Traditional understandings of Buddhism have often been drawn from the perspective of the minority spiritual and philosophical elite. Buddhists: Understanding Buddhism through the Lives of Believers redresses this imbalance by exploring a fascinating series of life histories of individuals whose lives are far more representative of the ways in which Buddhists throughout time have embodied the tradition.
This text brings together a wide-ranging and representative collection of biographies featuring both historical and modern Buddhists, many written by leading scholars, linking their beliefs and practices to the development of Buddhism in their time and place. This series of compelling biographies of householder practitioners, as well as prominent monastics, is designed for easy comparison; the book provides a unique and fascinating perspective from which to understand Buddhism 'on the ground'.
Each section is introduced by the editor, himself a leading Buddhist scholar, who skillfully locates it within Buddhist history, belief and sociology. The case studies have been carefully chosen to cover a range of Asian and modern Western Buddhists, as well as a range of historical periods, gender, and class, to provide an overview uniquely rich in diversity, texture, and educational value.
Buddhists: Understanding Buddhism Through the Lives of Practitioners, Todd Lewis, Wiley Blackwell, Paperback, 329 pages, $46.95
Todd Lewis has taught at the College of the Holy Cross since 1990. In 1996, he was promoted to Associate Professor in the Religious Studies Department and in 2003 was promoted to the rank of Professor. In 2015, Lewis was named the Monsignor Edward G. Murray Professor in the Arts and Humanities.
He has also been a Research Associate in the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University.
Beginning with his scholarly training at Columbia University (where he earned his Ph.D. in Religion 1984), Professor Lewis' research and teaching has been interdisciplinary, linking anthropology, the history of religions, and Indology. His area of special expertise is Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, and he has written extensively about Buddhist narratives, their depiction in popular art, and the role of merchants in Buddhist history. Professor Lewis is also one of the world's leading authorities on the religions of the mid-montane Himalayan region and the social history of Buddhism.
Most of his research focus for over thirty years has been Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley, particularly the traditions found among the Newars, the indigenous population of Nepal 's capital. He has resided in the Asan Tol neighborhood in the city of Kathmandu for his dissertation research (1979-1982), and for three postdoctoral fellowships (1987-8, 2012), all supported by the Fulbright-Hayes program in the Department of Education. Professor Lewis has been awarded many other fellowships to support his research and writing: he has received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Society, the Social Science Research Council, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. In 2011, he was awarded a fellowship by the Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
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