Table of Contents

Foreword Terminology and Related Concepts Acknowledgments Map 1. Beginnings and Looking Beyond 2. Growing up in Sri Lankan Culture 3. Festival of New Beginnings: The New Year 4. Loving Worship and Loving Kindness 5. Givers: Many Motives, Many Fruits 6. Sri Lankan Buddhists and Their Rituals 7. Reminiscences of Bana Preaching 8. Buddhist Pilgrims' Progress 9. Karma in Popular Buddhist Culture 10. To Die Only to Be Reborn 11. Death: Buddhist Ways and Other Ways 12. Bodhi Puja: All for the Sake of a Tree 13. Pirit Chanting and the Holy Thread 14. Sons of the Buddha 15. Varieties in a Single Saffron Robe 16. Quid Pro Quo Worship 17. Many Gods, Many Altars 18. God Kataragama Epilogue Glossary of Religious Terms Bibliography Index

About the Author

Swarna Wickremeratne is a librarian at Oakton Community College and an independent scholar.

Reviews

"This book offers a lively portrait of Buddhism as it emerges in daily life in Sri Lanka. Accessible and engaging, it gives readers a great sense of what lived, popular Buddhism is really like."