Sources

The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/the-lovelorn-ghost-and-the-magical-monk-practicing-buddhism-in-modern-thailand.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/the-lovelorn-ghost-and-the-magical-monk-practicing-buddhism-in-modern-thailand

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-the-lovelorn-ghost-and-the-magical-monk,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/the-lovelorn-ghost-and-the-magical-monk-practicing-buddhism-in-modern-thailand},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Justin Thomas McDaniel's The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk, Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand, published by Columbia University Press in 2011, is a scholarly ethnographic study of lived, everyday Thai Buddhist practice, ghost belief, amulet use and the popular veneration of specific monks, arguing against textbook accounts that treat Thai Buddhism as primarily a matter of doctrine and meditation. McDaniel conducted extended fieldwork in Thailand and reads vernacular, non-canonical religious materials alongside his observation. Its strength is that grounding in what people actually do rather than in normative textual Buddhism. Its limit is that an ethnography of contemporary practice describes a particular time and set of communities, so a claim about historical Thai Buddhism, or about doctrine as taught in monastic education, needs a different kind of source than this study of lived popular practice.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Justin Thomas McDaniel's The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk, published by Columbia University Press in 2011, is a scholarly ethnographic study grounded in McDaniel's own extended fieldwork in Thailand, treated at the top tier.

Notes

Justin McDaniel's scholarly study of practicing Buddhism in modern Thailand.

Citation

Author

Justin Thomas McDaniel

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Publication Year

2011

Source Type

academic monograph

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Thailand

This source names Thailand directly: "Monk, Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand, published by Columbia University Press in 2011, is a scholarly ethnographic study of lived, everyday Thai Buddhist practice, ghost belief, amulet use..."

Source The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern ThailandJustin Thomas McDaniel

Claims Backed By This Source (31 claims)

This source backs 31 claims across the atlas. As facts: 20 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 3 holds, 1 connected. Plus 5 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Deities, 10 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 connected, 1 general references.
Sources, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 holds.
Sacred Objects & Ritual Items, 7 claims: 5 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
Figures, 3 claims: 1 scholarly debate, 1 holds, 1 general references.
Articles, 1 claims: 1 well-attested.
Cities, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Empires & Polities, 1 claims: 1 general references.