Introduction: Theoretical Landscapes of Buddhist Tourism in Asia

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Series Editor’s Preface vii
4. Acknowledgments ix
5. Introduction: Theoretical Landscapes of Buddhist Tourism in Asia 1
6. PART I. Buddhist Imaginaries and Place-Making
7. CHAPTER ONE. Peace and the Buddhist Imaginary in Bodh Gaya, India 27
8. CHAPTER TWO. Imaginaries of Buddhist Fantasy Worlds in Southeast Asia: The Decline of Tiger Balm Gardens of Singapore in Comparative Perspective 44
9. CHAPTER THREE. Loss and Promise: The Buddhist Temple as Tourist Space in Thailand 66
10. CHAPTER FOUR. Marketing Maitreya: Two Peaks, Three Forms of Capital, and the Quest to Establish a Fifth Buddhist Mountain 84
11. PART II. Secularizing the Sacred
12. CHAPTER FIVE. Cambodian Pilgrimage Groups in India and Sri Lanka 107
13. CHAPTER SIX. Buddhists, Bones, and Bats: Thematic Tourism and the Symbolic Economy of Phnom Sampeau, Cambodia 125
14. CHAPTER SEVEN. Taking Tourism into Their Own Hands: Monastic Communities and Temple Transformations in China 144
15. CHAPTER EIGHT. Turning to Tourism in a Time of Crisis? Buddhist Temples and Pilgrimage Promotion in Secular(ized) Japan 161
16. PART III. Commodification and Its Consequences
17. CHAPTER NINE. Interrogating Religious Tourism at Buddhist Monasteries in China 183
18. CHAPTER TEN. How I Meditated with Your Mother: Speed Dating at Temples and Shrines in Contemporary Japan 206
19. CHAPTER ELEVEN. Buddhism: A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in Ladakh 227
20. List of Contributors 247
21. Index 251