Simas : : Foundations of Buddhist Religion / / ed. by Jason A. Carbine, Erik W. Davis.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English
• MitwirkendeR: Bhikkhu, Nagasena,; Carbine, Jason A.,; Crosby, Kate,; Davis, Erik W.,; Guthrie, Elizabeth,; Hoeur, Chhuon,; Kent, Alexandra,; Kieffer-Pülz, Petra,; Kobayashi, Satoru,; Lovenheim Irwin, Anthony,; Marston, John A.,; Murphy, Stephen A.,; Newhall, Thomas,; Pattaratorn Chirapravati, M. L,; Sheravanichkul, Arthid,; Work, Courtney,
• HerausgeberIn: Carbine, Jason A.,; Davis, Erik W.,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (408 p.) :; 19 b&w illustrations

Human-fashioned boundaries transform spaces by introducing dualisms, bifurcations, creative symbioses, contradictions, and notions of inclusion and exclusion. The Buddhist boundaries considered in this book, sīmās—a term found in South and Southeast Asian languages and later translated into East Asian languages—come in various shapes and sizes and can be established on land or in bodies of water. Sometimes, the word sīmā refers not only to a ceremonial boundary, but the space enclosed by the boundary, or even the markers (when they are used) that denote the boundary.Sīmās were established early on as places where core legal acts (kamma), including ordination, of the monastic community (sangha) took place according to their disciplinary codes. Sīmās continue to be deployed in the creation of monastic lineages and to function in diverse ways for monastics and non-monastics alike. As foundations of Buddhist religion, sīmās are used to sustain, revitalize, or reform Buddhist practices, notions of identity, and conceptualizations of time and history. In the last few decades, scholarly awareness of and expertise on sīmās has developed to a point where a volume like this one, which examines sīmās across numerous cultural contexts and scholarly fields of inquiry, is both possible and needed. Sīmā traditions expressed in the Theravāda cultures of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka constitute the dominant focus of the work; a chapter on East Asia raises questions of historical transmission beyond these areas. Throughout contributors engage texts; history; archaeology; politics; art; ecology; economics; epigraphy; legal categories; mythic narratives; understandings of the cosmos; and conceptualizations of compassion, authority, and violence.Examining sīmās through multiple perspectives allows us to look at them in their contextual specificity, in a way that allows for discernment of variation as well as consistency. Sīmā spaces can be both simple and extremely intricate, and this book helps show why and how that is the case.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Conventions -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: Buddhist Sīmās across Time and Place -- 1 Sīmā Basics from Buddha to Burma -- Part I Histories: Stones, Places, People -- 2 Rituals Set in Stone: Tracing the Archaeological Evidence for the Sīmā Stone Tradition in Southeast Asia -- 3 The Development of Ordination Platforms (jietan 戒壇) in China: The Translation and Interpretation of Sīmā in East Asia from the Third to Seventh Centuries -- 4 Reflections on the Boundary Markers and the New Buddhist Lineage: The Mahā-sīmā at Wat Rajapradit Sathitmahasimaram by King Rama IV (r. 1851–1868) -- 5 Changing Sīmā, Changing World -- Part II Contemporary Practices: Focus on Cambodia -- 6 Lines of Influence around Cambodia’s Buddhist Temples -- 7 Regenerating Ancient Sīmās: A Study of Buddhist Places of Worship in Rural Cambodia -- 8 Sīmās as Assemblages of Territorial Imagination in Cambodia -- 9 Stones of Spirits and Kings: Negotiating Land Grabs in Contemporary Cambodia -- Part III Textual Traditions: Creating, Embracing, Defending Boundaries -- 10 Analysis of Sīmās (Boundaries) -- 11 King Rāmādhipati, Prime Minister U Nu, and the Kalyāṇī Sīmā: Constructing and Overcoming Others -- 12 Flawed or Deliberately Altered Readings? Two Quotations from the Vajirabuddhiṭīkā in the Sīmālakkhaṇadīpanī -- Bibliography -- Contributors -- Index