Strange Tales of an Oriental Idol

An Anthology of Early European Portrayals of the Buddha

Buch | Hardcover

288 Seiten

2016
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
978-0-226-49318-3 (ISBN)

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We tend to think that the Buddha has always been seen as the compassionate sage admired around the world today, but until the nineteenth century, Europeans often regarded him as a nefarious figure, an idol worshipped by the pagans of the Orient. Donald S. Lopez Jr. offers here a rich sourcebook of European fantasies about the Buddha drawn from the works of dozens of authors over fifteen hundred years, including Clement of Alexandria, Marco Polo, St. Francis Xavier, Voltaire, and Sir William Jones. Featuring writings by soldiers, adventurers, merchants, missionaries, theologians, and colonial officers, this volume contains a wide range of portraits of the Buddha. The descriptions are rarely flattering, as all manner of reports some accurate, some inaccurate, and some garbled came to circulate among European savants and eccentrics, many of whom were famous in their day but are long forgotten in ours. Taken together, these accounts present a fascinating picture, not only of the Buddha as he was understood and misunderstood for centuries, but also of his portrayers.

Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. His many books include the companion volume to this title, From Stone to Flesh: A Short History of the Buddha, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Erscheinungsdatum	29.11.2016
Reihe/Serie	Buddhism and Modernity
Sprache	englisch
Maße	16 x 23 mm
Gewicht	482 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Buddhismus
	Sozialwissenschaften
ISBN-10	0-226-49318-0 / 0226493180
ISBN-13	978-0-226-49318-3 / 9780226493183
Zustand	Neuware