Routledge Handbook of Theravada Buddhism

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 Stephen C. Berkwitz & Ashley Thompson PART I – Ideas/Ideals "THERAVADA": Sectarianism and Diversity in Mahavihara Historiography Sven Bretfeld PALI: Its Place in the Theravada Buddhist Tradition Alastair Gornall CIRCULATIONS: Linked Spaces and Divergent Temporalities in the Pali World Anne M. Blackburn STATECRAFT: From Buddhist Kingship to Modern States Patrice Ladwig REFORM: Ideas and Events in Modern Theravada Reformism Anne Hansen & Anthony Lovenheim Irwin TRADITION: Nuns and "Theravada" in Sri Lanka Nirmala Salgado PART II – Practices/Persons MERIT: Ritual Giving and Its Cultural Meditations Juliane Schober MEDITATION: Techniques and Processes of Transformation Pyi Phyo Kyaw & Kate Crosby REPETITION: Pali Iterations of Ritual Commitment, Commentarial Refrain, and Assiduous Practice Christoph Emmrich FILIAL PIETY: Shades of Difference across Theravadin traditions Gregory Kourilsky LAITY: Status, Role and Practice in Theravada Asanga Tilakaratne DISCIPLINE: Beyond the Vinaya Thomas Borchert FUNERALS: Changing Funerary Practices Katherine Bowie PART III – Texts/Teachings CANONS: Authoritative Texts of the Therava?sa Peter Skilling ABHIDHAMMA: Theravada Thought in Relation to Sarvastivada Thought Rupert Gethin VA?SA: History and Lineage in the Theravada Stephen C. Berkwitz MERIT: Ten Ways of Making Merit in Theravada Exegetical Literature and Contemporary Sri Lanka Rita Langer BILINGUALISM: Theravada Bitexts across South and Southeast Asia Trent Walker PART IV – Images/Imaginations VISUAL NARRATIVES: Buddha Life Stories in the ‘Medieval Theravada’ of Southeast Asia Samerchai Poolsuwan ICONS: Standing out from the Narrative in Theravadin Art Ashley Thompson AFFECT: Notes from Contemporary Southeast Asian Visual Culture Chairat Polmuk DEITIES: Supernatural Forces in Theravada Buddhist Religious Cultures John Holt MONS: Creating a Narrative of the Origins of Theravada Patrick McCormick

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).