Anthony Lovenheim Irwin
Abstract
Taking into account textual, theoretical, and material evidence, this article makes a case for understanding the power of sama space as being linked to the performative and ritual actions of the sangha, as opposed to cosmological or cosmogonic referents. This article uses this specific type of Theravadin spatial arrangement in order to broaden the study of religious space, and to make theoretical room for religious spaces that do not necessarily fit into dominant sacred-space theory. Specifically, this article argues for a new theoretical category of religious space, known as “efficacious space,” which is space that is established according to specific criteria, which by virtue of those criteria, empowers people to effect transformation within that space.
(Published in Rian Thai: International Journal of Thai Studies, Volume 7/2014, Page 1-18)
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