Bøker i Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism-serien

The chapters in this book examine the many different colonial contexts and regimes that Theravada Buddhists experienced, not just those of European powers such as the British, French, but also the internal colonialism of China and Thailand.

Laos remains one of the few officially socialist countries in the world. Once a Buddhist kingdom, its involvement into the Vietnam War, the communist revolution of 1975 and the subsequent introduction of reformed socialism have deeply affected Buddhism, the religion of the ethnic majority. With a historical and anthropological focus on the religious field in the capital Vientiane, the book follows these transformations and extrapolates the ruptures and continuities of Buddhist religious life from 1958 to the present.

This book reconceptualizes the historiography of East Asian Buddhism by shifting the focus of analysis from philosophical texts and doctrine to ritual and practice.

Scholars of Buddhism, themselves Buddhist, here seek to apply the critical tools of the academy to reassess the truth and transformative value of their tradition in its relevance to the contemporary world.

Ranging from ancient India to modern America, this book presents essays which cover the four main areas of Buddhist studies: Vinaya studies and ethics, history of Buddhist schools, Western Buddhism, and Interreligious dialogue. It is intended for scholars whose interests embrace either ancient or modern aspects of the Buddhist tradition.

This book provides a series of thematically arranged articles written by contemporary scholars of Buddhism throughout North America.

Analyses the arrival and localisation of Buddhism in Australia in the context of the globalisation of Buddhism. This book seeks to explore the Buddhist experience in Australia, looking at the similarities and particularities of this experience in relation to other Western countries.

Early sources indicate that the Buddha was sometimes diverted from supramundane interests to dwell on a variety of politically-related matters. This title brings together contributions of various minds in the study of Buddhism in Southeast Asia expanding the nature of what is known as the 'Theravada'. It offers insights for scholars of Buddhism.

Taking into account the diverse religious, historical, social and cultural contexts within which they have existed, this book provides a multifaceted examination of Buddhist monasteries. Written by specialists in the study of monasteries and monastic practice in East Asia, it is a timely contribution on this aspect of Buddhist religious practice.

Offers cross-cultural insights into the transmission of Buddhist knowledge and the use of texts and images as ritual objects in the artistic and aesthetic traditions of Buddhist cultures. This book investigates the roles manuscripts and images play in the transmission of Buddhist texts and in fostering devotion among Buddhist communities.

Interdisciplinary in its approach, this book explores the dilemmas that Buddhism faces in relation to the ethnic conflict and violence in Sri Lanka. Prominent scholars in the fields of anthropology, history, Buddhist studies and Pali examine multiple dimensions of the problem. This book discusses Buddhist responses to the crisis in detail.

This insightful study analyzes the phenomenon of Buddhism in Canada from a regional perspective, providing an important examination of the place of Buddhism in a developed western country associated with a traditional Judeo-Christian culture, but undergoing profound sociological transformation due to large-scale immigration and religio-cultural pluralism.

The medieval period of Japanese religious history is commonly known as one in which there was a radical transformation of the religious culture. This book suggests an alternate approach to understanding the dynamics of that transformation. It also focuses on what Buddhism meant for medieval Japanese peoples themselves.

Including a foreword by the Dalai Lama, this book explores the interface between Buddhist studies and the uses of Buddhist principles and practices in psychotherapy and consciousness studies. It also presents a collection of articles that illustrate the potential of Buddhist informed social sciences in contemporary society.

Contains works by scholars of Buddhism, themselves Buddhist, who seek to apply the critical tools of the academy to reassess the truth and transformative value of their tradition in its relevance to the contemporary world.