Global Zen Buddhism—Looking at the Popular and Material Cultures of Zen

Abstract

The contributors to this special issue participated in a workshop on and popular and material culture convened at Heidelberg University in 2012. We aimed to understand the global potentials of contemporary Buddhism, as well as the challenges Buddhist institutions are facing in the course of Zen's shifting role in the religious marketplace. This transformation of is rooted in Buddhist reform efforts and movements in late nineteenth-century Meiji Japan, when government officials frequently and increasingly criticized Buddhism as a product of decline and degeneration. Anti-Buddhist riots in Japan resulted in the destruction of Buddhist temples, statues, and ritual objects in a movement that is known as haibutsu kishaku (abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakyamuni) (Ketelaar, 1990). The persistent academic discourse on early modern (Edo Period) Buddhist decadence that developed in the context of Meiji Japan (1868-1912) was directly connected to responses to this movement, which extended well into the 1870s, as well as to inter- and intra-sectarian Buddhist criticism in Japan (Klautau, 2008). Both Asian and Western reformers sought to develop a new Buddhism that was compatible with Western concepts of modernity, rationality, and the natural sciences (Sharf, 1993; McMahan, 2008).1Literature on Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki and other authors found recognition in the West during the first half of the twentieth century, but it was only after the 1950s that Buddhist practice found a wider audience outside Japan (Fields, 1992; Offermanns, 2002). Transformations of Buddhism occurred in the process of its translation and transfer to the West. came to be known as an epitome of religious experience (Sharf, 1998) with a particular emphasis on meditation (Sharf, 1995; Borup, 2004; McMahan, 2008). Shunryu Suzuki's role in popularizing Buddhist practices in the United States can be compared with Taisen Deshimaru's efforts in Europe. Both were pioneers of in the West and served as teachers or initiators of numerous Buddhist groups, networks, and institutions. This global spread of Buddhism (see Rocha, 2006 for in Brazil) emerged along with the spread of ritual sitting ( zazen; see Faure, 1991), understood as meditation, which became the best-known practice in the modern world. Across the globe, sitting in silence continues to fascinate individuals in their search for enlightenment and a spiritual self, a temporary release from stress, and the desire for well-being and healing. It is within this context that Buddhist practice spread beyond Buddhist institutions and groups into therapeutic, wellness, and healthcare programs.This special issue seeks to contribute to recent research on contemporary Buddhism and the ways in which was shaped to negotiate modern concepts of religion, spirituality, and individual identity. However, questions remain as to how this transformation of Buddhism has altered forms of social and cultural organization in the West and in Japan. Further empirical proof is needed, notably when it comes to answering if the re-import and re-invention of modern and transculturally shaped concepts of have a lasting impact on practitioners and their self -understanding in Japan today. Global Zen is not representative of Buddhism as practiced at the great majority of Buddhist temples in Japan, which are primarily concerned with rituals and death (Covell, 2005; Rowe, 2011; Nelson, 2013). Modern and transculturally shaped concepts of Zen, however, continue to float and be transformed within and beyond institutionalized religion in Japan, as shown by the case studies presented in this volume. appears in global brands, in commercials, in books and lifestyle magazines, some of which promote as a way of transforming and optimizing the self, while others depict as an everyday down-to-earth practice beyond zazen, and notably as a marker for cultural and sectarian identity. …