Home > Books & Publications > Books by Title A-Z >

Buddha in the Marketplace
By: Alex John Catanese

Buddha in the Marketplace <br> Alex John Catanese


 
Our Price: $42.50
Author: Alex John Catanese
Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780813943183
Publication Date: 2019


Availability: Usually Ships in 24 Hours
Product Code: 9780813943183
Qty:

Description
 
Classical Tibetan Buddhist scriptures forbid the selling of Buddhist objects, and yet there is today a thriving market for Buddhist statues, paintings, and texts. In Buddha in the Marketplace, Alex John Catanese investigates this practice, which continues to be viewed as a form of "wrong livelihood" by modern Tibetan Buddhist scholars.

Drawing on textual and historical sources, as well as ethnographic research conducted in the region of Amdo, Tibet, Catanese follows the trajectory of Buddhist objects from their status as noncommodities prior to the Cultural Revolution to their emergence as commodities on the open market in the modern period. The book examines why Tibetans have more recently begun to sell such objects for their personal livelihoods when their religious tradition condemns such business activities in the strongest possible terms.

Addressing the various societal and religious ramifications of these commercial practices, Catanese illustrates how such activity is leading to significant cultural and economic changes, transforming the "moral economy" associated with Buddhist objects, and contributing to a reinterpretation of Tibetan Buddhist identity.
Buddha in the Marketplace, Alex John Catanese, University of Virginia Press, Paperback, 319 pp, $42.50

Share your knowledge of this product with other customers... Be the first to write a review

Browse for more products in the same category as this item:

Books & Publications > Books by Title A-Z
Books & Publications > Books by Subject > Books on Engaged Buddhism & Buddhism in the West
Books & Publications > Books by Subject
Books & Publications