Winner of the Henry J. Benda Prize sponsored by the Association for Asian StudiesGathering Leaves and Lifting Words examines modern and premodern Buddhist monastic education traditions in Laos and Thailand. Through five centuries of adaptation and reinterpretation of sacred texts and commentaries; Justin McDaniel traces curricular variations in Buddhist oral and written education that reflect a wide array of community goals and values. He depicts Buddhism as a series of overlapping processes; bringing fresh attention to the continuities of Theravada monastic communities that have endured despite regional and linguistic variations. Incorporating both primary and secondary sources from Thailand and Laos; he examines premodern inscriptional; codicological; anthropological; art historical; ecclesiastical; royal; and French colonial records. By looking at modern sermons; and even television programs and websites; he traces how pedagogical techniques found in premodern palm-leaf manuscripts are pervasive in modern education.As the first comprehensive study of monastic education in Thailand and Laos; Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words will appeal to a wide audience of scholars and students interested in religious studies; anthropology; social and intellectual history; and pedagogy.
#1338444 in Books 1995-11-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .52 x 6.00l; .69 #File Name: 0295974710208 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Mitzvot cost gelt. Dated text.By Leib Gershon MitchellThis book was labeled (on ) in a misleading way. One would believe that it was published in May of 2011. In point of fact; there is not a single reference from later than 1994 (nearly 20 years ago).The only point of this book is to test and see if some of the predictions/ speculations that Heilman made came true. And essentially it is this: Judaism today is the same thing as it was 19 years ago. Most are unaffiliated; Reform is the largest group; Conservative the second largest and Orthodox and Reconstructionist distant 3rd.The prose was not bad. But if you have to read something by Heilman; I would instead recommend either: The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson or Defenders of the Faith: Inside Ultra-Orthodox Jewry. The most interesting part was at the end of the book when he got into discussion of factors that have limited Orthodoxy's taking over the world (of Judaism). One thing that he did mention is that: mitzvot cost gelt (it is so expensive to live an Orthodox life that people can't find enough donors to finance all the yehivot that they want. Nor can the afford to send all their children to Jewish day school if they have 12 of them per family). One thing that he didn't mention (and maybe this is because the research was not available-- but it is now in the NJPS) is that Orthodoxy has been constant [1] and that most people who are raised as Orthodox don't *stay* Orthodox [2].There was some interesting discussion about the factors within Orthodoxy that might lead it to tear itself apart. And if not that; at least not to become a majority of Jews by Year X. As I think back over this book: It might have been on its strongest ground if it had gotten into some more discussion of aspects of Orthodoxy. Kiryas Joel got one single sentence.Three conclusions that I came away with were: 1. Judaism survived by negative pressure in the later years (=after Haskallah/ mass literacy). If people aren't forced (by life in a ghetto) or some other negative pressure to sustain a excessively burdensome rituals; then they won't do it. 2. Judaism as a race is in for people who are not religious. Judaism as a race is out for people who are religious. 3. Jewish people respond to the same incentives as anyone else. Most would opt for a less costly Judaism-lite; if given the choice (and; in fact; have when given the choice).Final verdict: Not recommended. And this is not because there is anything wrong with the book itself. Only because there are other; more current studies to answer the questions; theses that Heilman puts forth here.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. A fascinating look at today's American Jews by a sociologistBy A CustomerThis book efficiently; elegantly and in a highly readable way provides a close look at the situation of American Jews in the last five decades of the twentieth century. It covers the assimilationist trends of the 1950's the counterculture of the 1960's and 1970's and the division of the the 1980's and 1990's into a small core of committed Jews and a large periphery of Jews who are proud of their Jewish culture but barely attached to it. A must for anyone who wants to understand where today's American Jews have come from and where they are going.
