Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series

Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism Richard M. Jaffe

Buddhism comes in many forms, but in Japan it stands apart from all the rest in one most striking way--the monks get married. In Neither Monk nor Layman, the most comprehensive study of this topic in any language, Richard Jaffe...

The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Sōtō Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan Duncan Ryūken Williams

Popular understanding of Zen Buddhism typically involves a stereotyped image of isolated individuals in meditation, contemplating nothingness. This book presents the "other side of Zen," by examining the movement's explosive growth...

Relics of the Buddha John S. Strong

Buddhism is popularly seen as a religion stressing the truth of impermanence. How, then, to account for the long-standing veneration, in Asian Buddhist communities, of bone fragments, hair, teeth, and other bodily bits said to come from...

Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand Donald K. Swearer

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...

The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture John Kieschnick

From the first century, when Buddhism entered China, the foreign religion shaped Chinese philosophy, beliefs, and ritual. At the same time, Buddhism had a profound effect on the material world of the Chinese. This wide-ranging study...

The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender Bernard Faure

Innumerable studies have appeared in recent decades about practically every aspect of women's lives in Western societies. The few such works on Buddhism have been quite limited in scope. In The Power of Denial, Bernard Faure takes an...

Buddhist Learning and Textual Practice in Eighteenth-Century Lankan Monastic Culture Anne M. Blackburn

Anne Blackburn explores the emergence of a predominant Buddhist monastic culture in eighteenth-century Sri Lanka, while asking larger questions about the place of monasticism and education in the creation of religious and national...

The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality Bernard Faure

Is there a Buddhist discourse on sex? In this innovative study, Bernard Faure reveals Buddhism's paradoxical attitudes toward sexuality. His remarkably broad range covers the entire geography of this religion, and its long evolution...