meditation, modern Buddhism, and the Burmese monk Ledi Sayadaw /
Erik Braun.
London :
The University of Chicago Press,
[2013]
xvi, 257 pages :
illustrations ;
24 cm.
Buddhism and modernity
Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-248) and index.
Ledi Sayadaw and the gifts of the Buddha -- The best of times and the worst: Ledi Sayadaw's formative period -- The great war of the commentaries: Ledi Sayadaw's Abhidhamma controversy -- "In the hands of all the people": Ledi empowers the laity -- "In this very life": lay study of the Abhidhamma -- The birth of insight -- Conclusion: the death of Ledi and the life of insight.
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Insight meditation, which claims to offer practitioners a chance to escape all suffering by perceiving the true nature of reality, is one of the most popular forms of meditation today. The Theravada Buddhist cultures of South and Southeast Asia often see it as the Buddha's most important gift to humanity. In the first book to examine how this practice came to play such a dominant-and relatively recent-role in Buddhism, Erik Braun takes readers to Burma, revealing that Burmese Buddhists in the colonial period were pioneers in making insight meditation indispensable to modern Buddhism.
Univ of Chicago Pr, Attn: John Kessler C/O Chicago Distribution Center 11030 Langley Ave, Chicago, IL, USA, 60628