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The Dalai Lama has represented Buddhism as a religion of non-violence, compassion, and world peace, but this does not reflect how monks learn their vocation. This book shows how monasteries use harsh methods to make monks of men, and how this tradition is changing as modernist reformers—like the Dalai Lama—adopt liberal and democratic ideals, such as natural rights and individual autonomy. In the first in-depth account of disciplinary practices at a Tibetan monastery in India, Michael Lempert looks closely at everyday education rites—from debate to reprimand and corporal punishment. His analysis explores how the idioms of violence inscribed in these socialization rites help produce educated, moral persons but in ways that trouble Tibetans who aspire to modernity. Bringing the study of language and social interaction to our understanding of Buddhism for the first time, Lempert shows and why liberal ideals are being acted out by monks in India, offering a provocative alternative view of liberalism as a globalizing discourse.

This article explores the important yet overlooked role that Kannon has played in the modern history of Buddhist reform. Previous scholarship has focused on the formation of the sectarian histories of the Jōdo Shin, Nichiren, and Zen Buddhist schools and emphasized the role of the buddha Amida. As a historical corrective, I examine the work of former Sōtō Zen priest Daidō Chōan and his founding of a new religious movement centered on Kannon called Guzeikyō in the late nineteenth century. Following a doctrinal dispute with Shin Buddhists and his excommunication from the Sōtō school, Chōan embarked on a project to revolutionize Japanese Buddhism under the banner of “reform.” Chōan’s ideological commitments resonated with many of the concerns of his contemporaries, including adapting to the rapidly shifting religious milieu of Meiji Japan, reinventing orientations toward the laity to undermine sacerdotalism, preempting ideological fragmentation by incorporating Western philosophy, and reenvisioning the terms of Buddhists’ social commitments. Chōan’s vision for Buddhist reform centered on the transformative power and trans-sectarian appeal of Kannon calls for greater scholarly engagement with the history of marginalized Buddhist modernities and reform movements.