- Charisma and Compassion
- C. Julia Huang
- Tzu-Chi (Compassion Relief) began as a tiny, grassroots women's charitable group; today in Taiwan it runs three state-of-the-art hospitals, a television channel, and a university. Based on extensive fieldwork in Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States, this book explores the transformation of Tzu-Chi.
- Hardcover 2009
- Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan
- Nam-lin Hur
- During the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) every household was expected to be affiliated with a Buddhist temple, and every citizen had to be given a Buddhist funeral. These customs gave rise to the danka system of funerary patronage, which became a public institution when the shogunate adopted it as an effective means of controlling the populace. In this study, Hur follows the historical development of the danka system and details the social forces, political concerns, and religious beliefs that drove this "economy of death."
- Hardcover 2007
- Emplacing a Pilgrimage
- Barbara Ambros
- The sacred mountain oyama (literally, “Big Mountain”) has loomed over the religious landscape of early modern Japan.Ambros provides a narrative history of the mountain and its place in contemporary society and popular religion by focusing on the development of the oyama cult and its religious, political, and socioeconomic contexts.
- Hardcover 2008
- The Power of the Buddhas
- Sem Vermeersch
- Buddhism in medieval Korea is characterized as “State Protection Buddhism,” a religion whose primary purpose was to rally support (supernatural and popular) for and legitimate the state. This study is an attempt to specify Buddhism’s place in Koryo and to ascertain to what extent and in what areas Buddhism functioned as a state religion.
- Hardcover 2008
- Praying for Power
- Timothy Brook
- Hardcover
- War and Faith
- Carol Richmond Tsang
- During the sengoku era in Japan, warlords and religious institutions vied for supremacy, with powerhouses such as The Honganji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism fanning violent uprisings of ikko ikki, bands of commoners fighting for various causes. Tsang delves into the complex relationship between these ikko leagues and the Honganji institution, arguing for a fuller picture of ikko ikki as a force in medieval Japanese history.
- Hardcover 2007