Summary and Comments on "Sri Lanka, the Holy Land: Rituals and Practices of Living Buddhism" edited by Tamotsu Aoki - a recommended work to learn more about actual religious practices in the area.
Introduced here is "Sri Lanka, the Holy Land: Rituals and Practices of Living Buddhism," edited by Tamotsu Aoki and published by Japan Broadcast Publishing Association in 1985.
This work is a fieldwork that reveals the actual rituals of the Sri Lankan religion.
Regarding "Living Buddhism" in the title of this book, the editor states
Religion is essentially for "living," and both doctrine and discipline must exist for "living. It must be impossible to understand religion without grasping its living reality. Sri Lankan Buddhism presents exactly the same point. There is no other way to understand it than to start from the understanding of its living reality.
It is impossible to understand the country of Sri Lanka without knowing Buddhism, and it is impossible to understand Buddhism through books and sermons alone. It is necessary to know how Buddhism is accepted in society, how it is practiced, and how it is "lived".
Nihon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, Tamotsu Aoki (ed.), The Sacred Land of Sri Lanka: Rituals and Practices of Living Buddhism, p. 10-11.
It takes more than books and sermons to understand Buddhism."
This is a very important point. It is a perspective that should not be forgotten when considering religion, or even human beings themselves.
The editors then describe the book as follows
Sri Lankan Buddhism is also very diverse and has many facets. In this book, I have attempted to clarify some of the most important aspects. （The following are some of the most important aspects.)
When trying to understand Sri Lankan Buddhism today, the rituals led by Buddhist monks (Chapter 1), the Perahera festival (Chapter 2) as a festive development of Buddhism, and the curative rituals (Chapter 3) as a mixture of folk beliefs within a Buddhist framework are all essential to understanding Sri Lankan Buddhism. When we speak of Buddhism, we do not mean mere doctrine. Even though Buddhism is established by the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, its implementation includes a wide range of social and cultural practices. Its scope is closely tied to Sri Lankan culture. I would like to capture this aspect from the above three aspects.
This book attempts to clarify the behavioral patterns of Sri Lankan Buddhism in three aspects, all of which are seen through practical activities, based on a survey of the actual situation. Although this is a study of Buddhism from a cultural anthropological standpoint, it attempts to convey the reality of Sri Lankan Buddhism as faithfully as possible. The style of writing is not in the form of a thesis, but rather in the form of a travelogue that is as easy to understand as possible and does not suppress personal feelings.
Of course, this cannot be said to be the entirety of Sri Lankan Buddhism, but some of its character should become clear from this. I would be happy if I could convey the fact that Buddhism is practiced in this way.
Since it is true that "Hinayana" Buddhism is the least well-known religion in Japan, the authors would like to make Sri Lankan Buddhism widely known as a different development of Buddhism from that of our Japanese counterparts. Japan and Sri Lanka are located at the eastern and southern ends of the Asian continent, and both are island countries and Buddhist countries.
Moreover, when one gets to know Sri Lankan Buddhism, one feels that this is the most direct expression of Buddhism, a religion by humans for humans.
Let us now look at the reality of the situation.
Nihon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, Tamotsu Aoki (ed.), The Sacred Land of Sri Lanka: Rituals and Practices of Living Buddhism, p. 14-16.
The style of writing was not thesis style, but rather travelogue style, as clear as possible, without suppressing personal feelings."and as stated here, this book is very easy to read. You can read through it as if you were there in the field of religious practice.
Also, the abundance of photos makes it easy to visualize the local atmosphere. The photos of the rituals themselves are impressive, but the photos of the streets are also very picturesque. The book is full of photos that make you want to go to Sri Lanka.
This book is another highly recommended work on Sri Lankan Buddhism. We encourage you to pick up a copy.
The above is "The Sacred Land of Sri Lanka: Rituals and Practices of Living Buddhism," edited by Tamotsu Aoki - a recommended work to learn more about actual religious practices in the area.
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