Buddha in the Crown
Avalokiteśvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:11th Apr '91
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This book offers a case study in religious and cultural change. Sri Lanka is the home of one of Asia's most pluralistic religious cultures; four major religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity - have found a permanent home within its boundaries. This makes it an ideal laboratory for the study of how religious traditions mix. John Holt here examines the career of a single deity, who began as the Indian Mahayana Buddhist bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, was assimilated to the indigenous Sinhala god Natha, and ultimately became identified with the bodhisattva Maitreya - the next Buddha of the future, expected by virtually all Buddhist traditions of Asia.
Holt beautifully articulates the assimilation and transformation of Avalokitesvara in Sri Lanka by weaving together evidence drawn from historical and religious treatises, stone inscriptions, oral traditions, and icons. * Journal of Asian Studies *
ISBN: 9780195064186
Dimensions: 217mm x 148mm x 25mm
Weight: 579g
304 pages