Introduction: The Comparative Anthropology of the Buddhist Gift

This introduction draws attention to recent, renewed engagements with comparison in anthropology. This special issue—the first published collective endeavour to contribute to a comparative anthropology of Buddhism—constitutes an attempt to examine collectively the comparative potential of a major anthropological theme, the gift, in Buddhist contexts. One of the distinctive features of this set of papers is to consider the ‘gift’ within a somewhat larger spectrum of ‘transfers’ (following in particular Testart's terminology), including in particular practices of remuneration for religious services. These papers also exemplify a diverse range of modalities in comparative approach.