Rebuilding Buddhism

Sarah LeVine is Research Associate in Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education. David N. Gellner is Lecturer in the Social Anthropology of South Asia, University of Oxford.

This is a well-researched and carefully documented study of the modernization of Buddhist traditions in Nepal, one that is centered upon compelling biographies of Nepalese monks and nuns. Through following the arcs of these lives that are skillfully contextualized by the authors, one can discern the various crosscurrents at work in the religious field in Kathmandu throughout the twentieth century. The ethnography is rich and important for the fields of Nepalese studies, religious modernization, gender studies and Buddhist studies.

• Preface 1. Introduction: The Origins of Modernist Buddhism 2. Theravada Missionaries in an Autocratic State 3. Creating a Tradition 4. Charisma and Education: Dhammawati and the Nuns' Order after 1963 5. The Changing Buddhist Laity 6. Organizing and Educating the Monastic Community 7. Raising the Status of Nuns: The Controversy over Bhikkhuni Ordination 8. Winds of Change: Meditation and Social Activism 9. Other Buddhist Revivalisms: Tibetan "Mahayana" and Newar "Vajrayana" 10. Conclusion: Nepal's Theravadins in the Twenty-First Century Appendix 1: Dramatis Personae Appendix 2: Complete List of Theravada Viharas in Nepal Glossary Notes References Index