Description
Book SynopsisFor most of East Asia, Buddhist sutras were written in classical Chinese and inaccessible to many devotees. How, then, did such devotees access these texts? The author argues that the medieval genre of 'explanatory tales' illuminates the link between human body (devotee) and sacred text (sutra).
Trade Review"An ambitious and largely successful project... [This book] should fruitfully provoke scholars studying any culture." -- Kevin Gray Carr, University of Michigan. Journal Of Religion "Eubanks is a terrific writer ... Articulate, well-argued, and theoretically sophisticated." -- William E. Deal Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Note on Sutras Note on Setsuwa List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction: The Cult of the Book and the Culture of Text 1. The Ontology of Sutras 2. Locating Setsuwa in Performance 3. Decomposing Bodies, Composing Texts 4. Textual Transubstantiation and the Place of Memory Conclusion: On Circumambulatory Reading Glossary Works Cited Index
