Synopses & Reviews
Consideration of children in the academic field of Religious Studies is taking root, but Buddhist Studies has yet to take notice. Little Buddhas brings together a wide range of scholarship and expertise to address the question of what role children have played in Buddhist literature, in particular historical contexts, and what role they continue to play in specific Buddhist contexts today. The volume is divided into two parts, one addressing the representation of children in Buddhist texts, the other children and childhoods in Buddhist cultures around the world. The ground-breaking contributions in this volume challenge the perception of irreconcilable differences between Buddhist idealism and family ties. Little Buddhas will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Buddhism and Childhood Studies, and a catalyst for further research on the topic.
Review
"Vanessa Sasson's Little Buddhas is a brilliant and engaging work in an emerging area of study: Buddhism and childhood studies. Written by leading scholars, the nineteen articles here explore ideas about childhood, textual representations of children, together with the actual lives of children throughout the history and diversity of Buddhist traditions. This volume challenges common assumptions about Buddhism in provocative ways, and should be a classic for years to come."--Carol S. Anderson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion, Kalamazoo College
About the Author
Professor of Comparative Religion ,Marianopolis College; Research Fellow, Department of Biblical and Religious Studies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University
Table of Contents
Contributors
Introduction: Charting New Territory: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts and Traditions - Vanessa R. Sasson
Part One: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts
Chapter One: A New Hat for Hariti: On Giving Children for their Protection to Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Early India - Gregory Schopen
Chapter Two: Scarecrows, Upasakas, Fetuses, and Other Child Monastics in Middle Period Indian Buddhism - Amy Paris Langenberg
Chapter Three: The Buddha's Childhood: The Foundation for the Great Departure - Vanessa R. Sasson
Chapter Four: The Inheritance of Rahula: Abandoned Child, Boy Monk, Ideal Son, and Trainee - Kate Crosby
Chapter Five: The Precocious Child in Chinese Buddhism - Miriam Levering
Chapter Six: Picturing Childhood in Chinese Buddhism: The Sujati Jataka in Text and Image - Winston Kyan
Chapter Seven: What Children Need: Making Childhood with Technologies of Protection and Healing - Frances Garrett
Chapter Eight: Picturing Buddhism: Nurturing Buddhist Worldviews through Children's Books - Karen Derris
Part Two: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Traditions
Chapter Nine: Ordination (Pabbajja) as Going Forth?: Social Bonds and the Making of a Buddhist Monastic - Jeffrey Samuels
Chapter Ten: Monk and Boy: Becoming a Novice in Contemporary Sipsongpanna - Thomas Borchert
Chapter Eleven: Buddhism as a Vehicle for Girls' Safety and Education in Thailand - Monica Lindberg Falk
Chapter Twelve: Superheroes and Slapstick: New Media and the Teaching of Buddhist Children in Thailand - Justin McDaniel
Chapter Thirteen: Once We Were...: Former Child Nuns in Taiwan Reflecting Back - Wei-Yi Cheng
Chapter Fourteen: Zen-Boy Ikkyu - Melissa Anne-Marie Curley
Chapter Fifteen: Marrying the Thought Of Enlightenment: The Multivalency of Girls' Symbolic Marriage Rites in the Newar Buddhist Community of Kathmandu, Nepal - Todd Lewis and Christoph Emmrich
Chapter Sixteen: Children in Himalayan Monasteries - Karma Lekshe Tsomo
Chapter Seventeen: The Westernization of Tulkus - Elijah Ary
Chapter Eighteen: Give Me My Inheritance: Western Buddhists Raising Buddhist Children - Kristin Scheible
Chapter Nineteen: Young Lord Maitreya: The Curious Case of Jiddu Krishnamurti - Hillary Rodrigues
Bibliography
Index