Priesthood

The Vedic, Brahmanic, and Upanishadic conceptions of priesthood and the predominance of the Brahman caste in Hinduism are discussed in Arthur Berriedale Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, 2 vol. (1925, reprinted 1989); S. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Life (1927, reissued 1980), and Eastern Religions and Western Thought, 2nd ed. (1940, reissued 1991); J.H. Hutton, Caste in India, 2nd ed. (1951); and R.C. Zaehner, Hinduism (1962, reissued 1977), with a full bibliography. C.J. Fuller, Servants of the Goddess: The Priests of a South Indian Temple (1984), analyzes the complex interrelationships between the priests of the Minaksi Temple in Madurai and the economic, political, and social structure of contemporary India. V. Bouillier and G. Toffin (eds.), Priesthood, Power, and Authority in the Himalayas (1989), in English and French, is a collection of ethnographic papers concerning the role of the priesthood in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and two tribal religions, the Tharu of Dang and the cult of Kham Magar. The sublimation of priesthood in Buddhism in India, China, and Japan is treated in Paul Dahlke, Buddhism and Its Place in the Mental Life of Mankind (1927); and Edward Conze, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development (1951, reissued 1975). D. Howard Smith, Chinese Religions (1968), introduces religious thought and sacerdotal practice in China. Religious Studies in Japan (1959), a collection of papers from the ninth International Congress for the History of Religions, is a very informative composite volume in English by a group of Japanese scholars. Texts concerning the Zen sect include Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Manual of Zen Buddhism, 2nd ed. (1950, reissued 1983); and Alan Watts, The Way of Zen (1957, reprinted 1989); while reference is made to it in R.C. Zaehner, Mysticism, Sacred and Profane (1957, reissued 1980). The priesthood in Shinto is discussed in D.C. Holtom, The National Faith of Japan (1938, reissued 1965).