Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750-1900

Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750-1900

Author: Kitsiri Malalgoda

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-12-22

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0520324463

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This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.


Book Synopsis Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750-1900 by : Kitsiri Malalgoda

Download or read book Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750-1900 written by Kitsiri Malalgoda and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-12-22 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.


Buddhism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka

Buddhism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka

Author: Patrick Grant

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2009-01-05

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 0791493679

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Patrick Grant explores the relationship between Buddhism and violent ethnic conflict in modern Sri Lanka using the concept of "regressive inversion." Regressive inversion occurs when universal teaching, such as that of the Buddha, is redeployed to supercharge passions associated with the kinds of group loyalty that the universal teaching itself intends to transcend. The book begins with an account of the main teachings of Theravada Buddhism and looks at how these inform, or fail to inform, modern interpreters. Grant considers the writings of three key figures—Anagarika Dharmapala, Walpola Rahula, and J. R. Jayewardene—who addressed Buddhism and politics in the years leading up to Sri Lanka's political independence from Britain, and subsequently, in postcolonial Sri Lanka. This book makes the Sri Lankan conflict accessible to readers interested in the modern global phenomenon of ethnic violence involving religion and also illuminates similar conflicts around the world.


Book Synopsis Buddhism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka by : Patrick Grant

Download or read book Buddhism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka written by Patrick Grant and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2009-01-05 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patrick Grant explores the relationship between Buddhism and violent ethnic conflict in modern Sri Lanka using the concept of "regressive inversion." Regressive inversion occurs when universal teaching, such as that of the Buddha, is redeployed to supercharge passions associated with the kinds of group loyalty that the universal teaching itself intends to transcend. The book begins with an account of the main teachings of Theravada Buddhism and looks at how these inform, or fail to inform, modern interpreters. Grant considers the writings of three key figures—Anagarika Dharmapala, Walpola Rahula, and J. R. Jayewardene—who addressed Buddhism and politics in the years leading up to Sri Lanka's political independence from Britain, and subsequently, in postcolonial Sri Lanka. This book makes the Sri Lankan conflict accessible to readers interested in the modern global phenomenon of ethnic violence involving religion and also illuminates similar conflicts around the world.


Sri Lanka in the Modern Age

Sri Lanka in the Modern Age

Author: Nira Wickramasinghe

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014-01-03

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0190257555

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Sri Lanka in the Modern Age recounts the modern history of the island in an accessible yet unconventional manner. Where other histories have tended to focus on the state's failure to accommodate the needs and demands of minority communities, Wickramasinghe places their claims alongside the political, social and economic demands of other communities, parties, associations and groups, tracing their lineages to the colonial period. This updated second edition carries the book into the present, covering the brutal end of Sri Lanka's civil war and the making of oppressive stability that has grown in its wake. Drawing on recent work as well as on her own research in the field, Wickramasinghe has written above all a history of the people of Sri Lanka rather than a history of the nation-state.


Book Synopsis Sri Lanka in the Modern Age by : Nira Wickramasinghe

Download or read book Sri Lanka in the Modern Age written by Nira Wickramasinghe and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-03 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sri Lanka in the Modern Age recounts the modern history of the island in an accessible yet unconventional manner. Where other histories have tended to focus on the state's failure to accommodate the needs and demands of minority communities, Wickramasinghe places their claims alongside the political, social and economic demands of other communities, parties, associations and groups, tracing their lineages to the colonial period. This updated second edition carries the book into the present, covering the brutal end of Sri Lanka's civil war and the making of oppressive stability that has grown in its wake. Drawing on recent work as well as on her own research in the field, Wickramasinghe has written above all a history of the people of Sri Lanka rather than a history of the nation-state.


The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka

The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka

Author: George Doherty Bond

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 9788120810471

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In 1956, Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka and throughout Southeast Asia celebrated the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha`s entry into Nirvana and of the establishment of the Buddhist tradition. This book examines this revival of Theravada Buddhism among the laity of Sri Lanka, analysing its origins and its growth up to the present-day. Within the spectrum of reinterpretations that have comprised the revival, the book focuses on four important types or patterns of reinterpretation and response. It examines the rational reformism of the early Protestant Buddhists led by Anagarika Dharmapala and the conservative neotraditionalism of the Jayanti period.Particular attention is given to two of the most recent and dynamic reforms, the insight meditation movement, breaking with tradition, has opened the path of meditation to lay people, enabling them to seek Nirvana without renouncing the world. The sarvodaya Shramadana movement has addressed the social context, reinterpreting the Buddhist heritage to derive authentic forms of Buddhist social development. Comprising this series of interpretations and options for lay Buddhists, the Buddhist revival represents a new gradual path to Nirvana.


Book Synopsis The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka by : George Doherty Bond

Download or read book The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka written by George Doherty Bond and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. This book was released on 1992 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1956, Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka and throughout Southeast Asia celebrated the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha`s entry into Nirvana and of the establishment of the Buddhist tradition. This book examines this revival of Theravada Buddhism among the laity of Sri Lanka, analysing its origins and its growth up to the present-day. Within the spectrum of reinterpretations that have comprised the revival, the book focuses on four important types or patterns of reinterpretation and response. It examines the rational reformism of the early Protestant Buddhists led by Anagarika Dharmapala and the conservative neotraditionalism of the Jayanti period.Particular attention is given to two of the most recent and dynamic reforms, the insight meditation movement, breaking with tradition, has opened the path of meditation to lay people, enabling them to seek Nirvana without renouncing the world. The sarvodaya Shramadana movement has addressed the social context, reinterpreting the Buddhist heritage to derive authentic forms of Buddhist social development. Comprising this series of interpretations and options for lay Buddhists, the Buddhist revival represents a new gradual path to Nirvana.


The Buddha in Sri Lanka

The Buddha in Sri Lanka

Author: Gananath Obeyesekere

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-08-07

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1351592254

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This book examines culture, religion and polity in the context of Buddhism. Gananath Obeyesekere, one of the foremost analytical voices from South Asia develops Freud’s notion of ‘dream work’, the ‘work of culture’ and ideas of no-self (anatta) to understand Buddhism in contemporary Sri Lanka. This work offers a restorative interpretation of Buddhist myths in contrast to the perspective involving deconstruction. The book deals with a range of themes connected with Buddhism, including oral traditions and stories, the religious pantheon, philosophy, emotions, reform movements, questions of identity and culture, and issues of modernity. This fascinating volume will greatly interest students, teachers and researchers of religion and philosophy, especially Buddhism, ethics, cultural studies, social and cultural anthropology, Sri Lanka and modern South Asian history.


Book Synopsis The Buddha in Sri Lanka by : Gananath Obeyesekere

Download or read book The Buddha in Sri Lanka written by Gananath Obeyesekere and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-08-07 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines culture, religion and polity in the context of Buddhism. Gananath Obeyesekere, one of the foremost analytical voices from South Asia develops Freud’s notion of ‘dream work’, the ‘work of culture’ and ideas of no-self (anatta) to understand Buddhism in contemporary Sri Lanka. This work offers a restorative interpretation of Buddhist myths in contrast to the perspective involving deconstruction. The book deals with a range of themes connected with Buddhism, including oral traditions and stories, the religious pantheon, philosophy, emotions, reform movements, questions of identity and culture, and issues of modernity. This fascinating volume will greatly interest students, teachers and researchers of religion and philosophy, especially Buddhism, ethics, cultural studies, social and cultural anthropology, Sri Lanka and modern South Asian history.


Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia

Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia

Author: R. Michael Feener

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2018-01-31

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0824882415

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Over the last few decades historians and other scholars have succeeded in identifying diverse patterns of connection linking religious communities across Asia and beyond. Yet despite the fruits of this specialist research, scholars in the subfields of Islamic and Buddhist studies have rarely engaged with each other to share investigative approaches and methods of interpretation. This volume was conceived to open up new spaces of creative interaction between scholars in both fields that will increase our understanding of the circulation and localization of religious texts, institutional models, ritual practices, and literary specialists. The book’s approach is to scrutinize one major dimension of the history of religion in Southern Asia: religious orders. “Orders” (here referring to Sufi ṭarīqas and Buddhist monastic and other ritual lineages) established means by which far-flung local communities could come to be recognized and engaged as part of a broader world of co-religionists, while presenting their particular religious traditions and their human representatives as attractive and authoritative to potential new communities of devotees. Contributors to the volume direct their attention toward analogous developments mutually illuminating for both fields of study. Some explain how certain orders took shape in Southern Asia over the course of the nineteenth century, contextualizing these institutional developments in relation to local and transregional political formations, shifting literary and ritual preferences, and trade connections. Others show how the circulation of people, ideas, texts, objects, and practices across Southern Asia, a region in which both Buddhism and Islam have a long and substantial presence, brought diverse currents of internal reform and notions of ritual and lineage purity to the region. All chapters draw readers’ attention to the fact that networked persons were not always strongly institutionalized and often moved through Southern Asia and developed local bases without the oversight of complex corporate organizations. Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia brings cutting-edge research to bear on conversations about how “orders” have functioned within these two traditions to expand and sustain transregional religious networks. It will help to develop a better understanding of the complex roles played by religious networks in the history of Southern Asia.


Book Synopsis Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia by : R. Michael Feener

Download or read book Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia written by R. Michael Feener and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2018-01-31 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last few decades historians and other scholars have succeeded in identifying diverse patterns of connection linking religious communities across Asia and beyond. Yet despite the fruits of this specialist research, scholars in the subfields of Islamic and Buddhist studies have rarely engaged with each other to share investigative approaches and methods of interpretation. This volume was conceived to open up new spaces of creative interaction between scholars in both fields that will increase our understanding of the circulation and localization of religious texts, institutional models, ritual practices, and literary specialists. The book’s approach is to scrutinize one major dimension of the history of religion in Southern Asia: religious orders. “Orders” (here referring to Sufi ṭarīqas and Buddhist monastic and other ritual lineages) established means by which far-flung local communities could come to be recognized and engaged as part of a broader world of co-religionists, while presenting their particular religious traditions and their human representatives as attractive and authoritative to potential new communities of devotees. Contributors to the volume direct their attention toward analogous developments mutually illuminating for both fields of study. Some explain how certain orders took shape in Southern Asia over the course of the nineteenth century, contextualizing these institutional developments in relation to local and transregional political formations, shifting literary and ritual preferences, and trade connections. Others show how the circulation of people, ideas, texts, objects, and practices across Southern Asia, a region in which both Buddhism and Islam have a long and substantial presence, brought diverse currents of internal reform and notions of ritual and lineage purity to the region. All chapters draw readers’ attention to the fact that networked persons were not always strongly institutionalized and often moved through Southern Asia and developed local bases without the oversight of complex corporate organizations. Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia brings cutting-edge research to bear on conversations about how “orders” have functioned within these two traditions to expand and sustain transregional religious networks. It will help to develop a better understanding of the complex roles played by religious networks in the history of Southern Asia.


Reaping The Whirlwind

Reaping The Whirlwind

Author: K M de Silva

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2000-10-14

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9351184285

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A critical analysis of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka In the eighties, Sri Lanka, once considered the ‘model’ colony, was torn apart by ethnic strife between the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalas, constituting almost threequarters of the island’s inhabitants, and the numerically fewer Tamils, who were a mix of Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Massacres occurred after the riots of May 1983, and over time about 1,25,000 Tamils entered India as refugees, fleeing from a virtual civil war which still afflicts the north of the island. The author, a renowned Sri Lankan analyst of global ethnic conflict, discusses the historical reasons behind the ethnic violence, especially the growth of the Sinhalas’ feeling of being a beleagured minority despite their numerical strength. Analysing the present conflict, he shows how the language policy of ‘Sinhala Only’, followed by the government in the sixties, supplanted religion as a divisive factor and how rivalry over educational and employment opportunities fuelled the schism. Bringing the story up to the present, de Silva examines the role played by Indian and Tamil Nadu politicians, and President Kumaratunga’s efforts towards a devolution of power to the Tamil Provinces. But given the LTTE’s acceptance of nothing less than Eelam, he sees little hope of an early end to the violence that has racked Sri Lanka for almost two decades now.


Book Synopsis Reaping The Whirlwind by : K M de Silva

Download or read book Reaping The Whirlwind written by K M de Silva and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2000-10-14 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical analysis of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka In the eighties, Sri Lanka, once considered the ‘model’ colony, was torn apart by ethnic strife between the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalas, constituting almost threequarters of the island’s inhabitants, and the numerically fewer Tamils, who were a mix of Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Massacres occurred after the riots of May 1983, and over time about 1,25,000 Tamils entered India as refugees, fleeing from a virtual civil war which still afflicts the north of the island. The author, a renowned Sri Lankan analyst of global ethnic conflict, discusses the historical reasons behind the ethnic violence, especially the growth of the Sinhalas’ feeling of being a beleagured minority despite their numerical strength. Analysing the present conflict, he shows how the language policy of ‘Sinhala Only’, followed by the government in the sixties, supplanted religion as a divisive factor and how rivalry over educational and employment opportunities fuelled the schism. Bringing the story up to the present, de Silva examines the role played by Indian and Tamil Nadu politicians, and President Kumaratunga’s efforts towards a devolution of power to the Tamil Provinces. But given the LTTE’s acceptance of nothing less than Eelam, he sees little hope of an early end to the violence that has racked Sri Lanka for almost two decades now.


Crime Justice Society in Colonial Sri Lanka

Crime Justice Society in Colonial Sri Lanka

Author: John D Rogers

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-25

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1000143945

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This book explores the aspects of the history of crime in Sri Lanka during British colonial rule. It attempts to place crime within its economic, political, social, and cultural settings to contribute to an understanding of modern South Asia.


Book Synopsis Crime Justice Society in Colonial Sri Lanka by : John D Rogers

Download or read book Crime Justice Society in Colonial Sri Lanka written by John D Rogers and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-25 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the aspects of the history of crime in Sri Lanka during British colonial rule. It attempts to place crime within its economic, political, social, and cultural settings to contribute to an understanding of modern South Asia.


Buddhist Fundamentalism and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka

Buddhist Fundamentalism and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka

Author: Tessa J. Bartholomeusz

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1998-07-10

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0791495868

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Buddhist Fundamentalism and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka explores Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalist ideology and its power to shape the identities of Sri Lanka's ethnic and religious minorities. Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalists in contemporary Sri Lanka share an ideology that asserts a vital link between the island of Sri Lanka and the Sinhala people, especially in their role as curators of Buddhism, and often at the exclusion of the minorities. Minority responses to Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism are manifold, ranging from assimilation to the formation of rival fundamentalisms. The authors provide views of history markedly different from most scholarly reflections on Sri Lanka; thus, the history of shifting perceptions of Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism offered here constitutes an important contribution to the subaltern history of Sri Lanka. By treating both the development of Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism in the late nineteenth century and its hegemony in the late twentieth, this study links the present to the past.


Book Synopsis Buddhist Fundamentalism and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka by : Tessa J. Bartholomeusz

Download or read book Buddhist Fundamentalism and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka written by Tessa J. Bartholomeusz and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1998-07-10 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhist Fundamentalism and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka explores Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalist ideology and its power to shape the identities of Sri Lanka's ethnic and religious minorities. Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalists in contemporary Sri Lanka share an ideology that asserts a vital link between the island of Sri Lanka and the Sinhala people, especially in their role as curators of Buddhism, and often at the exclusion of the minorities. Minority responses to Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism are manifold, ranging from assimilation to the formation of rival fundamentalisms. The authors provide views of history markedly different from most scholarly reflections on Sri Lanka; thus, the history of shifting perceptions of Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism offered here constitutes an important contribution to the subaltern history of Sri Lanka. By treating both the development of Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism in the late nineteenth century and its hegemony in the late twentieth, this study links the present to the past.


Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter

Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter

Author: Elizabeth Harris

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-04-18

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1134196253

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This major new work explores the British encounter with Buddhism in nineteenth century Sri Lanka, examining the way Buddhism was represented and constructed in the eyes of the British scholars, officials, travellers and religious seekers who first encountered it. Tracing the three main historical phases of the encounter from 1796 to 1900, the book provides a sensitive and nuanced exegesis of the cultural and political influences that shaped the early British understanding of Buddhism and that would condition its subsequent transmission to the West. Expanding our understanding of inter-religious relations between Christians and Buddhists, the book fills a significant gap in the scholarship on Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka by concentrating on missionary writings and presenting a thorough exploration of original materials of several important pioneers in Buddhist studies and mission studies.


Book Synopsis Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter by : Elizabeth Harris

Download or read book Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter written by Elizabeth Harris and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-04-18 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This major new work explores the British encounter with Buddhism in nineteenth century Sri Lanka, examining the way Buddhism was represented and constructed in the eyes of the British scholars, officials, travellers and religious seekers who first encountered it. Tracing the three main historical phases of the encounter from 1796 to 1900, the book provides a sensitive and nuanced exegesis of the cultural and political influences that shaped the early British understanding of Buddhism and that would condition its subsequent transmission to the West. Expanding our understanding of inter-religious relations between Christians and Buddhists, the book fills a significant gap in the scholarship on Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka by concentrating on missionary writings and presenting a thorough exploration of original materials of several important pioneers in Buddhist studies and mission studies.