Global Shin Buddhism and Ritual Practice

Histories, Transformations and Localisations
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-78848-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism

This book explores the globalisation of Shin Buddhism through an examination of ritual practice and its transformations in four main geographical areas: Japan, the United States, South America, and Europe.

Interrogating conservative and mono-ethnic images of Shin Buddhism, linked to the preservation of Japanese identity in diaspora communities, it offers a complex picture of this form of Buddhism, as multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and ever-changing. Drawing on historical sources, as well as fieldwork conducted in sites from three continents, the study shows the dynamic and transnational routes and local transformations of contemporary Shin Buddhism. The book further considers a range of ritual expressions of Shin Buddhism, including spatiality and architecture; music; embodiment and performance; and ritual adaptations to new virtual environments since the Covid-19 pandemic. All the authors are ordained Shin Buddhist priests, as well as academics, and bring a perspective which is informed both by academic research and by their first-hand experience of Shin Buddhism, including participation in ritual training.

An analysis of Shin Buddhism as a global religion, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of religious studies, Anthropology, and the sociology of religion. It will also be of interest to researchers in Buddhist Studies and Asian Religions, in particular those interested in Buddhism as a world religion and Buddhist modernism.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Galvan-Alvarez, Enrique

Matsunaga, Louella

Dake, Mitsuya

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus Buddhismus: Leben & Praxis, Soziale Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Historische & Regionale Volkskunde

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Jodo Shinshu responses to modernity in Japan: Ritual and its transformations

Chapter 3 Routes of Change: the expansion of Jodo Shinshu outside Japan

Chapter 4 Creating the Ritual Body

Chapter 5 Ritual space

Chapter 6 Mindfulness and meditation

Chapter 7 Mindfulness of the Buddha, Saying the Name

Chapter 8 Soundscapes of the Pure Land? Music, identity, and adapting to the times in globalising Jodo Shinshu

Chapter 9 Online Transformations During the Covid Era

Chapter 10 Conclusion – Globalisation and Ritual

Über Autor(innen)

Louella Matsunaga was senior lecturer in the anthropology of Japan at Oxford Brookes University from 2011 until her retirement in 2024. She currently has a research attachment to Oxford Brookes University and is an academic visitor at the University of Oxford. She received her PhD in anthropology in 1995 from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her research focuses on ritual and the globalisation of Jodo Shinshu, in particular ritual and embodiment. She was ordained as a Jodo Shinshu priest in 2019.

Enrique Galvan-Alvarez is Full Professor at the all-online Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (Spain). He received his PhD in modern languages in 2011 from the Universidad de Alcalá (Spain) and his research has an interdisciplinary focus with an interest in post-colonial contexts, Buddhism and narrative constructions of identity. He was ordained as a Jodo Shinshu priest in 2019 and has been actively involved since in Spanish-speaking and English-speaking Buddhist communities.

Mitsuya Dake is Full Professor in Shin Buddhist Studies at Ryukoku University (Japan). He completed his PhD coursework in 1989 at Ryukoku University. His areas of research include: Shinran Thought, Engaged Buddhism, and Inter-faith Dialogue. Currently, he is the president of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies. He serves on the editorial board of several journals, including Contemporary Voices of Dalit (Sage). He was ordained as a Jodo Shinshu priest in 1984.