Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand

S J Tambiah author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:4th Sep '75

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand cover

Dr Tambiah describes the religious practices and beliefs of the people of a remote village in north-east Thailand.

Dr Tambiah describes the religious practices and beliefs of the people of a remote village in north-east Thailand, relating them to the wider context of the civilization in which they are embedded, and examining the relationship of the religious practices of the villagers to the classical Buddhist tradition.Dr Tambiah describes the religious practices and beliefs of the people of a remote village in north-east Thailand, relating them to the wider context of the civilization in which they are embedded, and examining the relationship of the religious practices of the villagers to the classical Buddhist tradition. Because they have based their studies on the Sanskrit and Pali literature, Western observers have tended to dismiss much of the popular manifestation of Buddhism as debased. Dr Tambiah demonstrates that this judgement is misleading, and emphasizes that the contemporary village religion that he describes manifests continuities as well as transformations with respect to the classical literary tradition. The village religion is described primarily through ritual.

ISBN: 9780521099585

Dimensions: 229mm x 154mm x 23mm

Weight: 590g

408 pages