'Possession and Rebirth in Burma (Myanmar)'

Burmese conceptions manifested by death rituals reveal a variety of concepts related to spiritual components of the self, such as leikpya, wignan, wignin, nam and manaw and a complementarity of beliefs and practices linked to the soul stuff (leikpya) and the karmic theory. These concepts are further examined in the opposite extreme situations of bad and good deaths that both produce beings, inconsistent with the Buddhist karmic theory, ghosts or spirits (nat) on the one hand, weikza or saints on the other hand. Nat and weikza, equally anomalous from the point of view of the Buddhist theory, are nevertheless the object of institutionalized cults and display strongly contrasted features. This is exemplified by the comparison of the performing sessions in which they manifest in this world through contrasted forms of possession. Finally, too good or too bad deaths both similarly prevent rebirth and thus leave the space for various after-death agencies in this world.