Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean

Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean
Author: Anne M. Blackburn
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2024-01-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 082489488X
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Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean draws attention to the varied, historically contingent, and sometimes competing, arguments for and about sovereignty that operated in the Pali arena during the first half of the second millennium AD. It was a time of expanding interaction within the Indian Ocean just prior to Portuguese colonial presence in Southern Asia. Developing a linked series of case studies and examining territories now subsumed within the nation-states of Sri Lanka, Burma/Myanmar, and Thailand, Blackburn examines sovereign arguments expressed textually, as well as in the built environment, by persons with an interest in the teachings and institutions associated with Gotama Buddha. These cases show that no single model of Buddhist-inflected sovereignty dominated the Pali arena during this time, and that there was no stable vision of “Buddhist kingship.” Rather, over time, there was an accrual of possible models and pathways for argumentation about how sovereigns could and should relate to buddha-sāsana. Taking inspiration from diverse sources transmitted through multiple forms and media, arguments for and about sovereignty in the Pali arena were contested and rapidly changing. As the Indian Ocean increasingly shaped the flow of people, objects, and ideas, more peoples and territories participated in the Pali arena, attracted by its intellectual and aesthetic resources. Drawing on extensive scholarship and a wide range of multilingual source materials from premodern Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia, Anne M. Blackburn develops innovative conclusions about the relationships between textuality, sovereignty, maritime connectivity, and material culture in each of these areas. The book contributes simultaneously to several fields of study: the intellectual history of Southern Asia, literary and historical scholarship on Buddhism, and historical studies of the Indian Ocean. By offering accessible yet in-depth analysis, Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean connects research fields and introduces new interpretive possibilities for the study of sovereignty, politics, premodern textual cultures, and Buddhism.

Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties Across the Indian Ocean

Buddhist-Inflected Sovereignties Across the Indian Ocean
Author: Anne M. Blackburn
Publisher: University of Hawaii
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780824896980
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"Buddhist-inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean draws attention to the varied, historically contingent, and sometimes competing, arguments for and about sovereignty that operated in the Pali arena during the first half of the second millennium AD. It was a time of expanding interaction within the Indian Ocean just prior to Portuguese colonial presence in Southern Asia. Developing a linked series of case studies and examining territories now subsumed within the nation-states of Sri Lanka, Burma/Myanmar, and Thailand, Blackburn examines sovereign arguments expressed textually, as well as in the built environment, by persons with an interest in the teachings and institutions associated with Gotama Buddha. These cases show that no single model of Buddhist-inflected sovereignty dominated the Pali arena during this time, and that there was no stable vision of "Buddhist kingship." Rather, over time, there was an accrual of possible models and pathways for argumentation about how sovereigns could and should relate to buddha-såasana. Taking inspiration from diverse sources transmitted through multiple forms and media, arguments for and about sovereignty in the Pali arena were contested and rapidly changing. As the Indian Ocean increasingly shaped the flow of people, objects, and ideas, more peoples and territories participated in the Pali arena, attracted by its intellectual and aesthetic resources. Drawing on extensive scholarship and a wide range of multilingual source materials from premodern Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia, Anne M. Blackburn develops innovative conclusions about the relationships between textuality, sovereignty, maritime connectivity, and material culture in each of these areas. The book contributes simultaneously to several fields of study: the intellectual history of Southern Asia, literary and historical scholarship on Buddhism, and historical studies of the Indian Ocean. By offering accessible yet in-depth analysis, Buddhist-inflected Sovereignties across the Indian Ocean connects research fields and introduces new interpretive possibilities for the study of sovereignty, politics, premodern textual cultures, and Buddhism"--

Locations of Buddhism

Locations of Buddhism
Author: Anne M. Blackburn
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2010-04-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0226055094
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Modernizing and colonizing forces brought nineteenth-century Sri Lankan Buddhists both challenges and opportunities. How did Buddhists deal with social and economic change; new forms of political, religious, and educational discourse; and Christianity? And how did Sri Lankan Buddhists, collaborating with other Asian Buddhists, respond to colonial rule? To answer these questions, Anne M. Blackburn focuses on the life of leading monk and educator Hikkaduve Sumangala (1827–1911) to examine more broadly Buddhist life under foreign rule. In Locations of Buddhism, Blackburn reveals that during Sri Lanka’s crucial decades of deepening colonial control and modernization, there was a surprising stability in the central religious activities of Hikkaduve and the Buddhists among whom he worked. At the same time, they developed new institutions and forms of association, drawing on pre-colonial intellectual heritage as well as colonial-period technologies and discourse. Advocating a new way of studying the impact of colonialism on colonized societies, Blackburn is particularly attuned here to human experience, paying attention to the habits of thought and modes of affiliation that characterized individuals and smaller scale groups. Locations of Buddhism is a wholly original contribution to the study of Sri Lanka and the history of Buddhism more generally.

Global Spread Of Buddhism With Special Reference To Sri Lanka

Global Spread Of Buddhism With Special Reference To Sri Lanka
Author: Kahawatte Siri Sumedha Thero
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-12-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN:
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On a summer afternoon in 2023, on the Kandy plateau in Sri Lanka, renowned for its veneration of the sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, on the lush green grounds of the University of Peradeniya, Kandy, the Departments of Education and Buddhist Studies held a Buddhist Seminar on July 14, 2023, with the patronage of Maha Mahinda International Dharmadutha Society, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Huong Sen Buddhist Temple, California, USA. The conference was attended by many prestigious monastic doctorates, professors, lecturers, and scholars from several universities such as Prof. Ven. Medagama Nandawansa Thera (Maha Mahinda International Dharmadutha Society and Chief Incumbent of Sri Lanka Vidyalaya Maha traveled), Dr. Ven. Kahawatte Siri Sumedha (Chief Incumbent of Jambudvipa, Sri Lanka Buddhist Temple, Varanasi, India), Dr. Prabath Ekanayake (Dean of the Faculty of Arts), Prof. Walter Senevirathne (Head of the Department of Education), Prof. H.M. Mahinda Herath (Head of the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies), Prof. Prasad Sethunga (Director General of the National Education Foundation), Dr. Ven. Bhikṣuṇī Gioi Huong (Lecturer at the Vietnam Buddhist University in HCM City and Abbess, Huong Sen Buddhist Temple, California, USA), Dr. Samarakoon Banda (Senior Lecturer, the Department of Education), Dr. Kasun Dharmasiri (Senior Lecturer, the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya), Bhikṣuṇī TN Vien An (Lecturer of English, Huong Sen and Dieu Ngu School, California, USA), Ven. Madugalle Sudaththa (Lecturer, the Department of Social Sciences and Comparative Studies, Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka, Anuradapura), Ven. Panadure Dumindalankara and Ms. H.M.L.M. Munasinghe (Lecturers for Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Peradeniya). The theme of the Buddhist seminar was Global Spread of Buddhism with Special Reference to Sri Lanka. Many papers covered this compelling subject describing how global Buddhism and Sri Lanka are addressing contemporary challenges across various domains, including philosophy, psychology, history, and practical aspects. These papers aim to explore and gain insights into the intricate interplay between world Buddhism and society, with a particular focus on issues of concern within Sri Lanka. We would like to sincerely thank Prof. Ven. Medagama Nandawansa Thera, Dr. Ven. Kahawatte Siri Sumedha, Dr. Ven. Bhikṣuṇī Gioi Huong, Dr. Prabath Ekanayake, Prof. Walter Senevirathne, Prof. H.M. Mahinda Herath, co-organizers of this meaningful Kandy seminar. We would also like to express our gratitude to Prof. Prasad Sethunga for effectively leading the seminar as the Master of Ceremonies. We also acknowledge the efforts of Ms. H.M.L.M. Munasinghe and others for your kind remarks in contact with other lecturers to get the papers and information for our seminar book. Thank you so much for your gracious welcome to the Huong Sen Temple's delegation of ten monastic disciples, Peradeniya University's staff, and those who kindly gave their assistance for this seminar and all those who contributed to the success of this seminar and the publication of the book. May the Buddha bless you all. Huong Sen Buddhist Temple, September 15, 2023 With metta, The Editorial Board

Buddhist Tourism in Asia

Buddhist Tourism in Asia
Author: Courtney Bruntz
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2020-03-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0824882822
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This innovative collaborative work—the first to focus on Buddhist tourism—explores how Buddhists, government organizations, business corporations, and individuals in Asia participate in re-imaginings of Buddhism through tourism. Contributors from religious studies, anthropology, and art history examine sacred places and religious monuments as they have been shaped and reshaped by socioeconomic and cultural trends in the region. Following an introduction that offers the first theoretical understanding of tourism from a Buddhist studies’ perspective, early chapters discuss the ways Buddhists and non-Buddhists imagine concepts and places related to the religion. Case studies highlight Buddhist peace in India, Buddhist heavens and hells in Singapore, Thai temple space, and the future Buddha Maitreya in China. Buddhist tourism’s connections to the state, market, and new technologies are explored in chapters on Indian package tours for pilgrims, thematic Buddhist tourism in Cambodia, the technological innovations of Buddhist temples in China, and the promotion of pilgrimage sites in Japan. Contributors then situate the financial concerns of Chinese temples, speed dating in temples in Japan, and the diffuse and pervasive nature of Buddhism for tourism promotion in Ladakh, India. How have tourist routes, groups, sites, and practices associated with Buddhism come to be possible and what are the effects? In what ways do travelers derive meaning from Buddhist places? How do Buddhist sites fortify national, cultural, or religious identities? The comparative research in South, Southeast, and East Asia presented here draws attention to the intertwining of the sacred and the financial and how local and national sites are situated within global networks. Together these findings generate a compelling comparative investigation of Buddhist spaces, identities, and practices.

Oceanic Histories

Oceanic Histories
Author: David Armitage
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2018
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108423183
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Freshly presents world history through its oceans and seas in uniquely wide-ranging, original chapters by leading experts in their fields.

The Art of Not Being Governed

The Art of Not Being Governed
Author: James C. Scott
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0300156529
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From the acclaimed author and scholar James C. Scott, the compelling tale of Asian peoples who until recently have stemmed the vast tide of state-making to live at arm’s length from any organized state society For two thousand years the disparate groups that now reside in Zomia (a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of seven Asian countries) have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them—slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare. This book, essentially an “anarchist history,” is the first-ever examination of the huge literature on state-making whose author evaluates why people would deliberately and reactively remain stateless. Among the strategies employed by the people of Zomia to remain stateless are physical dispersion in rugged terrain; agricultural practices that enhance mobility; pliable ethnic identities; devotion to prophetic, millenarian leaders; and maintenance of a largely oral culture that allows them to reinvent their histories and genealogies as they move between and around states. In accessible language, James Scott, recognized worldwide as an eminent authority in Southeast Asian, peasant, and agrarian studies, tells the story of the peoples of Zomia and their unlikely odyssey in search of self-determination. He redefines our views on Asian politics, history, demographics, and even our fundamental ideas about what constitutes civilization, and challenges us with a radically different approach to history that presents events from the perspective of stateless peoples and redefines state-making as a form of “internal colonialism.” This new perspective requires a radical reevaluation of the civilizational narratives of the lowland states. Scott’s work on Zomia represents a new way to think of area studies that will be applicable to other runaway, fugitive, and marooned communities, be they Gypsies, Cossacks, tribes fleeing slave raiders, Marsh Arabs, or San-Bushmen.

Towards a New Theory of Religion and Social Change

Towards a New Theory of Religion and Social Change
Author: Paul-François Tremlett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2022-12-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1350376493
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This book argues that neither theories of secularisation nor theories of lived religion offer satisfactory accounts of religion and social change. Drawing from Deleuze and Gauttari's idea of the assemblage, Paul-Francois Tremlett outlines an alternative. Informed by classical and contemporary theories of religion as well as empirical case studies and ethnography conducted in Manila and London, this book re-frames religion as spatially organised flows. Foregrounding the agency of hon-human actors, it offers a compelling and original account of religion and social change.

Sacred Mandates

Sacred Mandates
Author: Timothy Brook
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2018-05-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 022656293X
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Contemporary discussions of international relations in Asia tend to be tethered in the present, unmoored from the historical contexts that give them meaning. Sacred Mandates, edited by Timothy Brook, Michael van Walt van Praag, and Miek Boltjes, redresses this oversight by examining the complex history of inter-polity relations in Inner and East Asia from the thirteenth century to the twentieth, in order to help us understand and develop policies to address challenges in the region today. This book argues that understanding the diversity of past legal orders helps explain the forms of contemporary conflict, as well as the conflicting historical narratives that animate tensions. Rather than proceed sequentially by way of dynasties, the editors identify three “worlds”—Chingssid Mongol, Tibetan Buddhist, and Confucian Sinic—that represent different forms of civilization authority and legal order. This novel framework enables us to escape the modern tendency to view the international system solely as the interaction of independent states, and instead detect the effects of the complicated history at play between and within regions. Contributors from a wide range of disciplines cover a host of topics: the development of international law, sovereignty, state formation, ruler legitimacy, and imperial expansion, as well as the role of spiritual authority on state behavior, the impact of modernization, and the challenges for peace processes. The culmination of five years of collaborative research, Sacred Mandates will be the definitive historical guide to international and intrastate relations in Asia, of interest to policymakers and scholars alike, for years to come.