Buddhism and Law: An Introduction

by Rebecca Redwood French, Mark A. Nathan

Overview

As the first comprehensive study of Buddhism and law in Asia, this interdisciplinary volume challenges the concept of Buddhism as an apolitical religion without implications for law. Buddhism and Law draws on the expertise of the foremost scholars in Buddhist studies and in law to trace the legal aspects of the religion from the time of the Buddha to the present. In some cases, Buddhism provided the crucial architecture for legal ideologies and secular law codes, while in other cases it had to contend with a preexisting legal system, to which it added a new layer of complexity. The wide-ranging studies in this book reveal a diversity of relationships between Buddhist monastic codes and secular legal systems in terms of substantive rules, factoring, and ritual practices. This volume will be an essential resource for all students and teachers in Buddhist studies, law and religion, and comparative law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521515795
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/28/2014
Pages:	407
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Rebecca Redwood French is a Professor of Law at the State University of New York, Buffalo Law School and a former director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy (2008–10). She is the author of The Golden Yoke: The Legal Cosmology of Buddhist Tibet (1995). Her recent work focuses on the intersection of Buddhism and law in relation to feminism, natural law, and comparative law.

Mark A. Nathan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Asian Studies Program at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He specializes in Korean Buddhism, and his articles have appeared in the Journal of Law and Religion and the Journal of Korean Religions.

Table of Contents

Introducing Buddhism and law Rebecca Redwood French and Mark A. Nathan; Part I. The Roots of Buddhism and Law in India: 1. Society at the time of the Buddha Kumkum Roy; 2. What the Vinayas can tell us about law Petra Kieffer-Pülz; 3. Keeping the Buddha's rules: the view from the Sūtra Piaka Rupert Gethin; 4. Proper possessions: Buddhist attitudes toward material property Jacob N. Kinnard; 5. On the legal and economic activities of Buddhist nuns: two examples from early India Gregory Schopen; Part II. Buddhism and Law in South and Southeast Asia: 6. Buddhism and law in Sri Lanka Sunil Goonasekera; 7. Flanked by images of our Buddha: community, law, and religion in a premodern Buddhist context Jonathan S. Walters; 8. The legal regulation of Buddhism in contemporary Sri Lanka Benjamin Schonthal; 9. Pāli Buddhist law in Southeast Asia Andrew Huxley; 10. Genres and jurisdictions: laws governing monastic inheritance in seventeenth-century Burma Christian Lammerts; Part III. Buddhism and Law in East Asia: 11. Buddhism and law in China: the emergence of distinctive patterns in Chinese history T. H. Barrett; 12. The ownership and theft of monastic land in Ming China Timothy Brook; 13. Buddhism and law in China: Qing Dynasty to the present Anthony Dicks; 14. Buddhism and law in Korean history: from parallel transmission to institutional divergence Mark A. Nathan; 15. Buddhism and law in Japan Brian Ruppert; 16. Relic theft in medieval Japan Bernard Faure; Part IV. Buddhism and Law in North Asia and the Himalayan Region: 17. Buddhism and law in Tibet Rebecca Redwood French; 18. Buddhist laws in Mongolia Vesna A. Wallace; 19. Karma, monastic law, and gender justice Karma Lekshe Tsomo; 20. Buddhism and constitutions in Bhutan Richard W. Whitecross.