Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerializing the Sri Lankan Theravada Tradition

by Kevin Trainor

Overview

Western scholarship has largely ignored the practice of venerating the physical remains of the Buddha, a practice that has been a central focus of both monastic and lay Buddhists for more than two millennia. This study draws on textual and archaeological evidence from India and Sri Lanka to examine the place of relic veneration in the history of South Asian Buddhism. It contributes to current work on the history of Western Buddhology, to the discipline of religious studies, and to the history of Indian and Sri Lankan Buddhism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521582803
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/13/1997
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions , #10
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; 1. Orientations; 2. Buddhist relic veneration in India; 3. Relics and the establishment of the Buddhist sasana in Sri Lanka; 4. Paradigms of presence; 5. Ritual and the presence of the Buddha; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A carefully researched and theoretically engaged study.... A first-rate analysis that belongs in every academic library with significant holdings on Buddhism." John Clifford Holt, Religious Studies Review

"...Trainor's study includes careful translations from the original P^D-ali and does a good job of researching a wide variety of selective sources." Nirmala Salgado, Journal of the American Oriental Society

Editorial Reviews

"A carefully researched and theoretically engaged study.... A first-rate analysis that belongs in every academic library with significant holdings on Buddhism." John Clifford Holt, Religious Studies Review

"...Trainor's study includes careful translations from the original Pali and does a good job of researching a wide variety of selective sources." Nirmala Salgado, Journal of the American Oriental Society

From the Publisher