Modern Thai Buddhism and Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu : a social history
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Modern Thai Buddhism and Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu : a social history
NUS Press, c2012
Available at 18 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-377) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1906-93) injected fresh life into Thai Buddhism by exploring and teaching little known transcendent aspects of the religion. His investigations excited both monks and lay people, and gave rise to vigourous discussion in shops, temple yards and newly founded Buddhist associations. While these discussions included serious exchanges on doctrine and practice, they also included jokes and light humour, criticisms of weak evidence for certain positions, and a defamation campaign arising from rumours that Buddhadasa was a communist sympathiser.
Much of this material was captured in Buddhist journals and in numerous “pocket books” aimed at a general audience. Departing from the classical method of studying Buddhism through philology, Tomomi Ito’s account of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu draws on this popular literature and on conversations with a broad spectrum of the people involved in these exchanges. The result is a lively intellectual and social history of contemporary Thai Buddhism built around the life of an exceptional monk who captured the interest of Buddhists pursuing spiritual depth in the context of the ideological conflicts of the Cold War.
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