The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand
by Justin McDaniel
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10
- 0231153775
- ISBN 13
- 9780231153775
- Seller
-
Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
4 Copies Available from This Seller
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About This Item
Paperback / softback. New. Stories centering on the lovelorn ghost (Mae Nak) and the magical monk (Somdet To) are central to Thai Buddhism. Historically important and emotionally resonant, these characters appeal to every class of follower. Metaphorically and rhetorically powerful, they invite constant reimagining across time. Focusing on representations of the ghost and monk from the late eighteenth century to the present, Justin Thomas McDaniel builds a case for interpreting modern Thai Buddhist practice through the movements of these transformative figures. He follows embodiments of the ghost and monk in a variety of genres and media, including biography, film, television, drama, ritual, art, liturgy, and the Internet. Sourcing nuns, monks, laypeople, and royalty, he shows how relations with these figures have been instrumental in crafting histories and modernities. McDaniel is especially interested in local conceptions of being "Buddhist" and the formation and transmission of such identities across different venues and technologies. Establishing an individual's "religious repertoire" as a valid category of study, McDaniel explores the performance of Buddhist thought and ritual through practices of magic, prognostication, image production, sacred protection, and deity and ghost worship, and clarifies the meaning of multiple cultural configurations. Listening to popular Thai Buddhist ghost stories, visiting crowded shrines and temples, he finds concepts of attachment, love, wealth, beauty, entertainment, graciousness, security, and nationalism all spring from engagement with the ghost and the monk and are as vital to the making of Thai Buddhism as venerating the Buddha himself.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Saint Bookstore (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- A9780231153775
- Title
- The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand
- Author
- Justin McDaniel
- Format/Binding
- Paperback / softback
- Book Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 4
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0231153775
- ISBN 13
- 9780231153775
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press
- This edition first published
- 2014
Terms of Sale
The Saint Bookstore
Refunds or Returns: A full refund of the price paid will be given if returned within 30 days in undamaged condition. If the product is faulty, we may send a replacement.
About the Seller
The Saint Bookstore
Biblio member since 2018
Southport, Merseyside
About The Saint Bookstore
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Glossary
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- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...