A01=Donald K. Swearer
Amulet
Arhat
Asceticism
Author_Donald K. Swearer
Bangkok
Bhikkhu
Bodhi Tree
Bodhisattva
Brahma
Buddhaghosa
Buddhahood
Buddhism
Buddhism in Thailand
Buddhist art
Buddhist cosmology
Buddhist texts
Buddhology
Cambodia
Category=QRF
Ceremony
Cetiya
Consecration
Deity
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
Dharma
Dukkha
Early Buddhism
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Equanimity
Faxian
Five Dhyani Buddhas
Four sights
Gautama Buddha
Hinduism
Historical Vedic religion
Holy water
Impermanence
Jetavana
Laity
Maitreya
Monastery
Monasticism
Mucalinda
Noble Eightfold Path
Northern Thailand
Omniscience
Ordination
Paramita
Paritta
Recitation
Refuge (Buddhism)
Reincarnation
Relic
Religion
Religious text
Reliquary
Renunciation
Rite
Sanctification
Sanskrit
Sentient beings (Buddhism)
Sermon
Sri Lanka
Supernatural
Thailand
The Buddhist (TV channel)
The Venerable
Uposatha
Veneration
Vinaya
Worship
Xuanzang
Yantra
Product details
- ISBN 9780691114354
- Weight: 652g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 15 Feb 2004
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Becoming the Buddha is the first book-length study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha image or "new Buddha," a ceremony by which the Buddha becomes present or alive. Through a richly detailed, accessible exploration of this ritual in northern Thailand, an exploration that stands apart from standard text-based or anthropological approaches, Donald Swearer makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Buddha image, its role in Buddhist devotional life, and its relationship to the veneration of Buddha relics. Blending ethnography, analysis, and Buddhist texts related to this mimetic reenactment of the night of the Buddha's enlightenment, he demonstrates that the image becomes the Buddha's surrogate by being invested with the Buddha's story and charged with the extraordinary power of Buddhahood. The process by which this transformation occurs through chant, sermon, meditation, and the presence of charismatic monks is at the heart of this book. Known as "opening the eyes of the Buddha," image consecration traditions throughout Buddhist Asia share much in common.
Within the cultural context of northern Thailand, Becoming the Buddha illuminates scriptural accounts of the making of the first Buddha image; looks at debates over the ritual's historical origin, at Buddhological insights achieved, and at the hermeneutics of absence and presence; and provides a thematic comparison of several Buddhist traditions.
Donald K. Swearer is the Charles & Harriet Cox McDowell Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Swarthmore College. His recent books include "The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia" and "The Legend of Queen Cama".
