Gift narration: dynamic themes of reciprocity, debt, and social relations in Theravāda Buddhist Myanmar

ABSTRACT

Scholarly studies of Buddhist gift-giving have explored the many ways in which gifts are or are not reciprocal. This topic is revisited in this article by the author drawing greater attention to the practice of narration. Instead of understanding Buddhist words about dāna as representing religious doctrines or the experience of its social practice, the author considers how Buddhists narrate dāna as a means of maintaining relationships with self and others. Examining narratives of one monastic gift-recipient, meanings of dāna and moral principles of gift-giving are shown to vary alongside shifting relations between givers and receivers. This case suggests that themes of reciprocity are most salient when narrators grapple with interpersonal threats. Offering possible interpretations of this correlation, the author argues how reciprocal forces could be external social conditions to which narratives respond as well as created ex nihilo through the practice of narration as a strategy of ordering interpersonal conflicts potentially unrelated to reciprocity.

KEYWORDS:

• Theravāda Buddhism
• Myanmar
• Burma
• gift-giving
• dāna
• reciprocity
• debt
• narrative
• Buddhist ethics
• disrobing
• ordination
• patron–client relations
• hospitality
• asymmetrical relationships

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my gratitude to Michael Feener, Keping Wu, and Thomas Borchert for their insightful comments and efforts to organize this issue. This article is based on a presentation given at the conference on “The Ethics of Religious Giving in Asia”, hosted by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, 9–10 October 2014.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. All Burmese and Pāli words are transliterated according to Library of Congress conventions.

2. Mauss draws these conclusions from Brahmanical materials. Non-Buddhist sources are relevant to the study of Buddhist dāna because South Asian theorizations of the gift were not confined within religious traditions. For further details, see Heim (2004).

3. As an example, Heim illustrates how dāna is theorized as a practice of esteem (śraddhā), whereby gifts are given with pleasure and regard for a worthy recipient of higher relative status. A practice of balanced reciprocity—and its effects that narrow status gaps—would undermine the ritual by compromising the necessary precondition of hierarchical difference (Heim 2004; Hibbets 2000).

4. Jonathan Parry argues that the non-reciprocal gift displaces reciprocal gifts from the ‘profane world’ to a transcendent or soteriological realm (Parry 1986, 462).

5. The predominant explanation of the reciprocity of dāna is ‘karmic investment’ (Ohnuma 2005, 110). Giving dāna generates merit, which subsequently translates into a variety of benefits such as a better rebirth (Moerman 1966, 159), magic powers (Terwiel 1976, 401), elevated social status (Keyes 1990, 175) or prestige (Burr 1978, 106; Schober 1989, 62). As an exception to this trend, Stanley Tambiah conceives of dāna as a merit transfer where monks are actively ‘conferring’ or ‘transmitting’ merit to lay givers (Tambiah 1970, 213).

6. Transactions between the monkhood and laity may be characterized as an exchange of different kinds of dāna. Laypersons give monks material necessities (amisa dāna) and monastic recipients give the teachings of Buddha (dhamma dāna) (Strenski 1993, 144; Falk 2007, 142, 225).

7. The special issue of Religion Compass on “Comparative Anthropology of Buddhist Transactions: Moving beyond the Maussian Terminology of the Gift” features six articles by Nicolas Sihlé, Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière, Céline Coderey, Gérard Toffin, Cecile Campergue, and Jane Caple. Inspired by French Social Anthropologists Alain Testart and Florence Weber, the authors constitute their objects of study as ‘transfers’ and distinguish an array of Buddhist transfers such as donations, offerings, remunerations, etc. The overall aim of comparing Buddhist gifts, as Sihlé explains, is to illuminate distinctions between fields of practice as well as similar fields of practices in different contexts (Sihlé 2015, 348).

8. By turning to narrative, I do not intend to intervene in the scholarly study of narrative and storytelling. Rather, my objective is to take the insights of this literature and apply them to the study of dāna.

9. Each account is presented through a combination of summary and direct quotations, highlighting the context in which it took place and the limitations of my own representation of that context.

10. The term ‘intersubjective context’ is more precisely defined than ‘intersubjectivity’ which has been variously defined across a range of academic disciplines. I use the term ‘intersubjective’ to stress how narration occurs within a space shared by the narrator, the audience, and the persons evoked in the narrative.

11. All names used in this article are pseudonyms.

12. Similar to many places in the world, in Myanmar, the usage of kinship terms is not confined to members of one’s biological family, but extended to others as an expression of affection or intimacy (Brohm 1957, 111–114).

13. Higher ordination (upasampada kamma) is a ritual that confers full monastic status. For further details about ordination procedures, see Spiro (1970, 234–247), Bunnag (1973, 39–42), Swearer (2010, 51–58), and Lester (1973, 88–93).

14. For additional references to rahan’ dakā, see Spiro (1970, 342) and Keyes (1995, 161).

15. For additional references to the role of ordination sponsorship for lay religiosity, see Eberhardt (2006, 146).

16. In the event that sponsors are unable to maintain their responsibilities, the position can be transferred to others through a ritual called kaṃ thap. The procedure is a condensed reenactment of an ordination ceremony that has no effect on the monk’s monastic seniority.

17. Jeffrey Samuels’s account of Narada Thero—the head monk of the Pologoda Vihara—illustrates another case of dāna fostering intimacy (2010, 11–12).

18. Practices of hospitality are illustrated throughout Buddhist literature, especially in discussions of lay moral life. Two examples from the Jātaka literature (narratives of the Buddha’s past lives) are the Mahā Assāroha Jātaka and the Pīṭha-Jātaka. For further discussion of Buddhist hospitality, see Hla Pe (1985, 155-159), Bekker (1964), Heim (2004), and Rotman (2011).

19. Temporary ordination is a common practice among Theravāda Buddhists in Southeast Asia and the disrobings raise little notice (Tambiah 1970, 108–109). In Myanmar, the reaction differs for ‘career monks’ (those ordained for an extended period). In such cases, communal responses range from disappointment to outrage, posing significant challenges for life after monasticism. Many retreat in secret to their families. Others run away, hoping to start a new life in a place where their monastic past is unknown. There are certainly disrobed career monks who successfully transition and even receive assistance from lay donors. Jane Bunnag observes that lay sponsors help prepare monks for lay life (1973, 157). I am aware of instances in Myanmar where disrobed monks marry into the families of their former principal patrons. It is difficult to assess the various ways that career monks continue or discontinue relationships with donors because the topic is taboo. For further details about disrobing across the Theravāda world, see Crosby (2014).

20. In his entry on anade, Adoniram Judson comments on the complexities of translating this term into English: “v. to be deterred by feelings of respect (delicacy, constraint), or fear of offending [the most expressive word in the Burmese language]” (Judson 1893, 133). For a detailed analysis of the term, see Bekker (1964). Other helpful accounts are given by Kawanami (2013, 136–139), Jordt (2007, 99), Seekins (2006, 66–67).

21. Another account of the lay pride in monasticism is Eugenia Kaw’s discussion of U Thukha who recounts the experiences of the lay support of his monastic ordination (2005, 82–88).

22. Keshab, a Theravāda monk from Nepal, expresses similar sentiments when facing disrobing: “When I was a novice in Nepal, before I went to Thailand, I had received sponsorship from a lot of people. A lot of people had invested in me. When a Thai monk disrobes nobody cares much because there are so many thousands of monks in Thailand. But in Nepal there are very few and each one who disrobes is a big loss to the community. I didn’t want to disrobe in Nepal because I knew people would be angry and I didn’t want to face them.” (LeVine and Gellner 2005, 231)

23. Parental debt is a topic of active concern for Buddhists across the Theravāda Buddhist world. Monasticism is commonly understood as a means of repaying parental debt. For a wide range of references to and discussions of these topics, see van Esterik (1996), Burr (1978, 107), Eberhardt (2006, 94–95, 141–143), Tannenbaum (1995, 86–87, 130–132), Kaw (2005, 82–88), Spiro (1970, 236), Swearer (2010, 53–54), Htin Aung (1966, 140–141), Scott (1882, 328), Crosby (2014, 100), Tambiah (1970, 107), Kirsch (1985, 318), Ohnuma (2006), and Keyes (1984, 228).

24. Upon disrobing, monks relinquish the monastic titles that they received upon ordination, returning to their pre-monastic lay names. To avoid confusion, I will continue to refer to U Sopaka by his monastic title.

25. This term is kyeʺ-jūʺ-khaṃ, translating as “one who experiences, enjoys or receives good deeds” (author’s translation).

26. Formalistic prayers spoken at the start of many religious ceremonies in Myanmar often evoke this group: “I raise my joined hands in reverence, worship, honor, care for, and pay homage to the Three Jewels with my parents and teachers once, twice, and three times.” It is worth noting that ‘teachers’ encompass a wide range of persons. They include not only those affiliated with formal institutions of learning (monastics, tutors, schoolteachers), but any relationships with elements of training. Many professional relationships involve dimensions of apprenticeship, an investment in learning. The Burmese terms for teacher and boss are actually the same (ca-rā). For further details, see Spiro (1970, 201).

27. The Burmese term for gratitude, kyeʺ-jūʺ-si, translates as knowing your benefits or good deeds from others. This word corresponds with the Pāli term kataññuta, which translates as “to know what was done for you” (author’s translation). For further details on kyeʺ-jūʺ-si, see Hla Pe (1985, 159–160) and Kyo’ Thvat’ (1994, 59–67); for further details on kataññuta, see Tachibana (1926, 227–236) and Weeraratne (1990).

28. For additional references to benefactor–beneficiary relationships in Myanmar, see Watanabe (2015), Spiro (1970, 340), Tannenbaum (1995, 84–86), Schober (1989, 106), and Eberhardt (2006, 95–96). These relationships are often documented under the heading “patron–client relationships” (Hanks 1962; Scott 1972).

29. Monastic–donor intimacy is well documented in studies of Buddhist nuns. Buddhist monks and nuns are not directly comparable because of status differences and their effects on mediating lay–monastic relations. Nevertheless, detailed attention to the relationships between nuns and laity serves as a useful corollary (Salgado 2013, 185–210; Kawanami 2013, 132–136).

30. Tambiah observes that monastic–lay relations occur between family members (1970, 212). Many examples of such relations may be found in monastic biographies. For more examples of patronage relations in Myanmar history, see Kirchenko (2008).

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Charles Carstens

Charles Carstens is a PhD candidate in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. His research explores theories and practices of power articulated in the Pāli and Burmese literatures of pre-colonial Burma. His recent publications address issues of politics, conflict, identity, and religion in contemporary Myanmar.