The Religious Traditions of Asia : Religion, History, and Culture

This essential student textbook consists of seventeen sections, all written by leading scholars in their different fields. They cover all the religious traditions of Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Tibet, and East Asia. The major traditions that are described and discussed are (from the Southwest) Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam, and (from the East) Taoism, Confucianism and Shinto. In addition, the tradition of Bon in Tibet, the shamanistic religions of Inner Asia, and general Chinese, Korean and Japanese religion are also given full coverage. The emphasis throughout is on clear description and analysis, rather than evaluation. Ten maps are provided to add to the usefulness of this book, which has its origin in the acclaimed Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade of the University of Chicago. This essential student textbook consists of seventeen sections, all written by leading scholars in their different fields. They cover all the religious traditions of South Asia, South-East Asia, Central Asia, Tibet, and East Asia. The major traditions that are described and discussed are (from the South-West) Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam, and (from the East) Taoism, Confucianism and Shinto. In addition, the tradition of Bon in Tibet, the shamanistic religions of Inner Asia, and general Chinese, Korean and Japanese religion are also given full coverage. The emphasis throughout is on clear description and analysis, rather than evaluation. Ten maps are provided to add tot he usefulness of this book, which has its origin in the acclaimed 'Encyclopedia of Religion', edited by Mircea Eliade of the University of Chicago. (Back cover) Cover 1 The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture 4 Copyright 5 CONTENTS 6 INTRODUCTION 8 PART ONE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 10 1 HINDUISM 12 2 BUDDHISM - IN INDIA 50 3 JAINISM 106 4 THE SIKHS 120 5 BUDDHISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 128 6 ISLAM IN SOUTH ASIA 152 7 ISLAM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 174 PART TWO INNER ASIA AND TIBET 202 8 THE RELIGIONS OF TIBET 204 9 THE SCHOOLS OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM 216 10 BON 226 11 THE RELIGIONS OF INNER ASIA 232 12 ISLAM IN CENTRAL ASIA 248 PART THREE EAST ASIA 264 13 CHINESE RELIGION 266 14 JAPANESE RELIGION 314 15 KOREAN RELIGION 342 16 BUDDHISM IN KOREA 356 17 ISLAM IN CHINA 364 CONTRIBUTORS 384 This textbook covers all the religious traditions of southwest Asia, southeast Asia, central Asia, Tibet and east Asia, with an emphasis on clear description and analysis. This work has its origin in Mircea Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion. Hinduism is the religion followed by about 70 percent of the roughly seven hundred million people of India.