Rewriting Buddhism: Pali Literature and Monastic Reform in Sri Lanka, 1157-1270

by Alastair Gornall

Overview

Rewriting Buddhism is the first intellectual history of premodern Sri Lanka’s most culturally productive period. This era of reform shaped the nature of Theravada Buddhism both in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and even today continues to define monastic intellectual life in the region. Alastair Gornall argues that the long century’s literary productivity was not born of political stability, as is often thought, but rather of the social, economic and political chaos brought about by invasions and civil wars.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787355163
Publisher:	U C L Press, Limited
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Edition description:	New edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Alastair Gornall is Assistant Professor in the Humanities at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Research Associate in the Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia at SOAS, University of London, and was 2018 Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Research Fellow in Buddhist Studies. 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Themes and theories Part I: Chaos 2. Before 1165 and all that 3. The reform era and its Pali literature Part II: Order 4. Scholarly foundations: Moggallana’s grammar 5. Buddhist scholasticism: Sumaṅgala’s commentaries 6. Eschatological encyclopedism: Siddhattha’s anthology Part III: Emotion 7. Sense and sensibility: Saṅgharakkhita’s poetics 8. The politics of relics: Dhammakitti’s history 9. Devotional power: Buddharakkhita’s Buddha biography 10. Conclusion: Other lives and afterlives References Index