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Article: Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerializing the Sri Lankan Theravada Tradition. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Buddhist-Christian Studies
- Article date:
- January 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 University of Hawaii Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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RELICS, RITUAL, AND REPRESENTATION IN BUDDHISM: REMATERIALIZING THE SRI LANKAN THERAVADA TRADITION. By Kevin Trainor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. xiv + 223 pp.
Although many Buddhologists and scholars of Theravada Buddhism have suggested that relic veneration is best seen as a degeneration of the Buddha's original teaching, an accommodation to "lower-class" values and needs for the concrete and material, Kevin Trainor convincingly argues for a much higher view. Relic veneration, he says, was practiced early in India, played an important role in the spread of Buddhism stimulated by the zeal of Asoka, and is a key to the way Theravadins practice ...