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How Theravada Is Theravada?

Exploring Buddhist Identities

Peter Skilling editor Jason A Carbine editor Claudio Cicuzza editor Santi Pakdeekham editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Silkworm Books / Trasvin Publications LP

Published:11th Sep '12

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How Theravada Is Theravada? cover

Deals with Buddhism in early Lanka, in Burma during the Pagan and Dhammachedi periods, in nineteenth-century Cambodia, and in Thailand from the late eighteenth- to early twentieth-centuries

Our understanding of the history of Buddhism in Southeast Asia has often been oversimplified, biased, or vague. The twelve innovative essays presented here shed new light on terms such as sthavira, theravada, theriya, or theravasa, each of which may carry a variety of meanings and connotations. Some of the contributors reconsider known data to present new and challenging perspectives on the complicated history of the Mahavihara and Abhayagiri schools in Sri Lanka, or the Indian historiographical tradition on the formation of Buddhist orders/schools (nikaya/acariyavada). Others stress the central role of lineages and their transmission, as well as the dynamic impulse that this problematic provokes in terms of long-distance exchanges.

Topical inquiries based on epigraphical material reveal the force of institutional practices, or invite scholars to analyze the textual traditions of Southeast Asia more deeply, particularly its "transitive" mode of translation. Essays range across Buddhism in early Lanka, in Burma during the Pagan and Dhammachedi periods, in nineteenth-century Cambodia, and in Thailand from the late eighteenth- to early twentieth-centuries.

"Let me state at the outset that this book, which no short review could do justice to, is one of the most important books in the field of Buddhist studies in the last fifty years. It should immediately become the foundational text on every graduate student’s general/comprehensive exam in Buddhist studies and will be debated by scholars and students for many years."

-- Justin Thomas McDaniel * Journal of Asian Studi

ISBN: 9786162150449

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 1066g

640 pages