Simas: Foundations of Buddhist Religion

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2022

Simas

Foundations of Buddhist Religion

Edited by: Jason A. Carbine and Erik W. Davis

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824891121

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

Carbine Jason A. :

Jason A. Carbine is professor and C. Milo Connick Chair of Religious Studies at Whittier College in Whittier, California.Davis Erik W. :

Erik W. Davis is professor of religious studies at Macalester College, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.Jason A. Carbine (Editor)
Jason A. Carbine is associate professor and C. Milo Connick Chair of Religious Studies at Whittier College in Whittier, California.

Erik W. Davis (Editor)
Erik W. Davis is professor of religious studies at Macalester College, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Conventions Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction: Buddhist Sīmās across Time and Place Jason A. Carbine and Erik W. Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Sīmā Basics from Buddha to Burma Nagasena Bhikkhu and Kate Crosby Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
Part I Histories: Stones, Places, People
2 Rituals Set in Stone: Tracing the Archaeological Evidence for the Sīmā Stone Tradition in Southeast Asia Stephen A. Murphy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
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 Thomas Newhall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
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) M. L Pattaratorn Chirapravati and Arthid Sheravanichkul Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
5 Changing Sīmā, Changing World Anthony Lovenheim Irwin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Part II Contemporary Practices: Focus on Cambodia
6 Lines of Influence around Cambodia’s Buddhist Temples Alexandra Kent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
7 Regenerating Ancient Sīmās: A Study of Buddhist Places of Worship in Rural Cambodia Satoru Kobayashi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
8 Sīmās as Assemblages of Territorial Imagination in Cambodia Erik W. Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
9 Stones of Spirits and Kings: Negotiating Land Grabs in Contemporary Cambodia Courtney Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Part III Textual Traditions: Creating, Embracing, Defending Boundaries
10 Analysis of Sīmās (Boundaries) John A. Marston, Chhuon Hoeur and Elizabeth Guthrie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
11 King Rāmādhipati, Prime Minister U Nu, and the Kalyāṇī Sīmā: Constructing and Overcoming Others Jason A. Carbine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297
12 Flawed or Deliberately Altered Readings? Two Quotations from the Vajirabuddhiṭīkā in the Sīmālakkhaṇadīpanī Petra Kieffer-Pülz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	326
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	371
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	375

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 400
Illustrations
- Other: 19 b&w illustrations
Keywords: Buddhist Studies; religious studies; Simas (boundaries)

eBook

Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9780824891121