Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand

Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology #2

by Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah

Dr Tambiah describes the religious practices and beliefs of the people of a remote village in north-east Thailand, relating them to the wider context of the civilization in which they are embedded, and examining the relationship of the religious practices of the villagers to the classical Buddhist tradition. Because they have based their studies on the Sanskrit and Pali literature, Western observers have tended to dismiss much of the popular manifestation of Buddhism as debased. Dr Tambiah demonstrates that this judgement is misleading, and emphasizes that the contemporary village religion that he describes manifests continuities as well as transformations with respect to the classical literary tradition. The village religion is described primarily through ritual.

Genres: Religion, Anthropology

400 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 1970

About the author

Dr. Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Ph.D., was Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University, specializing in studies of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Tamils, as well as the anthropology of religion and politics.

Reviews

[Vino.S]

📚 This book helped me understand how people’s rituals, beliefs, religions, and social behaviours can gradually influence the way they think. 🧠 These changes are never completely uniform, but over time they contribute to the formation of culture, identity, unity, and even political systems. 🌍

⏳ Each historical period brings changes that can create both benefits and negative effects in society and politics. ⚖️ I also found it interesting to think about geopolitics not only as relationships between states, but as something that can be influenced by the everyday behaviours, beliefs, and identities of ordinary people. 👥

✨ Overall, this book encouraged me to look more deeply at how human behaviour, culture, religion, identity, politics, and geography are interconnected. 🌐