Author: Frank E Reynolds
Jason A Carbine/
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 240
ISBN/UPC (if available): 812082007X
Description
Bringing together fifteen essays by outstanding Buddhist scholars from Asia, Europe, and North America, this book offers a distinctive portrayal of the Life of Buddhism.
The contributors focus on a number of religious practices across the Buddhist world, from Sri Lanka to New York, Japan to Tibet. The essays highlight not so much Buddhist doctrine or sacred texts, but rather the actual behavior and lived experience of Buddhist adherents.
EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS
This book provides an interesting and diverse peek into the dynamics of Buddhist life. Spanning many Buddhist culture, it gives the reader an exiting tour of Buddhist practices, rituals, and life experiences, focusing on both the monastic and lay traditions. This book will prove to be valuable reading for the classroom and beyond.
-Charles S Prebish
Author of Luminous Passage
At last an anthology that fills the need for a set of informed, authoritative descriptions of Buddhism as it is lived and practiced in the world today! Textbooks focusing on Buddhist ritual are few; this is easily the best and most usable of them.
-John Strong
Author of the Experience of Buddhism
This volume is a treasure trove of issues currently being debated in Buddhist studies. Carbine and Reynold’s compilation breaks thorough the belief-centered, artificially purified world apparent in other anthologies. The Life of Buddhism will help redirect pedagorical attention to the many ways in which the historical and cultural setting help to make sense of Buddhist beliefs.
-Stephen F Teiser
Author of the Ghost Festival in Medieval china
The book represents a step forward by emphasizing the iconography, individualized and communal rituals, and diverse practices and devotional expressions of both monastic and lay communities. It will make a significant contribution to both religious studies and Buddhist studies.
-Bernard Faure
Author of the Red Thread
Contents
NOTE TO THE READER
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
PART I: TEMPLES, SACRED OBJECTS, AND ASSOCIATED RITUALS
CHAPTER 1
Temples and Monastic Complexes (Japan)
A View of Temple Life and Practice,
JAMES BISSETT PRATT
CHAPTER 2
Image Consecrations (Thailand)
Creating and Disseminating the Sacred
DONALD K SWEARER
CHAPTER 3
State Rituals and Ceremonies (Myanma)
A Tooth Relic and the Legitimation of Power
JULIANE SCHOBER
CHAPTER 4
Village Rituals and Ceremonies (Thailand)
Bun Phraawes
S I TAMBIAH
PART II: MONASTIC PRACTICES
CHAPTER 5
The Ordination of Monks and Novices (Korea)
Ordination in the Chogye Order
ROBERT E BUSWELL
CHAPTER 6
Female Renunciants (Myanma [r] Burma)
Theravadin Religious Women
HIROKO KAWANAMI
CHAPTER 7
Meditation (Japan)
A Morning Star Meditation
TAIKO YAMASAKI
CHAPTER 8
The Monastic Quest: A Biographical Example (Tibet)
The Biography of a Nun
HANNA HAVNEVIK
CHAPTER 9
Monastic Funerals (Thailand)
The Cremation of a Senior Monk
CHARLES F KEYES
PART III: LAY PRACTICES
CHAPTER 10
Lay Identity and Participation (China)
Lay Praxis in a Mahayana Context,
HOLMES WELCH
CHAPTER 11
Cosmology and Law (Tibet)
Buddhist Secular Law: Doctrines in Context
REBECCA REDWOOD FRENCH
CHAPTER 12
Cosmology and Healing (Sri Lanka)
Yaktovil: The Role of the Buddha and Dhamma
JASON A CARBINE
CHAPTER 13
Devotional Rituals: Recent Innovations (Sri Lanka)
A New Theravadin Liturgy
RICHARD GOMBRICH
CHAPTER 14
Death and Beyond (Japan)
Memorializing One’s Mizuko,
WILLIAM R LAFLEUR
PART IV: BUDDHISM IN THE WEST
CHAPTER 15
An American Example
Transmitting the Dharma, Philip Kapleau
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX