The Aura of Buddhist Material Objects in the Age of Mass-Production
The article discusses material religion in a commercial setting and sets off this discussion with Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936). Benjamin argues that mechanical reproduction emancipated works of art from religious rituals and evaporated the aura o...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[publisher not identified]
2019
|
| In: |
Journal of global buddhism
Year: 2019, Volume: 20, Pages: 105-125 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Benjamin, Walter 1892-1940, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit
/ China
/ Buddhism
/ Cultic object
/ Mass production
/ Holiness
|
| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BL Buddhism KBM Asia ZA Social sciences |
| Further subjects: | B
Tibetan Buddhism
B Sacralization B Buddhist material objects B Walter Benjamin B Aura B mass-production |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Rights Information: | CC BY-NC 4.0 |
| Summary: | The article discusses material religion in a commercial setting and sets off this discussion with Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936). Benjamin argues that mechanical reproduction emancipated works of art from religious rituals and evaporated the aura of art. This has resonance among some Tibetan Buddhists in the context of mass-produced Buddhist material objects. Are such objects fit to be given as gifts, implemented in rituals, and worshipped on altars? Based upon ethnographic work at a Tibetan Buddhist market in urban China, the article argues that although objects manufactured in factories for profit are not made or handled according to Buddhist tradition, the aura can be produced in different ways and at different points of an object’s life. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1527-6457 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of global buddhism
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3238213 |