193. Temple and Community: Social Complexities

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

Our panel focuses on an understudied topic, that of the actual nature of temple and community relationships. While the Buddhist canon describes monastic/lay relations as ideal types; this panel explores the ways local communities, both lay and monastic, interact influenced not only by scriptural interpretations, but social, political, and economic factors as well as individual personalities. We aim to expand the limited research that has been done on the ways in which particular lay and monastic communities interact with each other. Our case studies explore: lay governance in a Shan community in northwestern Thailand; monks involved in agricultural projects in northern Thailand; a Buddhist temple in Oxford, England; and the way abandoned temple sites in Chiang Rai operate in the creation of contemporary Buddhist communities. Our goal is to provide a wide range cases to advance how we understand Buddhism and Buddhist communities in Southeast Asia.

Area of Study

• Southeast

Session Organizer

• Nicola Tannenbaum, Lehigh University

Chair

• Susan M. Darlington, Hampshire College

Individual Presentations

• Community Relations of the Oxford Buddha Vihāra, England - Pyi Phyo Kyaw, King's College London

• The Monk on the Farm - Susan M. Darlington, Hampshire College

• Reassembling the Stupa: Temple Renovation and Religious Networks in Chiang Rai, Thailand - Anthony Lovenheim Irwin, University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Temple and Community Relations in a Shan Community - Nicola Tannenbaum, Lehigh University

Discussant

• Richard A. O'Connor, University of the South