Buddha as a God: An Empirical Assessment
For at least a century, scholars have argued about whether or not Buddha is considered a god. We treat this question empirically by conducting two ethnographic studies among residents of the Tyva Republic, one of the Buddhist republics in the Russian Federation. Using a mixed methods approach to int...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2019]
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| In: |
Method & theory in the study of religion
Year: 2019, Volume: 31, Issue: 4/5, Pages: 347-375 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Tuwa
/ Buddhism
/ Buddha 563 BC-483 BC
/ Deification
/ Cognitive anthropology
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| RelBib Classification: | AA Study of religion AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BL Buddhism KBK Europe (East) |
| Further subjects: | B
Buddhism
B Gods B Tyva Republic B Ethnographic Methods B Cognitive Anthropology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | For at least a century, scholars have argued about whether or not Buddha is considered a god. We treat this question empirically by conducting two ethnographic studies among residents of the Tyva Republic, one of the Buddhist republics in the Russian Federation. Using a mixed methods approach to interrogate the question, this report concludes that Buddha is, in fact, popularly represented as a punitive and moralistic supernatural agent in the republic and demographic factors co-vary with such beliefs. The paper addresses longstanding concerns and situates the results in contemporary social scientific inquiry that addresses questions of when, where, to what degree, and why he is represented as a deity. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0682 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Method & theory in the study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700682-12341453 |