Jessica Marie Falcone. Battling the Buddha of Love: A Cultural Biography of the Greatest Never Built. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018. 324 pp. $23.95, paper, ISBN 978-1-5017-2348-3.

Reviewed by Suchandra Ghosh

Published on H-Diplo (August, 2019)

Commissioned by Seth Ofenbach (Bronx Community College, The City University of New York)

Jessica Marie Falcone’s deeply researched ings/DHARMA: Religious Practice in a Global Bud‐ book, Battling the Buddha of Love, revolves dhist Institution”—deal with the people and func‐ around the activities of the Foundation for the tioning of the foundation respectively. In the frst Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), chapter, we are introduced to the early history of particularly the organization’s plan to construct a the foundation and the FPMT’s sangha, the Bud‐ colossal statue (fve-hundred-feet tall) of dhist spiritual community, the defnition used by Buddha in , India. The idea for the Paul Williams.[1] Falcone draws a picture of the statue was to thank India for giving refuge to various categories of people who are part of the many Tibetan exiles. However, the project raised FPMT family and discusses non-heritage Buddhist serious questions regarding the efects it would practitioners, who were a diverse group. In chap‐ have on farmers’ land, their only source of sur‐ ter 2, she addresses the religious practices within vival. Ironically, Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Bud‐ the FPMT, among other things. Taking her cue dha of love, would have caused sufering among from Nicholas Thomas’s notion of promiscuity in small farmers in Kushinagar. As a cultural anthro‐ the context of objects (Entangled Objects: Ex‐ pologist, Falcone conducted extensive feldwork change, Material Culture, and Colonialism in the in India; she is well grounded in the theoretical Pacifc [1999]), she refers to the promiscuity of no‐ literature on material culture studies, the anthro‐ tions and ideas: Buddhist traditions, mantras, ritu‐ pology of materiality, and the anthropology of art. als, etc. Falcone explains that the notion of karma Rich ethnographic data enriches the quality of the is “arguably as promiscuous, mobile, and global narrative. The author interviewed the afected as the now ubiquitous Tibetan prayer fags” (p. farmers and much of her observations are de‐ 54). At the foundation, the diference between rived from her conversations with them. preservation and appropriation was often The book, comprising nine chapters, is laid blurred. Ethnic Tibetans preferred to have non- out into two sections: “The Transnational Bud‐ heritage practitioners among them as this helped dhist Statue Makers” and “The Kushinagari Resis‐ in the spread of the romantic notion of “Ti‐ tance.” The frst section primarily focuses on the betophilia,” Western appreciation for Tibetan‐ work of the FPMT, a transnational organization. ness. The frst two chapters—“Community/SANGHA: After introducing the readers to the institu‐ FPMT’s Transnational Buddhists” and “The Teach‐ tion and the people of the FPMT, Falcone dwells H-Net Reviews on the planning of the colossal Maitreya project in politics/participation by the state governments in chapter 3, “The Statue/MURTI: Planning a Colossal India for building the statue of Maitreya. The Maitreya.” The project was originally conceived whole project was extremely contested and there by Lama Yeshe, who wanted a Maitreya statue to were competing visions. be built in India as a way to give back to the na‐ The second section shifts its focus from insti‐ tion that had ofered refuge to the Tibetan refugee tution to space; here Kushinagar and the people community. Falcone discusses in detail the trials of Kushinagar are privileged. We have Kushina‐ and tribulations of the building process, which gar as the space where the Buddha attained were laced with politics. and the narrative of the conversion In Buddhism, worshipping the relics of Bud‐ of this space as a site of pilgrimage with sacred dha is an important phenomenon and much has monuments. Among the sites related to the life of been written about it. The presence of historical Buddha, Kushinagar generally got less attention Buddha is evoked through his relics, which could from scholars as Bodhgaya remained the center of be physical relics or relics of use. In chapter 4, attraction as a pilgrim center reaching out to the “The Relics/SARIRA: Worship and Fundraising world. The situation has changed of late. Kushina‐ with the Relic Tour,” Falcone eloquently discusses gar is part of the Buddhist Circuit that enhances the essence of relic worship through a thorough its importance as a destination for pilgrims. Fal‐ study of the viewpoints of scholars like Gregory cone then goes beyond the sacred to the secular Schopen, Kevin Trainor, and John S. Strong, space, which is entwined with the sacred. She among others. We learn that for collecting funds, looks into the cultural lives of Kushinagar’s many relic tours are often organized throughout the communities. Greater Kushinagar is brought to world. The mechanism of organizing such tours is the foreground. Thus, in the frst chapter of this quite mindboggling. Arjun Appadurai’s study on section, chapter 6, “Holy Place/TIRTHA: Living in the social life of objects has a strong presence in the Place of the Buddha’s Death,” Falcone beauti‐ this book.[2] Falcone places the relics into Ap‐ fully weaves the pilgrimage industry into the larg‐ padurai’s category of “enclaved” commodities er social fabric of the town and its environs. She since the social rules for their movement high‐ gives us a panoramic view of vibrant light their scarcity, authenticity, and sacredness. “ethnoscapes” and “sacroscapes” at play.[3] For She ably examines the traveling spectacle of Bud‐ Falcone, Kushinagar is a rich translocal space of dhist relic veneration. abundant “crossings” and “dwellings.”[4] It ofers The next chapter, “Aspirations/ASHA: Hope, a powerful vision of motion and dynamism alive the Future Tense and Making (Up) Progress on the with crossings and fows. Maitreya Project,” turns to FPMT aspirations and The next chapter in this section (chapter 7), Buddhist notions of hope for the future. “Steadfastness/ADITTHANA: Indian Farmers Re‐ Maitreya’s fgure traditionally evokes love and sist the Buddha of Love,” centers on the resistance kindness among his followers. His abode is the of the farmers to the Maitreya project. There were pure land of Tushita. According to Falcone, the various stakeholders, and a clear divide was per‐ Maitreya Buddha narrative is an “imaginative ceived between the statue’s supporters and de‐ horizon” in the Buddhist social landscape as ex‐ tractors in the region. The connivance of the Uttar pounded by Vincent Crapanzano in Imaginative Pradesh government in this project is clear from Horizons: An Essay in Literary Philosophical An‐ the fact that the government quickly signed the thropology (2004). Falcone narrates with preci‐ memoranda of understanding for just one single sion the story of the progress, the dead ends, and Indian rupee in perpetuity! Signifcantly, the gov‐

2 H-Net Reviews ernment exempted the Maitreya project from tax‐ from the organization. When she writes “my frst es, charges, duties, and fees. The farmers were sangha [Buddhist community] is now lost to me,” given minimum compensation despite their po‐ it is indeed heartrending (p. 220). The author talks tential loss of land, livelihood, homes, and com‐ about debate and looks at the Tibetan Buddhist munity. Notwithstanding personal threats, Fal‐ tradition of debate to show that such advocacy cone participated in the protests. can itself be an ethical practice. Admittedly there was a disconnect between In conclusion, Falcone illustrates guru devo‐ the sufering of the farmers and the moral values tion in the classical Tibetan Buddhist sense. With‐ that the Buddhist communities espoused. In chap‐ in the FPMT, guru devotion is seen as a necessity ter 8, “Loving-Kindness/MAITRI: Contested No‐ for devotees and monastics. It is not to be ques‐ tions of Ethics, Values, and Progress,” the author tioned. Some questions are addressed like how succinctly discusses Buddhist ethics and the no‐ did a transnational Buddhist organization callous‐ tion of “engaged Buddhism.” The three ways of ly create so much sufering for the common peo‐ perceiving engaged Buddhism are general mind‐ ple? The epilogue highlights the future of the fulness and kindness in everyday life, ethical liv‐ project. So far, the FPMT has laid the foundation ing in general, and collective political action or stone for a smaller statue. Though the project has volunteering for social justice projects. On the is‐ still not come to fruition, a shadow of anxiety en‐ sue of special land acquisitions, Falcone draws a gulfs the author and the people of Kushinagar. momentous comparison between the people’s This book is a fruitful intellectual efort that movement in Nandigram in West Bengal and the challenges the stereotypical narration of protests. movement in Kushinagar.[5] Except for land ac‐ It is a story that shows how an institution manipu‐ quisition and protest by the farmers nothing is lates to invoke a Buddha of love. How religion sit‐ common between the two. The interviews lay uates devotees in time and space is underscored bare the distraught conditions of the farmers in in the book. The interviews are eye-openers for Kushinagar. Falcone makes clear that mindfulness lay readers. What makes this book diferent from and ethical living were not the central purpose of just a narrative of protest or an activist’s account the Maitreya project. is that even in the discussions of the quotidian The last chapter, “Compassion/KARUNA: Re‐ struggle of a farmer, the approach of a social sci‐ fections on Engaged Anthropology,” is crucial to entist is embedded. The end notes are extremely the book, as here the author refects on her illuminative. The strength of the work is the rigor method and positionality. She makes a case for ad‐ shown by the author in the blending of religious vocacy anthropology, whereby an anthropologist studies, history, social and cultural anthropology, always works on behalf of the oppressed rather and interviews with people, both members of the than the oppressors; the principal justifcation for FPMT and farmers. This is what Damodar Dhar‐ advocacy anthropology is that an expert anthro‐ manand Kosambi (Combined Methods in Indology pologist may be able to redress the balance of and Other Writings, compiled, edited, and intro‐ power between the oppressor and the oppressed. duced by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya [2005]) However, advocacy in anthropology is debatable would call “combined methods.” The sources as advocacy in favor of the oppressed may some‐ speak for themselves. Familiar names like Ap‐ times be completely incompatible with the suc‐ padurai, Thomas A. Tweed, S. J. Tambiah, and Jan cessful conduct of ethnographic research. Fal‐ Nattier appear in the text with substantial engage‐ cone’s personal ties with the FPMT made it all the ments of their positions. At times deep emotion more difcult and painful for her to break away

3 H-Net Reviews and engagement of the author comes through March 14, 2007, when the administration tried to while viewing the acts of the foundation. break up the people’s movement. Notes [1]. Paul Williams with Anthony Tribe, Bud‐ dhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the In‐ dian Tradition (New York: Routledge, 2000), 2. [2]. Arjun Appadurai, “Introduction: Com‐ modities and the Politics of Value,” in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspec‐ tive, ed. Arjun Appadurai (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 3-64. [3]. “Ethnoscape” is a term coined by Arjun Appadurai in his essay “Disjuncture and Difer‐ ence in the Global Cultural Economy,” Public Cul‐ ture 2, no. 2 (1990): 1-24. Ethnoscapes by nature refer to people in fux. Thomas A. Tweed uses the term “sacroscape.” He describes religions as “sacroscapes,” inviting scholars to “attend to the multiple ways that religious fows have left traces, transforming peoples and places, the social arena and the natural terrain.” Thomas A. Tweed, Cross‐ ing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion (Cam‐ bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 61. [4]. Tweed emphasizes how religions and technology mediate crossings of all sorts. Rites of passage and power help in social and terrestrial crossing. As for dwelling, Tweed outlines four general dwelling-places of religion because of their dual spatial and temporal dimensions: the body, the home, the homeland, and the cosmos. Tweed, Crossing and Dwelling. [5]. In Nandigram, thousands of acres of agri‐ cultural land were to be taken by the government for the purpose of building a chemical hub and a Special Economic Zone. Farmers of the locality did not want to give up their land. Following the vil‐ lagers’ objection to and protest against the acqui‐ sition of land in Nandigram for the proposed chemical hub, the state government gave in and fnally announced the cancellation of the project in the frst week of March. However, the move‐ ment continued, leading to violence and death on

4 H-Net Reviews

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-diplo

Citation: Suchandra Ghosh. Review of Falcone, Jessica Marie. Battling the Buddha of Love: A Cultural Biography of the Greatest Statue Never Built. H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews. August, 2019.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=53470

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

5