Buddhist Tourism in Asia

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2020

Buddhist Tourism in Asia

Edited by: Courtney Bruntz , Brooke Schedneck and Mark Michael Rowe
With contributions by: David Geary , John Marston , John N. Miksic , Matthew Steven Mitchell , Brian J. Nichols , Ian Reader , Justin R. Ritzinger , Matthew J. Trew and Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg

In the series Contemporary Buddhism

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824882822

Overview
Contents

About this book

This innovative collaborative work—the first to focus on Buddhist tourism—explores how Buddhists, government organizations, business corporations, and individuals in Asia participate in re-imaginings of Buddhism through tourism. Contributors from religious studies, anthropology, and art history examine sacred places and religious monuments as they have been shaped and reshaped by socioeconomic and cultural trends in the region.

Following an introduction that offers the first theoretical understanding of tourism from a Buddhist studies’ perspective, early chapters discuss the ways Buddhists and non-Buddhists imagine concepts and places related to the religion. Case studies highlight Buddhist peace in India, Buddhist heavens and hells in Singapore, Thai temple space, and the future Buddha Maitreya in China. Buddhist tourism’s connections to the state, market, and new technologies are explored in chapters on Indian package tours for pilgrims, thematic Buddhist tourism in Cambodia, the technological innovations of Buddhist temples in China, and the promotion of pilgrimage sites in Japan. Contributors then situate the financial concerns of Chinese temples, speed dating in temples in Japan, and the diffuse and pervasive nature of Buddhism for tourism promotion in Ladakh, India.

How have tourist routes, groups, sites, and practices associated with Buddhism come to be possible and what are the effects? In what ways do travelers derive meaning from Buddhist places? How do Buddhist sites fortify national, cultural, or religious identities? The comparative research in South, Southeast, and East Asia presented here draws attention to the intertwining of the sacred and the financial and how local and national sites are situated within global networks. Together these findings generate a compelling comparative investigation of Buddhist spaces, identities, and practices.

Author / Editor information

Bruntz Courtney :

Courtney Bruntz is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and director of Asian studies at Doane University.Schedneck Brooke :

Brooke Schedneck is assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Rhodes College.Rowe Mark Michael :

Mark Michael Rowe is associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University.Miksic John N. :

John N. Miksic is professor in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.

Nichols Brian J. :

Brian J. Nichols is associate professor of religious studies at Mount Royal University, Calgary.Reader Ian :

Ian Reader is professor of religious studies at Lancaster University. He is the author of numerous books and articles on aspects of Japanese social and religious life.Williams-Oerberg Elizabeth :

Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg is assistant professor and codirector of the Center for Contemporary Buddhist Studies at the University of Copenhagen.Courtney Bruntz (Editor)
Courtney Bruntz is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and director of Asian studies at Doane University.

Brooke Schedneck (Editor)
Brooke Schedneck is assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Rhodes College.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Series Editor’s Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: Theoretical Landscapes of Buddhist Tourism in Asia Courtney Bruntz and Brooke Schedneck Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I. Buddhist Imaginaries and Place-Making
CHAPTER ONE. Peace and the Buddhist Imaginary in Bodh Gaya, India David Geary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
CHAPTER TWO. Imaginaries of Buddhist Fantasy Worlds in Southeast Asia: The Decline of Tiger Balm Gardens of Singapore in Comparative Perspective John N. Miksic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
CHAPTER THREE. Loss and Promise: The Buddhist Temple as Tourist Space in Thailand Brooke Schedneck Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
CHAPTER FOUR. Marketing Maitreya: Two Peaks, Three Forms of Capital, and the Quest to Establish a Fifth Buddhist Mountain Justin R. Ritzinger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
PART II. Secularizing the Sacred
CHAPTER FIVE. Cambodian Pilgrimage Groups in India and Sri Lanka John A. Marston Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
CHAPTER SIX. Buddhists, Bones, and Bats: Thematic Tourism and the Symbolic Economy of Phnom Sampeau, Cambodia Matthew J. Trew Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
CHAPTER SEVEN. Taking Tourism into Their Own Hands: Monastic Communities and Temple Transformations in China Courtney Bruntz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
CHAPTER EIGHT. Turning to Tourism in a Time of Crisis? Buddhist Temples and Pilgrimage Promotion in Secular(ized) Japan Ian Reader Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
PART III. Commodification and Its Consequences
CHAPTER NINE. Interrogating Religious Tourism at Buddhist Monasteries in China Brian J. Nichols Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
CHAPTER TEN. How I Meditated with Your Mother: Speed Dating at Temples and Shrines in Contemporary Japan Matthew Mitchell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
CHAPTER ELEVEN. Buddhism: A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in Ladakh Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 266

eBook

Published: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 9780824882822