Review: Asia: Buddhism, Imperialism and War
| Published date | 01 December 1981 |
| Author | Bruce Matthews |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070208103600419 |
| Date | 01 December 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS/ASIA
927
boration,
Dr
Osborne decided
to
forgo
any
footnotes
whatsoever.
Thus
he
eschewed
any
opportunity
to
introduce
readers
to
the
major
his-
torical
and
historiographic
controversies
inherent
to
the
field.
For
the
novice,
there
is
a
short
but
useful
bibliography
and
an
index.
On
balance,
Osborne
may
indeed
have
succeeded
within
the
terms of
his
rather
narrowly stated
objective
(that
is,
'to
bring
my
readers
to
the
point
where
they
want
to
read
more
deeply
about
a
subject
that
I
find
constantly
fascinating'),
but
only
if
his
audience
consists
of the
wholly
uninitiated.
In
these
days
of
rapidly
rising
book
prices,
even
the
ama-
teur
has
a
right
to
expect somewhat
more
for
his
money.
Douglas
A.
Ross/University
of
British
Columbia
BUDDHISM,
IMPERIALISM
AND
WAR
Burma
and
Thailand
in
modern history
Trevor
Ling
London and Winchester,
Mass:
Allen
&
Unwin,
1979,
xviii,
163pp,
us$13.
5°
In
this
concise
study,
the
author
examines
the
historical
and
political
role
of
Buddhism
in
Burma
and
Thailand,
concentrating
on
events
and
developments
during
the
last
two
centuries.
In
six
chapters,
he
traces
out
the similarities
and
differences
of
the
Buddhist
political
ex-
perience
in these
countries,
beginning
with
an
account
of the growth
of mediaeval
Buddhism
and
its
integral
role
in
the
concepts
of
king-
ship
and
state. Various
periods
of
rivalry
and friction
between
the
two
Buddhist nations
are
noted,
but
more
attention
is
given
to
the
threat
of
growing
Western
imperialism
on
Buddhist
culture
and
values.
Ling
carefully
reviews
the
contributions
made
by
certain
important
nine-
teenth-century
Buddhist
kings
(viz,
Mindon
of
Burma and
Mongkut
of
Thailand)
and
the
rising
significance of
'royal'
or
state
Buddhism.
It
is
royal
Buddhism
which
leads
directly
to
the
politicization
of
the religion
as
a
vehicle
for
national
policy.
In
Thailand,
which
never
knew
colonial
domination,
royal
Buddhism
also
served
in many
ways
as
the
nucleus
of
Thai
identity,
a
function
it
still
maintains.
The
Burmese
experience
was
much
less
stable,
and
with
the
end
of
the
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