Cosmology, Prophets, and Rebellion
Among the Buddhist Karen
in Burma and Thailand
Mikael GRAVERS*
INTRODUCTION
Burma has suffered from civil war since its independence in 1948.
Several ethnic
groups have struggled for independence and the last of these...
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Cosmology, Prophets, and Rebellion
Among the Buddhist Karen
in Burma and Thailand
Mikael GRAVERS*
INTRODUCTION
Burma has suffered from civil war since its independence in 1948.
Several ethnic
groups have struggled for independence and the last of these ethnic wars, involving
the Christian-dominated Karen National Union (KNU), has endured for fifty-three
years and continues to generate misery in Burma and amongst the estimated 120,000
Karen refugees in Thailand.
1 The Christian Karen have dominated the discourse and
the literature, although they have never constituted more than ten to fifteen percent
of all Karen.
2 In 1994-95, KNU split and a Buddhist organization, the Democratic
Karen Buddhist Organization (DKBO), was formed by the charismatic monk, U
Thuzana, who proclaimed that peace would come when fifty white pagodas have been
build.
This movement is only the most recent of several in a continuous line from
before colonization.
The Karen Buddhist movements sought to establish a
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