Buddhism and Law: An Introduction

Rebecca Redwood French · Mark A. Nathan

Jul. 2014 · Cambridge University Press

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As the first comprehensive study of Buddhism and law in Asia, this interdisciplinary volume challenges the concept of Buddhism as an apolitical religion without implications for law. Buddhism and Law draws on the expertise of the foremost scholars in Buddhist studies and in law to trace the legal aspects of the religion from the time of the Buddha to the present. In some cases, Buddhism provided the crucial architecture for legal ideologies and secular law codes, while in other cases it had to contend with a pre-existing legal system, to which it added a new layer of complexity. The wide-ranging studies in this book reveal a diversity of relationships between Buddhist monastic codes and secular legal systems in terms of substantive rules, factoring, and ritual practices. This volume will be an essential resource for all students and teachers in Buddhist studies, law and religion, and comparative law.

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Rebecca Redwood French is a Professor of Law at the State University of New York, Buffalo Law School and a former director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy (2008–10). She is the author of The Golden Yoke: The Legal Cosmology of Buddhist Tibet (1995). Her recent work focuses on the intersection of Buddhism and law in relation to feminism, natural law, and comparative law.

Mark A. Nathan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Asian Studies Program at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He specializes in Korean Buddhism, and his articles have appeared in the Journal of Law and Religion and the Journal of Korean Religions.