| Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Layman: A Study of Urban Monastic Organization in Central Thailand Contributor(s): Bunnag, Jane (Author) |
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ISBN: 0521040647 ISBN-13: 9780521040648 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $39.89 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2007 Annotation: Most anthropological and sociological studies of Buddhism have concentrated on village and rural Buddhism. This is a systematic anthropological study of monastic organization and monk-layman interaction in a purely urban context in the countries where Theravada Buddhism is practised, namely, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Laos and Thailand. The material presented is based on fieldwork carried out in Ayutthaya, Central Thailand. Dr Bunnag describes and analyses the socio-economic and ritual relations existing between the monk and the lay community, and she demonstrates the way in which the role of the monk is used by some men, wittingly or otherwise, as a social stepping-stone, in that for the son of a farmer a period in the monkhood can provide the education and contacts necessary to facilitate his assimilation into the urban lay community at a social and economic level which would otherwise have been impossible. Finally, Dr Bunnag places the material presented in a broader theoretical context by reviewing it in relation to anthropological discussions concerning the nature of Thai society as a whole. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Buddhism - General (see Also Philosophy - Buddhist) - Social Science | Anthropology - General - Philosophy | History & Surveys - General |
| Dewey: 294.365 |
| Series: Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology |
| Physical Information: 0.53" H x 6" W x 9" (0.76 lbs) 232 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Buddhist |