Buddhist Wizards, Breath Meditation, and Superpowers, Tom Patton

Preached by the Buddha, prescribed by psychologists, and practiced by people from all faiths and walks of life, breath meditation is one of the most popular meditation practices to have emerged from Buddhism. In this video we will look at how people in the country of Myanmar practice breath meditation and how some, known as “wizards,” use the breath to gain supernatural powers.
Contents:
0:00 The story of Ma Than Sein
1:39 Buddhist wizards
4:31 Buddhist wizard breath meditation
6:23 Supernatural powers
9:32 Misconceptions and concluding remarks
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Thomas Patton is an associate professor in the Department of Asian and International Studies at City University of Hong Kong. His teaching and research is attentive to religion in Southeast Asia, particularly focusing on historical and ethnographic interests engaging Buddhist phenomena in relation to Burmese cultural contexts, issues of gender and class, and politics. His current research is on lived religion in Myanmar, specifically examining local cults of saints and peoples’ relationships with them, shrines, miracles, and other manifestations of religious devotion.