1st Edition

Defining Buddhism(s) A Reader

By Karen Derris, Natalie Gummer Copyright 2007
    352 Pages
    by Routledge

    352 Pages
    by Routledge

    'Defining Buddhism(s)' explores the multiple ways in which Buddhism has been defined and constructed by both Buddhists and scholars. In recent decades, scholars have become increasingly aware of their own role in the construction of how Buddhism is represented - a process in which multiple representations of Buddhism compete with and complement one another. The reader brings together key essays by leading scholars to examine the central methods and concerns of Buddhism. The essays aim to illuminate the challenges involved in defining historical, social, and political contexts and reveal how definitions of Buddhism have always been contested.

    Introduction: Defining Buddhisms PART I: Defining Buddhist Histories Introduction 1. Archaeology and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism, Gregory Schopen 2. Suttas as History: Four Approaches to the Sermon on the Noble Quest (Ariyapariyesanasutta), Jonathan S. Walters 3. Historical Understanding: The Ch'an Buddhist Transmission Narratives and Modern Historiography, Dale S. Wright 4. Roads Taken and Not Taken in the Study of Theravāda Buddhism, Charles Hallisey PART II: Defining Buddhist Ideologies Introduction 5. The Suppression of the Three Stages Sect: Apocrypha as a Political Issue, Mark Edward Lewis 6. Budda no fukuin: The Deployment of Paul Carus's Gospel of Buddha in Meiji Japan,Judith Snodgrass 
    7. Re-membering the Dismembered Body of Tibet: Contemporary Tibetan Visionary Movements in the People's Republic of China, David Germano PART III: Defining Buddhist Identities Introduction 8. The Image of an Orphan: Cambodian Narrative Sites for Buddhist Ethical Reflection, Anne Hansen 9. Seeking Śākyamuni: Travel and the Reconstruction of Japanese Buddhism, Richard M. Jaffe 10. One Plus One Makes Three: Buddhist Gender, Monasticism, and the Law of the Non-Excluded Middle, Janet Gyatso

    Biography

    Karen Derris, Natalie Gummer