Remaking Buddhism for Medieval Nepal: The Fifteenth-Century Reformation of Newar Buddhism [Hardcover]

Will Tuladhar-Douglas sheds new light on an important branch of Mahayana Buddhism and establishes the existence, character and causes of a renaissance of Buddhism in the fifteenth century in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. He provides the basis for the historical study of Newar Buddhism as one distinct tradition among the many that comprise Indic Buddhism. Through a thorough study of the relevant texts in the classical Himalayan languages (Sanskrit, Newari, Tibetan and Nepali), the book puts forward a new thesis about how the Newars legitimated and reinvented their tradition by devising new concepts of canonicity, as such it will appeal to scholars of the history and philology of Buddhism.1. Introduction  2. Form, Genre and Dating  3. Authority and Insecurity  4. Historical Considerations  5. Amoghapasa and the Posadha Vrata  6. ConclusionWill Tuladhar-Douglas sheds new light on an important branch of Mahayana Buddhism and establishes the existence, character and causes of a renaissance of Buddhism in the fifteenth century in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal.

Will Tuladhar-Douglas lectures in the history and anthropology of religion at the University of Aberdeen, and is Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research. He has conducted fieldwork in Newar, Tibetan and Western cities and monasteries and published articles on Himalayan history and rituals, religion and technology, and Buddhism.

US? 2006 Will Tuladhar-Douglas