Seager, Richard Hughes. Buddhism in America. New York: Columbia UP, 1999. Print.

I searched in the Lafayette College Library catalogue for “American Buddhism” because I am very interested in learning more about America’s perception of Buddhism, and how that perception has changed over the centuries. I am aware how America’s perception of Buddhism is, in some cases, different than how it is actually practiced in Asia, and I would like to know more about where the view that has been popularized in America derived from. When I did my search, Seager’s book was the fifth book to come up. I scrolled through the other pages of results, but this book seemed to be the best fit for what I was looking for.

The cover of the book depicts a modern women praying, making it appear that the book contains information about Buddhism in the contemporary world. The book is divided into three sections: “Background”, “Major Traditions”, and “Selected Issues”. The first section gives information about the development of Buddhism and the Three Vehicles-Mahyana, Theraveda, and Vajrayana. The second section discusses contemporary, Americanized Buddhist traditions, such as meditation. The third section discusses issues of Buddhism in American society, such as the different roles of men and women. Moreover, this book also contains a bibliography with separate book and internet sources, that will be useful if I choose to write my paper on this topic.

While looking for this book in the shelves of the library, I noticed other books around it that related to Buddhism. I did not see any other books that had to do with Buddhism in America, but I did see other books about the religious practices of Buddhism. I am mostly interested in how Buddhism is perceived and how it has adapted to fit in with American culture, so this book seems like it would be helpful to gain more insight into this topic.

Joshi, Mrinal. Women in Jainism: A Case Study of Gujarat Inscriptions. Jaipur, India: Rawat Publications, 2009. Print. 

I searched the Lafayette College Library catalogue for “Women in Jainism” because I have become very interested in women’s roles in Jainism and additionally how the Jain society views females. I am aware that different ideas regarding women contributed to a division within the religion and the establishment of two different sects, the Digambaras and the Svetembaras, and I am interested in learning more about why views about women influenced such a split. When I did my search, the book by Mrinal Joshi was actually the first result that came up, but I still looked through the four pages of search results, which included several articles somewhat related to the topic. After perusing through all of the results, Mrinal’s work still appeared to be like the best fit for what I was searching for as it was one of the only books directly related to women’s role in Jain society.

The cover of the book certainly grabs one’s attention as it is colorful depiction of Jain nuns praying. The book is divided into six chapters that explain different aspects of females’ roles in Jain society. Flipping through the book, the chapters that appear the most interesting to me are “Women with Multiple Familial Attributes of identity: 11th Century C.E. to 14th Century C.E.” and “Women as Wives: 11th Century C.E. to 17th Century C.E.”  The first aforementioned chapter analyzes inscriptions written by men and women that describe women’s roles as daughters, sisters, and renouncers in Jain society. The second aforementioned chapter primarily focuses on inscriptions found that analyze and explain the role of wives during that time period. These inscriptions are very important as they explain rituals the women normally performed and how they maintained a household. Moreover, the book also contains a bibliography that lists other books related to this topic. If I would like to find out more about women in Jainism I could use the bibliography to direct me to other similar works.

While looking for this book in the shelves of the library, I noticed the other books surrounding it. Although I did not see any other books relating to women in Jainism, I did see a book relating to women in Hinduism. I am interested in women’s roles in many religions, and I may take a look at that book in the future. However, I am mostly intrigued by women’s role in Jainism and I believe that this book seems like it would be extremely helpful if I would like to research more about the topic.