the traditional Shan meditation practice in general is for all
levels of meditators, or it may simply be that this text is no longer popular or not popular in
the region such as Maehongson where our group fieldwork and
zare survey took place. In
fact, a copy of Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn is found at the MMG Centre, Panglong, Shan
State, and perhaps this is evidence that
Mahsatipaṭṭhn is for higher level of meditation
practice as it is in-cooperated with modern intensive meditation practice of MMG, which
shall be discussed further below.
119

The temple sleepers conducting meditation at Wat Piang Luang, having learned the
meditation techniques from the ritual of listening to poetic texts, continued to sit quietly
either alone or with other meditators, practising meditation in front of the Buddha’s shrine.
So, at the ritual of listening to poetic texts, the meditators learn and practise meditation while
listening to a poetic text, which relates to the techniques of practising meditation. This is
slightly different from present day ‘modern intensive meditation’ courses where a teacher
gives the instruction first and then the meditators practise meditation afterward.

2.4. The Introduction of ‘Modern Intensive Meditation Practice’ into Shan
Communities

Having explored the way in which reading of poetry forms a crucial component of the
teaching of traditional methods of meditation in Shan communities, I want to now explain the
presence in Shan communities of the modern intensive meditation practice. I want to show
how, although we might see intensive methods as a threat to the preservation of Shan
Buddhism and culture, they were in fact introduced by reformists seeking to protect Shan
communities and certainly not in hostility to traditional practice. This is particularly true of

118 Information aquired from SOAS research group’s zare survey as part of Shan Buddhism at the Borderlands
Promect in Maehongson, 2009.

119 I have mentioned above that there is a great variety of Shan poetic literature. Interviews conducted among
zares in Burma in 2010, mentioned above, showed a great difference in repertoire between those reported in
our 2009 Maehongson survey. It may therefore be that further such fieldwork would reveal regional variation
of meditation texts used, including Amat Long.

71

the Mingun (MMG) centres (see below), where we now sometimes see the two methods of
meditation practice – both traditional and modern intensive – integrated with each other.

Modern intensive meditation instruction is available from specialised centres that run
‘intensive’ meditation courses and operate independently of traditional monasteries. The
actual meditation techniques that are practised and taught in these centres derive from the
same ultimate source, the teachings of meditation in the Pali canon, especially the
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta, but they will vary in the detailed manner of their delivery and focus
in accordance with the lineage or tradition, the expertise and the experience of the teachers.
120
Teachers may belong to different meditation traditions including Mingun, Mahs, Mogok,
and Sunlun. Gustaaf Houtman discusses these traditions and the lineage of meditation
masters including Mingun Zeidawun (Jetawun) Sayadaw, whose methods of intensive
meditation practice has been recognized as the root of the Shan modern intensive meditation
practice.
121 Houtman also mentions Sao Shwe Thaik (also spelled as ‘Thaike’),122 who was a
pious Shan Buddhist ruler and the then first president of the Union of Burma and also
involved Buddhist movements including the involvement of meditation practices
123 and Shan
Tipi
aka Translation Project in the 1950s,124 as shall be discussed further below. In fact,
amongst these traditions, the tradition of Mingun meditation has reached furthest and
penetrated most deeply into Shan communities. For this reason, the Mingun tradition will be
explored in most depth here. The tradition takes its name from its founder, Mingun Zetawun
Sayadaw U N
rada (1869-1954, see Fig. 2. 1.),125 who lived and taught meditation in the
early 20
th century, with his base in Thaton,126 a town in lower Burma. Although the official

120 A desirable direction of future research would be a detailed examination of the actual variety within these
practices, which may vary in terms of such things as whether movement or study is involved, or the precise
way of dealing with distractions, for example.

121 Houtman 1990, pp. 289, 308. The term ‘Zetawun’ has its Pali origin ‘Jetavana’, a famous name of a
monastery during the Buddha’s time. Other western spelling of the term closed to Burmese accent is ‘Zeidawun’
as also used by Gustaaf Houtman.

122 Sao Shwe Thaik was the ruling prince of Yawnghwe state and became the first president of the Union of
Burma after its independence 1948. He also played an important role in the Sixth Buddhist Council. For more
information on the biography of Sao Shwe Thaik (or Chao Shwe Thaike), see in his children’s
autobiographies, such as Yawnghwe 1987,
The Shan of Burma: Memoirs of a Shan Exile, and Simms 2008,
The Moon Princess: Memories of the Shan States.

123 Houtman 1990, pp. 275, 297-298.
124 Yawnghwe 1987, p. 7.
125 Houtman 1990, p. 289.

126 Thaton, called by Shan as Sathung, is located in modern Mon State, between the cities of Pegu (Bago) and
Molemine, of Burma. It is a historical town within the area that has been identified by some scholars as
Suva
ṇṇabhmi, to which Emperor Asoka of the 3rd century BC is said to have sent two senior monks, Soa

72

name of the tradition is known as “Sathung Mla Mingun Zetawun Ssana Man Aung” [‘The
Origin of Sathung Mingun Zetawun’s Teaching for the Defeat of Evil One’],
127 it will here be
referred to as “Mingun Meditation Group” (henceforth MMG).

Fig. 2.3. Mula Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw (1868-1955)
Photo: Inside cover of
Mingun VipassanSudanBaung-kyok hne Taw Lei-shie Ahpwin
[‘A Collection of Mingun VipassanMeditation Technique and the Commentary of the
Forty Forest-Practices’], published 1960.

Despite the fact that MMG is Burmese/Mon in origin, as being traced to the tradition or
source of knowledge from a Burmese meditation master, U N
rada, and his works on

and Uttara, for Buddhist missionary work in the region. See, for example, Donald K. Swearer’s discussion of
such legendary accounts of the arrival of Buddhism in mainland South East Asia in “Thailand” in Buswell
2003,
Encyclopedia of Buddhism, vol. 2, pp. 830-836.

127 The Ssannuggaha Organisation, which is the root of Mahsi Meditation centres, was founded by Sir U
Thwin and Prime Minister U Nu in November 1947, about 3 months after the establishment Mingun
Kammathan centre in Lang Khur, Shan State. See www.mahasi.org.mm
, and MMG 1967, Pap phuen lik mai
mi upate pannyat khyak muk zum (mula) mingun thammazariya tara pya sara zueng tai
[The Book of Rules
and Regulations for Meditation Masters of M
la Mingun, Shan State], and MMG 1998, Pap mai taung pi
kaun kham sathung mula minkun zetawun sasana man aung
[‘The Recording Book of the Golden Jubilee of
Sathung M
la Mingun Zetawun Ssana Man Aung’].

73

meditation, it (MMG) has played an important role in the revival of Shan Buddhism and the
maintenance of Shan Buddhist identity. MMG is associated to some extent with Burmese
language and nationalism and was introduced into Shan Buddhism from the Mon/Burmese
part of the Union of Burma. Note that the terming of Mon/Burmese or Burmese/Mon is
problematic here
because of the nature of the complexity of Mingun Sayadaw’s biography.
Despite the fact that he is ethnically a Burman and most (if not all) of his early education was
taken in Burmese at several monasteries in Mandalay and other parts of Burma, his
establishment of and reputation for his method and practice of meditation began in Thaton, a
small town in the Mon State.
128

The Mingun tradition of meditation practice was first introduced to Shan Buddhist
communities in 1936. It was brought by U Myat Kyaw,
129 a pupil of Mingun Zetawun
Sayadaw U N
rada. U Myat Kyaw, who also taught meditation courses in Yangon
(Rangoon), which seems to have been his main base, travelled to Taunggyi, the capital of
Shan State, where he gave a talk on the meditation method that he had learned from U
N
rada. After the talk, at the request of some of the audience, including two local Shan
leaders, Lung Heing Yan-pe and Khun Htun,
130 a seven-day intensive meditation course in
this practice was conducted at the Yawnghwe Palace under the instruction of U Myat Kyaw.
It is interesting that the Yawnghwe Palace, 20 miles away to the south of Taunggyi, was used
as a room for the first modern meditation course, indicating royal patronage in meditation
from one of the most well-known Shan royal families at that time. Today, there are over 30
MMG centres, operating under the same tradition and a single administration. Teachers at
these centres include monks, novices and laypeople.

Teachers, meditators and supporters of MMG have been mostly Shan, who are familiar
with the tradition of poetic literature. However, the method of meditation instruction given at
MMG centres is mainly based on the works of U N
rada and his pupils U Myat Kyaw, U
Khun Htun and U Sucint
, and most of these works particularly those by U Nrada and U

128 For more details of Mingun Sayadaw’s biography, see Houtman 1990, p. 289.

129 MMG 1998, pp. 17-18. U Myat Kyaw was formerly known as U Pandidama when he was a monk, see
Houtman 1990, p. 44. Another well-known pupil of U N
rada is Mahsi Sayadaw, whose meditation centres
exist all over the country and outside Burma, such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Kornfield 1996,
Living
Dharma: Teachings of Twelve Buddhist Masters
, p. 51.

130 Khun Htun later became one of U Myat Kyaw’s successors for teaching meditation generally among Shan.
MMG 1998, pp. 19-20.

74

Myat Kyaw are in Burmese.131 All teachers employed at MMG centres have been advised to
read those works and understand them clearly. One problem here is that most teachers and
practitioners at MMG centres are Shan although there are a few MMG centres in the Pa-Oh
and Dhanu areas in the far south and southwest regions of Shan State. Thus, the
recommendation of the reading list to MMG teachers seems to be MMG’s advice rather than
a strict rule. The reason for this is that most of the recommended books were written in
Burmese while many MMG Shan and Pa-Oh teachers cannot read or understand Burmese
language. Another reason could be the indication of authority of source and privileging of
Burmese over Shan and other minority languages (as will be discussed in Chapter Four).
Most Shan poetic literature is not mentioned in the MMG’s recommended reading list,
despite the fact that the performance Shan poetic meditation literature takes place at MMG
centres. Only one recommended book on the list for MMG teachers is written in Shan. It is U
Sucint
’s Satipaṭṭhanadpan: a thik pae lae khaw sap laeng man. Neither Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn (1875) nor Zao Wora Khae’s Kyam nae tang nibbn (c.1930s), both written
in Shan and actually performed at MMG centres, are mentioned in the MMG’s recommended
reading list and yet they are available at such centres. In fact, the audio recording of Zao
Wora Khae’s
Kyam nae tang nibbn was sponsored by a meditation centre.132 It is apparent
that the recitation of poetic literature performed at MMG centres was influenced by the Shan
traditional method of meditation practice, yet it remains to be seen to what extent the
emergence of MMG will eventually influence or undermine the practice of meditation
through temple sleeping. Certainly I think it has affected the presentation of Shan meditation
practices, as for the outsider the intensive meditation centres are a more visible, obvious and

131 There are 24 books written by U Nrada, namely 1. Peakopadesa-aṭṭhakath[‘The Commentary of the
Principle of Pitaka’], 2. The
Peakopadesaṭṭhakathnissaya translation (in Burmese), 3 volumes, 3.
Sajjetvidhi-visajjan(in Pali), 4) rambh-vidhi-visajjan(Pali), 5. Visuddhi-magga-aṭṭhakathnissaya
(new edition), 6. Taw lay saeh aphwin [‘the commentary of 40 kinds of forests’], 7. Milinda-pañha-aṭṭhakath
(in Pali), 8. Nibbna-kath, 9. Nibbn lan nyun desan, 10. Nibbn Sa Tan, 11. Satipaṭṭhn Sa Tan, 12.
Satipaccaye – vinicchaya-muha, 13. Kathina-vinicchaya, 14. Kathin-nissaya 15. Phala-samapat, 16. Mah-
sa
ḷā-yatana-sutta-nissaya, 17. Mla-pariyya-sutta-nissaya, 18. Pdpdaraha-vinicchaya, 19. Paiññta-
karana-vinicchaya
, 20. Thein Khan [‘the role of ordination hall’], 21. Vipassan-nyn-zin-gyam-gyi, 22.
Anussaya-saing-y, 23. Atirit-pyu-bon, and 24. Vipassan-nyn-man-ya-ye. U Myat Kyaw’s works are: 1.
Gambhrattha-pakasan-gyam, 2. Vipassan-dpan-gyam, 3. Nibbna-magga-dpan-gyam, 4. Vipassan-let-
zwe-gyam
, 5. Vipassan-ḍīk-gyam (2 volumes), 6. Ariy-magga-dpan-gyam, 7. Gambhra-dhamma-
desan
-gyam (3 volumes), 8. Dhamma-kathika-let-zwe-gyam (2 volumes), 9. Abhidhamma-desan-gyam (2
volumes), and
Wut-yut-zin [‘Texts of Chanting’]. U Sucint’s work, written under the guidance of U Khun
Htun, is Satipa
ṭṭhn-dpan(in Shan). For the list in Burmese and Shan scripts, see MMG 1967, pp. 78-80,
106-107.

132 I have obtained a copy of this recording in CD Rom from Zao-sra Nandiya of Wat Muoi Taw, Panglong
during my fieldwork in 2004. I am grateful to Zao-sra Nandiya for his generosity, giving me a copy of each of
his CD collections on the recitation of
lik long texts and other Shan Buddhist sermons.

75

accessible resource for finding out about meditation practices among the Shan. Moreover,
while temple sleeping is aimed at older members of the community, i.e. forty and over years
of age, the meditation centres were also aimed at younger people due to the new approach to
the role of meditation in modern societies promulgated by such centres.

2.5. The Influence of Modern Intensive Meditation on Shan Buddhism and
Literature

As the traditions of modern intensive meditation, particularly the MMG, grew rapidly
among the Shan, their impact was increasingly felt outside the immediate community of
meditators. Shan people from different backgrounds, including those with political
motivations and a nationalist agenda, came to recognise the social power of these traditions.
This growth in interest and awareness, particularly in the Mingun meditation tradition,
resulted in a number of consequences, more complex than my question over its relationship
with Shan temple sleeping suggests. One of the most significant consequences may have
been that it forced issues of nationalism and cultural identity into a much more public sphere.
On the one hand, those who were involved in the MMG movement had a view that MMG
had been a key to the revolution and reformation of Buddhist meditation practice as well as a
way for the revival of Shan Buddhist identity. On the other hand, those who worked
promoting Shan culture or the nationalist movement saw MMG as another era of Burmese
influence on Shan culture, or in other words, they saw MMG as a threat to Shan nationalism
and cultural identity. For instance, many Shan nationalists, especially those involved in the
resistance movement, criticised MMG practitioners as ‘selfish’ people because of the
emphasis on self-transformation and personal liberation rather than communal and national
transformation and liberation. Among the Shan nationalists, perhaps Zai Long (a pseudonym)
is a good example for his criticism of Shan monks for leading Shan people in the wrong
direction for the revival and development of Shan communities.
133 The Shan nationalists saw
MMG as a threat to Shan nationalism and the freedom movement. They argued that
meditators,
kon kammaṭṭhn, were only practising for themselves i.e. to attain Nibbna and
ignored all other things, such as politics, culture and other social welfare issues.
134

133 The real person whom I call Zai Long here is in fact a very influential figure in the Shan literacy movement
and after 1988 he was an active member of a Shan political party.

134 Such claims were common and spread wide in Shan communities of Shan State in the 1970s and 1980s.

76

In response to this criticism, some prominent meditation teachers proved their worth by
engaging in social welfare activities, showing that those who criticized MMG were wrong.
These meditation teachers have played important roles in the struggle for the revival of Shan
Buddhist identity. Among these meditation teachers, there are four monks of particular
significance, who have made a particularly important contribution to the development of
monastic affairs, such as leadership in Buddhist organisations, reformation of monastic
education, building of Buddhist monuments and places of worship, and teaching meditation.
The four monks are Zao-sra Pa
ṇḍita (also known as Zao-sra Mueang Naung), Zao Khuwa
Bunchum Ñ
nasangvaro, Zaokhu Khammai Dhammasmi, and Zaokhu Sukhaminda.135 The
inclusion of these four masters here is intended to show that they are not only respected as
meditation teachers but also as spiritual and social leaders of Shan communities of their
times. From my point of view, they can be even considered as ‘modern Shan Buddhist
reformists.’ Of them, only Zao-sra Pa
ṇḍita of Mueang Naung has passed away and the other
three are still alive and active, continuing their labour on religious activities, such as leading
their devotees to work on the propagation of Buddhism, the practice of meditation and other
social welfare matters, see Fig. 2.4.

An interesting aspect of these three meditation teachers in relation to Shan literature is
that, despite their limited knowledge of poetic
dhamma, they often show their appreciation of
it. While Khruwa Bunchum was often involved in rituals of poetic performance,
Dhammasami and Sukhaminda encourage and support the efforts to retain and revive poetic
literature. For instance, Dhammasami helped in the design of the 2009 SOAS group project
in Maehongson mentioned in Chapter One. He also asked La Tun, a modern poet, to compose
the ten
jtaka stories in Shan poetry to commemorate his 40th birthday and Sukhaminda, as
the secretary general of the Shan State Sa
gha Organisation, conferred honorary degrees and
awards to poet-readers and composers. These three teachers are often referred to as the ‘three
lotuses’ (
mo sam long), which indicates their important roles in the current affairs of Shan
Buddhist communities. One can say that they are the real engines or dynamic power for the
reformation and development of Shan Buddhism. However, all their religious and social

135 Note that Zao-sra, Zaokhu and Zao Khuwa are Shan terms for the titles used in front of monks’ names for the
indication of their ranks and respect. Seeing their titles, one can understand their positions or ranks. ‘Zao-sra’
usually refers to the abbot of a temple, but sometimes it also refers to a senior monk who has been a monk at
least for 20 years. However, the monk who has been appointed an abbot of a temple is called Sao-sra even
though he may be less than 20 years in monk-hood. ‘Zaokhu’ refers to a teacher or scholar monk, while
‘KhuWa’ (also pronounced as ‘Kruba’ in Thai communities) specifically refers to ascetic monks, who follow
the ‘Yuan Buddhist’ tradition in the eastern Shan State and northern Thailand.

77

activities are beyond the scope of this research. Nevetheless, I would like to give a brief
record on the life and practices of these monks here that their efforts and activities have
significantly influenced on the development of many aspects of Shan Buddhism starting from
monastic education to reviving tradition of practice and teaching meditation.

Fig. 2. 4. Front Line from Left to Right: Zao Khruwa Bunchum (reciting a Shan poetic
text), Zaokhu Sukhaminda and Zaokhu Dhammasami at the opening ceremony of Wat
Tai Khuwa Bunchum Buddhag
yin India, 2008. (Photo Source: Facebook’s Sao Su
Kham page.)

2.6. Richness of Lik Long Texts on the Subject of Meditation

The popularity of meditation practices in the 19th and 20th centuries Shan Buddhist
communities has been highlighted by various titles of
lik long texts on the subject of
meditation. While some of these texts are on different techniques of meditation practices,
some of them are versions of the
Satipaṭṭhna Sutta, the well-known discourse on
‘mindfulness’ meditation from the Pali canon. An interesting aspect of these
lik long texts is
that many of them bear the same titles but written by different authors. For example, there are
different versions of
lik long texts under the same title Buddhnussati found at different
collections, and yet these texts were composed by different authors and hence are written in
different styles and with different forms of rhyming poetry.

78

The lik long texts on meditation mainly fall into two categories: 1) those on various
topics of meditation and 2) those on the
Satipaṭṭhna (mindfulness). The lik long by Amat
Long examined later in this thesis clearly falls into the latter group and hence I shall
investigate them in more detail below. I shall first, however, discuss those texts on meditation
in general and their preliminary findings. The details of these texts were recorded during my
fieldwork trips between 2004 and 2010 as well as a group fieldwork in 2009.

2.7. A Select List of Lik Long Texts on the Topic of Meditation

I believe that exploring lik long poetic works on the subject of meditation here will give
us a comprehensive view of the literature that supports the traditional manner of practising
meditation in Shan Buddhist communities. Here, I would like to provide a select list of
lik
long
texts on the topics of meditation. The list is arranged in alphabetical order. However,
where there are multiple of copies of texts with the same title, they are arranged by date of
the existing copy, starting from the oldest copy first. For example, see
Buddhnussati (in the
list below).



No.

Titles

Translation of the
title in English

Location
(Temples / Zare’s
houses)

Date
of
this
copy

Authors /

earlier or
original date

1.

Amatatvra-paksan
shu phoi

Commentary on the
Way to immortality

Wat Tiyasathan, Mae
Taeng [TS50]
136

1925

1880

2.

Amatatvra shu-phoi

Contemplation of
the Way to
Immortality

Zare Mu Aung,
Lashio (LS)

1939

Zare Zam

3.

npna-shu-phoi

Contemplation of
In and Out
Breathing

Wat Pang Mu,
Maehongson (MHS)

1881

-

4.

Anik za sa phaw

(Anicca-sabhva)

The nature of
impermanence

Wat Tiyasathan, Mae
Taeng (MT)

1864

Zao Kaw Li

5.

Anik za sa phaw

(Anicca-sabhva)

The nature of
impermanence

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS68]

-

-

136 This is the unique number of each lik long texts at Wat Tiyasathan; the numbers are written on the outer side
of the manuscripts (see photo of the
lik long collection of Wat Tiyasathan).

79



6.

Anik za sa phaw

(Anicca-sabhva)

The nature of
impermanence

Wat Tapung, LS

1873

Zao Kaw Li

7.

Bhvanyana Asubha
vatthu

The story of
practising mental
development on
corpse

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS49]

1918

Zao Puññasra
Wan York /
1909

8.

Buddhnussati

Reflection on the
Buddha

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1866

Zare Kyauk
Saung

9.

Buddhnussati

Reflection on the
Buddha

Wat Jong Klang,
MHS

1875

Mun Zao
Kyaung Taw

10.

Buddhnussati

Reflection on the
Buddha

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1887

-

11.

Buddhnussati137

Reflection on the
Buddha

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS72]

-

-

12.

Buddhnussati138

Reflection on the
Buddha

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS117]

1931

-

13.

Buddhnussati

Reflection on the
Buddha

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS29]

1911

1904

14.

Buddhnussati

Reflection on the
Buddha

British Library, UK

-

-

15.

Kya sung ma sutta
sa
gaha

Teaching on the
body

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1878

Zare Kham Aw

16.

Kya sung ma

Teaching on the
body

Wat Jong Klang

1892

Zare Sang Aw /
1871

17.

Kammaṭṭhn dpan139

Commentary on
meditation

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1879

-

18.

Kammaṭṭhn zarit140

Habits and
Meditation


1925

Zao Kaw Li

137 This text was donated by Paw Sang Nang Pao of Mae Taeng village, Chiang Mai.

138 This copy was donated by Pi Kham Oo of Mae Taeng village, Chiang Mai.

139 Donated by Lung Sra Zing of Chang Phuek Village, Chiang Mai. The date of this copy is older than the date
of founding Wat Tiyasathan, suggesting that the text was donated to another temple but brought to Wat
Tiyasathan at a latter date.

140 As the date of this copy is 1925, we can assume that it is not the original version because its author, Zao Kaw
Li, died in 1895. Khun Maha 1970,
Puen Khu Maw Tai Hok Zao [‘Biographies of Six Shan Scholars’], p.88.

80



19.

Khandha dpanmae
daw chut khan

Commentary on
aggregates, section
of sermon to (the
Buddha’s) mother

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1928

Zare Kham Saii
(Tang Yan),
lived in Mae Ai
/ 1878

20.

Khandhpra

The city of
aggregates

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

-

-

21.

Khandhpra myo pye

The city and sate of
aggregates

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS33]

1918

-

22.

Khandhpra

The city of
aggregates

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1919

Zare Mueang
Na / 1883

23.

Khandhpra

The city of
aggregates

Zare Mu Aung, LS

1906

Zao Wan York

24.

Khandhphoi141

Composition on the
aggregates

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS25]

1898

1864

25.

Khandhphoi

Composition on the
aggregates

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1904

-

26.

Khandhphoi

Composition on the
aggregates

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1923

-

27.

Kikza msshu phoi

Matter of
contemplating the
funeral / corpse

Zare Kaun, LS

1899

Zare Na Kio

28.

Maraa-yakkha

The demon of death

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1970

-

29.

Paticcasamuppat
(Paiccasamuppda)

Dependent
Origination

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1864

-

30.

Paticcasamuppat
(Paiccasamuppda)

Dependent
Origination

Wat Ta Pung, LS

1884

Zare Na Kio

31.

Paticcasamuppat
(Paiccasamuppda)

Dependent
Origination

Zare Mu Aung, LS

1968

Zare Aye Kyaw

141 The date of this text is earlier than the date of the foundation of Wat Tiyasathan (1909). However, the donor
of the text was from Wan Kat (market village) of Mae Taeng. Perhaps this suggests that the text was donated
to other temple in the first place and later it was brought to Wat Tiyasathan.

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32.

Paramat zu142

A Collection of
Profound
Teachings

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1949

Zare Mueang
Naung / 1882

33.

Paramat zu a-mye a-
phye
143

A Collection of
Profound Teaching:
Questions and
Answers

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1862

Zao Kang Suea

34.

Patipatti-paksan144

The commentary
on (meditation)
practice

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1866

Zare Saya
Kyauk Myaung

35.

Patipatti-paksan

A commentary on
(meditation)
practice

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1866

Sra Subhinna
Maung Lao,
Keng Taung

36.

Patipatti-paksan

A commentary on
(meditation)
practice

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS1]

1911

Kyaung Taka
Pannya / 1866

37.

Patipat-paksan145

A commentary on
(meditation)
Practice

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS18]

1931

Zare Subhinna /
1905

38.

Patipat-paksan
dpan

Subcommentary on
the comprehension
of (meditation)
Practice

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS61], donated by
Kyaung Pannya &
Nang Mai, MT

1931

-

142 The contents of this text include four kinds of death, discussing the signs of a dying person’s life after death.
According to the text, if the skin of the womb of a dying person is red, he/she would be reborn as a human
being; if he/she sees tree or forest, he/she would be reborn in the animal world; if he/she dreams of worm or
insect, he/she would be reborn in the world of hungry ghosts (
peta). (Zare Saw has provided this information
for the Shan Buddhism at the Borderlands project, 2009).

143 The terminology of the title of this text itself is worthy of noting. While the term paramat has Pali origin, the
terms
zu [‘collection’] and a-mye a-phye [‘question and answer’] are obviously Burmese terms. Thus, we can
assume that this text was influenced by Burmese Buddhist literature.

144 The content of this text includes matter and mind (rup-nam), the aggregate (khandha), the spheres (yatana),
element (
that), the dependent origination (paticcasamuppada), the truth (sacca), the faculties (indriya) and
concentration (
samdhi).

145 The text was dated donated by (Mr) Paw Kyaung Pannya and (Mrs) Mae Kyaung Mai of Mae Taeng. The
author of this text, as mentioned in the copy at Wat Tiyasathan, is Zare Subhina (Zao Amat Long) and was
originally composed in 1905 (1267 SE). This text also states the original sponsor, namely: Sra Sang Aw of
Chiang Mai. It is worth noting that Zao Amat Long’s name when he was young, and Ñanavajir
vutha is the
honorary title of Zao Amat Long. These suggest that Zao Amat Long had travelled as far as Chiang Mai for
his poetic works and he was requested to write the text on his visit to Chiang Mai in early 1905. However, it is
also possible that Sra Sang Aw went to the place where Zao Amat Long lived and worked requesting him to
write the text. We learned that Zao Amat Long spent mostly in the Senwi and other parts of Northern Shan
State as he died later that year. Further research is needed to clarify this.

82



39.

Patipat-paksan
vatthu

The story of
commentary on
(meditation)
Practice

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS122], donated Pi
Kyaung Sunanta &
Mae Kyaung Ne, MT

1932

Zare Subhinna /
1905

40.

Sang khaeng ko pa146

The Nine
Cemeteries

Wat Ta Pung, LS

1908

-

41.

Sang khaeng ko pa

The Nine
Cemeteries

Zare Mu Aung, LS

1963

-

42.

Sagvega vatthu

The story of
religious emotional
shock

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

1904

-

43.

Sagvega vatthu

The story of
religious emotional
shock

Wat Pang Mu, MHS

1917

-

44.

Sung ma Sagvega

The teaching on
religious emotional
shock

Wat Tiyasathan, MT

-

-

45.

V ipassan
Kammaṭṭhn

Insight meditation

FPLF, BKK

1899

-

46.

Visuddhi mak kyam

The treatise on the
path of purification

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
(TS101)

1928

-

47.

VipassanOvda shu-
phoi

The teaching on
insight meditation

Zare Mu Aung, LS

1944

-

48.

Vipassannyan sip pa
a nak

The nissaya
commentary on the
insight meditation
of the ten stages of
knowledge

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS105]

1899

-

49.

VipassanPhoi

A glimpse of
insight meditation

Zare Mu Aung, LS

1875

-

50.

Jtidukkha sagvega
kh
n

The section of the
spiritual shock on
the suffering of
birth


-

-

146 Zare Saw (Kun Hing) said he has often been requested to read this text to temple sleepers. Interview by
Crosby and Khur-yearn, July/August 2009.

83



51.

Jtidukkha sagvega,
tutiya toi

The spiritual shock
on the suffering of
birth, volume two

Wat Tiyasathan, MT
[TS62]

1896

Zao Mueang
Naung (Zao
Amat Long) /

1877

Having listed my initial findings of lik long texts on meditation in general, to give an idea
of the variety as well as the quite conventional nature of their topics, I shall now investigate
lik long texts with a specific focus on the Satipaṭṭhna or mindfulness meditation by way of
background to the text translated in Chapter Three.

2.8. A List of Lik Long Texts on the Satipaṭṭhna (Mindfulness Meditation)

Eleven different Shan versions of the satipaṭṭhna meditation have been identified during
the fieldwork for this thesis.
147 Here, I shall discuss my primarily summaries of information
relating to these texts. The list of these texts is arranged by the date of composing or, in some
cases, my conjecture of the dating order of texts for which the date of composition is not
found.

1. Mahsatipaṭṭhna sutta nissaya, now housed at the Bodleian Library of the Oxford
University. The date and author of this text are still not known. However, it is my
conjecture that, of the 11 Shan versions of
MSS, this version is the earliest one,
possibly as early as the 18
th century. The manuscript has 49 paper sheets excluding the
front and back covers. It is noteworthy that the style of pagination is different from
that of today. The page numbers in this manuscript are written on the second page of
each sheet, i.e. there is only one page number per folio, while today page numbers are
put on both sides of each sheet. The practice of paginating both sides of a folio
probably dates back to European influence.

2. Zao Amat Long’s Mahsatipaṭṭhn, 1875 (1236 SE). I have chosen this text as the
main source for my thesis, as shall be discussed more details later in this section.
Manuscript copies of this text are found at Wat Kammathan Mingun in Panglong,
which is evidence for the connection between MMG and the use of this text, and

147 There is a Tai-Khuen (eastern Shan) version of Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta, housed at the Cambridge University
Library. In this thesis, I am limiting myself to ‘Tai Long’ Shan texts, and hence the Tai Khuen (Khoeun) texts
are beyond the scope of this study. For more information on Tai Khuen manuscripts, see Peltier 1985,
Tai
Khoeun literature
, pp. 62-63. The work was published in three languages – Thai, French and English – while
the titles of the texts also contain the original Tai Khoeun scripts.

84

Lashio. This text was also printed as modern book form by the Shan Piaka Press in
Taunggyi, 1968.

  1. Mahsatipaṭṭhn Vatthu [‘a Story of Mindfulness Meditation’], written by Venerable
    Puññas
    ra of Wan Yok in 1906.148 The significance of this text is that it is not a
    nissaya or commentary. Instead, it was composed in plain Shan poetry concerning the
    stories about mindfulness meditation in conjunction with the
    Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta.
    For example, he relates the stories that explain the events in the
    Mahsatipaṭṭhna
    Sutta
    of why the Buddha delivered it in the country of Kuru and why the village
    where it was delivered was called ‘Kammasadhamma’, and so on, drawing on
    elements of Buddhaghosa’s commentary on the canonical
    Mahsatipaṭṭhnasutta.
    Another significance of this version is the style of the poetry: it is one of the finest
    examples of Shan poetic literature.

  2. Satipaṭṭhn vatthu tutiya toi [‘The Story of Satipaṭṭhna, volume 2’], kept at Wat
    Tiyasathan, Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai, Thailand. The date of this copy is 1900 (1262
    SE, 2444 BE), and has 271 pages, with gold gilded covers. It was mentioned in the
    body texts that it was originally composed in 1883 (1245 SE, 2427 BE).
    149

  3. Mahsatipaṭṭhn, copying date 1262 SE (1900 CE), kept at Houi Pha village temple,
    Maehongson, donated by the father and mother of Nang Woh, Thung Mak San
    Village (a village nearby Houi Pha village).
    150

  4. Satipaṭṭhn vatthu tutiya toi [‘The Story of Satipaṭṭhna, volume 2’], copying date
    1265 SE (1903 CE), 280 folds (pages), with gold-gilded cover, housed at Wat Papao,
    Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.

  5. Mahsatipaṭṭhn vatthu tutiya toi [‘The Story of Satipaṭṭhna, volume 2’], kept at

148 I am grateful to Zao-sra Nandavasa, who has given me a digitized version of this text. For a biography of
Zao Puññas
ra of Wan Yok, see in Zao Nandavasa (ed.) 2002, Jambpati mang kyam, which was composed
by Puññas
ra in 1915.

149 I am deeply grateful to Phra-ajahn Siwan Warinda, the abbot of Wat Tiyasathan, for allowing me to work on
the
lik long collections of the temple for this thesis. [In fact, Phra-ajahn Siwan Warinda also sponsored for my
further studies on Buddhism in Sri Lanka and India before I joined SOAS for PhD studies. For more
information Phra-ajahn Siwan Warinda’s missionary works, see
Khao tang 100 pi Wat Tiyasathan = The 100
years anniversary of Wat Tiyasathan, published in commemoration of the foundation temple in 2009.]

150 I visited Houi Pha temple three times during my fieldwork between 2006 and 2009. The temple’s collection
of manuscripts was discovered in 2009 when the SOAS-based group research’s fieldwork was conducted. I am
grateful to Dr Nancy Eberhardt, who has been doing research at Houi Pha over the past thirty years, for kindly
sending me a list of the manuscripts at Wat Houi Pha temple’s collection, which was compiled by the current
abbot of the temple.

85

Wat Houi Pha, a Shan village temple in Maehongson province. The copying date of
this text is 1906 (1268 SE) but the original date is unknown. It was donated by Nang
Phu’s mother and family of Thung Mak San village.

8. Satipaṭṭhn ṭīk, kept at Wat Tapung in Lashio, dated 1925 (1278 SE), author and
sponsor/ donor of the text are unknown.
151

9. Mahsatipaṭṭhna sutta nissaya, kept at the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation (FPLF),
Bangkok, Thailand.
152 This text was written in 1937 CE and donated by Phra Taka
Tang Ke, Ho Yan village. The poetic style of this text is similar to the
Mahsatipaṭṭhna sutta nissaya kept at the Bodleian Library of the Oxford
University. There are 232 pages, with gold gilded covers in floral design.

10. Mahsatipaṭṭhn a-me a-phe [‘The Mahsatipaṭṭhn: Questions and answers’],
kept at Wat Tiyasathan, Mae Taeng. This copy was donated by (Mr) Sang Pe and
(Mrs) Nang Ong Myint in 1957 (1319 SE). The earlier/ original date, also mentioned
in the text, is 1919 (1281 SE). The covers of the text were painted in red colour.

11. Mahsatipaṭṭhna sutta nissaya, by the Shan Tipiaka Translation Committee
(SPTC) in 1957 (published in1958). Unlike other versions, this was written in Shan
prose, translating word for word, from Pali to Shan, which is more systematic than the
aforementioned Shan versions of
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta. As the translation in prose
does not need to care much the rules of poetic language, it has the advantage that it
can follow the proper order of a
nissaya sticking closely to the order and grammar of
the Pali original and so revealing the literal meaning of the Pali words. It is thus very
similar to the Burmese
nissaya style of nissaya in accordance with Pali grammar to
get the meaning of original messages of the
Mahsatipaṭṭhna Sutta. The problem,
however, is that this type of translation is not accessible or reachable for general
readers, because it follows strict rules concerning Pali grammar, using unnecessary
case endings (
vibhatti), causing general readers to be confused. This is because the
translation committee (SPTC) adopted some new prepositions or modified some verbs
as new prepositions in order to fit with the seven pair of fourteen case endings of Pali
grammar, with the help of Burmese
nissaya as guidelines. Therefore, it has been

151 This information is acquired by Dr Sai Pe, who worked for the Shan Budddhism at the Borderlands project
on Shan
lik long manuscripts in 2009.

152 I am grateful to Dr Peter Skilling (Head of FPLF) for kindly allowing me to look at Shan manuscripts in the
collection of the FPLF in Bangkok in 2005.

86

criticized by some Shan nationalists that this system of translation completely ruins
the tradition and identity of Shan literature. Venerable Pan
ita, discussed above, was
among the members of the SPTC.

It is worth noting that only two of the eleven versions have been published in modern
book form, while the other nine are preserved in the form of hand-written manuscripts. So
far, my translation of Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn into English is the first such translation
of any of these eleven versions. These eleven can only be a fraction of the true number. So
few monastic collections, let alone those copies near the Buddha shrine in their own houses,
have been catalogued. Moreover, we have seen that the cataloguing that has been done
indicates what variety may be found among the texts, with duplications being rare. As
indicated above, only repeatedly requested, popular works survive, through sponsors
requesting writers or copyists to make copies of their favourite books. Zao Amat Long’s text
is among these because he was recognized as one of the greatest composers of Shan literature
in recorded history.

2.9. Zao Amat Long’s Mahsatipaṭṭhn:
A Justification for Annotated Translation

Of the eleven Shan versions of satipaṭṭhna, I shall limit myself focusing on the
Mahsatipaṭṭhn (1875) for the remaining of this chapter, with also an annotated translation
of the text in the following chapter. I shall first discuss the different publications and
manuscripts of this text. After that, I shall give an account of the dating of this treatise,
followed by a discussion on the popularity and shortcoming of the treatise. At the end of this
section, I shall point out some significance of this version and hence became the main reason
I have chosen it as the primary resource of this thesis.

Although the Mahsatipaṭṭhn was written in 1875, it was printed in book form only in
1968, ninety-three years after the work was written. Two reasons come to mind may explain
the long delay in its publication. Firstly, the traditional hand-writing system on native
handmade papers was highly regarded in Shan society, and secondly, the printing press
system was not a popular medium of reproducing texts, for very few press (printing)
companies even existed in Shan State until the 1960s. However, it seems that, for that time
being, the delay of printing in book was not a problem at all, because people were, of course,
familiar with the method of producing books by hand writing system. Of course, there may

87

have been many copies of the Mahsatipaṭṭhn in manuscript form. Venerable Sobhana of
Mueang Naung, the editor of the 1968 publication of the
Mahsatipaṭṭhn, gives an account
in his Preface, which indicates that they had access to five manuscripts, more than I have
been able to find
.153

The date of Zao Amat Long’s text is certain, as he mentions the date twice in his work,
once in its introduction and again in the conclusion. In the introduction, he explains in detail
of how his work ‘
Mahsatipaṭṭhn’ came into being; such as who requested that he wrote it,
the nature of their relationship, why he accepted the request, where and when it was written,
and so on. The following is a translation of relevant page from the introduction of Amat
Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn extracted from the full translation that I provide later in the thesis:

Just by chance, this year, I had left Mueang Naung, which is a pleasant place, my
hometown, and then come to Laikha. There I met Pra-Dakar Ugyi who is well
known in the whole area. This is in the year of Sakkar
ja 1236 (1875 AD), reaching
the time of
tithi [lunar day] 15 which means a line of the good acts in my previous
lives leads me here. I take this opportunity and make a determination to fulfill the
perfections for the sake of both myself and others living in this world. Mr Phra-taka
Ugyi, aspires to achieve Buddhahood through faith in order to rescue and relieve
humans and gods from the rotten mire (
sasra). So, to fulfill the wishes of Mr and
Mrs Phra-taka Ugyi, I may have come to their house like the appearance of a white
elephant. Mr and Mrs Phra-taka are very reliable. Even community seniors are
amongst those who respect them. Their words are powerful for what they say is
always true. They treat me as their own son or nephew as if we were relatives. So
they are pleased to be with me. They really love me like their own first born son
who drank his mother’s first breast milk.
154

Again, in the conclusion, he clearly mentions the date and time of completing the work:

Sobhinna, Maung Nge, the tiny man, who is well known as ‘Zare Mueang-Naung’,
an expert of Pali grammar, and with the title ‘Ña
avajirpamSutvudha’, has
composed the revised version of this extraordinary treatise, rightly and correctly. Let
the wise and learned gentlemen read and listen to it, and remember it in mind. In the
Sakkarj year 1237 on 5th of 8th month of the rising moon, I have completed this
treatise.
155

2.10. Conclusion

In this chapter I have explained that meditation instruction is provided in two, to some
extent contrasting contexts in Shan communities, in the traditional way accompanied by the
ritual of listening to poetic texts on meditation, which takes place at a monastery, and the

153 Amat Long 1968, Editor’s note.
154 Amat Long 1968, pp. 3-4.
155 Amat Long 1968, pp. 277-278.

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modern intensive meditation practice, which takes place at specialised meditation centres
independent from monasteries. For the former, I have discussed my observation on the ritual
of temple sleeping at Wat Piang Luang, a Shan village temple in Northern Thailand, and for
the latter, I have outlined some of the history and development of meditation practices of
MMG centres. I have then identified a wide range of meditation texts in the form of
lik long
in a variety of collections around the world, mostly in manuscript form, two of which are
published. None of these has ever been translated into a European language before. This
brings me to identify Zao Amat Long’s
Mahsatipaṭṭhn as an appropriate text for
translation. I discuss the significance of the text and use it to explain
lik long features more
thoroughly in Chapter Four. First, in Chapter Three, I provide a full translation, extracting a
section, as observed earlier, to Appendix Three, in order to stay within the thesis word limit.

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