Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand

Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand PDF Author: Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description

Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand

Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand PDF Author: Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description


Buddhism and the spirit cults in north east Thailand

Buddhism and the spirit cults in north east Thailand PDF Author: Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description


Spirits of the Place

Spirits of the Place PDF Author: John Clifford Holt
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824833279
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Spirits of the Place is a rare and timely contribution to our understanding of religious culture in Laos and Southeast Asia. Most often studied as a part of Thai, Vietnamese, or Khmer history, Laos remains a terra incognita to most Westerners—and to many of the people living throughout Asia as well. John Holt’s new book brings this fascinating nation into focus. With its overview of Lao Buddhism and analysis of how shifting political power—from royalty to democracy to communism—has impacted Lao religious culture, the book offers an integrated account of the entwined political and religious history of Laos from the fourteenth century to the contemporary era. Holt advances the provocative argument that common Lao knowledge of important aspects of Theravada Buddhist thought and practice has been heavily conditioned by an indigenous religious culture dominated by the veneration of phi, spirits whose powers are thought to prevail over and within specific social and geographical domains. The enduring influence of traditional spirit cults in Lao culture and society has brought about major changes in how the figure of the Buddha and the powers associated with Buddhist temples and reliquaries—indeed how all ritual spaces and times—have been understood by the Lao. Despite vigorous attempts by Buddhist royalty, French rationalists, and most recently by communist ideologues to eliminate the worship of phi, spirit cults have not been displaced; they continue to persist and show no signs of abating. Not only have the spirits resisted eradication, but they have withstood synthesis, subordination, and transformation by Buddhist political and ecclesiastical powers. Rather than reduce Buddhist religious culture to a set of simple commonalities, Holt takes a comparative approach, using his nearly thirty years’ experience with Sri Lanka to elucidate what is unique about Lao Buddhism. This stimulating book invites students in the fields of the history of religion and Buddhist and Southeast Asian studies to take a fresh look at prevailing assumptions and perhaps reconsider the place of Buddhism in Laos and Southeast Asia.

Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand

Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand PDF Author: S. J. Tambiah
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521099585
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
Dr Tambiah describes the religious practices and beliefs of the people of a remote village in north-east Thailand, relating them to the wider context of the civilization in which they are embedded, and examining the relationship of the religious practices of the villagers to the classical Buddhist tradition. Because they have based their studies on the Sanskrit and Pali literature, Western observers have tended to dismiss much of the popular manifestation of Buddhism as debased. Dr Tambiah demonstrates that this judgement is misleading, and emphasizes that the contemporary village religion that he describes manifests continuities as well as transformations with respect to the classical literary tradition. The village religion is described primarily through ritual.

The Modern Anthropology of South-East Asia

The Modern Anthropology of South-East Asia PDF Author: Victor T. King
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415297523
Category : Anthropology
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
This is the first comprehensive introduction to the social and cultural anthropology of South-East Asia. It provides an overview of the major theoretical issues and themes which have emerged from the engagement of anthropologists with South-East Asian communities; a succinct historical survey and analysis of the peoples and cultures of the region. Most importantly the volume reveals the vitally important role which the study of the area has occupied in the development of the concepts and methods of anthropology: from the perspectives of Edmund Leach to Clifford Geertz, Maurice Freedman to Claude Levi-Strauss; Lauriston Sharp to Melford Spiro.

Religion in Relation

Religion in Relation PDF Author: Ivan Strenski
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780872498662
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description


Religion and Societies

Religion and Societies PDF Author: Carlo Caldarola
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110823535
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 697

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Book Description
The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems – both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.

Practical Buddhism among the Thai-Lao

Practical Buddhism among the Thai-Lao PDF Author: Yukio Hayashi
Publisher: ISBS
ISBN: 9784876984541
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
"This volume is an ethnography describing the dynamics of practical Buddhism among the Thai-Lao who reside in northeast Thailand, focusing on the historical process of village formation and socio-cultural changes within and surrounding the village life-world." --p. 1.

Childbirth and Tradition in Northeast Thailand

Childbirth and Tradition in Northeast Thailand PDF Author: Anders Poulsen
Publisher: NIAS Press
ISBN: 8776940039
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This beautifully illustrated volume offers a rare study of Isan-Thai customs and beliefs associated with pregnancy and birth and how they have changed over almost half a century. Using a psychological and socio-therapeutic framework, Anders Poulsen discusses the function of various birth rites while giving an unmatched description of all traditions specifically connected to pregnancy and birth. He includes an interesting description of the tradition of confinement by fire (yuu fai) and documents that it is still widely practiced, contrary to what has been reported. He also puts forward a theory of why some traditions maintain their importance while others fade away. The findings of this study are supported by the transcription in Isan (and translated in to English) of the ritual texts that are used in these rites.

Development Monks in Northeast Thailand

Development Monks in Northeast Thailand PDF Author: Phinit Lāpthanānon
Publisher: Apollo Books
ISBN: 9781920901394
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
This study examines the role of Buddhist monks as development agents in rural Thailand. Through 20 years of field studies, and with a focus on Northeast Thailand (which is known as Isan and long classified as the poorest region of Thailand), author Pinit Lapthananon investigates development in contemporary Thailand. Although development monks form a small percentage of the monks in Isan, or in Thailand as a whole, their actions have been highly visible in Thai society for more than five decades, and they have helped to maintain a balance between modernization and traditional culture. The book examines the role of Buddhism, investigates religious and socioeconomic activities, and probes the changing approach to development - with an emphasis on economic growth to support both social and human development, self-sufficiency, community participation and empowerment, and the revitalization of traditional knowledge and folk wisdom. The Role of Development Monks in Northeast Thailand will help in understanding the process of development and social change in Isan society. (Series: Kyoto Area Studies on Asia - Vol. 22)