Buddhist Manuscript Cultures: Knowledge, Ritual, and Art

Buddhist Manuscript Cultures explores how religious and cultural practices in premodern Asia were shaped by literary and artistic traditions as well as by Buddhist material culture. This study of Buddhist texts focuses on the significance of their material forms rather than their doctrinal contents, and examines how and why they were made. Contributions are by reputed scholars in Buddhist Studies and represent diverse disciplinary approaches from religious studies, art history, anthropology, and history.

1. Introduction: Rethinking Buddhist Manuscript Cultures Stephen C. Berkwitz, Juliane Schober, and Claudia Brown Part I: Ideologies 2. Why Did the Gandharan Buddhists Bury their Manuscripts? Richard Salomon 3. Materiality and Merit in Sri Lankan Buddhist Manuscripts Stephen C. Berkwitz Part II: Production 4. Redaction, Recitation, and Writing: Transmission of the Buddha's Teachings in India in the Early Period Peter Skilling 5. Diverse Aspects of the Mongolian Buddhist Manuscript Culture and Realms of Its Influence Vesna A. Wallace 6. From Words to Books: Indian Buddhist Manuscripts in the First Millennium CE Jens-Uwe Hartmann Part III: Curating 7. Between Zhongfeng Mingben and Zhao Mengfu: Chan Letters in their Manuscript Context Natasha Heller 8. Two Buddhist Librarians: The Proximate Mechanisms for Northern Thai Buddhist History Justin McDaniel 9. Emending Perfection. Prescript, Postscript and Practice in Newar Buddhist Manuscript Culture Christoph Emmrich Part IV: Art and Architecture 10. Flowers for the Dhamma: Painted Buddhist Palm-leaf Manuscript Covers from Sri Lanka Bilinda Devage Nandadeva 11. From Text to Image: Copying as Buddhist Practice in Late Fourteenth-Century Sukhothai M.L. Pattaratorn Chirapravati