Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Economic Study of Buddhism, Richard K. Payne (Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, USA) and Fabio Rambelli (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
Part I: Historical Perspective
1. Monastic Capitalism? The inclusiveness of Tibetan monastic Institutions, William K. Dewey (independent scholar)
Part II: Contemporary Studies
2. Selling Buddhism by Branding Mindfulness and Reiki as Valuable, Secular Services: Three Interacting Economic Models, by Candy Brown (Indiana University, USA)
3. Consciousness Raising, False Consciousness, and Freud: Buddhist Traditions in Contemporary Mental Health Economies in the United States, Ira Helderman (Vanderbilt University, USA)
4. Buddhist Technoscapes: Interrogating “Skillful Means” in East Asian Monasteries, by Courtney Bruntz (Doane University, Nebraska)
5. Perceiving Authenticity: Online Tourism Reviews of Buddhist Tourist Destinations, Kendall Marchman (University of Georgia, USA)
6. Ethics in Small business capitalism of Women Kuan Im followers in Thailand, Mark Speece (Mahidol University, Thailand) and Jitnisa Roenjun (busines owner in Bangkok, Thailand)
7. Economics of Buddhist ‘Connectionwork’: Analyzing the spread and expansion of Buddhism in the global market economy, Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
8. Gross National Happiness: Capitalism under Buddhism in the Kingdom of Bhutan, Barbra Clayton (Mount Alison University, Canada) and Della Duncan (California Institute of Integral Studies, USA)
Part III: Theoretical Reflections
9. Drawing Blood: At the Intersection of Knowledge Economies and Buddhist Economies, by Scott Mitchell (Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, USA)
10. A Part of or Apart from Globalization? The Ambivalent Relationship between Buddhism and Modern Capitalism, Lionel Obadia (University of Lyon, France)
11. Prolegomena to a Buddhist(ic) Critique of Capitalism, James Mark Shields (Bucknell University, USA)
Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

Explores how Buddhism is spreading due to globalized capitalism and how capitalism is shaping Buddhism and Buddhists, covering topics including digital capitalism, tourism, and monasticism.

About the Author

Richard K. Payne is the Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies at Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, USA, and a member of the Graduate Theological Union’s Core Doctoral Faculty. He is author of Language in the Buddhist Tantra of Japan: Indic Roots of Mantra (Bloomsbury, 2018).

Fabio Rambelli is Professor of Japanese Religions and ISF Endowed Chair in Shinto Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is co-editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Japanese Religions (Bloomsbury, 2021), Defining Shugendo (Bloomsbury, 2020) Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan (Bloomsbury, 2019), The Sea and the Sacred in Japan (Bloomsbury, 2018), and author of A Buddhist Theory of Semiotics (Bloomsbury, 2013).

Reviews

[The] volume as a whole challenges the common stereotype that Buddhism is a world-denying religion not involved in economic activities. While gift-merit exchanges were acknowledged and encouraged at the time of the Buddha, such exchanges have gradually transformed into more nuanced and complex ones affiliated with commodification in a money economy.
*Religious Studies Review*