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Becoming the Buddha : The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand / Donald K. Swearer.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series ; 13Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©2004Description: 1 online resource (352 p.) : 21 halftonesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691216027
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 294.3438 22
LOC classification:
  • BQ4990.T4 S98 2004eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- PREFACE -- NOTE AND ABBREVIATIONS -- PART I -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1. BUDDHA AND BUDDHA IMAGE -- CHAPTER 2. MEETING THE BUDDHA: TEMPLE, IMAGE, AND RELIC -- CHAPTER 3. CONSTRUCTING A BUDDHA IMAGE -- PART II -- CHAPTER 4. THE RITUAL: OPENING THE EYES OF THE BUDDHA -- CHAPTER 5. INSTRUCTING THE IMAGE -- CHAPTER 6. EMPOWERING THE IMAGE -- PART III -- CHAPTER 7. THE BODY OF THE BUDDHA: POPULAR BUDDHISM -- CHAPTER 8. CONSECRATION TRADITIONS IN OTHER BUDDHIST CULTURES: REASSESSING THE BUDDHABHISEKA -- EPILOGUE: IF YOU MEET THE BUDDHA, KILL HIM! -- NOTES -- GLOSSARY OF SELECTED PĀLI AND THAI TERMS -- SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX
Summary: Becoming the Buddha is the first book-length study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha image or "new Buddha," a ceremony by which the Buddha becomes present or alive. Through a richly detailed, accessible exploration of this ritual in northern Thailand, an exploration that stands apart from standard text-based or anthropological approaches, Donald Swearer makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Buddha image, its role in Buddhist devotional life, and its relationship to the veneration of Buddha relics. Blending ethnography, analysis, and Buddhist texts related to this mimetic reenactment of the night of the Buddha's enlightenment, he demonstrates that the image becomes the Buddha's surrogate by being invested with the Buddha's story and charged with the extraordinary power of Buddhahood. The process by which this transformation occurs through chant, sermon, meditation, and the presence of charismatic monks is at the heart of this book. Known as "opening the eyes of the Buddha," image consecration traditions throughout Buddhist Asia share much in common. Within the cultural context of northern Thailand, Becoming the Buddha illuminates scriptural accounts of the making of the first Buddha image; looks at debates over the ritual's historical origin, at Buddhological insights achieved, and at the hermeneutics of absence and presence; and provides a thematic comparison of several Buddhist traditions.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780691216027

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- PREFACE -- NOTE AND ABBREVIATIONS -- PART I -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1. BUDDHA AND BUDDHA IMAGE -- CHAPTER 2. MEETING THE BUDDHA: TEMPLE, IMAGE, AND RELIC -- CHAPTER 3. CONSTRUCTING A BUDDHA IMAGE -- PART II -- CHAPTER 4. THE RITUAL: OPENING THE EYES OF THE BUDDHA -- CHAPTER 5. INSTRUCTING THE IMAGE -- CHAPTER 6. EMPOWERING THE IMAGE -- PART III -- CHAPTER 7. THE BODY OF THE BUDDHA: POPULAR BUDDHISM -- CHAPTER 8. CONSECRATION TRADITIONS IN OTHER BUDDHIST CULTURES: REASSESSING THE BUDDHABHISEKA -- EPILOGUE: IF YOU MEET THE BUDDHA, KILL HIM! -- NOTES -- GLOSSARY OF SELECTED PĀLI AND THAI TERMS -- SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Becoming the Buddha is the first book-length study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha image or "new Buddha," a ceremony by which the Buddha becomes present or alive. Through a richly detailed, accessible exploration of this ritual in northern Thailand, an exploration that stands apart from standard text-based or anthropological approaches, Donald Swearer makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Buddha image, its role in Buddhist devotional life, and its relationship to the veneration of Buddha relics. Blending ethnography, analysis, and Buddhist texts related to this mimetic reenactment of the night of the Buddha's enlightenment, he demonstrates that the image becomes the Buddha's surrogate by being invested with the Buddha's story and charged with the extraordinary power of Buddhahood. The process by which this transformation occurs through chant, sermon, meditation, and the presence of charismatic monks is at the heart of this book. Known as "opening the eyes of the Buddha," image consecration traditions throughout Buddhist Asia share much in common. Within the cultural context of northern Thailand, Becoming the Buddha illuminates scriptural accounts of the making of the first Buddha image; looks at debates over the ritual's historical origin, at Buddhological insights achieved, and at the hermeneutics of absence and presence; and provides a thematic comparison of several Buddhist traditions.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Jul 2021)