Disciplining Devotion: Buddha Representations and Ideologies of Materiality in Sri Lankan Buddhism

Melanie Dean

doi:10.3138/anth.2018-0030

Auteurs-es

Melanie Dean Independent scholar, Montréal, Canada

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.3138/anth.2018-0030

Mots-clés :

Anthropologie de la religion, materialité, représentation, culture visuelle, bouddhisme, Sri Lanka

Résumé

Cet article réexamine la nature théologiquement problématique des représentations du Bouddha (statues et images) qui servent de points de focalisation pour la méditation, la dévotion (bhakti) et l’offrande (puja) chez les bouddhistes sri-lankais. Il montre comment les autorités bouddhistes sri-lankaises mettent en avant la distance métaphysique entre ces représentations et leur référent éclairé, le Bouddha, au moyen de technologies disciplinaires qui maintiennent une distance physique et tactile entre le fidèle et la représentation. Si les fidèles semblent éviter d’identifier le Bouddha à ses portraits, cela ne signifie pas pour autant qu’ils traitent ces représentations comme de simples symboles. Au contraire, les représentations du Bouddha sont comprises comme des objets puissants – comme des matérialisations du mérite (pin) et du péché (pau) karmiques qui accompagnent l’histoire de leur dévotion.

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