Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia

Introduces contemporary Buddhists from across Asia and from various walks of life. The editors have collected sixty-six profiles of individuals who would be excluded from most Buddhist histories and ethnographies. In addition to monks and nuns, readers will encounter artists, psychologists, social workers, healers, and librarians as well as charlatans, hucksters, profiteers, and rabble-rousers.
This book introduces contemporary Buddhists from across Asia and from various walks of life. Eschewing traditional hagiographies, the editors have collected sixty-six profiles of individuals who would be excluded from most Buddhist histories and ethnographies. In addition to monks and nuns, readers will encounter artists, psychologists, social workers, part-time priests, healers, and librarians as well as charlatans, hucksters, profiteers, and rabble-rousers—all whose lives reflect changes in modern Buddhism even as they themselves shape the course of these changes.

The editors and contributors are fundamentally concerned with how individual Buddhists make meaning and display this understanding to others. Some practitioners profiled look to the past, lamenting the transformations Buddhism has undergone in recent times, while others embrace these. Some have adopted a “new asceticism,” while others are eager to explore different religious traditions as they think about their own ways of being Buddhist. Arranging the profiles according to these themes—looking backward, forward, inward, and outward—reveals the value of studying individual Buddhists and their idiosyncratic religious backgrounds and attitudes, thus highlighting the diversity of approaches to the practice and study of Buddhism in Asia today. Students and teachers will welcome sections on further readings and additional tables of contents that organize the profiles thematically, as well as by tradition (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana), region, and country.

Contributor: Jeffrey Samuels (Edited by), Justin Thomas McDaniel (Edited by), Mark Michael Rowe (Edited by), Ian G. Baird (Contributions by), Corey L. Bell (Contributions by), Stephen C. Berkwitz (Contributions by), Anya Bernstein (Contributions by), Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia (Contributions by), Jane Caple (Contributions by), Jack Meng-Tat Chia (Contributions by), Sienna Craig (Contributions by), William Elison (Contributions by), Christoph Emmrich (Contributions by), Grant Evans (Contributions by), Paul J. Farrelly (Contributions by), Jane M. Ferguson (Contributions by), Gareth Fisher (Contributions by), Daniel G. Friedrich (Contributions by), Florence Galmiche (Contributions by), Michele R. Gamburd (Contributions by), Holly Gayley (Contributions by), David N. Gellner (Contributions by), Tim Graf (Contributions by), Elizabeth Guthrie (Contributions by), Elizabeth J. Harris (Contributions by), Sandya Hewamanne (Contributions by), Holly High (Contributions by), Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa (Contributions by), Sarah H. Jacoby (Contributions by), Michael Jerryson (Contributions by), Irving Chan Johnson (Contributions by), Hiroko Kawanami (Contributions by), Daniel W. Kent (Contributions by), Susanne Ryuyin Kerekes (Contributions by), Hwansoo Ilmee Kim (Contributions by), Tongthida Krawengit (Contributions by), Judy Ledgerwood (Contributions by), Jacques P. Leider (Contributions by), Chiara Letizia (Contributions by), Sarah LeVine (Contributions by), Charlene Makley (Contributions by), John Marston (Contributions by), Levi McLaughlin (Contributions by), David L. McMahan (Contributions by), Leigh Miller (Contributions by), John K. Nelson (Contributions by), Brian J. Nichols (Contributions by), Carina Pichler (Contributions by), Visisya Pinthongvijayakul (Contributions by), Justin R. Ritzinger (Contributions by), Gregory A. Scott (Contributions by), Arthid Sheravanichkul (Contributions by), Nicolas Sihlé (Contributions by), Jessica Starling (Contributions by), Gitanjali Surendran (Contributions by), Nicola Tannenbaum (Contributions by), Antonio Terrone (Contributions by), Ashley Thompson (Contributions by), Stefania Travagnin (Contributions by), Jonathan S. Walters (Contributions by), Jun-Youb (Other), Roger Casas (Other)

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