Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on a number of religious practices across the Buddhist world, from Sri Lanka to New York, Japan to Tibet. This work provides a historical overview and briefly characterizes the three major variants of Buddhist tradition. It also takes note of a distinctive form of Buddhism that is emerging among non-Asian practitioners in the West.
Table of ContentsNOTE TO THE READER
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
PART 1: 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. J. 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 PRACTICE
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
