BECOMING THE BUDDHA. The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand.

Swearer, Donald K.

About this Item

Princeton / Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2004. 2nd printing 332 pp. halfcloth with dustjacket . Becoming the Buddha is the first book-length study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha image or new Buddha, a ceremony by which the Buddha becomes present or alive. Through a richly detailed, accessible exploration of this ritual in northern Thailand, an exploration that stands apart from standard text-based or anthropological approaches, Donald Swearer makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Buddha image, its role in Buddhist devotional life, and its relationship to the veneration of Buddha relics. Blending ethnography, analysis, and Buddhist texts related to this mimetic reenactment of the night of the Buddha's enlightenment, he demonstrates that the image becomes the Buddha's surrogate by being invested with the Buddha's story and charged with the extraordinary power of Buddhahood. near fine condition.

Seller Inventory # 73075

Bibliographic Details

• Title: BECOMING THE BUDDHA. The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand.