Buddhism Beyond the Monastery

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Mr. G
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Buddhism Beyond the Monastery

Post by Mr. G »

Buddhism Beyond the Monastery: Tantric Practices and their Performers in Tibet and the Himalayas. Edited by Susan Jacoby and Antonio Terrone. Leiden: Brill, 2009, 202 pages, ISBN 978-90-04-17600-3

Buddhism Beyond the Monastery collects seven articles, each of which looks
at the practice of non-monastic Buddhism in Tibet. In their introduction,
Jacoby and Terrone define non-monastic Buddhism as “popular beliefs,
customs, communal gatherings, festivals and ceremonies, and religious
rituals typically performed by non-celibate religious professionals” (1).
This volume, therefore, includes within its purview practices as
disparate as rituals for community prosperity, spirit mediumship,
treasure revelation, and tantric sexual practices. While these practices
touch on many different aspects of Tibetan religiosity, they are united in
being performed by individuals who have not been ordained as Buddhist
monks. Despite the importance of such practices and practitioners to
Tibetan life, these aspects of non-celibate Tibetan Buddhism have
remained little studied, especially when compared with the voluminous
literature dedicated to understanding celibate monastic philosophies
and practices. Buddhism Beyond the Monastery not only calls attention to
this lacuna, but for a slim volume of 202 pages, does an impressive job of
filling it.

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  • How foolish you are,
    grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention!
    - Vasubandhu
Arnoud
Posts: 1005
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:19 pm
Location: Benelux, then USA, now Southern Europe.

Re: Buddhism Beyond the Monastery

Post by Arnoud »

Here is a link to one of the articles in there:

http://www.religion.northwestern.edu/fa ... libate.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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