INTRODUCTION

Southeast Asia matters. It is:

• 550 million people or one- fourteenth of the world’s population with a GDP of USD 772 billion;
• at the inter-face the Sinic and Indic cultures and between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean — on the maritime crossroads of Asia, no less;
• a significant and growing source of food and mineral resources;
• a potential source of major instability, given that 42% of the world’s commerce passes through the Malaka Straits;
• a key locus of global economic growth.

The Buddhist tradition is a prominent feature of many Southeast Asian societies: in Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, in Vietnam and Singapore, and also in Malaysia and Indonesia. It has an important socio-political dimension. Yet, despite significant recent interest in the political manifestations of the great monotheist traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, little sustained attention has been given to this.

That is remarkable. Buddhism is Asia’s most important religion. It has exercised a significant geographic and historical presence in most parts of the continent, often for very considerable periods. Indeed, the Buddhist monastic order (sangha) has endured longer than any other institution in world history. It has also played a substantial role in the formation of specific states as well as in less formal ways of interpreting and informing social and political processes. The influence has continued into the contemporary period. The election of nine Sri Lankan Buddhist monks representing the Jathika Hela Urumaya (National Sinhala Heritage Party) to the national parliament in April 2004 is an obvious example. Emerging research also suggests a religious dimension to the recent coup in Thailand and less obvious but no less important were the fusions made between mainstream socialism and Buddhism in the political ideologies of both the Khmer Rouge and the Pathet Lao.

The extent to which Theravada Buddhism interacted with the political order in the classical and modern states of South and Southeast Asia has been the subject of important regionally-based studies, but there has been little scholarly effort to integrate these findings into a wider picture which might be employed as a means of illuminating relevant social, economic and political aspects of contemporary Asian life. One factor at play here is the complexity of the material. The literary, doctrinal, practical and cultural elements of Theravada Buddhism are complex; any individual, however learned, will be hard pressed to do justice to the manifold ways in which they have impacted on the political domain. Yet, given the emerging importance of the lands in which Theravada Buddhism remains a potent force, the time is surely ripe for the matter to be examined in a systematic manner. This is the intention behind our proposal for the establishment of a Southeast Asian project focused on the interdisciplinary Research Group on Buddhism, the State and Civil Society at the newly-created Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies [OCBS].

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND AND RESOURCES

The University of Oxford already possesses a strong international reputation in Theravada Buddhist Studies. Professor Richard Gombrich, Academic Director of the OCBS, a leading world authority in this field, has brought together textual and social studies in an innovative and fruitful way. Nearly 50 doctorates, (more than half of all the post-war UK doctorates in this subject) have been produced here under his supervision.

Oxford also has a number of distinguished specialist units and individual scholars whose work will feed into that of the proposed Research Group:

• The Interdisciplinary Area Studies Centre
• The Asian Studies Centre
• QEH International Development Centre
• Dr Peter Carey
• Dr Bob Barnes
• Dr Elisabeth Schroeder-Butterfill
• Dr Philip Kreager
• Dr Eva-Lotta Hedman
• Dr Emma Reisz

In addition, the Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, is a past colleague and distinguished member of St. Hugh’s College.

Largely by historical accident, however, the University has rather neglected the academic study of contemporary mainland Southeast Asia. Moves are underway to remedy that. Three meetings involving the OCBS, the Oriental Studies Faculty and the Social Sciences Division, have been held this year with a view to developing an initiative along the present lines. Strong support has been forthcoming all round.

The OCBS is closely linked to another body currently in formation, which is expected to apply for Recognised Independent Centre status, with strong support from the Medical Sciences Division, in the coming year. This is the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (‘OMC’). It builds on the work of a successful team under Professor Mark Williams who are applying traditional Buddhist meditation practices in a therapeutic context. The team has already had remarkable success in the treatment of depression and is now taking the work forward in a number of new directions. These include on the one hand suicide prevention and the treatment of bi-polar disorder, and on the other a range of professional development services. This work has evoked considerable interest from Southeast Asian Buddhists, whose traditional institutions’ social impact has always included the provision of services roughly equivalent to psychotherapy.

RESEARCH FOCUS

The Research Group is designed to make good this omission and, to that end, it will encourage collaborative work on the continuing relevance of Theravada ideas and practices to the issues currently facing the region. This will bring together participants from both Oxford and Asia: anthropologists, historians, political scientists and textual scholars, and also Buddhist monks, intellectuals, politicians and activists. Activities carried out under the Group’s umbrella will be of the highest standard and at the same time will go beyond narrowly defined academic purposes to make a positive contribution to future human flourishing in the Theravada region.

The aim is to launch the Research Group in September 2007, initially for a four-year period. As an expression of the commitment to scholarly rigour, all concerned, both researchers and post-graduate students, will possess relevant language competences. The basic focus will be on the paradoxical manner in which institutional Buddhism is affected by political power while it continues to inform the character of political debate. Without being prescriptive, it is anticipated that the following topics will provide fruitful materials for research and discussion:

• Political readings of key Buddhist concepts and their application to pressing social, economic and political problems in Southeast Asia
• Buddhism in the formation of the classical states of SE Asia
• Buddhism and law
• Good governance
• Living the good life in the contemporary world – Theravada perspectives
• Buddhist factors in current state stability/instability
• Generosity and Buddhist economics
• Buddhism and development
• Buddhism and international relations
• Buddhist education, transmission of knowledge and character development
• Buddhist approaches to forgiveness, conflict resolution and peaceful co-existence
• Buddhism and minorities