Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia 9780824858582
This book introduces contemporary Buddhists from across Asia and from various walks of life. Eschewing traditional hagio
216 87 2MB
English Pages 240 Year 2016
Table of contents :
Contents
Contents by Buddhist Tradition
Contents by Region and Country
Introduction
Looking Backward
Yangon Airport Tower Communications Worker
The “Insane” Monk
The Choices of a Priest on the Edge of Toyota City
A Witness to Genocide
A Monk between Worlds
A Buddhist Media Pioneer
Embracing Belief and Critique in an Academic Life
Knowing Buddha Organization
Educate, Agitate, Organize
Sinhala Buddhism and Alcohol Consumption
The Builder of Temporary Temples and Golden Corpses
A Rakhine Monk from Bangladesh
Rebuilding Temples after War
Scholar, Reformer, and Activist
A Thai Mural Painter in Singapore
Looking Forward: Social-Psychological Care in a Troubled World
Stabilizing the Rhythms of Life after the Tsunami
President of the Theravada Nuns’ Order of Nepal
The Rise of the “Clinical Religionist”
Activist Temple Wife
Modernizing Buddhist Proselytization in Hong Kong
Modern Miracles of a Female Buddhist Master
The Temple Is a Place of Solutions
Maitreya’s IT Guy
A Female Monk and the Hmong
The Globally Local Priest
Raising the Powerful Girl Child
Buddha Was Tharu
A Modern Taiwanese Educator
Inventor of a Buddhist Alphabet
Trading in the Buddhist Life for Drugs
Two Self-Sacrificing Bureaucrats
A Facebook Buddhist
A Daughter of Lamas, Yogis, and Shamans
Taiwan’s New Age Buddhist
A Modernist Monk with Chinese Characteristics
An Anticommunist Monk and Violence
Looking Inward: New Asceticism in Modern Buddhism
Art, Service, And A High-Rise Temple
State Secularism and the Tibetan Non-monastic Tradition
A Buddhist Spirit Medium
An Act of Merit
A Buddhist Lay Leader
A Modern-Day Burmese Weikza
Negotiating Religion and the State
Mother and Son and Meditation
Reconnecting with the Land (and the Gods)
A Buddha in the Making
The Singing Nun
The Only Buddhist in the Village
Stars for the Drowning
Alien Behavior
The Life and Times of a Shan Buddhist
Looking Outward: Local Buddhists Becoming Global Citizens
Teaching Buddhism as a Second Language
The Empowerment of Buddhist Women
A Buddhist Mickey Mouse
A Twenty-first Century Custodian
The Return of the Dutch
The Blogger Monk in Southern China
Carving Playful Buddhas
Prolific Writer, Cool Blogger
Collector of Magic, Esquire
A Sovereign Body beyond the Nation-State
Post-Monk Life in New Zealand
The First Theravada Bhikkhuni in Vietnam
Monk, Writer, Educator, and International Buddhist
On Being a “Human Being”
Thousand Hands, Thousand Eyes
Further Reading
Contributors
Index
Contents
Contents by Buddhist Tradition
Contents by Region and Country
Introduction
Looking Backward
Yangon Airport Tower Communications Worker
The “Insane” Monk
The Choices of a Priest on the Edge of Toyota City
A Witness to Genocide
A Monk between Worlds
A Buddhist Media Pioneer
Embracing Belief and Critique in an Academic Life
Knowing Buddha Organization
Educate, Agitate, Organize
Sinhala Buddhism and Alcohol Consumption
The Builder of Temporary Temples and Golden Corpses
A Rakhine Monk from Bangladesh
Rebuilding Temples after War
Scholar, Reformer, and Activist
A Thai Mural Painter in Singapore
Looking Forward: Social-Psychological Care in a Troubled World
Stabilizing the Rhythms of Life after the Tsunami
President of the Theravada Nuns’ Order of Nepal
The Rise of the “Clinical Religionist”
Activist Temple Wife
Modernizing Buddhist Proselytization in Hong Kong
Modern Miracles of a Female Buddhist Master
The Temple Is a Place of Solutions
Maitreya’s IT Guy
A Female Monk and the Hmong
The Globally Local Priest
Raising the Powerful Girl Child
Buddha Was Tharu
A Modern Taiwanese Educator
Inventor of a Buddhist Alphabet
Trading in the Buddhist Life for Drugs
Two Self-Sacrificing Bureaucrats
A Facebook Buddhist
A Daughter of Lamas, Yogis, and Shamans
Taiwan’s New Age Buddhist
A Modernist Monk with Chinese Characteristics
An Anticommunist Monk and Violence
Looking Inward: New Asceticism in Modern Buddhism
Art, Service, And A High-Rise Temple
State Secularism and the Tibetan Non-monastic Tradition
A Buddhist Spirit Medium
An Act of Merit
A Buddhist Lay Leader
A Modern-Day Burmese Weikza
Negotiating Religion and the State
Mother and Son and Meditation
Reconnecting with the Land (and the Gods)
A Buddha in the Making
The Singing Nun
The Only Buddhist in the Village
Stars for the Drowning
Alien Behavior
The Life and Times of a Shan Buddhist
Looking Outward: Local Buddhists Becoming Global Citizens
Teaching Buddhism as a Second Language
The Empowerment of Buddhist Women
A Buddhist Mickey Mouse
A Twenty-first Century Custodian
The Return of the Dutch
The Blogger Monk in Southern China
Carving Playful Buddhas
Prolific Writer, Cool Blogger
Collector of Magic, Esquire
A Sovereign Body beyond the Nation-State
Post-Monk Life in New Zealand
The First Theravada Bhikkhuni in Vietnam
Monk, Writer, Educator, and International Buddhist
On Being a “Human Being”
Thousand Hands, Thousand Eyes
Further Reading
Contributors
Index
