{"product_id":"renunciation-and-longing-9780226816920","title":"Renunciation and Longing","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough the eventful life of a Himalayan Buddhist teacher, Khunu Lama, this study reimagines cultural continuity beyond the binary of traditional and modern.     In the early twentieth century, Khunu Lama journeyed across Tibet and India, meeting Buddhist masters while sometimes living, so his students say, on cold porridge and water. Yet this elusive wandering renunciant became a revered teacher of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. At Khunu Lama's death in 1977, he was mourned by Himalayan nuns, Tibetan lamas, and American meditators alike. The many surviving stories about him reveal significant dimensions of Tibetan Buddhism, shedding new light on questions of religious affect and memory that reimagines cultural continuity beyond the binary of traditional and modern.     In Renunciation and Longing, Annabella Pitkin explores devotion, renunciation, and the teacher-student lineage relationship as resources for understanding Tibetan Buddhist approaches to modernity. By examining narrative acc\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Pitkin explores to great effect . . . [how] the elusive Khunu Lama (1895–1977), who exemplified the ideal of the itinerant beggar renunciant, serves as a prism through which to refract and delineate the tension between two compelling but often competing ideals: the \u003ci\u003ebodhisattva \u003c\/i\u003ecommitment to serve all beings and the renunciant’s resolve to flee the grasp of worldly life.” * Buddhadharma *\u003cbr\u003e\"Pitkin deftly weaves together biography, oral history, interviews, and critical\u003cbr\u003e theory to tell the life story of a Buddhist ascetic called Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen. Throughout, she unravels some of the tensions between what it means to pursue a spiritual life that rejects the trappings of worldly life (food,\u003cbr\u003e fame, etc.) while also living in the world. This book is a major contribution to the fields of Tibetan-Himalayan studies, Buddhist studies, and religious studies.\"\u003cbr\u003e   * Journal of Asian Studies *\u003cbr\u003e“The sophisticated discussion that Pitkin provides is thought-provoking, perhaps even paradigm-shifting.” * Journal of Global Buddhism *\u003cbr\u003e\"A masterful treatment.\" * New Books Network *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eRenunciation and Longing \u003c\/i\u003eis an original, thought-provoking, and deeply insightful analysis of a raft of issues important to Tibetan Buddhists—an important contribution to our understanding of Tibetan Buddhism, both in theory and in practice, both in its traditional articulation and in its modern delineations.\" -- Roger Jackson, Carleton College\u003cbr\u003e“Through the life of the elusive hermit Khunu Lama, Pitkin crafts a rich tapestry of Buddhist networks across Himalaya—from Kham to Kinnau. Situated in the historical exigencies of the twentieth-century, \u003ci\u003eRenunciation and Longing\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates loss and disruption as an integral part of devotion and lineage continuity.” -- Holly Gayley, University of Colorado Boulder\u003cbr\u003e“Pitkin replaces the caricature of emotionless Buddhists with a lively story of disciples so devoted in their faith that they are marked by intense longing for the teacher. Connecting the original story of the Buddha to that of a twentieth-century lama, she weaves a complex tapestry of the affective world of Buddhist renunciates that will richly repay readers’ attention.\" -- Gray Tuttle, Columbia University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Technical Note on Phonetic Transcription and Transliteration\u003cbr\u003e Maps of Khunu Lama’s Travels\u003cbr\u003e Chronology\u003cbr\u003e Introduction Themes in the Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Renunciant\u003cbr\u003e Chapter One “Like Water into Water”: Transmission Lineages in Tibetan Buddhism\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Two “He abandoned his homeland for the sake of the Dharma”: Tibetan Buddhist Imaginaries of Home-Leaving and Renunciation\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Three “Aim Your Dharma Practice at a Beggar’s Life”\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Four Dislocation and Continuity\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Five “With such devotion that tears cascade from your eyes”: Renunciation, Separation, and Guru Devotion\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Six Death and Other Disruptions: Dying Like a Dog in the Wilderness\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue\u003cbr\u003e Glossary\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index","brand":"The University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732924477783,"sku":"9780226816920","price":26.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780226816920.jpg?v=1719998972","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/renunciation-and-longing-9780226816920","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}