Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism
About the Book Series
Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism is a comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition. The series explores this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of perspectives, using a range of different methodologies. The series is diverse in its focus, including historical, philological, cultural, and sociological investigations into the manifold features and expressions of Buddhism worldwide. It also presents works of constructive and reflective analysis, including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary, critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive and imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research works that are of significance and interest to the broader field of Buddhist Studies.
Some of the titles in the series are published in association with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, which conducts and promotes rigorous teaching and research into all forms of the Buddhist tradition.
Editorial Advisory Board:
James A. Benn, McMaster University, Canada
Rupert Gethin, University of Bristol, UK
Peter Harvey, University of Sunderland, UK
Sallie King, James Madison University, USA
Anne Klein, Rice University, USA
Lori Meeks, University of Southern California, USA;
Ulrich Pagel, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK
John Powers, Australian National University, Australia;
Juliane Schober, Arizona State University, USA
Vesna A. Wallace, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Michael Zimmermann, University of Hamburg, Germany
The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism: Attuning the Dharma
1st Edition
By Francesca Tarocco
February 23, 2011
Buddhism in China during the late Qing and Republican period remained a powerful cultural and religious force. Francesca Tarocco is a rising star in this field and offers an innovative high-quality piece of work that presents a new perspective on the influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture. ...
Buddhist Nuns in Taiwan and Sri Lanka: A Critique of the Feminist Perspective
1st Edition
By Wei-Yi Cheng
February 09, 2011
Taking a comparative approach, this fieldwork-based study explores the lives and thoughts of Buddhist nuns in present-day Taiwan and Sri Lanka. The author examines the postcolonial background and its influence on the modern situation, as well as surveying the main historical, economic, and social ...
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures: Knowledge, Ritual, and Art
1st Edition
Edited
By Stephen C. Berkwitz, Juliane Schober, Claudia Brown
January 24, 2011
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures explores how religious and cultural practices in premodern Asia were shaped by literary and artistic traditions as well as by Buddhist material culture. This study of Buddhist texts focuses on the significance of their material forms rather than their doctrinal contents...
The Philosophy of Desire in the Buddhist Pali Canon
1st Edition
By David Webster
January 24, 2011
David Webster explores the notion of desire as found in the Buddhist Pali Canon. Beginning by addressing the idea of a 'paradox of desire', whereby we must desire to end desire, the varieties of desire that are articulated in the Pali texts are examined. A range of views of desire, as found in ...
Buddhist Studies from India to America: Essays in Honor of Charles S. Prebish
1st Edition
Edited
By Damien Keown
October 15, 2010
Buddhist Studies from India to America covers four important areas of Buddhist Studies: Vinaya Studies and Ethics, the history of Buddhist schools, Western Buddhism, and Inter-religious dialogue. These are the main areas which Charles S. Prebish has either inaugurated or helped to define; and ...
Moral Theory in Santideva's Siksasamuccaya: Cultivating the Fruits of Virtue
1st Edition
By Barbra R. Clayton
October 15, 2010
This important text analyzes the moral theory of the seventh century Indian Mahayana master, Santideva, author of the well-known religious poem, the Bodhicaryavatara (Entering the Path of Enlightenment) as well as the significant, but relatively overlooked, Siksasamuccaya (Compendium of ...
Buddhist Thought and Applied Psychological Research: Transcending the Boundaries
1st Edition
Edited
By D.K. Nauriyal, Michael S. Drummond, Y.B. Lal
August 10, 2010
Written by leading scholars and including a foreword by the Dalai Lama, this book explores the interface between Buddhist studies and the uses of Buddhist principles and practices in psychotherapy and consciousness studies. The contributors present a compelling collection of articles that ...
The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory
1st Edition
By Guang Xing
August 10, 2010
Guang Xing gives an analysis of one of the fundamental Mahayana Buddhist teachings, namely the three bodies of the Buddha (the trikaya Theory), which is considered the foundation of Mahayana philosophy. He examines how and why the philosophical concept of three bodies was formed, ...
Buddhism, Conflict and Violence in Modern Sri Lanka
1st Edition
Edited
By Mahinda Deegalle
May 14, 2009
Interdisciplinary in its approach, this book explores the dilemmas that Buddhism faces in relation to the continuing ethnic conflict and violence in modern Sri Lanka. Prominent scholars in the fields of anthropology, history, Buddhist studies and Pali examine multiple dimensions of the problem...
Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: Contemporary Sri Lankan Practice and Its Origins
1st Edition
By Rita Langer
May 14, 2009
In Buddhist thought and practice, death has always been a central concept. This book provides a careful and thorough analysis of the rituals and social customs surrounding death in the Theravada tradition of Sri Lanka. Rita Langer describes the rituals of death and rebirth and investigates their ...
Discourse and Ideology in Medieval Japanese Buddhism
1st Edition
Edited
By Richard K. Payne, Taigen Dan Leighton
May 14, 2009
The medieval period of Japanese religious history is commonly known as one in which there was a radical transformation of the religious culture. This book suggests an alternate approach to understanding the dynamics of that transformation. One main topic of analysis focuses on what Buddhism - its ...
The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition
1st Edition
By Zhihua Yao
May 14, 2009
This highly original work explores the concept of self-awareness or self-consciousness in Buddhist thought. Its central thesis is that the Buddhist theory of self-cognition originated in a soteriological discussion of omniscience among the Mahasamghikas, and then evolved into a topic of ...