Introduction. Legacies, Trajectories and Comparison in the Anthropology of Buddhism

Nicolas Sihlé (1) , Patrice Ladwig

1 CEH - Centre d'Études Himalayennes

The anthropology of Buddhism may give the impression of already having a well-established lineage. However, understood as a collective endeavor bringing together specialists from different parts of the Buddhist world in a comparative spirit, it remains very much an emerging project. We outline in this introduction some of the striking features of the beginnings of this subfield, such as how it has undergone a process of emancipation from textualist interpretations of Buddhism, and survey some of its main thematic and analytic orientations, pointing in particular to its most substantial ‘long conversation’, on the structure and dynamics of Buddhist religious fields. Throughout, we focus primarily on the period following an assessment of the subfield made by David Gellner in 1990. Finally, we stress the importance and highlight the promise of a comparative anthropology of Buddhism that builds on a critical, reflexive examination of its central concepts.

Mots clés: anthropology of Buddhism; Buddhist ritual; comparison; Mahāyāna Buddhism; reflexivity; religious field; tantric Buddhism; Theravāda Buddhism

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Religions

Nicolas Sihlé, Patrice Ladwig. Introduction. Legacies, Trajectories and Comparison in the Anthropology of Buddhism. Religion and Society, 2017, 8, pp.109-128. ⟨10.3167/arrs.2017.080107⟩. ⟨halshs-01662531⟩