Traditionally, Buddhist philosophy has seemingly rejected the autonomous self. In Western philosophy, free will and the philosophy of action are established areas of research. This book presents a com
The Pali tradition presents a diverse and often contradictory picture of women. This book examines women’s roles as they are described in the Pali canon and its commentaries. Taking into consideration
The colonial periods in Theravada Buddhist countries were important because they provided a shock to what were generally seen as declining Buddhist communities. This book analyses the conditions of Th
Recent decades have seen a groundswell in the Buddhist world, a transnational agitation for better opportunities for Buddhist women. This book describes the basic features of the Buddhist discourse of
This book addresses a key problem in the study of Buddhist meditation: The relationship between ‘insight practice’ (vipassana) and the attainment of the four jhanas (i.e., right samàdhi). It offers a
The topic of materiality has been the subject of a number of recent works in Religious Studies, including East Asian Buddhist Studies.This book analyses objects of power and their roles in people’s li
Recent scholarship has shown that the term ‘Theravada’ in the familiar modern sense is a 19-20th c. construct that emerged in response to modern historical conjunctures in South and Southeast Asia. Th
The imperialist ambitions of China – which invaded Tibet in the late 1940s – have sparked the spectacular spread of Tibetan Buddhism worldwide, and especially in western countries. This work is a stud
The Pali tradition presents a diverse and often contradictory picture of women. This book examines women’s roles as they are described in the Pali canon and its commentaries. Taking into consideration
A detailed exploration of the quest for liberation on the part of the early bhikkunis. Only text in the Buddhist tradition of known female authorship. Important to anyone investigating women's own per
This book analyses the transplantation, development and adaptation of the two largest Tibetan and Zen Buddhist organizations currently active on the British religious landscape: the New Kadampa Tradit
Based on newly discovered texts, this book explores the barely known but tremendously influential thought of the Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Mabja Jangchub Tsondru (d. 1185).This Tibetan Buddhist master
"Contextualising the seemingly esoteric and exotic aspects of Tibetan Buddhist culture within the everyday, embodied and sensual sphere of religious praxis, this book centres on the social and religio
This book contributes to the history of religions and Buddhist studies fields by focussing on what is a far too frequently ignored aspect of religious experience: visual images.
Emptiness means that all entities are empty of, or lack, inherent existence - entities have a merely conceptual, constructed existence. Though Nagarjuna advocates the Middle Way, his philosophy of emp
Since the Buddha did not fully explain the theory of persons that underlies his teaching, in later centuries a number of different interpretations were developed. This book presents the interpretation
Vastly different in belief and practice, two new Buddhist religious movements in Thailand, namely the Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke emerged in Thailand in the 1970s at a time of political uncert
Written by one of the world's top scholars in the field of Pali Buddhism, this new and updated edition of How Buddhism Began, discusses various important doctrines and themes in early Buddhism. It tak
Focusing on contemporary Tibetan Buddhist revivals in the Tibetan regions of the Sichuan and Qinghai Provinces in China, this book explores the intricate entanglements of the Buddhist revivals with cu
"The last century witnessed a gradual but profound transformation of the West's religious landscape. In today's context of diversity, people are often influenced by more than one religion. Buddhism an
This book describes and analyses the structure and performance of Tibetan Buddhist death rituals, and situates that performance within the wider context of Buddhist death practices generally. Drawing
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 tradi
This major new work explores the British encounter with Buddhism in nineteenth century Sri Lanka, examining the way Buddhism was represented and constructed in the eyes of the British scholars, offici
Weber's claim that Buddhism is an otherworldly religion is only partially true. Early sources indicate that the Buddha was sometimes diverted from supramundane interests to dwell on a variety of polit
Essays explore the world of Michael of Rhodes, examining the historical context, thediscovery of his manuscript, and Michael's knowledge of mathematics, shipbuilding, navigation, andother topics.
