Battling the Buddha of Love is a work of advocacy anthropology that explores the controversial plans and practices of the Maitreya Project, a transnational Buddhist organization, as it sought to build the "world's tallest statue" as a multi-million-dollar "gift" to India. Hoping to forcibly acquire 750 acres of occupied land for the statue park in the Kushinagar area of Uttar Pradesh, the Buddhist statue planners ran into obstacle after obstacle, including a full-scale grassroots resistance movement of Indian farmers working to "Save the Land."

Introduction: Meditation/DHYANA: Focusing on the Maitreya ProjectPart One: The Transnational Buddhist Statue-Makers1. Community/SANGHA: FPMT's Transnational Buddhists2. The Teachings/DHARMA: Religious Practice in a Global Buddhist Institution3. The Statue/MURTI: Planning a Colossal Maitreya4. The Relics/SARIRA: Worship and Fundraising with the Relic Tour5. Aspirations/ASHA: Hope, the Future Tense, and Making (Up) Progress on the Maitreya ProjectPart Two: The Kushinagari Resistance6. Holy Place/TIRTHA: Living in the Place of the Buddha's Death7. Steadfastness/ADITTHANA: Indian Farmers Resist the Buddha of Love8. Loving-Kindness/MAITRI: Contested Notions of Ethics, Values, and Progress9. Compassion/KARUNA: Reflections on Engaged AnthropologyConclusion: Faith/SHRADDHA: Guru Devotion, Authority, and Belief in the Shadow of the Maitreya ProjectEpilogue: Rebirth/SAMSARA: The Future of the Maitreya Project