Discussions in the Buddhist Public Sphere in Twentieth-century Thailand
Author: Tomomi Ito
Publisher:
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 702
ISBN-13:
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Author: Tomomi Ito
Publisher:
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 702
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Donald K. Swearer
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2012-02-01
Total Pages: 322
ISBN-13: 1438432526
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn unparalleled portrait, Donald K. Swearer's Buddhist World of Southeast Asia has been a key source for all those interested in the Theravada homelands since the work's publication in 1995. Expanded and updated, the second edition offers this wide ranging account for readers at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Swearer shows Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia to be a dynamic, complex system of thought and practice embedded in the cultures, societies, and histories of Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. The work focuses on three distinct yet interrelated aspects of this milieu. The first is the popular tradition of life models personified in myths and legends, rites of passage, festival celebrations, and ritual occasions. The second deals with Buddhism and the state, illustrating how King Asoka serves as the paradigmatic Buddhist monarch, discussing the relationship of cosmology and kingship, and detailing the rise of charismatic Buddhist political leaders in the postcolonial period. The third is the modern transformation of Buddhism: the changing roles of monks and laity, modern reform movements, the role of women, and Buddhism in the West.
Author: John Powers
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 2010-02-16
Total Pages: 322
ISBN-13: 1559397888
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA thought-provoking collection of essays on Buddhist ethics by some of the leading thinkers in the field. The reader is provided with engaging explorations of central issues in Buddhist ethics, insightful analyses of the ways Buddhist ethical principles are being applied today in both Asian and Western countries, and groundbreaking proposals about how Buddhist perspectives might inform debates on some of the core ethical issues of the modern world, including consumerism, globalization, environmental problems, war, ethnic conflict, and inter-religious tensions. The leading figure in identifying the field of Buddhist ethics and articulating some of its core issues is Professor Damien Keown of the University of London. This book brings together a group of eminent scholars who have all been influenced by Keown's work and who are also friends and close colleagues. The result is a wonderful volume for those who are struggling with practical issues of ethical concern. This will be a valuable resource in the study of ethics for years to come.
Author: Marie-Sybille de Vienne
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2022-03-31
Total Pages: 286
ISBN-13: 1000567583
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBased on two decades of fieldwork, including over a hundred interviews with various political and economic actors at different social levels, as well as documentary and media analysis, this volume presents an account of the Buddhist monarchy in Thailand, offering a sociology of elites, an analysis of the economic influence of the Crown and an examination of the magic and ritual dimension of kingship. An exploration of the role and status of the Palace over the last century, whether as a guarantor of democracy, a symbol of stability, a source of power or an object of popular discontent, Thailand’s Buddhist Kingship in the 20th and 21st Centuries will appeal to scholars of sociology and anthropology with interests in material religion, politics and Southeast Asian studies.
Author: Tomomi Ito
Publisher: National University of Singapore Press
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 404
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Buddhist monk Buddhasdasa Bhikku (1906-1993) injected fresh life into Thai Buddhism by exploring and teaching little known transcendent aspects of the religion. His investigations excited both monks and lay people, and gave rise to the vigourous discussion in shops, temple yards and newly founded Buddhist associations. Moreover, he was a prolific author, who produced a rich array of publications that are indicative of his popularity and the impact of his teachings. While these discussions included serious exchanges on doctrine and practice, they also included jokes and light humor, criticisms of weak evidence for certain positions, and a defamation campaign arising from rumors that Buddhadasa was a communist sympathizer. Buddhadasa's thoughts and historical context coincide with the general picture of "modern Buddhism" and he may be seen as an agent of "Buddhist modernity," but he worked predominantly in Thailand through the medium of the Thai language, and he contributed much more significantly to Thai Buddhists than to Buddhist practice outside the country. An enormous amount of material relating to Buddhadasa Bhikkhu has been captured in religious journals and in numerous "pocket books" aimed at a general audience. Departing from the classical method of studying Buddhism through philology, Tomomi Ito's account of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu draws on this popular literature and on conversations with a broad spectrum of the people involved in these discussions to develop an account of Buddhism as it is experienced by Thai people. The result is a lively intellectual and social history of contemporary Thai religion and society built around the life of an exceptional monk who captured the interest of Buddhists pursuing spiritual depth in the context of the ideological conflicts of the Cold War.
Author: Craig M. Pinkerton
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published:
Total Pages: 205
ISBN-13: 3031509234
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Niamh Reilly
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-11-26
Total Pages: 308
ISBN-13: 1135014248
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe re-emergence of religion as a significant cultural, social and political, force is not gender neutral. Tensions between claims for women’s equality and the rights of sexual minorities on one side and the claims of religions on the other side are well-documented across all major religions and regions. It is also well recognized in feminist scholarship that gender identities and ethno-religious identities work together in complex ways that are often exploited by dominant groups. Hence, a more comprehensive understanding of the changing role and influence of religion in the public sphere more widely requires complex, multidisciplinary and comparative gender analyses. Most recent discussion on these matters, however, especially in Europe, has focused primarily on the perceived subordinate status of Muslim women. These debates are a reminder of the deep interrelation of questions of gender, identity, human rights and religious freedom more generally. The relatively narrow (albeit important) purview of such discussions so far, however, underscores the need to extend the horizon of enquiry vis-à-vis religion, gender and the public sphere beyond the binary of ‘Islam versus the West’. Religion, Gender and the Public Sphere moves gender from the periphery to the centre of contemporary debates about the role of religion in public and political life. It offers a timely, multidisciplinary collection of gender-focused essays that address an array of challenges arising from the changing role and influence of religious organisations, identities, actors and values in the public sphere in contemporary multicultural and democratic societies.
Author: Peter D. Hershock
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2006-09-27
Total Pages: 241
ISBN-13: 1135986746
DOWNLOAD EBOOKChapter INTRODUCTION -- chapter 1 LIBERATING ENVIRONMENTS -- chapter 2 HEALTH AND HEALING: Relating the personal and the public -- chapter 3 TRADE, DEVELOPMENT, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF POST-MARKET ECONOMICS -- chapter 4 TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA, AND THE COLONIZATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS -- chapter 5 GOVERNANCE CULTURES AND COUNTERCULTURES: Religion, politics, and public good -- chapter 6 DIVERSITY AS COMMONS: International relations beyond competition and cooperation -- chapter 7 FROM VULNERABILITY TO VIRTUOSITY: Responding to the realities of global terrorism -- chapter 8 EDUCATING FOR VIRTUOSITY.
Author: Andrew C. Willford
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2018-05-31
Total Pages: 218
ISBN-13: 1501719483
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe essays in Spirited Politics throw light on predicaments that spring from the intersection of religion, ethnicity, and nationalism in contemporary Southeast Asian public life. Covering material from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, the contributors explore the calamities and ironies of Southeast Asian identity politics, examining the ways in which religion and politics are made to serve each other.
Author: John D'Arcy May
Publisher: A&C Black
Published: 2003-06-19
Total Pages: 270
ISBN-13: 9780826415134
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe first two parts of this book present four detailed historical studies, filled with Geertzian "thick description," of the encounters of Christianity and Buddhism (universal religions with a high quotient of "transcendence") with various primal religious traditions ("biocosmic" or "immanentist") of the Asian-Pacific region, namely, Aboriginal Australia and Melanesia (Christianity) and Sri Lanka and Japan (Buddhism). In each case, the encounters represented a failure of the "great" traditions. In the third, constructive and theological part of the book, the author shows how an acknowledgment of these failures may provide a back door to dialogue.