The Aura of Buddhist Material Objects in the Age of Mass-Production

Authors

  • Trine Brox

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3238213

Keywords:

Aura, Buddhist material objects, mass-production, sacralization, Tibetan Buddhism, Walter Benjamin

Abstract

The article discusses material religion in a commercial setting and sets off this discussion with Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936). Benjamin argues that mechanical reproduction emancipated works of art from religious rituals and evaporated the aura of art. This has resonance among some Tibetan Buddhists in the context of mass-produced Buddhist material objects. Are such objects fit to be given as gifts, implemented in rituals, and worshipped on altars? Based upon ethnographic work at a Tibetan Buddhist market in urban China, the article argues that although objects manufactured in factories for profit are not made or handled according to Buddhist tradition, the aura can be produced in different ways and at different points of an object’s life.

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Published

2019-08-20

How to Cite

Brox, Trine. 2019. “The Aura of Buddhist Material Objects in the Age of Mass-Production”. Journal of Global Buddhism 20 (August):105-25. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3238213.

Issue

Section

Special Focus: Buddhism and Economics