First published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor &amp; Francis, an informa company.

Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo

Politics & Social Sciences

Gombrich, Richard

Sociology

Routledge

In this study a social and cultural anthropologist and a specialist in the study of religion pool their talents to examine recent changes in popular religion in Sri Lanka. As the Sinhalas themselves perceive it, Buddhism proper has always shared the religious arena with a spirit religion. While Buddhism concerns salvation, the spirit religion focuses on worldly welfare. Buddhism Transformed describes and analyzes the changes that have profoundly altered the character of Sinhala religion in both areas.

Buddhism Transformed

Obeyesekere, Gananath

Anthropology

Princeton University Press

Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka

Can studying Pali – the language of the earliest Buddhist texts – get us closer to what the Buddha actually said, in his very own words? In this short and brilliant book, Richard Gombrich suggests that this may well be possible … Richard Gombrich is Chair and Founding Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and one of the world’s leading authorities on early Buddhism. This book is the result of a lifetime’s dedication to the study and teaching of Pali.

Buddhism and Pali (Mud Pie Slices)

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

Mud Pie

Fo Guang Shan, Buddha's Light Mountain, is a Buddhist movement founded in Taiwan in 1967 and led by the Ven Hsing Yun (b.1927), who had fled to Taiwan from mainland China in 1949. It stands in the Chinese tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism and more specifically is a form of Buddhism which in English is usually referred to as Humanistic Buddhism or as engaged Buddhism. Humanistic Buddhism owes its origin to the Chinese monk Tai Xu (1890-1947). He found the Buddhism which surrounded him in China dreary and moribund, preoccupied with rituals for the dead, and offering nothing to help or guide people living in the world outside monasteries. His determination to reverse this decay centred on the idea that it was the vocation of a Mahayana Buddhist to do good to others, finding their own spiritual benefit in benefitting society. Hsing Yun has been a devoted disciple of Tai Xu. It is telling that he founded a seminary before he founded a monastery, and has laid huge emphasis on education. As the sub-title of this book indicates, in order to make Buddhism widely attractive and relevant he has incorporated every influence available. Gifted with a benign personality, he has turned his seemingly boundless energy and prodigious versatility to creating an institution which presents Buddhism as potentially a source for benefitting society through making life enjoyable. This book hopes to convey the movement's ethos primarily by focusing on his views and activities.

Chinese Buddhism Today: Conservatism, Modernism, Syncretism and Enjoying Life on the Buddha's Light Mountain (Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies Monographs)

Religion & Spirituality

Yao, Yu-Shuang

Buddhism

Equinox Publishing (UK)

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Books by Gombrich, Richard