Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism

Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-0-521-58280-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 10, 237 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 546 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions

This book is a serious study of relic veneration among South Asian Buddhists. Drawing on textual sources and archaeological evidence from India and Sri Lanka, including material rarely examined in the West, it looks specifically at the practice of relic veneration in the Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist tradition. The author portrays relic veneration as a technology of remembrance and representation which makes present the Buddha of the past for living Buddhists. By analysing the abstract ideas, emotional orientation and ritual behaviour centred on the Buddha's material remains, he contributes to the 'rematerializing' of Buddhism which is currently under way among Western scholars. This book is an excellent introduction to Buddhist relics. It is well written and accessible and will be read by scholars and serious students of Buddhism and religious studies for years to come.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Trainor, Kevin

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus Buddhismus: Kult, Riten, Zeremonien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; 1. Orientations; 2. Buddhist relic veneration in India; 3. Relics and the establishment of the Buddhist sasana in Sri Lanka; 4. Paradigms of presence; 5. Ritual and the presence of the Buddha; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.