Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Rethinking Buddhist Manuscript Cultures Stephen C. Berkwitz, Juliane Schober and Claudia Brown Part 1: 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 2: 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 3: 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 4: 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

About the Author

Stephen C. Berkwitz is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University. His research focuses on Buddhist Studies in Sri Lanka. At present he is preparing "South Asian Buddhism: A Survey", also for publication with Routledge. Juliane Schober is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Arizona State University. Her research focuses on Theravada Buddhism in Burma, particularly on ritual, sacred geography, and the veneration of icons in the modern state cult. Claudia Brown is Professor of Art History, Arizona State University. Her research interest is the History of Art with an emphasis in Chinese painting.

Reviews

"Buddhist Manuscript Culture is a welcome addition to the expanding scholarly discourse on Buddhism and materiality. The editors, Stephen C. Berkwitz, Juliane Schober, and Claudia Brown, have done an admirable job of bringing together a diverse and nicely balanced set of perspectives on Buddhist texts."- Jacob N. Kinnard, Iliff School of Theology; The Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 69/3, August 2010