About The Book
Monks and Magic deals with Buddhism as it was practised in a community in rural Central Thailand. It was based upon anthropo-logical fieldwork during the late 1960s. The scene unfolds with the religious perspective of children and young adults, who appear mainly interested in esoteric spells and magical diagrams. Full ritual knowledge is obtained by many men in their twenties when they join the order of monks for at least one Lenten season. The later parts of the book are devoted to the worldview of older people and an analysis of some Buddhist rituals. This is the third, thoroughly revised edition.
About The Author
During the greater part of 1968, Barend Jan Terwiel was a Buddhist monk in a rather isolated, rural monastery, Wat Sanchao, whilst holding a PhD scholarship from the Australian National University. After completing his doctorate, for some twenty years he taught in the Asian History Centre of the Australian National University. In early 1991 he took up a Professorship in Anthropology at the University of Munich. In September 1992 he accepted the Chair in Thai and Laotian studies at Hamburg University. Since 1999 he holds, in addition to his Chair in Hamburg, the IIAS Extraordinary Chair for Mainland Southeast Asia at Leiden University. He has written a dozen books, all dealing with the History and Ethnology of the Thais and Tai-speaking peoples in mainland Southeast Asia.
Art (289)
Biography (235)
Buddha (1977)
Children (97)
Deities (48)
Healing (34)
Hinduism (56)
History (550)
Language & Literature (466)
Mahayana (413)
Mythology (91)
Philosophy (465)
Sacred Sites (114)
Tantric Buddhism (90)
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