Monks, Money, and Morality : The Balancing Act of Contemporary Buddhism.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brumann, Christoph.

Contributor:

Abrahms-Kavunenko, Saskia.

Switek, Beata.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Buddhism--Economic aspects.

Buddhism.

Buddhism--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (265 pages)

Other Title:

Monks, Money, and Morality

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2021.

Summary:

Vibrantly engaging contemporary Buddhist lives, this book focuses on the material and financial relations of contemporary monks, temples, and laypeople. It shows that rather than being peripheral, economic exchanges are key to religious debate in Buddhist societies. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in countries ranging from India to Japan, including all three major Buddhist traditions, the book addresses the flows of goods and services between clergy and laity, the management of resources, the treatment of money, and the role of the state in temple economies. Along with documenting ritual and economic practices, these accounts deal with the moral challenges that Buddhist adherents are facing today, thereby bringing lived experience to the study of an often-romanticized religion.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Sangha Economies Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko, Christoph Brumann, and Beata Świtek

PART ONE Reciprocity, Money, and Trust

1 Economic Agency and the Spirit of Donation: The Commercialization of Buddhist Services in Japan Beata Świtek

2 Merit, “Corruption,” and Economy in the Contemporary Thai Sangha Thomas Borchert

3 Ritual Virtuosity, Large-Scale Priest-Patron Networks, and the Ethics of Remunerated Ritual Services in Northeast Tibet Nicolas Sihlé

4 “Bad” Monks and Unworthy Donors: Money, (Mis)trust, and the Disruption of Sangha-Laity Relations in Shangri-La Hannah Rosa Klepeis

PART TWO Beyond Reciprocity

5 Donations Inversed: Material Flows From Sangha to Laity in Post-Soviet Buryatia Kristina Jonutytė

6 Exorcising Mauss’s Ghost in the Western Himalayas: Buddhist Giving as Collective Work Martin Mills

PART THREE Managing Temples and Monasteries

7 Monks and the Morality of Exchange: Reflections on a Village Temple Case in Southwest China Roger Casas

8 Wealthy Mendicants: The Balancing Act of Sri Lankan Forest Monks Prabhath Sirisena

9 Monastic Business Expansion in Post-Mao Tibet: Risk, Trust, and Perception Jane Caple

PART FOUR Capitalism, Decline, and Rebirth

10 Regeneration and the Age of Decline: Purification and Rebirth in Mongolian Buddhist Economies Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko

11 Saintly Entrepreneurialism and Political Aspirations of Theravadin Saints in Mainland Southeast Asia Alexander Horstmann

Notes

Bibliography

Notes on Contributors

Index Generated by AI.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

ISBN:

9781350213784

1350213780

1-350-21377-2

OCLC:

1228202027