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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benn, James A., 1964-

Series:

Studies in East Asian Buddhism ; no. 19.

Kuroda Institute studies in East Asian Buddhism ; no. 19

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self-immolation--Religious aspects--Buddhism.

Self-immolation.

Self-immolation--China.

Buddhism--China--Customs and practices.

Buddhism.

Physical Description:

xiii, 360 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Burning for the Buddha is the first book-length 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 Sutra, auto-cremation, and the indestructible tongue

Samgha 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:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

"A Kuroda Institute book."

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

ISBN:

9780824861735

0824861736

9781435665958

1435665953

OCLC:

256467719