Description: In contemporary Thai Buddhism, the burgeoning popularity of vipassanā meditation is dramatically impacting the lives of those most closely involved with its practice: monks and mae chee (lay nuns) living in monastic communities. For them, meditation becomes a central focus of life and a way to transform the self. This ethnographic account of a thriving Northern Thai monastery examines meditation in detail, and explores the subjective signification of monastic duties and ascetic practices. Drawing on fieldwork done both as an analytical observer and as a full participant in the life of the monastery, Joanna Cook analyzes the motivation and experience of renouncers, and shows what effect meditative practices have on individuals and community organization. The particular focus on the status of mae chee - part lay, part monastic - provides a fresh insight into social relationships and gender hierarchy within the context of the monastery.
Brief description: Joanna Cook is George Kingsley Roth Research Fellow in Southeast Asian Studies, Christ's College, University of Cambridge.
Review Quotes: "Joanna Cook contributes significantly to the field of Buddhist studies with her ethnography of a northern Thai monastery, not only because we need ethnographies of modern Buddhism and she gives us one, but because she gives us such a fine one. ....This is an important book, and I hope all who do research and/or teaching in the area of South Asian and Southeast Asian Buddhism take the time to study it." --Journal of Religion