Among one of the older sub-fields in Buddhist Studies, the study of Theravada Buddhism is undergoing a revival by contemporary scholars who are revising long-held conventional views of the tradition while undertaking new approaches and engaging new subject matter.
Among one of the older subfields in Buddhist Studies, the study of Theravada Buddhism is undergoing a revival by contemporary scholars who are revising long-held conventional views of the tradition while undertaking new approaches and engaging new subject matter. The term Theravada has been refined, and research has expanded beyond the analysis of canonical texts to examine contemporary cultural forms, social movements linked with meditation practices, material culture, and vernacular language texts. The Routledge Handbook of Theravada Buddhism illustrates the growth and new directions of scholarship in the study of Theravada Buddhism and is structured in four parts:
- Ideas/Ideals
- Practices/Persons
- Texts/Teachings
- Images/Imaginations
Owing largely to the continued vitality of Theravada Buddhist communities in countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, as well as in diaspora communities across the globe, traditions associated with what is commonly (and fairly recently) called Theravada attract considerable attention from scholars and practitioners around the world. An in-depth guide to the distinctive features of Theravada, the Handbook will be an invaluable resource for providing structure and guidance for scholars and students of Asian Religion, Buddhism and, in particular, Theravada Buddhism.
The introduction and chapter 20 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Introduction PART I Ideas/Ideals
1. "THERAVDA": Sectarianism and
Diversity in Mahvihra Historiography
2. PLI: Its Place in the Theravda
Buddhist Tradition
3. CIRCULATIONS: Linked Spaces and Divergent Temporalities
in the Pli World
4. STATECRAFT: From Buddhist Kingship to Modern States
5.
REFORM: Ideas and Events in Modern Theravda Reformism
6. TRADITION: Nuns and
"Theravda" in Sri Lanka PART II Practices/Persons
7. MERIT: Ritual Giving
and Its Cultural Meditations
8. MEDITATION: Techniques and Processes of
Transformation
9. REPETITION: Pli Iterations of Ritual Commitment,
Commentarial Refrain, and Assiduous Practice
10. FILIAL PIETY: Shades of
Difference across Theravdin traditions
11. LAITY: Status, Role and Practice
in Theravda
12. DISCIPLINE: Beyond the Vinaya
13. FUNERALS: Changing
Funerary Practices PART III Texts/Teachings
14. CANONS: Authoritative Texts
of the Theravasa
15. ABHIDHAMMA: Theravda Thought in Relation to
Sarvstivda Thought
16. VASA: History and Lineage in the Theravda
17.
MERIT: Ten Ways of Making Merit in Theravda Exegetical Literature and
Contemporary Sri Lanka
18. BILINGUALISM: Theravda Bitexts across South and
Southeast Asia PART IV Images/Imaginations
19. VISUAL NARRATIVES: Buddha
Life Stories in the Medieval Theravda of Southeast Asia
20. ICONS:
Standing out from the Narrative in Theravdin Art
21. AFFECT: Notes from
Contemporary Southeast Asian Visual Culture
22. DEITIES: Supernatural Forces
in Theravda Buddhist Religious Cultures
23. MONS: Creating a Narrative of
the Origins of Theravda
Stephen C. Berkwitz is Professor and Head of the Department of Religious Studies, Missouri State University, USA. His research is focused on the literature and cultural history of Sri Lankan Buddhism. He has published South Asian Buddhism: A Survey (Routledge 2009) and is the editor of the Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism series.
Ashley Thompson is Hiram W. Woodward Chair in Southeast Asian Art at SOAS, University of London, UK. She is a specialist in Southeast Asian Cultural Histories, with particular expertise on premodern Cambodian arts. Her most recent monograph is Engendering the Buddhist State: Territory, Sovereignty and Sexual Difference in the Inventions of Angkor (Routledge 2016).
