Burning for the Buddha : self-immolation in Chinese Buddhism / James A. Benn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benn, James A., 1964-

Contributor:

John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

Series:

Studies in East Asian Buddhism ; no. 19.

Studies in East Asian Buddhism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self-immolation--Religious aspects--Buddhism.

Self-immolation.

Self-immolation--China.

Buddhism--China--Customs and practices.

Buddhism.

China.

Physical Description:

xiii, 360 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, [2007]

Summary:

Burning for the Buddha is the first booklength study of the theory and practice of "abandoning the body" (self-immolation) in Chinese Buddhism. It examines the hagiographical accounts of all those who made offerings of their own bodies and places them in historical, social, cultural, and doctrinal context. Rather than privilege the doctrinal and exegetical interpretations of the tradition, which assume the central importance of the mind and its cultivation, James Benn focuses on the ways in which the heroic ideals of the bodhisattva present in scriptural materials such as the Lotus Sutra played out in the realm of religious practice on the ground.

Contents:

Introduction

"Mounting the smoke with glittering colors": self-immolation in early medieval China

The Lotus Sūtra, auto-cremation, and the indestructible tongue

Saṃgha and the state: the power(s) of self-immolation

Is self-immolation a "good practice"? Yongming Yanshou on relinquishing the body

Local heroes in a fragmenting empire: self-immolation in the late Tang and five dynasties

One thousand years of self-immolation

Conclusion.

Notes:

"A Kuroda Institute book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-345) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

ISBN:

9780824829926

0824829921

OCLC:

74964720

Publisher Number:

99936668571