Managing Monks - Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism (Hardcover)

The paradigmatic Buddhist is the monk. It is well known that ideally Buddhist monks are expected to meditate and study-to engage in religious practice. The institutional structure which makes this concentration on spiritual cultivation possible is the monastery. But as a bureaucratic institution, the monastery requires administrators to organize and manage its functions, to prepare quiet spots for meditation, arrange audiences for sermons, or simply to make sure food is available, and rooms and bedding provided. The valuations placed on such organizational roles were, however, a subject of considerable controversy among Indian Buddhist writers, with some considering them significantly less praiseworthy than meditative concentration or teaching and study, while others more highly appreciated their importance. Managing Monks, as the first major study of the administrative offices of Indian Buddhist monasticism and of those who hold them, explores literary sources, inscriptions and other materials in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Chinese in order to explore this tension and paint a picture of the internal workings of the Buddhist monastic institution in India, highlighting the ambivalent and sometimes contradictory attitudes toward administrators revealed in various sources.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	South Asia Research
Release date:	September 2008
First published:	October 2008
Authors:	Jonathan A. Silk (Assistant Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures)
Dimensions:	242 x 161 x 23mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	360
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-532684-0
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Worship > General Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious life & practice > General Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious life & practice > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Worship > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > General
LSN:	0-19-532684-9
Barcode:	9780195326840

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