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Book Cover
E-book
Author Scott, Rachelle M.

Title Nirvana for sale? : Buddhism, wealth, and the Dhammakāya Temple in contemporary Thailand / Rachelle M. Scott
Published Albany : SUNY Press, ©2009

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Description 1 online resource (xiii, 242 pages) : illustrations
Contents Buddhism, renunciation, and prosperity -- Modernity, prosperity, and the Dhammakāya Temple -- The Mahathammakai Chedi and postmodern merit making -- The Dhammakāya controversy: piety, wealth, and authority -- Consumerism and commercialization of Buddhism
Summary What is the proper relationship between religion and prosperity? Rachelle M. Scott looks at this issue in a Thai Buddhist context, asking when the relationship between Buddhist piety and wealth is viewed in favorable terms and when it is viewed in terms of conflict and tension. Scott focuses on the Dhammakāya Temple, an organization that has placed traditional Theravāda practices, such as meditation and merit-making, within a modernist framework that encourages personal and social prosperity. The Temple's construction of a massive religious monument in the late 1990s embodied this message, but also sparked criticism of the Temple's wealth and fund-raising techniques and engendered debates over authentic Buddhism and religious authority. Scott situates this controversy within the context of postmodern Thailand and the Asian economic crisis when reevaluations of wealth, global capitalism, and "Asian values" occupied a preeminent place in Thai public discourse
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Wat Phrathammakāi (Khlong Luang, Thailand)
Wat Phrathammakāi (Khlong Luang, Thailand)
Wealth -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism.
Buddhism -- Thailand -- Customs and practices
RELIGION -- Buddhism -- Theravada.
Buddhism -- Customs and practices
Wealth -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism
Wat Dhammakāya
Buddhismus
Reichtum
Välstånd -- religiösa aspekter -- buddhism -- Thailand.
Thailand
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781441624109
1441624104
9781438427881
1438427883