Buddhism beyond Borders

Buddhism beyond Borders
Author: Scott A. Mitchell
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2015-06-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438456379

Explores facets of North American Buddhism while taking into account the impact of globalization and increasing interconnectivity. Buddhism beyond Borders provides a fresh consideration of Buddhism in the American context. It includes both theoretical discussions and case studies to highlight the tension between studies that locate Buddhist communities in regionally specific areas and those that highlight the translocal nature of an increasingly interconnected world. Whereas previous examinations of Buddhism in North America have assumed a more or less essentialized and homogeneous “American” culture, the essays in this volume offer a corrective, situating American Buddhist groups within the framework of globalized cultural flows, while exploring the effects of local forces. Contributors examine regionalism within American Buddhisms, Buddhist identity and ethnicity as academic typologies, Buddhist modernities, the secularization and hybridization of Buddhism, Buddhist fiction, and Buddhist controversies involving the Internet, among other issues.

Buddhism beyond Borders

Buddhism beyond Borders
Author: Scott A. Mitchell
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2015-05-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438456387

Finalist for the 2015 ForeWord INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award in the Religion Category Buddhism beyond Borders provides a fresh consideration of Buddhism in the American context. It includes both theoretical discussions and case studies to highlight the tension between studies that locate Buddhist communities in regionally specific areas and those that highlight the translocal nature of an increasingly interconnected world. Whereas previous examinations of Buddhism in North America have assumed a more or less essentialized and homogeneous "American" culture, the essays in this volume offer a corrective, situating American Buddhist groups within the framework of globalized cultural flows, while exploring the effects of local forces. Contributors examine regionalism within American Buddhisms, Buddhist identity and ethnicity as academic typologies, Buddhist modernities, the secularization and hybridization of Buddhism, Buddhist fiction, and Buddhist controversies involving the Internet, among other issues.

Educating Monks

Educating Monks
Author: Thomas A. Borchert
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2017-05-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0824866525

Most studies of Buddhist communities tend to be limited to villages, individual temple communities, or a single national community. Buddhist monastics, however, cross a number of these different framings: They are part of local communities, are governed through national legal frameworks, and participate in both national and transnational Buddhist networks. Educating Monks makes visible the ways Buddhist communities are shaped by all of the above—collectively and often simultaneously. Educating Monks examines a minority Buddhist community in Sipsongpannā, a region located on China’s southwest border with Myanmar and Laos. Its people, the Dai-lue, are “double minorities”: They are recognized by the Chinese state as part of a minority group, and they practice Theravāda Buddhism, a minority form within China, where Mahāyāna Buddhism is the norm. Theravāda has long been the primary training ground for Dai-lue men, and since the return of Buddhism to the area in the years following Mao Zedong’s death, the Dai-lue have put many of their resources into providing monastic education for their sons. However, the author’s analysis of institutional organization within Sipsongpannā, the governance of religion there, and the movements of monks (revealing the “ethnoscapes” that the monks of Sipsongpannā participate in) points to educational contexts that depend not just on local villagers, but also resources from the local (Communist) government and aid form Chinese Mahāyāna monks and Theravāda monks from Thailand and Myanmar. While the Dai-lue monks draw on these various resources for the development of the sangha, they do not share the same agenda and must continually engage in a careful political dance between villagers who want to revive traditional forms of Buddhism, a Chinese state that is at best indifferent to the continuation of Buddhism, and transnational monks that want to import their own modern forms of Buddhism into the region. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with Dai-lue monks in China, Thailand, and Singapore, this ambitious and sophisticated study will find a ready audience among students and scholars of the anthropology of Buddhism, and religion, education, and transnationalism in Southeast and East Asia.

On the Trail of Buddha

On the Trail of Buddha
Author: Deepankar Aron
Publisher:
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2021-02-05
Genre: Buddhism
ISBN: 9789389136494

- Exploring the ancient Indian connection to the Occident - Discovering the unity in diversity of cultures connected by the 2,000 miles of the Silk Road and separated by 2,000 years of history - A unique spiritual sojourn into China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Mongolia On the Trail of Buddha - A Journey to the East is a unique sojourn in search of the richness, depth, and breadth of the spiritual, philosophical, and cultural linkages that bind India to the East Asia civilizations of China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. From the wandering monks of Asia to the temples and monasteries they visited; from the statues and frescoes in grottoes and temples to those in the museums; from the emperors who embraced Buddhism to the relics of Buddha spread far and wide; from the diverse ethnicities of the people to their common gods and goddesses - the book touches upon the entire gamut of the East-Asian culture and its deep-rooted linkages with the Indian civilization, which will be an eye-opener for many.

Comparative Philosophy without Borders

Comparative Philosophy without Borders
Author: Arindam Chakrabarti
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2015-11-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472576268

Comparative Philosophy without Borders presents original scholarship by leading contemporary comparative philosophers, each addressing a philosophical issue that transcends the concerns of any one cultural tradition. By critically discussing and weaving together these contributions in terms of their philosophical presuppositions, this cutting-edge volume initiates a more sophisticated, albeit diverse, understanding of doing comparative philosophy. Within a broad conception of the alternative shapes that work in philosophy may take, this volume breaks three kinds of boundaries: between cultures, historical periods and sub-disciplines of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy. As well as distinguishing three phases of the development of comparative philosophy up to the present day, the editors argue why the discipline now needs to enter a new phase. Putting to use philosophical thought and textual sources from Eurasia and Africa, contributors discuss modern psychological and cognitive science approaches to the nature of mind and topics as different as perception, poetry, justice, authority, and the very possibility of understanding other people. Comparative Philosophy without Borders demonstrates how drawing on philosophical resources from across cultural traditions can produce sound state-of-the-art progressive philosophy. Fusing the horizons of traditions opens up a space for creative conceptual thinking outside all sorts of boxes.

Methods in Buddhist Studies

Methods in Buddhist Studies
Author: Scott A. Mitchell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2019-06-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1350046876

Both a demonstration of and critical self-reflection on method, this book explores how methodologies shape our understanding of the diversity of Buddhist traditions in the past and the present. International contributors from the West and Asia explore case studies and reflect on methods in the study of Buddhism, united in their debt to Richard K. Payne, the influential Buddhist studies scholar. Methods in Buddhist Studies features new translations of Buddhist works as well as ethnographic studies on contemporary Buddhism in the United States and China. Topics discussed include Buddhist practices in relation to food, material culture, and imperial rituals; the development of modern Buddhist universities; the construction of the canon from the perspective of history, textual analysis, and ritual studies; and the ethical obligations of scholars toward the subject of Buddhism itself. Chapters are drawn from Payne's students and his colleagues, demonstrating the breadth of his intellectual interests. Payne's scholarship has left a remarkable impact on the field, making this volume essential reading for students and scholars of contemporary Buddhism and Buddhist studies.

India-China Dialogues Beyond Borders

India-China Dialogues Beyond Borders
Author: Swati Mishra
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2024-01-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9819943264

This book is a collection of contributions related to India–China relationship beyond the issue of borders. It focuses on those elements that play important role in defining, continuing, and strengthening the interaction between the two countries. In doing so, it explores roles of language and linguistics, history and culture, politics and economy, and philosophy and sociology that mediated ancient and modern interfaces. The book observes the role of silk route in the economic, political, and scholarly exchanges between ancient civilizations and in the movement of Buddhism to China and other Asian nations. The contributors highlight how the two countries have co-existed in various eras and tackled issues of conflict and cooperation during lows and highs in the past and present. It pays special attention to the role of language and linguistic competence as an important component of socio-cultural comprehension of a society and introduces major innovations and challenges in teaching and learning the Chinese language. The wide-ranging contributions make the book an attractive resource for academics, think-tanks, diplomats, and researchers working on Asian/India–China studies across the globe.

Beyond Borders

Beyond Borders
Author: Ashish Kumar
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2023-12-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3031435931

This book examines the economic history of ancient South Asia by situating the Malwa region of Central India within Afro-Eurasian trade networks to illuminate the role of traders in the political, religious and economic processes connected with the Indo-Sasanian trade in the period of five centuries, circa CE 300-700. The book challenges the long-held centrality of the Roman factor in the South Asian economy by locating the Indo-Sasanian interactions in long distance economic networks with trade as a central feature. It considers the role and influence of traders as an understudied group affecting the contribution of the Indian economy to the world system. Amidst rapidly changing political landscapes, traders of Indian and Sasanian origins are studied as conscious political beings, who formed ties with varieties of polities and religious communities to secure their commercial interests. In addition, their commercial interactions with their Sogdian (Central Asia) and Aksumite (East Africa) counterparts are analyzed. The book also considers the nature of trade routes and the specific connections between mercantile and religious networks, including patterns of construction of religious shrines and temples along trade routes. Integrating epigraphic, numismatic, literary and archaeological evidence, this book moves away from a marginal treatment of the Indo-Sasanian trade in Indian history, and demonstrates how regional economic history must address a plurality of causes, actors, and processes in its assessment of the regional economy. The book will be of interest to students and academics of Indian economic history, as well as the ancient economies of South Asia more broadly.

Crossing Borders

Crossing Borders
Author: Lawrence Wang-chi Wong
Publisher: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2022-04-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9882371779

This edited volume investigates translations from the languages of China into the languages of Western societies, from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Rather than focusing solely on the activity of translation, the authors extend their explorations to cover the contexts within which the translators worked from different perspectives, touching on various aspects of the institutional and intellectual backgrounds that informed their writings. Studies of translation from literary Chinese into English constitute the majority of the contributions, but the volume is also illuminated by excursions into Latin, French and Italian, while the problems of translating the Naxi script are confronted as well. In addition, the wider context of the rendering of Chinese into other languages is explored through a survey of recent Japanese translation series. Throughout the volume, translation is presented not simply as a linguistic exercise but rather as a key element in world history, well worthy of further interdisciplinary investigation.