A Fine Balance

The Give and Take of Religious Discipline

Bibliographic Data

ID20054655
AuthorsCorinne G Dempsey (corresponding author)
Year2005
Pages129-146
Publication date2005-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Goddess lives in upstate New York (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressNew York (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/0195187296.003.0007
OpenAlexW4231133326
ISBN9780195187298
LanguageEN
References cited68

This chapter investigates the nature and effect of religious discipline at the Rush temple, and notes how participants from various backgrounds, possessing very different motivations for visiting the temple, encounter temple expectations in very different ways. For instance, the majority of participants, often loosely affiliated with the temple and drawn primarily to the power and grace of the temple goddess, are not typically interested in religious discipline. As a result, they sometimes receive admonitions from the guru, Aiya, ever the perfectionist, that warn them of the pitfalls of a utilitarian connection to the goddess and of an overemphasis on material well-being. Inner core devotees, typically highly dedicated to and invested in the heavy demands of temple rituals and upkeep, receive a different set of messages from Aiya. Ever the trickster-maverick and dedicated to the tantric mandate to narrow the human-divine divide, Aiya infuses humor and playfulness into temple rituals and interactions with his students, encouraging them to engage with the deity with intimacy and light-heartedness amid their serious devotion

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Literature · Mandate · Political science · Sociology · Temple · Trickster · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · History · Law · Psychology · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

Tools

Open DOILibgen