In this important ethnographic study of Theravada Buddhist monasticism in Sri Lanka, Samuels portrays a network of 15 monasteries and 175 monks and novices built largely through the extraordinary efforts of a single monk, whom Samuels identifies by the pseudonym Narada. Since becoming head monk of a small monastery near Kandy in 1978, Narada has built this network in pursuit of his mission to educate underprivileged youth, recruit and train monks, and build temples.

Samuels uses this case to show how particular social experiences, emotions, and aesthetic standards shape religious ideals, behaviors, and institutions. Specifically, he asserts: that local social experiences and affective needs help form ideas of what a Buddhist monk and temple should be; that “common histories, similar values, shared sentiments, and collectively held aesthetic standards” strengthen “the forces that bring together and hold together groups of Buddhists”; and that emotions and aesthetic responses function expressively and strategically in building and maintaining Buddhist institutions (pp. xxiii–xxiv). In making these claims, Samuels offers a counterweight to two rationalistic and individualistic approaches to Buddhism that have dominated much previous scholarship: normative depictions of the ideal monk as perfectly disciplined, dispassionate, and detached from others; and interpretations of Buddhists' actions as self-interested choices, such viewing lay-monastic interactions as an exchange of material goods for instruction, ritual services, and merit-making opportunities.

Samuels demonstrates his claims primarily through excerpts from interviews conducted between 1999 and 2009 with more than 60 monks and novices and 38 laypeople. In these interviews, monastics and lay patrons stress the importance of affect-laden social bonds, even at the expense of traditional monastic values. Narada strongly emphasizes caring for his novices, even allowing them to play cricket and cooking for them after noon in violation of monastic rules (p. 13). He states that his affection creates in his novices a strong dependence on him, which allows him to train them (p. 65); this encouragement of dependency is seemingly at odds with canonical ideals of self-reliance. Narada also encourages his monastics to develop close bonds with lay supporters, such as by addressing them with kinship terms like father or mother (pp. 65–6). Other monastic interviewees speak of exhibiting pleasing behavior and appearance in order to elicit in the laity a longing for the monks. One monk insists that it is external appearance, and not morality (sīla), that attracts the laity to the monks (p. 28). Lay interviewees likewise repeatedly speak of their longing for the monks and their appreciation of the monks' kindness, calm, and beauty.

Samuels supplements these interviews with narratives that illustrate the important roles played by social networks and interpersonal relationships in individuals' decisions to ordain under Narada, and in communities' choices to turn their temples over to him. Samuels' discussions of other scholars' views on topics such as recruitment, socialization, and the social construction of emotions are clear and helpful.

Emotions and aesthetics have been central concerns of several recent studies of Theravada literature, and Samuels' extension of this discussion to contemporary Theravada monastic practice opens a near area of research. As Samuels recognizes, the social, affective, and aesthetic motivations he highlights interact in complex ways with the canonical ideals and self-interest highlighted by other scholars. For example, economic considerations certainly play a large part in decisions by boys and their parents to ordain under Narada. In 2004, about 70% of the monastics at Narada's main monastery were from the North Central Province, even though at the time of writing Narada had only two monasteries there, compared to 11 monasteries in the Central Province (pp. 84–5, 138). Narada's efforts have thus served largely to bring novices from impoverished communities in the plains to serve wealthier upland temples.

One question suggested by this study is that of how typical Narada and his community are. The remarkable growth of Narada's network contrasts starkly with the recent general decline in the number of monks in Sri Lanka. Narada and his followers are articulate and self-conscious about their goals of monastic recruitment and temple building, but they seem not to place a similar emphasis on strict ascetic practice, the ideal on which the Rāmañña Nikāya, the reformist monastic fraternity to which these monks belong, was founded in 1864. For example, one monk gave up his wish of moving to a forest hermitage to honor Narada's request to administer a temple (pp. 81–2). A perhaps excessive zeal for recruitment is evident in a monk who used a funeral sermon as an occasion to plead with his audience to give their sons to the Saṅgha, and who, according to another monk, founded a youth group in order to “grab boys” for the Saṅgha (pp. 37–40). Future studies of other monastic communities that share Samuels' attention to interpersonal relationships may place Narada's network in a clearer comparative perspective.