Deathpower: Buddhism's Ritual Imagination in Cambodia. By Erik W. Davis. Columbia University Press, December 8, 2015. 320 pages. ISBN-10: 0231169183 ISBN-13: 978-0231169189
摘要
Erik W. Davis, an eloquent new voice in Buddhist studies, captivates his readers with vivid illuminations of what he terms deathpower: “the social power to care for, and in so doing, manipulate, the dead.” Though focused on contemporary Cambodian Buddhist funeral rites and the monks and laypeople who perform them, Deathpower investigates the rich interplay between the spirit world of agrarian rites and the doctrinal constructions of formal Buddhism. Davis draws on Castoriadis's notion of the social imaginary to show how funerals bind together these elements of Cambodian religion, sometimes considered as antagonistic opponents, since these rituals “perform, and through performance institute, key values in the Cambodian imagination that map geography and human beings.” His notion of deathpower, therefore, allows us to view monks as “farmers of the dead,” who in funerals reproduce the moral hierarchies that structure the social production of rice. In the provocative final chapter, “Buddhism Makes Brahmanism,” Davis extends his argument to assert that Buddhism requires non‐Buddhist others, especially spirits, to wield dominion over. Deathpower offers much more than just this bold set of theses; however, Davis's book is also a beautifully realized ethnography of Buddhist rituals in Cambodia, full of details and well‐crafted narratives that bear witness to the empathic depth of his fieldwork. Given its fruitful marriage of precise ethnography and daring theory, Deathpower is one of the first English‐language books on Cambodia that will reshape the study of Buddhism beyond Southeast Asia.
