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Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand

 
Donald K. Swearer (Author)
Synopsis Becoming the Buddha is the first study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha imae 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.
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About the author

Donald K. Swearer

Donald K. Swearer is Professor and Chair of Religion at Swarthmore College. He has written Buddhism and Society in South-east Asia, For the Sake of the World, and with Patrick Henry, Spirit of Buddhism and Christian Monasticism.

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Bibliographic information

Title Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand
Format Hardcover
Date published: 18.07.2007
Edition 1st ed.
Language: English
isbn 9788120831094
length xviii+332p., Glossary.