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The Ordination of a Tree

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Release : 2012-11-15
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 664/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Ordination of a Tree by : Susan M. Darlington

Download or read book The Ordination of a Tree written by Susan M. Darlington. This book was released on 2012-11-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thai Buddhist monks wrap orange clerical robes around trees to protect forests. "Ordaining" a tree is a provocative ritual that has become the symbol of a small but influential monastic movement aimed at reversing environmental degradation and the unsustainable economic development and consumerism that fuel it. This book examines the evolution of this movement from the late 1980s to the present, exploring the tree ordination and other rituals used to resist destructive national projects. Susan M. Darlington explores monks' motivations, showing how they interpret their lived religion as the basis of their actions, and provides an in-depth portrait of activist monk Phrakhru Pitak Nanthakhun. The obstacles monks face, including damage to their reputations, arrest, and even assassination, reveal the difficulty of enacting social justice. Even the tree ordination itself must now withstand its appropriation for state projects. Despite this, monks have gone from individual action to a loosely allied movement that now works with nongovernmental organizations. This is a fascinating, firsthand account of engaged Buddhism.

Teachers of Enlightenment

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Release : 2014-05-13
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 412/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Teachers of Enlightenment by : Kulananda

Download or read book Teachers of Enlightenment written by Kulananda. This book was released on 2014-05-13. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Refuge Tree is a symbol of the highest ideals of Buddhism, a traditional image in the Tibetan tradition that takes different forms in different schools. On the refuge tree are formal teachers from Buddhism's history. The Refuge Tree of the Triratna Buddhist Order founded by Sangharakshita includes figures from India, Tibet, China and Japan as well as archetypal Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the teachers whose guidance helped to shape Sangharakshita's understanding of Buddhism.

Theravada Traditions

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Release : 2017-03-31
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 452/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Theravada Traditions by : John Clifford Holt

Download or read book Theravada Traditions written by John Clifford Holt. This book was released on 2017-03-31. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theravada Traditions offers a unique comparative approach to understanding Buddhism: it examines popular rituals of central importance in the predominantly Theravada Buddhist cultures of Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Instead of focusing on how religious ideas have impacted the ideals of government or ethical practice, author John Holt tries to ascertain how important changes, or shifts, in the trajectories of the political economies of societies have impacted the character of religious cultures. Each of the five chapters focuses on a particular rite and provides detailed historical, political, or social context: Holt shows how worship of the Phra Bang Buddha image in the annual pi mai or New Year’s rites in Luang Phrabang, Laos, has changed dramatically since the 1975 communist revolution and the subsequent opening up of the country to tourism; he describes how, in the face of insurrections and a prolonged civil war, the annual asala perahara processions in Kandy, Sri Lanka, have come to reflect a robust assertion of a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist identity; how ordination rites among Thai Buddhists reflect the manner in which Thai culture has been ever more “commodified” in the context of its dramatically developing economy; and how in tightly controlled Myanmar the kathina rite, the act of giving new robes to members of the sangha after the completion of the rain-retreat season, transformed into a season of campaigning for gift-giving and merit-making; finally, he demonstrates how, in light of the devastating losses inflicted by the Khmer Rouge, pchum ben, the annual rite of caring ritually for one’s deceased kin, became the most popular and perhaps most emotionally observed of all rites in the Khmer calendar year. In short, Theravada Traditions illustrates how popular, public ritual performance, far from being static, clearly indexes patterns of social and political change. Broad but deep, rigorous yet accessible, this rich, innovative volume provides a provocative introduction to the practice of Theravada Buddhism and the nature of social change in contemporary Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Religious Tourism in Northern Thailand

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Release : 2021-06-18
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 931/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Religious Tourism in Northern Thailand by : Brooke Schedneck

Download or read book Religious Tourism in Northern Thailand written by Brooke Schedneck. This book was released on 2021-06-18. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Temples are everywhere in Chiang Mai, filled with tourists as well as saffron-robed monks of all ages. The monks participate in daily urban life here as elsewhere in Thailand, where Buddhism is promoted, protected, and valued as a tourist attraction. Yet this mountain city offers more than a fleeting, commodified tourist experience, as the encounters between foreign visitors and Buddhist monks can have long-lasting effects on both parties. These religious contacts take place where economic motives, missionary zeal, and opportunities for cultural exchange coincide. Brooke Schedneck incorporates fieldwork and interviews with student monks and tourists to examine the innovative ways that Thai Buddhist temples offer foreign visitors spaces for religious instruction and popular in-person Monk Chat sessions in which tourists ask questions about Buddhism. Religious Tourism in Northern Thailand also considers how Thai monks perceive other religions and cultures and how they represent their own religion when interacting with tourists, resulting in a revealing study of how religious traditions adapt to an era of globalization.

A Person is Like a Tree

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Release : 2000
Genre : Nature
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 286/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis A Person is Like a Tree by : Yitzhak Buxbaum

Download or read book A Person is Like a Tree written by Yitzhak Buxbaum. This book was released on 2000. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Person Is Like a Tree: A Sourcebook for Tu BeShvat is the only sourcebook available for celebrating the Jewish holiday of Tu BeShvat, also traditionally known as the "New Year of the Trees." The Tu BeShvat seder, created by kabbalists in sixteenth century Safed in Israel, is similar to the Passover seder and involves drinking four cups of wine and eating a great variety of fruits. The kabbalists sought, by their eating of fruit at the seder, to make a mystical tikkun (fixing) to repair the sin of Adam and Eve in eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Yitzhak Buxbaum, the author of this sourcebook, notes that whereas most Jewish holidays are biblical in origin, and while Chanukah and Purim were instituted by the ancient rabbis. "Tu BeShvat is the only holiday ordained by the kabbalists."

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