Renunciation and Longing: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Saint

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Annabella Pitkin

Renunciation and Longing

The Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Saint

Annabella Pitkin

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English

University of Chicago Press
20 May 2022

Tibetan Buddhism

Series: Buddhism and Modernity

This study uses the eventful life of a Himalayan Buddhist teacher, Khunu Lama, to shed new light on contemporary questions of the affective imaginaries of religion, and what it means to be modern.

In the early twentieth century, Khunu Lama journeyed across Tibet and India, meeting Buddhist masters while sometimes living, so his students say, on cold porridge and water. Yet this wandering renunciant became a revered teacher of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. At Khunu Lama's death in 1977, he was mourned by Himalayan nuns, Tibetan lamas, and American meditators alike. The myriad surviving stories about him reveal unexpected dimensions of Tibetan Buddhism, shedding new light on questions of religious affect, memory, and what it means to be modern.

In Renunciation and Longing, Annabella Pitkin explores the topics of renunciation, devotion, and the teacher-student lineage relationship as resources for Tibetan Buddhist approaches to modernity. By examining narrative accounts of the life of a remarkable twentieth-century Himalayan Buddhist and focusing on his remembered identity as a renunciant bodhisattva, Pitkin illuminates Tibetan and Himalayan practices of memory, affective connection, and mourning. Refuting long-standing caricatures of Tibetan Buddhist communities as unable to be modern because of their religious commitments, Pitkin shows instead how twentieth- and twenty-first-century Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhists have used the cultural resources that connect them to the past as vital resources for creating new futures.

By: Annabella Pitkin
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 1
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
ISBN: 9780226816920
ISBN 10: 0226816923
Series: Buddhism and Modernity
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 20 May 2022
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments Technical Note on Phonetic Transcription and Transliteration Maps of Khunu Lama’s Travels Chronology Introduction Themes in the Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Renunciant Chapter One “Like Water into Water”: Transmission Lineages in Tibetan Buddhism Chapter Two “He abandoned his homeland for the sake of the Dharma”: Tibetan Buddhist Imaginaries of Home-Leaving and Renunciation Chapter Three “Aim Your Dharma Practice at a Beggar’s Life” Chapter Four Dislocation and Continuity Chapter Five “With such devotion that tears cascade from your eyes”: Renunciation, Separation, and Guru Devotion Chapter Six Death and Other Disruptions: Dying Like a Dog in the Wilderness Epilogue Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

Annabella Pitkin is assistant professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Lehigh University.

Reviews for Renunciation and Longing: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Saint

"""Pitkin explores to great effect . . . [how] the elusive Khunu Lama (1895–1977), who exemplified the ideal of the itinerant beggar renunciant, serves as a prism through which to refract and delineate the tension between two compelling but often competing ideals: the bodhisattva commitment to serve all beings and the renunciant’s resolve to flee the grasp of worldly life.” * Buddhadharma * “The sophisticated discussion that Pitkin provides is thought-provoking, perhaps even paradigm-shifting.” * Journal of Global Buddhism * ""A masterful treatment."" * New Books Network * ""Renunciation and Longing is an original, thought-provoking, and deeply insightful analysis of a raft of issues important to Tibetan Buddhists—an important contribution to our understanding of Tibetan Buddhism, both in theory and in practice, both in its traditional articulation and in its modern delineations."" -- Roger Jackson, Carleton College “Through the life of the elusive hermit Khunu Lama, Pitkin crafts a rich tapestry of Buddhist networks across Himalaya—from Kham to Kinnau. Situated in the historical exigencies of the twentieth-century, Renunciation and Longing illuminates loss and disruption as an integral part of devotion and lineage continuity.” -- Holly Gayley, University of Colorado Boulder “Pitkin replaces the caricature of emotionless Buddhists with a lively story of disciples so devoted in their faith that they are marked by intense longing for the teacher. Connecting the original story of the Buddha to that of a twentieth-century lama, she weaves a complex tapestry of the affective world of Buddhist renunciates that will richly repay readers’ attention."" -- Gray Tuttle, Columbia University"