Thus, by the beginning of the twentieth century the var-
ious fraternities that still constitute the Therava ̄da sanghas in
Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia had already come into being.
But there is one related twentieth-century development that
should also be mentioned, namely the very tentative and
controversial reemergence of the order of nuns. For almost
a millennium the order had not existed in the Therava ̄da
context, although in some Therava ̄da areas there were many,
typically older women who adopted a celibate mode of life
and frequented the monastic environs. But in recent years
a few determined women from Therava ̄da countries have
gone to Taiwan, where they have been ordained into the lin-
eage of nuns that had been transmitted from Sri Lanka to
China in the fifth century. The number of such nuns in
Therava ̄da countries is currently still minuscule, and the au-
thenticity of their ordination is not recognized by the great
majority of Therava ̄da monks and laity. But the seeds for a
possible revival have clearly been planted.
During the modern period these essentially monastic
developments have been complemented by a number of
civilizationally oriented movements, all of which have drawn
on long-established Therava ̄da traditions. But at the same
time they have appropriated and adapted these traditions in
new ways. Four movements may be cited as examples.
- Millenarian movements, which constitute the first ex-
ample, may be subdivided into at least two major types.
The first type, which has appeared primarily in Burma
and other Southeast Asian countries, is represented by
more mystical, politically passive movements that have
at their respective centers a cult devoted to a charismatic
personage (sometimes identified with the future Bud-
dha Metteyya) who is expected—at some very indefinite
future time—to usher in a new age. The second type is
represented by more activist movements that have arisen
in periods and contexts where crises of power have oc-
curred. Such politically active millenarian movements
appeared in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia during the pe-
riod of British and French colonial conquest. They have
appeared within the colonial context itself—most nota-
bly in the famous Saya San rebellion in Burma. They
have also appeared when indigenous governments (par-
ticularly in Burma and Thailand) have sought to extend
their authority into outlying areas. - A closely related set of movements that has been particu-
larly strong in Southeast Asia has involved the cultiva-
tion of meditational practice. Many of these movements
have coalesced around charismatic individuals who have
achieved advanced meditational states and are in some
instances rumored to be arahants, or fully perfected
saints. Often in such cases these meditationally ad-
vanced individuals make their power available to their
followers in the form of appropriately blessed amulets
and other sacred objects. On the other hand, many of
the movements in this set emphasize the importance of
meditation for all. Special forms of practice have been
developed for less committed monks and for the laity.
Numerous lay-oriented meditation centers have been
set up in Burma where the contemporary meditational
emphasis began to take form in the early twentieth cen-
tury, in Thailand where lay meditation has enjoyed
great popularity in recent years, and increasingly in Sri
Lanka as well.- A third set of movements that have had a significant im-
pact are those that can be characterized as “modernist”
in the specific sense noted above. In the monastic con-
text, modernist concerns were very much involved in
the formation of several of the monastic fraternities that
developed in various Therava ̄da countries during the
nineteenth century. Equally important, major lay move-
ments with modernist ideologies have appeared and
taken root. In Sri Lanka in the late nineteenth century,
Anaga ̄rika Dharmapala and those who shared his views
emphasized a “this-worldly” mode of lay asceticism
(Anaga ̄rika is a title designating a lay ascetic) and reject-
ed many traditional Buddhist beliefs and practices as su-
perstitious and useless. During and since Dharmapala’s
time many other modernist movements and associations
have developed among the laity all across the Therava ̄da
world, particularly in the urban areas. The influence of
these movements and associations has been most evi-
dent in Sri Lanka and Thailand, but they have been—at
certain points—active components in the Therava ̄da
communities in Burma and, to a lesser extent, in Cam-
bodia and Laos as well. It is also important to note that
several of these modernist movements and associations
have been instrumental in the establishment and main-
tenance of a significant Buddhist ecumenical organiza-
tion known as the World Fellowship of Buddhists. - Considering Therava ̄da Buddhism’s civilizational char-
acter, it is not surprising that it became involved in the
political processes and ideological trends that have af-
fected the various Therava ̄da countries during the nine-
teenth and twentieth centuries. In Sri Lanka and Burma
certain segments of the Therava ̄da community, includ-
ing the monastic community, became very deeply in-
volved with movements for national independence.
These same groups were also involved with attempts,
during the postindependence period, to build new, de-
mocratically structured societies that would be both
Buddhist and socialist. In the 1950s such hopes were
strongly expressed in the context of the 2,500th anniver-
sary of the Buddha’s death, celebrated in 1956. These
celebrations included a much-heralded “sixth” Buddhist
Council that was sponsored by the Burmese govern-
ment of U Nu.
Since the late 1950s the situation in both countries has
changed considerably. In Sri Lanka the early hopes for Bud-
dhist nationhood have been seriously eroded, and a nonso-
cialist government has come to power. Moreover, some Sin-
hala spokesmen representing both the left and the right have
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