Abstract
INTRODUCTION Magic, defined here as certain beliefs and practices for mastering the physical world by appealing to supernatural forces, and religion, the pursuit of existential meaning, salvation, or awakening, do not sit easily together. As Mauss’s words suggest, magic and religion are totalities. They may be, and often are, incompatible with one another. To achieve a desired result, a magician casts a spell, a priest offers a prayer, and a monk chants an invocation from the canon. People who believe in the effects of one of these utterances tend not to believe in the effects of the others. “Nobody seeks out a magician unless he believes in him,” states Mauss emphatically (2010: 114). Even science could be said to be a belief system, but one that rests on a posteriori beliefs.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The Buddhist World |
Publisher | Taylor and Francis |
Pages | 338-350 |
Number of pages | 13 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781317420170 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780415610445 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2015 |