Seeding Buddhism With Multiculturalism The Transmission Of Sri Lankan Buddhism In Toronto

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Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism

Author : D. Mitra Barua
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0773557598
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (735 download)

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Book Synopsis Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism by : D. Mitra Barua

Download or read book Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism written by D. Mitra Barua and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2019-05-13 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immigrants often face considerable challenges when it comes to preserving their cultural and religious teachings. D. Mitra Barua argues that the Sri Lankan Buddhist community in Toronto has maintained its coherence and integrity not despite but because of the need for cultural adaptations. Drawing on survey data, over fifty in-depth interviews with temple monks, educators, parents, and children, and fieldwork conducted in Toronto and Colombo, Sri Lanka, Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism examines how a religious tradition is transmitted from one generation to the next in a new cultural setting, and what happens during that process of transmission. Barua demonstrates that Buddhists have passed on Buddhist beliefs, attitudes, and practices to their Canadian-born youth, who in turn have constructed their own distinct Buddhist identity, influenced by the individualistic, egalitarian, and secular cultural ambience in Toronto. Through creative fieldwork and translocal analysis – taking into account migrants' geographical, cultural, and familial ties to multiple locales – this book further explains that pre-migration experiences often shape and determine the success or failure of intergenerational transmission. An ethnographic religious study with an uncommon depth of perspective, Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism shows that first- and second-generation Sri Lankan Buddhists in Toronto are successfully practising Theravāda Buddhism within a Canadian context.

Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism

Author : D. Mitra Barua
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0773557601
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (735 download)

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Book Synopsis Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism by : D. Mitra Barua

Download or read book Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism written by D. Mitra Barua and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2019-05-13 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immigrants often face considerable challenges when it comes to preserving their cultural and religious teachings. D. Mitra Barua argues that the Sri Lankan Buddhist community in Toronto has maintained its coherence and integrity not despite but because of the need for cultural adaptations. Drawing on survey data, over fifty in-depth interviews with temple monks, educators, parents, and children, and fieldwork conducted in Toronto and Colombo, Sri Lanka, Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism examines how a religious tradition is transmitted from one generation to the next in a new cultural setting, and what happens during that process of transmission. Barua demonstrates that Buddhists have passed on Buddhist beliefs, attitudes, and practices to their Canadian-born youth, who in turn have constructed their own distinct Buddhist identity, influenced by the individualistic, egalitarian, and secular cultural ambience in Toronto. Through creative fieldwork and translocal analysis – taking into account migrants' geographical, cultural, and familial ties to multiple locales – this book further explains that pre-migration experiences often shape and determine the success or failure of intergenerational transmission. An ethnographic religious study with an uncommon depth of perspective, Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism shows that first- and second-generation Sri Lankan Buddhists in Toronto are successfully practising Theravāda Buddhism within a Canadian context.

The Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism

Author : Ann Gleig
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197539033
Total Pages : 561 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (975 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism by : Ann Gleig

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism written by Ann Gleig and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date scholarship available on Buddhism in America. It charts the history and diversity of Buddhist communities, including traditions and communities that have been previously neglected, and looks at the ways in which Buddhist practices such as mindfulness meditation have been adopted in non-Buddhist settings.

The Public Work of Christmas

Author : Pamela E. Klassen
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0773557954
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (735 download)

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Book Synopsis The Public Work of Christmas by : Pamela E. Klassen

Download or read book The Public Work of Christmas written by Pamela E. Klassen and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2019-06-15 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christmas is not a holiday just for Christians anymore, if it ever was. Embedded in calendars around the world and long a lucrative merchandising opportunity, Christmas enters multicultural, multi-religious public spaces, provoking both festivity and controversy, hospitality and hostility. The Public Work of Christmas provides a comparative historical and ethnographic perspective on the politics of Christmas in multicultural contexts ranging from a Jewish museum in Berlin to a shopping boulevard in Singapore. A seasonal celebration that is at once inclusive and assimilatory, Christmas offers a clarifying lens for considering the historical and ongoing intersections of multiculturalism, Christianity, and the nationalizing and racializing of religion. The essays gathered here examine how cathedrals, banquets, and carols serve as infrastructures of memory that hold up Christmas as a civic, yet unavoidably Christian holiday. At the same time, the authors show how the public work of Christmas depends on cultural forms that mark, mask, and resist the ongoing power of Christianity in the lives of Christians and non-Christians alike. Legislated into paid holidays and commodified into marketplaces, Christmas has arguably become more cultural than religious, making ever wider both its audience and the pool of workers who make it happen every year. The Public Work of Christmas articulates a fresh reading of Christmas – as fantasy, ethos, consumable product, site of memory, and terrain for the revival of exclusionary visions of nation and whiteness – at a time of renewed attention to the fragility of belonging in diverse societies. Contributors include Herman Bausinger (Tübingen), Marion Bowman (Open), Juliane Brauer (MPI Berlin), Simon Coleman (Toronto), Yaniv Feller (Wesleyan), Christian Marchetti (Tübingen), Helen Mo (Toronto), Katja Rakow (Utrecht), Sophie Reimers (Berlin), Tiina Sepp (Tartu), and Isaac Weiner (Ohio State).

Caught in the Current

Author : Sam Reimer
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0228017807
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Caught in the Current by : Sam Reimer

Download or read book Caught in the Current written by Sam Reimer and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2023-04-15 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evangelical Christianity is known for its defence of traditional Christian teachings and resistance to liberalizing trends. Many Western evangelicals themselves do not yet realize how their faith is being reshaped by the modern zeitgeist. Caught in the Current explores how and why Western evangelicals are changing. Church attendance is declining, conservative moral positions are unpopular, and young people are drifting away from the faith. Evangelism is avoided, so few are joining congregations. Yet these surface changes are only symptoms of a more profound shift that church leaders have not fully apprehended. Drawing upon 125 interviews with British and Canadian clergy and active laity, Sam Reimer argues that evangelicals have been deeply influenced by a post-Christian culture that has rejected institutional religious authority and embraced self-spirituality. As individual evangelicals struggle to navigate these waters, and to distance themselves from politicized evangelicalism in the United States, they are caught between conformity and resistance, between faithfulness to church moral teachings and accommodation of secular values. Many are responding by turning inward to define their Christian beliefs for themselves. The ironic result is that the decline of institutional religious authority is not happening just in Western culture, but within evangelical churches as well. Caught in the Current is an insightful and nuanced assessment of how British and Canadian evangelicals are navigating a post-Christian culture, often in ways that are distinct from how their counterparts in the United States approach it.

Prayer as Transgression?

Author : Sheryl Reimer-Kirkham
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0228002982
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Prayer as Transgression? by : Sheryl Reimer-Kirkham

Download or read book Prayer as Transgression? written by Sheryl Reimer-Kirkham and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2020-09-23 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Healthcare settings are notoriously complex places where life and death co-exist, and where suffering is an everyday occurrence, giving rise to existential questions. The full range of society's diversity is reflected in patients and staff. Increasing religious and ethnic plurality, alongside decades of secularizing trends, is bringing new attention to how religion and nonreligion are expressed in public spaces. Through critical ethnographic research in Vancouver and London, Prayer as Transgression? reveals how prayer occurs in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and community-based clinics in a variety of forms and circumstances. Prayer occurs quietly on the edges of day-to-day healthcare provision and in designated sacred spaces. Some requests for prayer, however, interrupt and transgress the clinical machinery of a hospital, such as when a patient asks for prayer from the chaplain while the operating room waits. With contributions by researchers, healthcare practitioners, and chaplains, the authors consider how prayer transgresses the clinical priorities that mark healthcare, opening up ways to think differently about institutional norms and social structures. They show how prayer highlights trends of secularization and sacralization in healthcare settings. They also consider the ambivalences about prayer arising from staff and patients' varied views on religion and spirituality, and their associated ethical concerns amidst clinical and workload demands. A window onto religion in the public sphere, Prayer as Transgression? tells much about how people live well together, even in the face of personal crises and fragilities, suffering, diversity, and social change.

Identities Under Construction

Author : Pamela Dickey Young
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0228002443
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Identities Under Construction by : Pamela Dickey Young

Download or read book Identities Under Construction written by Pamela Dickey Young and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing numbers of young adults are either nonreligious or "spiritual but not religious," but this does not signal a lack of interest in religion and meaning-making. Though the lexicon describing sexuality and gender is quickly evolving, young people do not yet have satisfactory language to describe their fluid religious and spiritual identities. In Identities Under Construction Pamela Dickey Young and Heather Shipley undertake a focused study of youth sexual, religious, and gender identity construction. Drawing from survey responses and interviews with nearly five hundred participants, they reveal that youth today consider their identities fluid and open to change. Young people do not limit themselves to singular identity categories, experiencing the choice of one religion, of maleness or femaleness, or of a fixed sexuality as confining. Although they recognize various forces at work in identity construction - parents, peers, the internet - they regard themselves as the authors of their own identities. For most of the young adults in the study, even those who are most traditionally religious, religious opinions and values should adapt to changing social mores to ensure that people are not judged for their sexual choices or identities. Further, they are not judgmental of others' choices, even if they would not make these choices for themselves. Engaging religion and sexuality studies in new ways, Identities Under Construction calls for a new grammar of religion that better captures lived realities at a time when religious choice has broadened beyond choosing a single organized religious tradition.

Relation and Resistance

Author : Sailaja Krishnamurti
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0228009731
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Relation and Resistance by : Sailaja Krishnamurti

Download or read book Relation and Resistance written by Sailaja Krishnamurti and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Canada, women’s bodies are often at the centre of debates about religious pluralism, multiculturalism, and secularism. Women have long played a critical role in building and maintaining diasporic religious communities and networks, and they have also been catalysts for change and transformation within religious groups and the wider community. Relation and Resistance explores the stories and lives of racialized women connected with religious diaspora communities in Canada. Contributors from across disciplines show how women are conceptualizing traditions in transformative ways, challenging prevailing assumptions about diasporic religion as nostalgically entrenched in the past. The collected essays include chapters on feminist and queer women thinking critically about Hindu and Muslim identities and beliefs and challenging anti-Black racism and settler colonialism; Afro-Caribbean and Métis writers using literature to explore religion and belonging; the impact of women’s participation in Japanese, Chinese, and Pakistani transnational religious organizations; and marriage, migration, and gender equality in the Punjabi Sikh and Malayali Christian communities. The volume closes with a chapter exploring Métis diasporic experience and inviting readers to think critically about diasporic religion on Indigenous land. An innovative and timely volume, Relation and Resistance reveals that a deeper understanding of women’s experiences of displacement, migration, race, and gender is critical to the study of religion in Canada.

Sacred Cyberspaces

Author : Oren Golan
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0228015197
Total Pages : 174 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Sacred Cyberspaces by : Oren Golan

Download or read book Sacred Cyberspaces written by Oren Golan and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2022-11-15 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years every major institution has had to adapt to the fast-evolving technologies of the digital age or risk being left behind. Amid a global crisis of faith and declining levels of religious participation in places around the world, the Catholic Church has likewise come face to face with the challenges and possibilities of new media. Sacred Cyberspaces reveals how long-standing conflicts over power, influence, and legitimacy within religious organizations are being waged in the digital realm. Oren Golan and Michele Martini describe the tensions that arise as religious groups seek to reach the faithful in online spaces where traditional clerical authorities have less expertise and control. Focusing on the Catholic world, they examine the rise of devotional digital entrepreneurship and the roles of lay religious webmasters: the video makers, app developers, and web designers who devote their lives to evangelization and who literally run the show. The book also explores the nature of religious experience as it pivots to online platforms: cyberculture, prayer, ceremonies, pilgrimage, proselytization, and the relation to the transcendental. From live-streaming at world-famous sites in the Holy Land to the Instagram feed of Pope Francis, Sacred Cyberspaces evaluates the contemporary media strategies of the Catholic Church and sheds light on the future of religion online.

Sacred as Secular

Author : Abdolmohammad Kazemipur
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0228009693
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Sacred as Secular by : Abdolmohammad Kazemipur

Download or read book Sacred as Secular written by Abdolmohammad Kazemipur and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2022-02-28 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debates about Islam and Muslim societies have intensified in the last four decades, triggered by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and, later, by the events of 9/11. Too often present in these debates are wrongheaded assumptions about the attachment of Muslims to their religion and the impossibility of secularism in the Muslim world. At the heart of these assumptions is the notion of Muslim exceptionalism: the idea that Muslims think, believe, and behave in ways that are fundamentally different from other faith communities. In Sacred as Secular Abdolmohammad Kazemipur attempts to debunk this flawed notion of Muslim exceptionalism by looking at religious trends in Iran since 1979. Drawing on a wide range of data and sources, including national social attitudes surveys collected since the 1970s, he examines developments in the spheres of politics and governance, schools and seminaries, contemporary philosophy, and the self-expressed beliefs and behaviours of Iranian men, women, and youth. He reveals that beneath Iran’s religious façade is a deep secularization that manifests not only in individual beliefs, but also in Iranian political philosophy, institutional and clerical structures, and intellectual life. Empirically and theoretically rich, Sacred as Secular looks at the place of religion in Iranian society from a sociological perspective, expanding the debate on secularism from a predominantly West-centric domain to the Muslim world.

Under Siege

Author : Jasmin Zine
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 022801218X
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Under Siege by : Jasmin Zine

Download or read book Under Siege written by Jasmin Zine and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 9/11 attacks in the United States, the subsequent global “war on terror,” and the proliferation of domestic security policies in Western nations have had a profound impact on the lives of young Muslims, whose identities and experiences have been shaped within and against these conditions. The millennial generation of Muslim youth has come of age in these turbulent times, dealing with the aftermath and backlash associated with these events. Under Siege explores the lives of Canadian Muslim youth belonging to the 9/11 generation as they navigate these fraught times of global war and terror. While many studies address contemporary manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism, few have focused on the toll this takes on Muslim communities, especially among younger generations. Based on in-depth interviews with more than 130 young people, youth workers, and community leaders, Jasmin Zine’s ethnographic study unpacks the dynamics of Islamophobia as a system of oppression and examines its impact on Canadian Muslim youth. Covering topics such as citizenship, identity and belonging, securitization, radicalization, campus culture in an age of empire, and subaltern Muslim counterpublics and resistance, Under Siege provides a unique and comprehensive examination of the complex realities of Muslim youth in a post-9/11 world. Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, Zine reveals how the global war on terror and heightened anti-Muslim racism have affected a generation of Canadians who were socialized into a world where their faith and identity are under siege.

The Subversive Evangelical

Author : Peter J. Schuurman
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0773558357
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (735 download)

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Book Synopsis The Subversive Evangelical by : Peter J. Schuurman

Download or read book The Subversive Evangelical written by Peter J. Schuurman and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2019-06-30 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evangelicals have been scandalized by their association with Donald Trump, their megachurches summarily dismissed as “religious Walmarts.” In The Subversive Evangelical Peter Schuurman shows how a growing group of “reflexive evangelicals” use irony to critique their own tradition and distinguish themselves from the stereotype of right-wing evangelicalism. Entering the Meeting House – an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch – as a participant observer, Schuurman discovers that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, Schuurman argues, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age. Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, Schuurman reveals a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.

Mindful leadership for sustainable peace

Author : Thich Duc Thien
Publisher : VIETNAM BUDDHIST UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS
ISBN 13 : 6048979266
Total Pages : 583 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (489 download)

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Book Synopsis Mindful leadership for sustainable peace by : Thich Duc Thien

Download or read book Mindful leadership for sustainable peace written by Thich Duc Thien and published by VIETNAM BUDDHIST UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS. This book was released on 2019-04-16 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND We are experiencing an unprecedented period where wide ranging and disruptive major global change is taking place around us. In this context, the theme of Mindful Leadership and Sustainable Development provides a point of reference and pathway for understanding the contemporary chaotic situations. These disruptive changes challenge our understanding and meaning of humanity and truly question whether or not, we are able to live in a society where justice, equality, peace, and prosperity abound. In the Buddhist light, a focus is placed on understanding the Buddhist teachings to develop solutions for dealing with these wide-ranging problems. Both the scope of change and the response from a Buddhist approach are core to the content of this volume. It is of paramount importance that any investigation and development of solutions for the changes taking place, require guidance from the Buddhist philosophy. As a starting point for discussion, an initial focus is placed on providing a thorough and critical understanding of the character and context of change. In doing so, we also seek to clarify and outline the nature of a Buddhist approach. In completing this review, it is productive to see that given the complex issues being dealt with, the papers do generate different frameworks and viewpoints within the broad term of “approach.” The frameworks based on the Buddha´s teachings are not fully fixed and agreed upon by all. Therefore, our term “approach” refers to a set of arrangements and viewpoints that act to inspire further discussion and development. Given the above context, this volume is a collection of conference papers presented and published for the panel on the first sub-theme of UNDV 2019 on Mindful Leadership for Sustainable Peace on 13 May 2019 at the Tam Chuc International Convention Center, Ha Nam, Vietnam. The panel commemorates the occasion of the 16th United Nations Day of Vesak Celebrations 2019. Through the contributions of participants and their papers at this workshop, this volume provides a diverse and rich range of thinking and wisdom rather than more traditional mainstream thinking or conventional wisdom. Treating the Buddha’s teachings as a basic theoretical reconstruction, we examine the relationships between societies and Buddhism. We combine the analyses of the conflicts, trends and dynamics affecting future global development with focused studies on a range of policy areas for improving societies. In the Buddhist light, our two most crucial aims in this period of disruption are to greatly increase the influence and impact of Buddhism as our foremost duty; and that the Buddhist responsibility contributes to creating a new foundation for Mindful Leadership and Sustainable Development.

Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment

Author : Ahmet T. Kuru
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108419097
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment by : Ahmet T. Kuru

Download or read book Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment written by Ahmet T. Kuru and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes Muslim countries' contemporary problems, particularly violence, authoritarianism, and underdevelopment, comparing their historical levels of development with Western Europe.

State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2016

Author : Peter Grant
Publisher : Minority Rights Group
ISBN 13 : 1907919805
Total Pages : 112 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (79 download)

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Book Synopsis State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2016 by : Peter Grant

Download or read book State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2016 written by Peter Grant and published by Minority Rights Group. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unique cultures of minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide – spanning a wide variety of customs and practices – are under threat. This year’s edition of State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples highlights the impact of land dispossession, forced assimilation and other forms of discrimination on the most fundamental aspects of their identity, including language, art, traditional knowledge and spirituality. But while the effects of this attrition can be devastating, minority and indigenous cultures have also been critical in strengthening communities and providing activists with a platform to fight for their rights. As this volume illustrates, ensuring that the cultural freedoms of minorities and indigenous peoples are protected is essential if their other rights are also to be respected.

Being a Buddhist Nun

Author : Kim Gutschow
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674038088
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Being a Buddhist Nun by : Kim Gutschow

Download or read book Being a Buddhist Nun written by Kim Gutschow and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They may shave their heads, don simple robes, and renounce materialism and worldly desires. But the women seeking enlightenment in a Buddhist nunnery high in the folds of Himalayan Kashmir invariably find themselves subject to the tyrannies of subsistence, subordination, and sexuality. Ultimately, Buddhist monasticism reflects the very world it is supposed to renounce. Butter and barley prove to be as critical to monastic life as merit and meditation. Kim Gutschow lived for more than three years among these women, collecting their stories, observing their ways, studying their lives. Her book offers the first ethnography of Tibetan Buddhist society from the perspective of its nuns. Gutschow depicts a gender hierarchy where nuns serve and monks direct, where monks bless the fields and kitchens while nuns toil in them. Monasteries may retain historical endowments and significant political and social power, yet global flows of capitalism, tourism, and feminism have begun to erode the balance of power between monks and nuns. Despite the obstacles of being considered impure and inferior, nuns engage in everyday forms of resistance to pursue their ascetic and personal goals. A richly textured picture of the little known culture of a Buddhist nunnery, the book offers moving narratives of nuns struggling with the Buddhist discipline of detachment. Its analysis of the way in which gender and sexuality construct ritual and social power provides valuable insight into the relationship between women and religion in South Asia today.

Handing Down the Light

Author : Fu Chi-Ying
Publisher : Buddha's Light Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781932293098
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Handing Down the Light by : Fu Chi-Ying

Download or read book Handing Down the Light written by Fu Chi-Ying and published by Buddha's Light Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master Hsing Yun has transformed the role of Chinese Buddhism in the modern world. Under his leadership large centers have been established in Taiwan, Los Angeles, and Sydney, along with a host of other organized groups throughout the world. Perhaps it is better to abandon the wish to explain greatness and simply look at the life story and delight in the lore and happenings. Like other persons of fame, Master Hsing Yun will never be completely explained. While recognition and support were given in extraordinary amounts, he had to overcome obstacles that would have defeated most people. The forces of history were not favorable for a young Chinese Buddhist monk in the mid-twentieth century. He survived and held to his career as spiritual teacher in the face of formidable odds. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment has been the courage to achieve great success and recognition without retreating from it. It has not been in his way to enjoy a peaceful life in a hermitage after achieving acceptance from a community of disciples. His energy and commitment seem as powerful today as they much have been when he arrived in Taiwan, a strikingly handsome and charismatic young monk. No future histories of Chinese Buddhism will be complete without reference to the influences of this leader. Book jacket.