Burning for the Buddha: self-immolation in Chinese Buddhism

James A. Benn

doi:10.5860/choice.45-0230

Cited by 93Indian and Buddhist StudiesChinese history and philosophyStudy and Philosophy of Religion

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Burning for the Buddha: self-immolation in Chinese Buddhism

James A. Benn·2007·Choice Reviews Online

DOI 10.5860/choice.45-0230

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Abstract

Burning for the Buddha is the first book-length study of the theory and practice of abandoning the body (self-immolation) in Chinese Buddhism. It examines the hagiographical accounts of all those who made offerings of their own bodies and places them in historical, social, cultural, and doctrinal context. Rather than privilege the doctrinal and exegetical interpretations of the tradition, which assume the central importance of the mind and its cultivation, James Benn focuses on the ways in which the heroic ideals of the bodhisattva present in scriptural materials such as the Lotus Sutra played out in the realm of religious practice on the ground.

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In Nāgārjuna's Treatise on the Five Sciences, the names 馬鳴 and 馬明 both appear on the same page to refer to the same bodhisattva.
“the names 馬鳴 and 馬明 both appear on the same page to refer to the same bodhisattva”
From For a Compassionate Killing: Chinese Buddhism, Sericulture, and the Silkworm God AŚvaghoṣa (2013) · cites this paper as [39]

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Self-citation

Authors: Benn, J. A.
Corresponding author: James A. Benn
ORCID: James A. Benn
Venue: Choice Reviews Online
Publisher: American Library Association
Published: 2007-09-01
Volume: 45
Issue: 01
Pages: 45-0230-45-0230
ISSN: 0009-4978 (ISSN-L)
1523-8253
DOI: 10.5860/choice.45-0230
OpenAlex: W1528748716
Cited by: 89
References: 0
Citations by year: 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 8
Type: book review
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Choice Reviews Online (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Chinese history and philosophy
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
Keywords: self-immolation, Chinese Buddhism, hagiography, bodhisattva ideal, Lotus Sutra, religious practice, Buddhist asceticism, self-sacrifice

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