Rebuilding Buddhism
Rebuilding Buddhism describes in evocative detail the experiences and achievements of Nepalis who have adopted Theravada Buddhism. This form of Buddhism was introduced into Nepal from Burma and Sri Lanka in the 1930s, and its adherents have struggled for recognition and acceptance ever since. With its focus on the austere figure of the monk and the biography of the historical Buddha, and more recently with its emphasis on individualizing meditation and on gender equality, Theravada Buddhism...
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Rebuilding Buddhism describes in evocative detail the experiences and achievements of Nepalis who have adopted Theravada Buddhism. This form of Buddhism was introduced into Nepal from Burma and Sri Lanka in the 1930s, and its adherents have struggled for recognition and acceptance ever since. With its focus on the austere figure of the monk and the biography of the historical Buddha, and more recently with its emphasis on individualizing meditation and on gender equality, Theravada Buddhism contrasts sharply with the highly ritualized Tantric Buddhism traditionally practiced in the Kathmandu Valley.Based on extensive fieldwork, interviews, and historical reconstruction, the book provides a rich portrait of the different ways of being a Nepali Buddhist over the past seventy years. At the same time it explores the impact of the Theravada movement and what its gradual success has meant for Buddhism, for society, and for men and women in Nepal. Buddhadharma [The authors’] careful research and thoughtful analysis focus on the perceptible life of this movement in society, rather than doctrines or ideas. As such, this study of the contrasts and occasional conflicts between the growing Theravada movement and the established tantric tradition reveals much about the dynamic life of Buddhism in a changing world.
1Introduction : the origins of modernist Buddhism12Theravada missionaries in an autocratic state243Creating a tradition564Charisma and education : Dhammawati and the nuns' order after 1963765The changing Buddhist laity996Organizing and educating the monastic community1307Raising the status of nuns : the controversy over Bhikkhuni ordination1718Winds of change : meditation and social activism2079Other Buddhist revival movements : Tibetan "Mahayana" and Newar "Vajrayana"24110Conclusion : Nepal's Theravadins in the twenty-first century268App. 1Dramatis Personae : some prominent personalities in the Theravada movement293App. 2Complete list of Theravada Viharas in Nepal297
\ Buddhadharma[The authors’] careful research and thoughtful analysis focus on the perceptible life of this movement in society, rather than doctrines or ideas. As such, this study of the contrasts and occasional conflicts between the growing Theravada movement and the established tantric tradition reveals much about the dynamic life of Buddhism in a changing world.\ \ \
