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book (5)


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2015 (5)

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Book
Religion and Politics in Burma
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ISBN: 0691650845 1400878799 Year: 2015 Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press,

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Abstract

The interaction of Buddhism and politics in the Theravada Buddhist countries since their independence is considered. Burmese attempts to relate Buddhism to the ideologies of nationalism, democracy, and socialism are analyzed.Originally published in 1965.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


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The Halo of Golden Light : Imperial Authority and Buddhist Ritual in Heian Japan
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ISBN: 0824868625 0824854004 Year: 2015 Publisher: Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press,

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In this pioneering study of the shifting status of the emperor within court society and the relationship between the state and the Buddhist community during the Heian period (794-1185), Asuka Sango details the complex ways in which the emperor and other elite ruling groups employed Buddhist ritual to legitimate their authority. Although considered a descendant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu, the emperor used Buddhist idiom, particularly the ideal king as depicted in the Golden Light Sūtra, to express his right to rule. Sango's book is the first to focus on the ideals presented in the sūtra to demonstrate how the ritual enactment of imperial authority was essential to justifying political power. These ideals became the basis of a number of court-sponsored rituals, the most important of which was the emperor's Misai-e Assembly. Sango deftly traces the changes in the assembly's format and status throughout the era and the significant shifts in the Japanese polity that mirrored them. In illuminating the details of these changes, she challenges dominant scholarly models that presume the gradual decline of the political and liturgical influence of the emperor over the course of the era. She also compels a reconsideration of Buddhism during the Heian as "state Buddhism" by showing that monks intervened in creating the state's policy toward the religion to their own advantage. Her analysis further challenges the common view that Buddhism of the time was characterized by the growth of private esoteric rites at the expense of exoteric doctrinal learning.The Halo of Golden Light draws on a wide range of primary sources-from official annals and diaries written by courtiers and monks to ecclesiastical records and Buddhist texts-many of them translated or analyzed for the first time in English. In so doing, the work brings to the surface surprising facets in the negotiations between religious ideas and practices and the Buddhist community and the state.


Book
Emperor Wu Zhao and her pantheon of devis, divinities, and dynastic mothers
Authors: ---
ISBN: 9780231169387 Year: 2015 Publisher: New York Columbia University Press


Book
The halo of golden light : imperial authority and Buddhist ritual in Heian Japan
Author:
ISBN: 9780824839864 Year: 2015 Publisher: Honolulu University of Hawaiʻi Press


Book
Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Devis, Divinities, and Dynastic Mothers
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ISBN: 9780231539180 Year: 2015 Publisher: New York, NY

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Wu Zhao (624-705), better known as Wu Zetian or Empress Wu, is the only woman to have ruled China as emperor over the course of its 5,000-year history. How did she-in a predominantly patriarchal and androcentric society-ascend the dragon throne? Exploring a mystery that has confounded scholars for centuries, this multifaceted history suggests that China's rich pantheon of female divinities and eminent women played an integral part in the construction of Wu Zhao's sovereignty. Wu Zhao deftly deployed language, symbol, and ideology to harness the cultural resonance, maternal force, divine energy, and historical weight of Buddhist devis, Confucian exemplars, Daoist immortals, and mythic goddesses, establishing legitimacy within and beyond the confines of Confucian ideology. Tapping into powerful subterranean reservoirs of female power, Wu Zhao built a pantheon of female divinities carefully calibrated to meet her needs at court. Her pageant was promoted in scripted rhetoric, reinforced through poetry, celebrated in theatrical productions, and inscribed on steles. Rendered with deft political acumen and aesthetic flair, these affiliations significantly enhanced Wu Zhao's authority and cast her as the human vessel through which the pantheon's divine energy flowed. Her strategy is a model of political brilliance and proof that medieval Chinese women enjoyed a more complex social status than previously known.

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