Worldly Engagements - (Contemporary Buddhism) by Roger Casas (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Tai Lue of Sipsong Panna, located in China's southern Yunnan province, is the largest community of Theravada Buddhists in a country where the Mahayana tradition is dominant. In recent decades, and in light of ever-increasing global connectivity and visibility online, the public participation of Tai Lue novices and monks in practices such as eating in the afternoon, drinking alcohol, having girlfriends, and competing in sports--all considered unfitting, even unacceptable, behavior for Buddhist monastics in China and Southeast Asia--has been evidenced as proof of the backwardness of this minority religious community. Worldly Engagements places such alleged misconduct at the center of its enquiry to demonstrate that, far from characterizing a corrupt form of practice, it represents an essential part of the monasticism traditionally prevalent in the region, an all-encompassing and amphibious technology of self-mastery inextricably embedded in the mundane and the non-religious--that is, a vernacular discipline concerned mainly with making boys into men. It is a rich portrayal of the temple experience as a site for Lue youths to negotiate demands from families, religious superiors, and peers, as well as navigate the challenges presented by national models of masculinity and the powerful influence of Thai Buddhism.

Review Quotes

Casas advances an original argument for explaining how supposed unorthodox deviance within Tai Lue Theravada monastic behavior and practice is bound up with the social production of locality and masculinity among an ethnic minority in contemporary China. He documents a novel phenomenon, poses important questions, explores crucial cultural dynamics, and analyzes key social factors. His book illuminatingly explicates the unique characteristics of competitive monastic masculinity among Lue Buddhists.--Erick White, independent scholar

Roger Casas' ethnography attends to the role of social change for the Tai Lue, illustrated both by their internal colonization by China and their mobility to nearby Thailand. Casas' ethnographic detail is impressive, based on many years of fieldwork with different monastic groups in the region, and his knowledge of relevant scholarship in the field is extremely thorough. This book is an innovative contribution to the literature on monasticism and contemporary Buddhism more broadly.--Gareth Fisher, Syracuse University

About the Author

Roger Casas has lived and conducted research among the Tai Lue in Sipsong Panna since 2004. He has held researcher and lecturer posts in academic institutions in Austria, China, Thailand, and Japan.