Managing Monks

Looked at in one light, monastic administrators are at the top of the monastic hierarchy. From another perspective, however they are divorced from the main purpose of monastic life. In this book, Jonathan Silk examines the way in which this question was debated in the formative years of Indian Buddhism.

A Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness for the Modern Day In our never-ending search for happiness we often find ourselves looking to external things for fulfillment, thinking that happiness can be unlocked by buying a bigger house, getting the next promotion, or building a perfect family. In this profound and inspiring book, Gelong Thubten shares a practical and sustainable approach to happiness. Thubten, a Buddhist monk and meditation expert who has worked with everyone from school kids to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Benedict Cumberbatch, explains how meditation and mindfulness can create a direct path to happiness. A Monk’s Guide to Happiness explores the nature of happiness and helps bust the myth that our lives and minds are too busy for meditation. The book can show you how to: - Learn practical methods to help you choose happiness - Develop greater compassion for yourself and others - Learn to meditate in micro-moments during a busy day - Discover that you are naturally ‘hard-wired’ for happiness Reading A Monk’s Guide to Happiness could revolutionize your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, and help you create a life of true happiness and contentment.

Vibrantly engaging contemporary Buddhist lives, this book focuses on the material and financial relations of contemporary monks, temples, and laypeople. It shows that rather than being peripheral, economic exchanges are key to religious debate in Buddhist societies. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in countries ranging from India to Japan, including all three major Buddhist traditions, the book addresses the flows of goods and services between clergy and laity, the management of resources, the treatment of money, and the role of the state in temple economies. Along with documenting ritual and economic practices, these accounts deal with the moral challenges that Buddhist adherents are facing today, thereby bringing lived experience to the study of an often-romanticized religion.

The two-volume Encyclopedia of Monasticism describes the monastic traditions of both Christianity and Buddhism with more than 600 entries on important monastic figures of all periods and places, surveys of countries and localities, and topical essays covering a wide range of issues (e.g., art, behavior, economics, liturgy, politics, theology, and scholarship). Coverage encompasses not only geography and history worldwide but also the contemporary dilemmas of monastic life. Recent upheavals in certain countries are highlighted (Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, etc.). Topical essays subtitled Christian Perspectives and Buddhist Perspectives explore in imaginative fashion comparisons and contrasts between Christian and Buddhist monasticism. Encyclopedia of Monasticism also includes more than 500 color and black and white illustrations covering all aspects of monastic life, art, and architecture.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The present volume makes a unique contribution to the study of dying in ancient cultures by focusing on what happens in the critical moments before death. Employing a wide range of literary sources, the essays in this volume focus exclusively on the moment of death and practices associated with the transition from this world to the next. Five of the essays deal with Asian religions, primarily Buddhism in India, Tibet, China, and Japan. The other five essays deal with the moment of death in the West, old Norse-Icelandic, Old English, and the Judeo-Christian tradition. The authors explore the many ways in which the good death was envisioned. Remarkable parallels emerge between the good death in religious texts and in heroic sagas . Despite the diversity of cultures, time periods and religious traditions represented in these essays, this volume vividly illustrates the fundamental human need to see in the inevitable moment of death a possibility of choice and a promise of hope.

This is an open access book. This event is co-organized by the Institute of Science Innovation and Culture (ISIC) and Research and Development Institute (RDI), Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep, Thailand. This year’s ICEHUM 2022 was held online and onsite on 26 November 2022. The theme of this conference is “Leading and Being Sustainable in the COVID-19 New Normal“. This conference aspires to bring to light new standards, models, and reference guides that will help humanity rise above the challenges of COVID-19, leading men and women to embrace the new normal, no longer uncertain but living a sustainable existence.

This book is a selection of case studies undertaken by cultural heritage and disaster risk management professionals across the world demonstrating good practices for disaster risk management of cultural heritage. The readers will learn about the practical application of various methodologies, tools, and techniques for disaster risk assessment, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery of cultural heritage. They will also learn about the application of traditional knowledge and engagement of communities for disaster risk management of cultural heritage. This will help relevant organisations and professionals to develop and implement projects in this field. The intended audience for this book are Practitioners or site managers of cultural heritage sites and museums. Also, researchers and students studying disaster risk management of cultural heritage. The book will also be of interest to disaster risk management institutions at the urban, regional or national level/cultural heritage management institutions at the urban, regional or national level/city administration, municipalities, urban local bodies and planning departments/educational and research institutions which have specialised programmes in engineering, planning, disaster risk management, and conservation of cultural heritage.