The Buddha's Wizards by Thomas Nathan Patton

Author:Thomas Nathan Patton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Perseus Books, LLC

ABHA’S GRANDDAUGHTERS: EMBODIED CONSTELLATIONS OF BEHAVIOR

The distinction between the weizzā’s intercessionary healing power and the mediums’ own roles in the healing process is not absolute. Although these mediums would never claim to be directly responsible for the healings that take place under their auspices, as we have seen in their accounts and in the popular devotional literature, the intensity with which they understand the weizzā to be working through them and the importance of their job as healer allow for a blurring of the lines. Returning to the report of possession that appeared at the beginning of this chapter, Ma Myin continued in her role as healer even after the spirit of Bo Min Gaung had left her for the day. Attending to the many patients she allowed to stay at her home, Ma Myin said that she worked most days morning till evening, treating dozens of people even when she was not under the influence of Bo Min Gaung. Part of her success as a healer no doubt stemmed from her pleasant disposition and compassionate way of interacting with her patients, all of whom were allowed to rest and recuperate until they were able to return to their homes. She made rounds, visiting with each patient and reassuring them that they would get better because Ma Myin, speaking as herself and not Bo Min Gaung, had taken the illness from their bodies: “Go ahead, now. Give me all your illness. Give to me your ailments. Only then will you get well,” and “Starting from today your illness is no more. I’ve taken it all. You’re cured.”61 It appeared that she understood herself as having an active role in the healing process. Asked how taking on all this illness made her feel, visibly exhausted, she said that she often felt the same ailments as her patients, but that she had the ability to take them all in.62

Having gotten to know some of these devotees whose lives have been changed by their interactions with the weizzā, we cannot help but seriously examine what their lives are like now. What do they understand their role to be in their communities? How has being contacted by these wizard-saints affected their lives and relationships with others? When the weizzā have left for the day and the female mediums are back to their “regular” selves, how do they feel?

The majority of my accounts in this chapter come from or deal with female devotees. This is partly intentional. First, over half of the accounts found in popular literature and provided by my informants that deal with healing through possession and dreams came from or were about women. Poring over thousands of pages of literature on the weizzā, I was taken aback at encountering so many female voices. A cursory examination of the subject would give the impression that only male actors are involved. While it is certainly true that only men have attained to the state of weizzā and are the authors of books, leaders of

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