Studying Buddhism in Practice (Studying Religions in Practice)

Book Details

• Author: John S. Harding

• Publisher: Routledge

• Language: English

• Edition: 1st Edition

• ISBN: 9780415464864

• Pages: 200

• Cover: Paperback

• Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches

• Format: Illustrated

About The Book

This book introduces the rich and diverse realities of the Buddhist tradition through engaging personal narratives and academic approaches. John S. Harding takes readers on a reflective journey, exploring the practices of Buddhism through the eyes of those who experience it firsthand. Drawing from his fieldwork in Buddhist communities, the book offers a comprehensive and engaging look at Buddhist rituals, practices, and cultural contexts, from ordination and pilgrimage to gender roles and funerals. The text highlights the intersection of scholarly study and lived experiences, providing a multi-dimensional approach to understanding the Buddhist tradition.

The book is richly illustrated, with photographs accompanying each entry, enhancing the reader's understanding of the practices and their significance. Each section is thoughtfully presented with suggestions for further reading, making it a valuable resource for students, scholars, and those interested in Buddhism. The narratives cover a broad spectrum of Buddhist countries and traditions, bringing to light the cultural diversity of Buddhist practices and their importance to practitioners worldwide.

Review

"This volume assembles interesting and colorful pictures of Buddhism as actually practiced by ordinary and ordained people alike. The first-person narratives by long-term specialists draw the reader into sites such as towns and villages, temples and pagodas, funeral grounds and pilgrimage treks. The informative accounts underscore the cultural diversity of Buddhist practices and the importance they hold for the practitioners."
— Martin Baumann, University of Lucerne, Switzerland

"This text stands out with its unique dual focus on Buddhist practices and on the practices of those who study Buddhism. Readers will learn much from the contributors’ descriptions of an array of Buddhist rituals and frank reflections on the scholarly methods they have deployed in their fieldwork around the world."
— Christopher Ives, Stonehill College, USA

"In less than 200 pages, this book succeeds in achieving its aims, providing a pioneering and rich account of contemporary Buddhism around the world. Its pedagogical value is clear, but the book’s worth is more than that of a teaching tool. This publication will certainly attract the attention and interest of specialists of Buddhism and, more broadly, sociologists of religion who will also be interested both in the diversity and complexity of Buddhism across different contexts and in the interdisciplinary dimension of the study of religious phenomena that this book illustrates and promotes."
— Florence Galmiche, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France