ebooks Spirits of the Place: Buddhism and Lao Religious Culture by John Clifford Holt in History

Description

Buddhism; often described as an austere religion that condemns desire; promotes denial; and idealizes the contemplative life; actually has a thriving leisure culture in Asia. Creative religious improvisations designed by Buddhists have been produced both within and outside of monasteries across the region―in Nepal; Japan; Korea; Macau; Hong Kong; Singapore; Laos; Thailand; and Vietnam. Justin McDaniel looks at the growth of Asia’s culture of Buddhist leisure―what he calls “socially disengaged Buddhism”―through a study of architects responsible for monuments; museums; amusement parks; and other sites. In conversation with noted theorists of material and visual culture and anthropologists of art; McDaniel argues that such sites highlight the importance of public; leisure; and spectacle culture from a Buddhist perspective and illustrate how “secular” and “religious;” “public” and “private;” are in many ways false binaries. Moreover; places like Lek Wiriyaphan’s Sanctuary of Truth in Thailand; Suối Tiên Amusement Park in Saigon; and Shi Fa Zhao’s multilevel museum/ritual space/tea house in Singapore reflect a growing Buddhist ecumenism built through repetitive affective encounters instead of didactic sermons and sectarian developments. They present different Buddhist traditions; images; and aesthetic expressions as united but not uniform; collected but not concise: Together they form a gathering; not a movement.Despite the ingenuity of lay and ordained visionaries like Wiriyaphan and Zhao and their colleagues Kenzo Tange; Chan-soo Park; Tadao Ando; and others discussed in this book; creators of Buddhist leisure sites often face problems along the way. Parks and museums are complex adaptive systems that are changed and influenced by budgets; available materials; local and global economic conditions; and visitors. Architects must often compromise and settle at local optima; and no matter what they intend; their buildings will develop lives of their own. Provocative and theoretically innovative; Architects of Buddhist Leisure asks readers to question the very category of “religious” architecture. It challenges current methodological approaches in religious studies and speaks to a broad audience interested in modern art; architecture; religion; anthropology; and material culture.