Worldly engagements : Buddhist monasticism and masculinity among the Tai Lue of Southwest China / Roger Casas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Casas, Roger, author.

Series:

Contemporary Buddhism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Buddhist monks--Conduct of life.

Buddhist monks.

Buddhism--Discipline.

Buddhism.

Buddhism--Social aspects.

Masculinity--Religious aspects--Buddhism.

Masculinity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Other Title:

Buddhist monasticism and masculinity among the Tai Lue of Southwest China

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2026].

Summary:

"The Tai Lue of Sipsong Panna, located in China’s southern Yunnan province, is the largest community of Theravada Buddhists in a country where the Mahayana tradition is dominant. In recent decades, and in light of ever-increasing global connectivity and visibility online, the public participation of Tai Lue novices and monks in practices such as eating in the afternoon, drinking alcohol, having girlfriends, and competing in sports—all considered unfitting, even unacceptable, behavior for Buddhist monastics in China and Southeast Asia—has been evidenced as proof of the backwardness of this minority religious community. Worldly Engagements places such alleged misconduct at the center of its enquiry to demonstrate that, far from characterizing a corrupt form of practice, it represents an essential part of the monasticism traditionally prevalent in the region, an all-encompassing and amphibious technology of self-mastery inextricably embedded in the mundane and the non-religious—that is, a vernacular discipline concerned mainly with making boys into men. It is a rich portrayal of the temple experience as a site for Lue youths to negotiate demands from families, religious superiors, and peers, as well as navigate the challenges presented by national models of masculinity and the powerful influence of Thai Buddhism."-- From De Gruyter Brill.

Contents:

Vernacular monastic masculinities

Leaving home: the beginnings of a monastic career

The village in the temple

Transforming substance: monks and commensality

School days: vicissitudes of urban monastic education

Around the world: interactions with a translocal (imagined) community

Bao meets sao: Tai Lue monks and women

Back to the future: disrobing and the postmonastic stage.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed April 28, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Casas, Roger Worldly engagements

ISBN:

9798880700912

9798880700905

9798880700899

OCLC:

1546963706

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license