Esoteric Theravada: The Story of the Forgotten Meditation Tradition of Southeast Asia (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781611807943)

A groundbreaking exploration of a practice tradition that was nearly lost to history.

Theravada Buddhism, often understood as the school that most carefully preserved the practices taught by the Buddha, has undergone tremendous change over time. Prior to Western colonialism in Asia--which brought Western and modernist intellectual concerns, such as the separation of science and religion, to bear on Buddhism--there existed a tradition of embodied, esoteric, and culturally regional Theravada meditation practices. This once-dominant traditional meditation system, known as borān kammatthāna, is related to--yet remarkably distinct from--Vipassana and other Buddhist and secular mindfulness practices that would become the hallmark of Theravada Buddhism in the twentieth century. Drawing on a quarter century of research, scholar Kate Crosby offers the first holistic discussion of borān kammatthāna, illuminating the historical events and cultural processes by which the practice has been marginalized in the modern era.

Author: Kate Crosby
ISBN-10: 1611807948
ISBN-13: 9781611807943
Publisher: Shambhala
Language: English
Published: 12/22/2020
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/12/2020