The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, 2001 - Religion - 397 pages
Max Weber's ideas have had enormous influence in theoretical sociology. But what he wrote about Asia has more often been cited by specialists to illustrate his errors rather than to derive inspiration. This collection of essays both engages with Max Weber's work, and attempts to use his general approach, combined with detailed ethnography from Nepal and Japan, to attack critical questions in the anthropology and sociology of Buddhism and Hinduism. These range from the relationship of Buddhist religious specialists (monks and priests) to shamanic practitioners, to the way in which Brahmanical ideals have spread through history and are expressed in a traditional Hindu city, to the question of how to frame sociological comparisons between similar religious systems in different cultures.

Contents

Max Weber Capitalism and the Religion of India
19
What is the Anthropology of Buddhism About?
45
Remarks on
61
Newar Religion in the
85
Monkhood and Priesthood in Newar Buddhism
106
A Text and its
179
The Context
197
Lay Perspectives on Health and Misfortune in
235
From Mandalic Sacred Centres to Communist
276
Does Symbolism Construct an Urban Mesocosm?
293
The Position of Buddhism in
319
Observations
336
References
348
Copyright

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About the author (2001)

David N.GellnerSenior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, department of Human SciencesBrunel University.

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