1st Edition

Buddhist Modernities Re-inventing Tradition in the Globalizing Modern World

    316 Pages
    by Routledge

    316 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The transformations Buddhism has been undergoing in the modern age have inspired much research over the last decade. The main focus of attention has been the phenomenon known as Buddhist modernism, which is defined as a conscious attempt to adjust Buddhist teachings and practices in conformity with the modern norms of rationality, science, or gender equality. This book advances research on Buddhist modernism by attempting to clarify the highly diverse ways in which Buddhist faith, thought, and practice have developed in the modern age, both in Buddhist heartlands in Asia and in the West. It presents a collection of case studies that, taken together, demonstrate how Buddhist traditions interact with modern phenomena such as colonialism and militarism, the market economy, global interconnectedness, the institutionalization of gender equality, and recent historical events such as de-industrialization and the socio-cultural crisis in post-Soviet Buddhist areas. This volume shows how the (re)invention of traditions constitutes an important pathway in the development of Buddhist modernities and emphasizes the pluralistic diversity of these forms in different settings.

    1 Buddhist Modernities: Modernism and its Limits



    Mark Teeuwen





     



    Part 1: Early Meetings with Modernity



    2 The Scope and Limits of Secular Buddhism: Watanabe Kaikyoku (1868-1912) and the Japanese New Buddhist "Discovery of Society"



    James Mark Shields



    3 Buddhism and the Capitalist Transformation of Modern Japan: Sada Kaiseki (1818-1882), Uchiyama Gudō (1874-1911), and Itō Shōshin (1876-1963)



    Fabio Rambelli





    4 Parsing Buddhist Modernity in Republican China: Ten Contrasting Terms



    Justin R. Ritzinger



    5 Seeking the Colonizer’s Favours for a Buddhist Vision: the Korean Buddhist Nationalist Paek Yongsŏng’s (1864-1940) Imje Sŏn Movement



    Hwansoo Kim





     



    Part 2: Revivals and Neo-Traditionalist Inventions



    6 Buddhism in Contemporary Kalmykia: "Pure" Monasticism versus Challenges of Post-Soviet Modernity



    Valeriya Gazizova





    7 Buddhist Modernity and New-Age Spirituality in Contemporary Mongolia



    Hanna Havnevik





    8 Yumaism: A new Syncretic Religion among the Himalayan Limbus



    Linda Gustavsson





     



    Part 3: Contemporary Sangha-State Relations



    9 Failed Secularisation, New Nationalism and Governmentality: The Rise of Buddhism in Post-Mao China



    Koen Wellens



    10 Militarized Masculinity with Buddhist Characteristics: Buddhist Chaplains and their Role in the South Korean Army



    Vladimir Tikhonov





    11 Re-Enchantment Restricted: Popular Buddhism and Politics in Vietnam Today



    Aike P. Rots



    12 "Buddhism Has Made Asia Mild…" – The Modernist Construction of Buddhism as Pacifism



    Iselin Frydenlund





     



    Part 4: Institutional Modernity





    13

    Biography

    Hanna Havnevik is Professor of the History of Religion at the University of Oslo, Norway





    Ute Hüsken is Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway





    Mark Teeuwen is Professor of East Asia Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway





    Vladimir Tikhonov is Professor of Korean and East Asian Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway





    Koen Wellens is Associate Professor at the University of Oslo, Norway

    "The strength of the book lies in how the authors consistently emphasize the tangled global history of their subjects, detailing how Buddhism’s interaction with modernity and modernism is part of a multifaceted dialogue between actors from a variety of cultural backgrounds."
    -Per Faxneld, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Religious Studies Review