9781787355163
9781787355170
Distributed for UCL Press
Rewriting Buddhism
Pali Literature and Monastic Reform in Sri Lanka, 1157–1270
Rewriting Buddhism is the first intellectual history of premodern Sri Lanka’s most culturally productive period. This era of reform shaped the nature of Theravada Buddhism both in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and even today continues to define monastic intellectual life in the region. Alastair Gornall argues that the long century’s literary productivity was not born of political stability, as is often thought, but rather of the social, economic and political chaos brought about by invasions and civil wars.
308 pages | 8 color plates | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2020
Free digital open access editions are available to download from UCL Press.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Themes and theories Part I: Chaos 2. Before 1165 and all that 3. The reform era and its Pali literature Part II: Order 4. Scholarly foundations: Moggallana’s grammar 5. Buddhist scholasticism: Suma?gala’s commentaries 6. Eschatological encyclopedism: Siddhattha’s anthology Part III: Emotion 7. Sense and sensibility: Sa?gharakkhita’s poetics 8. The politics of relics: Dhammakitti’s history 9. Devotional power: Buddharakkhita’s Buddha biography 10. Conclusion: Other lives and afterlives References Index