Constituting Communities

Description

Constituting Communities explores how community functions within Theravada Buddhist culture. Although the dominant focus of Buddhist studies for the past century has been on doctrinal and philosophical issues, this volume concentrates on discourses that produced them, and why and how these discourses and practices shaped Theravada communities in South and Southeast Asia. From a variety of perspectives, including historical, literary, doctrinal and philosophical, and social and anthropological, the contributors explore the issues that have proven important and definitive for identifying what it has meant, individually and socially, to be Buddhist in this particular region. The book focuses on textual discourse, how communities are formed and maintained within pluralistic contexts, and the formation of community both within and between the monastic and lay settings.

Introduction
John Clifford Holt and Jacob N. Kinnard

1. Communal Karma and Karmic Community in Theravada Buddhist History
Jonathan S. Walters

2. Toward a Theory of Buddhist Queenship: The Legend of Asandhimitta
John S. Strong

3. Beggars Can Be Choosers: Mahakassapa as a Selective Eater of Offerings
Liz Wilson

4. The Insight Guide to Hell: Mahamoggallana and Theravada Buddhist Cosmology
Julie Gifford

5. When the Buddha Sued Visnu
Jacob N. Kinnard

6. Minister of Defense? The Visnu Controversy in Contemporary Sri Lanka
John Clifford Holt

7. Localizing Lineage: Importing Higher Ordination in Theravadin South and Southeast Asia
Anne M. Blackburn

8. Preacher as a Poet: Poetic Preaching as a Monastic Strategy in Constituting Buddhist Communities in Modern Sri Lanka and Thailand
Mahinda Deegalle

9. "For Those Who Are Ignorant": A Study of the Bauddha Ädahilla
Carol S. Anderson

10. Interpretive Strategies for Seeing the Body of the Buddha
James R. Egge

List of Contributors

Index

Sujets

• East Asian religions
• Buddhism

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791487051
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Constituting Communities

 SUNY series in Buddhist Studies

Matthew Kapstein, Editor

CONSTITUTING COMMUNITIES

Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia

John Clifford Holt, Jacob N. Kinnard, Jonathan S. Walters Editors

S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P ESS R A LBANY

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Constituting communities : Theravada Buddhism and the religious cultures of South and Southeast Asia / edited by John Clifford Hold, Jacob N. Kinnard and Jonathon S. Walters. p. cm.—(SUNY series in Buddhist studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0791456919 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0791456927 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Buddhism—Social aspects—Asia, Southeastern. 2. Buddhism—Social aspects—South  Asia. 3. Monastic and religious life (Buddhism) 4. Theravada—Buddhism—History—20th century. I. Holt, John, 1948– II. Kinnard, Jacob N. III. Walters, Jonathan S. IV. Series.

BQ4570.S6 C66 294.3'91'095—dc21

10

2003

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

2002075877

This book

is inspirited by and dedicated to

Frank E. Reynolds

This page intentionally left blank.

Contents

Introduction John Clifford Holt and Jacob N. Kinnard

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Communal Karma and Karmic Community in Theravada Buddhist History Jonathan S. Walters

Toward a Theory of Buddhist Queenship: Asandhimitta John S. Strong

Beggars Can Be Choosers: Eater of Offerings Liz Wilson

The Legend of

Mahakassapa as a Selective

The Insight Guide to Hell: Mahamoggallana and Theravada Buddhist Cosmology Julie Gifford

When the Buddha Sued Visnu Jacob N. Kinnard

Minister of Defense? The Visnu Controversy in Contemporary Sri Lanka John Clifford Holt

Localizing Lineage: Importing Higher Ordination in Therav a din South and Southeast Asia Anne M. Blackburn

1

9

41

57

71

85

107

131

Eight

Nine

Ten

v i i i

C o n t e n t s

Preacher as a Poet: Poetic Preaching as a Monastic Strategy in Constituting Buddhist Communities in Modern Sri Lanka and Thailand Mahinda Deegalle

“For Those Who Are Ignorant”: Bauddha Ädahilla Carol S. Anderson

A Study of the

Interpretive Strategies for Seeing the Body of the Buddha James R. Egge

List of Contributors

Index

151

171

189

209

211

Introduction

John Clifford Holt and Jacob N. Kinnard

Religious experience is, by definition, a profoundly personal and individual matter; it is, however, always also a communal experience. There is no escape from this fundamental recognition. On the one hand, even the most private, contemplative, esoteric, or otherwordly mystical religious experiences are necessarily temporally conditioned; that is, they occur within historical and, therefore, cultural contexts. On the other hand, all normative social construc tions of reality are, ultimately, individually mediated; that is, all culturally shared conceptions of religion are apprehended as instances of personal con sciousness. Thus, the personal and social natures of religion and religious ex perience are inextricably intertwined. Taking this as a fundamental premise, the essays in this volume address the topic of how community functions within Theravada Buddhist culture by focusing on the ways in which the his torical, social, and philosophical dynamics of various Buddhist communities have helped to forge particular apprehensions and conceptions of personal re ligious meaning and identity that are, at the same time, collective and social. Although many historians and anthropologists of religion have from both the theoretical and the culturespecific perspectives explicitly addressed the question of what makes a religious community, the issue remains a vexing one. We frequently talk, for instance, oftheBuddhist tradition, in the singu lar, to describe an entity that transcends doctrinal differences and cuts across both physical and temporal borders. In contrast, it is almost nonsensical to talk about a single Buddhist community; how, for instance, could we meaningfully talk about a community that encompasses the Sri Lankan fire walker, the Thai collector of amulets, and the Californian meditator? However, we do talk

1