Buddhism And Buddhist Literature Of South East Asia

The twelve essays in this volume survey aspects of Buddhism and Buddhist literature in pre-modern South-East Asia and Thailand, drawing on Pali and vernacular texts, liturgy, and inscriptions. They discuss Theravadin conceptions of the Bodhisatta, relations between Sanskrit and vernacular literature in Thailand, and questions of the transmission and dissemination of Buddhist ideas and narratives through sermon and ceremony. The texts studied are both products and agents in the intellectual and social world of South-East Asian Buddhism. Broader questions include the advent of Theravada Buddhism to South-East Asia anf the role of South-East Asia in Buddhist studies.

"e;Buddhism across Asia is a must-read for anyone interested in the history and spread of Buddhism in Asia. It comprises a rich collection of articles written by leading experts in their fields. Together, the contributions provide an in-depth analysis of Buddhist history and transmission in Asia over a period of more than 2000 years. Aspects examined include material culture, politics, economy, languages and texts, religious institutions, practices and rituals, conceptualisations, and philosophy, while the geographic scope of the studies extends from India to Southeast Asia and East Asia. Readers' knowledge of Buddhism is constantly challenged by the studies presented, incorporating new materials and interpretations. Rejecting the concept of a reified monolithic and timeless 'Buddhism', this publication reflects the entangled 'dynamic and multi-dimensional' history of Buddhism in Asia over extended periods of 'integration', 'development of multiple centres', and 'European expansion', which shaped the religion's regional and trans-regional identities."e; - Max Deeg, Cardiff University

Eleven eminent Buddhist studies scholars have contributed essays to this collection, assembled to celebrate the life of the late Sri Lankan scholar, social worker, and meditation master Godwin Samararatne.

Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia are centers for the preservation of local artistic traditions. Chief among these are manuscripts, a vital source for our understanding of Buddhist ideas and practices in the region. They are also a beautiful art form, too little understood in the West. The British Library has one of the richest collections of Southeast Asian manuscripts, principally from Thailand and Burma, anywhere in the world. It includes finely painted copies of Buddhist scriptures, literary works, historical narratives, and works on traditional medicine, law, cosmology, and fortune-telling. Buddhism Illuminated includes over one hundred examples of Buddhist art from the Library’s collection, relating each manuscript to Theravada tradition and beliefs, and introducing the historical, artistic, and religious contexts of their production. It is the first book in English to showcase the beauty and variety of Buddhist manuscript art and reproduces many works that have never before been photographed.

Southeast asia consists of two geographic regions: the Asian mainland, and island arcs and archipelagoes to the east and southeast.The mainland section consits of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.The maritime section consists of Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.Buddhism is the main religion in Southeast Asia. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,Laos,Myanmar are Buddhist countries.This book has some intial chapters about the Buddhism namely, Southeast Asia: An Introduction,Buddhism in Southeast Asia etc.This book further goes to trace Buddhism in each of the Southeast Asian countries.How Buddhism has transformed the society and the customs and rituals of the Buddhist society has been given in this book.This book concludes with chapters on Buddhism in the Philippines and Singapore and Buddhism in the West.

This eight-volume set brings together seminal papers in Buddhist studies from a vast range of academic disciplines published over the last forty years. With a new introduction by the editor, this collection is a unique and unrivalled research resource for both student and scholar. Coverage includes: - Buddhist origins; early history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia - early Buddhist Schools and Doctrinal History; Theravada Doctrine - the Origins and nature of Mahayana Buddhism; some Mahayana religious topics - Abhidharma and Madhyamaka - Yogacara, the Epistemological tradition, and Tathagatagarbha - Tantric Buddhism (Including China and Japan); Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet - Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, and - Buddhism in China, East Asia, and Japan.

Description: The annals and chronicles are important for a study of political, religious, cultural and literary history of a country. This book introduces to the readers for the first time a new picture in the field of annals and chronicles. It gives, not only, the history and the development of the Buddhist annals and chronicles of south-East Asia but it also refers to the important role played by the Chronicles in the field of pali and Singhalese literature in Ceylon. Fortunately, this is a first attempt, to give a connected account of the Buddhist annals and Chronicles of South and South-East Asia, on the basis of all available sources. The book should be found useful to readers interested in the religious and cultural history of South and South-East Asia. Contents Preface 1. The Buddhist Annals and Chronicles of Ceylon 2. The Buddhist Annals and Chronicles of Thailand 3. The Buddhist Annals and Chronicles of Indonesia 4. The Buddhist Annals and Chronicles of Burma

A guide to Buddhism’s rich variety of traditions and cultural expressions for educators who would like to include Buddhism in their undergraduate courses. Over its long history, Buddhism has never been a simple monolithic phenomenon, but rather a complex living tradition—or better, a family of traditions—continually shaped by and shaping a vast array of social, economic, political, literary, and aesthetic contexts across East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Written by undergraduate educators, Buddhisms in Asia offers a guide to Buddhism’s rich variety of traditions and cultural expressions for educators who would like to include Buddhism in their undergraduate courses. It introduces fundamental yet often underrepresented Buddhist texts, concepts, and material in their historical contexts; presents the major “ecologies” of Buddhist belief, practice, and cultural expression; and provides methodological insights regarding how best to infuse Buddhist content into undergraduate courses in the humanities and social sciences. The text aims to represent “Buddhisms” by approaching the subject from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives, including art history, anthropology, history, literature, philosophy, religious studies, and pedagogy. “I teach an introductory course on Buddhism on a regular basis, and every single chapter of this book gave me ideas for materials I could incorporate, new modules I might develop, and/or better ways I might organize and present existing content to students. I think that the book will be particularly useful to educators in Asian studies who are not themselves specialized in areas of Buddhism or religion. The collection gives them the information on Buddhist philosophy, doctrine, and practice that they would need to better incorporate the role of Buddhism into classes on Asian culture, history, society, and politics.” — Leah Kalmanson, coeditor of Buddhist Responses to Globalization