Transformative Power of the Paṭṭhāna : Its Applications in Protective Practices and the Weikza Tradition in Burmese Buddhism

This article focuses on the Paṭṭhāna , the seventh and final book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka . I demonstrate that while the Paṭṭhāna can be considered a descriptive text providing comprehensive analyses of our psychophysical experience, it also plays an important role in Burmese Buddhist protective practices and, further, is important within the esoteric weikza path. Drawing on my fieldwork in Myanmar and my own experience of Buddhist practices, I show that it is also a text containing prescriptive tools for the achievement of various mundane and supramundane goals, as well as providing practical tools for protection. I thus explore the cultural, social, and religious settings in which the Paṭṭhāna has come to be one of the most distinctive features of Buddhism in Myanmar, strengthening Abhidhamma culture in its recent history. Section 1 explores how the Paṭṭhāna is used in daily Buddhist practices. Section 2 focuses on the Paṭ ṭ hāna 's transformative power through the act of recitation. Section 3 illustrates how the Paṭṭhāna is utilized in the Buddhist esoteric path ( weikza-làm ), documenting practices to which, hitherto, little attention has been paid in scholarship.