{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T04:25:59Z","timestamp":1787199959214,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787184000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Sociol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Therav\u0101da Buddhism plays a central role in the cultural and religious life of several ethnic communities in Southwest China, yet the ways minority communities mobilize Buddhism to construct collective identity remain insufficiently explored.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study used ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and semistructured interviews with ten purposively selected participants in Laoman\u2019e village, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The findings show that Buddhist architecture, including temples, stupas, shrines, monasteries, and ritual areas, functions not only as places of worship but also as symbols of Bulang Buddhist legitimacy and cultural continuity. The sacred biography of Phra Somdet Aggamuni, locally also remembered as Meghamuni, operates as a form of soft religious infrastructure through which spiritual stories and moral values are transmitted across generations. The continuity of Bulang Buddhism is sustained through the mutual engagement of monks, elders, lay Buddhists, women, and youth in rituals, donations, storytelling, temple renovation, and ceremonies such as Ka\u1e6dhina.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study demonstrates that Therav\u0101da Buddhism in the Bulang community is not merely inherited as tradition; it is transformed, actualized, retold, and performed as a living system of collective identity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fsoc.2026.1775508","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T04:15:45Z","timestamp":1787199345000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Constructing collective identity through Therav\u0101da Buddhism: religious memory, monastic authority, and sacred infrastructure among the Bulang community in Southwest China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Wenen","family":"Yan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Buddhism, Institute of Science Innovation and Culture, Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep","place":["Bangkok, Thailand"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yaoping","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Buddhism, Institute of Science Innovation and Culture, Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep","place":["Bangkok, Thailand"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.35469\/poligrafi.2022.334","article-title":"Therav\u0101da Buddhism: the Sri Lankan contribution to its progress","volume":"27","author":"Abhayawansa","year":"2022","journal-title":"Poligrafi"},{"key":"ref9001","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1191\/1478088706qp063oa","article-title":"Using thematic analysis in psychology","volume":"3","author":"Braun","year":"2006","journal-title":"Qual. 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