Monks, Money, and Morality: The Balancing Act of Contemporary Buddhism

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Sangha Economies / Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko, Christoph Brumann, and Beata Świtek -- PART I. Reciprocity, Money, and Trust: 1. Economic Agency and the Spirit of Donation: The Commercialization of Buddhist Services in Japan / Beata Świtek -- 2. Merit, "Corruption," and Economy in the Contemporary Thai Sangha / Thomas Borchert -- 3. Ritual Virtuosity, Large-Scale Priest-Patron Networks, and the Ethics of Remunerated Ritual Services in Northeast Tibet / Nicolas Sihlé -- 4. "Bad" Monks and Unworthy Donors: Money, (Mis)trust, and the Disruption of Sangha-Laity Relations in Shangri-La / Hannah Rosa Klepeis -- PART II. Beyond Reciprocity: 5. Donations Inversed: Material Flows From Sangha to Laity in Post-Soviet Buryatia / Kristina Jonutytė -- 6. Exorcising Mauss's Ghost in the Western Himalayas: Buddhist Giving as Collective Work / Martin Mills -- PART III. Managing Temples and Monasteries: 7. Monks and the Morality of Exchange: Reflections on a Village Temple Case in Southwest China / Roger Casas -- 8. Wealthy Mendicants: The Balancing Act of Sri Lankan Forest Monks / Prabhath Sirisena -- 9. Monastic Business Expansion in Post-Mao Tibet: Risk, Trust, and Perception / Jane Caple -- PART IV. Capitalism, Decline, and Rebirth: 10. Regeneration and the Age of Decline: Purification and Rebirth in Mongolian Buddhist Economies / Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko -- 11. Saintly Entrepreneurialism and Political Aspirations of Theravadin Saints in Mainland Southeast Asia / Alexander Horstmann -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

"This book dispels popular understandings of Buddhism as a religion that emphasizes the renunciation of worldly goods, by examining how Buddhist temples and the monastic community (the sangha) require tangible resources in order to sustain themselves. The first book to focus on the material and financial relations of contemporary Buddhist monks, nuns, temples, and laypeople, it shows that rather than being peripheral, economic exchanges are often central to the relations between Buddhist monastics and laity, and are a key topic of religious debate. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork from India over Russia to Japan, and including all three major Buddhist traditions, the book focuses on the flows of goods and services between clergy and laity, the management of resources, the treatment of cash, and the role of the state in temple economies. Along with documenting ritual and economic practices, these accounts engage with the anxieties and challenges facing Buddhist societies in the contemporary era and dispel the romantic notion of the Buddhist monk"-- Provided by publisher.