Weizza

A weikza statue at Shwedagon Pagoda

A weizza or weikza (Burmese: ဝိဇ္ဇာ, Pali: vijjādhara^[1]) is a semi-immortal supernatural figure in Buddhism in Burma associated with esoteric and occult practices such as recitation of spells, samatha and alchemy. The goal of this practice is to achieve the timeless state of the weizza, who awaits the appearance of the future Buddha, Metteya.^[2]

Weikza practices are less common than merit-making practices or vipassanā meditation.

Weizzas in the historical tradition

No local Indic or vernacular compositions, excluding epigraphs, have been securely dated to pre-Pagan Burma, although there are several later attributions of texts compiled during the first millennium, for example, the Kappālaṅkāra, a vijjādhara ("weikza") text allegedly compiled by the bhikkhu Uttamasīri during the first century CE, and extant in an 18th-century Pali-Burmese nissaya version (which provides this attribution in its colophon) by Taungdwin Sayadaw Ñaṇābhidhammālaṅkāra.^[3]

References

Bibliography

• Ferguson, John P.; Mendelson, E. Michael (1981). Masters of the Buddhist Occult: The Burmese Weikzas. Essays on Burma. Brill Archive. ISBN 978-90-04-06323-5. 
• Lammerts, Christian (2010). "Notes on Burmese Manuscripts: Text and Images". Journal of Burma Studies (14.1): 229–253.