Architects of Buddhist Leisure: Socially Disengaged Buddhism in Asia's Museums, Monuments, and Amusement Parks Contributor(s): McDaniel, Justin Thomas (Author), Rowe, Mark Michael (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0824865987 ISBN-13: 9780824865986 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press OUR PRICE: $76.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2016 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Architecture | Buildings - Public, Commercial & Industrial - Religion | Buddhism - General (see Also Philosophy - Buddhist) - Architecture | Criticism |
Dewey: 725.760 |
LCCN: 2016034121 |
Series: Contemporary Buddhism |
Physical Information: 1" H x 6.3" W x 9.1" (1.15 lbs) 240 pages |
Themes: - Religious Orientation - Buddhist - Cultural Region - Asian - Cultural Region - Southeast Asian - Cultural Region - Japanese - Cultural Region - East Asian |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Buddhism, often described as an austere religion that condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture in Asia. Creative religious improvisations designed by Buddhists have been produced both within and outside of monasteries across the region--in Nepal, Japan, Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Justin McDaniel looks at the growth of Asia's culture of Buddhist leisure--what he calls "socially disengaged Buddhism"--through a study of architects responsible for monuments, museums, amusement parks, and other sites. In conversation with noted theorists of material and visual culture and anthropologists of art, McDaniel argues that such sites highlight the importance of public, leisure, and spectacle culture from a Buddhist perspective and illustrate how "secular" and "religious," "public" and "private," are in many ways false binaries. Moreover, places like Lek Wiriyaphan's Sanctuary of Truth in Thailand, Suối Ti n Amusement Park in Saigon, and Shi Fa Zhao's multilevel museum/ritual space/tea house in Singapore reflect a growing Buddhist ecumenism built through repetitive affective encounters instead of didactic sermons and sectarian developments. They present different Buddhist traditions, images, and aesthetic expressions as united but not uniform, collected but not concise: Together they form a gathering, not a movement. |
Contributor Bio(s): McDaniel, Justin Thomas: - Justin Thomas McDaniel is professor of Buddhist studies and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.Rowe, Mark Michael: - Mark Michael Rowe is associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University. |