Journal articles on the topic 'Buddhism and Conversion'
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1
Han, Chenxing. "Contesting “Conversion” and “Reversion” among Young Adult Asian American Buddhists." Religions 10, no. 4 (April 11, 2019): 261. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10040261.
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This paper engages the perspectives of thirty young adult Asian American Buddhists (YAAABs) raised in non-Buddhist households. Grounded in semi-structured, one-on-one in-person and email interviews, my research reveals the family tensions and challenges of belonging faced by a group straddling multiple religious and cultural worlds. These young adults articulate their alienation from both predominantly white and predominantly Asian Buddhist communities in America. On the one hand, they express ambivalence over adopting the label of “convert” because of its Christian connotations as well as its associations with whiteness in the American Buddhist context. On the other hand, they lack the familiarity with Asian Buddhist cultures experienced by second- or multi-generation YAAABs who grew up in Buddhist families. In their nuanced responses to arguments that (1) American convert Buddhism is a non-Asian phenomenon, and (2) Asians in the West can only “revert” to Buddhism, these young adults assert the plurality and hybridity of their lived experiences as representative of all American Buddhists, rather than incidental characteristics of a fringe group within a white-dominated category.
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Barman, Rup Kumar. "Buddhist Culture of Contemporary West Bengal (Reflections on the Bengali-speaking Buddhists)." SMARATUNGGA: JURNAL OF EDUCATION AND BUDDHIST STUDIES 2, no. 2 (December 31, 2022): 70–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.53417/sjebs.v2i2.81.
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Since the inception of Buddhism, the people of Bengal have maintained a very close relationship with Buddhist ideologies. In fact, Bengal appeared as a dominant center of Buddhist culture in the early medieval period (sixth to twelfth century CE) both for its institutional flavour as well as for state- sponsorship. However, with the fall of royal patronage and the conversion of the Buddhists to other religious faiths, Buddhism gradually lost its prominence in Bengal. It was during the colonial period (1757 to 1947 CE), Buddhism again started reviving in different corners of Bengal principally in the early twentieth century. However, the ‘Partition of Bengal Province (in 1947) appeared as a serious setback for the fate of Buddhism in this region. The East Bengali Buddhists had started a new episode of the struggle for survival in India more precisely in West Bengal as ‘refugees’ or as ‘asylum seekers. After their migration to West Bengal, the Bengali-speaking Buddhists have aspired to build up several Viharas (monasteries), Sanghasrams (spiritual hermitage), temples, and institutions in Kolkata, Sub-Himalayan Bengal, and certain other districts of West Bengal. They have preserved and maintained the Buddhist socio-cultural traditions that they have inherited from the southeastern corner of former East Bengal. This paper highlights all these aspects of the Buddhist culture of West Bengal with a fresh outlook.
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Kumar, Sanjeev. "Ambedkar’s Journey of Conversion to Buddhism." Contemporary Voice of Dalit 11, no. 2 (October 31, 2019): 107–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2455328x19825959.
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The history of religious conversions has highlighted two aspects. One is the transformation in one’s spiritual and transcendental realm and the other is the social and the political domain that encompasses a sense of rejection of existing religious and philosophical world views as well as assertion of one’s political outlook. In this context, this article explores the contours of one of the most important political thinkers of modern India, that is, B. R. Ambedkar who embraced Buddhism after 40 years of his experiment with the Hindu religion. This article is divided into two parts; the first deals with Ambedkar’s engagement with Hinduism with a hope of reforming the same but having failed in his attempt for 20 years, he declared to leave the religion in 1936. The second part deals with Ambedkar’s both explicit and implicit deliberations for selecting the right noble faith, that is, Buddhism whose foundation was egalitarianism, based on equality and compassion. He used Deweyian experimentalism and Buddhist rationalism, to reject Hinduism and seek refuge in the reformed Buddhism, that is, Navayana Buddhism.
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I. Choudhary, Ajay. "BUDDHIST IDENTITY: A CASE STUDY OF BUDDHIST WOMEN’S NARRATIVES IN NAGPUR CITY." POLITICS AND RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA 7, no. 1 (June 1, 2013): 113–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.54561/prj0701113c.
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Indian women rarely observed as independent identity due to its caste hierachization. Thus a woman identity along with an identity of being lower caste simultaneously makes her a victim of a rigidly imbibed patriarchy and the caste system in our society. Lots of conversion had taken place to transform the life of human beings. But the investigative studies done on these kinds of religious conversions mostly focused on men and gave less importance on its impact on women identity. Among these conversions, Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism had succeeded to a great extent in providing a new respectable identity to many. Yet the status of Buddhist women, among the Buddhist community, remained the most unexamined part of this conversion. Thus, this paper tries to examine whether the Buddhist identity succeeded to provide a sense of self respect and equal status to Buddhist women or what extent the Buddhist identity stood able to replace their stigmatized identity in public sphere by investigating the narrative provided by the Buddhist women about their own identity.
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Choe, Jiyeon, and Yeonjin Sang. "The Rebirth of Buddhism in India and its Religious Limits: Focusing on the Neo-Buddhism Movement." Korean Institute for Buddhist Studies 57 (August 31, 2022): 43–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.34275/kibs.2022.57.043.
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Buddhism in India once disappeared from India and revived in 1956 through Ambedkar's Neo-Buddhism Movement. This movement was for the liberation of Dalit. Currently, India's Buddhist population is estimated at 8.44 million, accounting for 0.7% of India's religious population. This figure is down from 0.74% of the 1961 Indian Census after 1956, and although there have been fluctuations in rise and fall since then, it has hardly increased and rather decreased. Although the influence of caste in India has not disappeared and discrimination against Dalits or human rights issues have not improved, the achievements of the Neo-Buddhism Movement have stopped.
The purpose of this paper is to review the purpose and current status of the Neo-Buddhism Movement and to analyze the limitations of the New Buddhism from a religious perspective. To this end, first of all, the purpose and characteristics of the new Buddhism are examined. Ambedkar chose Buddhism instead of Hinduism and led the Neo-Buddhism Movement for Dalit, focusing on rationality and social equality.
In addition, as a result of analyzing the current status of Neo-Buddhism Movement and articles related to conversion, it is found that the new Buddhism in India plays a limited role as a religion for Dalits. There is a lack of efforts by the Indian government and the state to recognize Buddhism as an institutional religion, and Hindutva hegemony inhibit the conversion of Dalits to nebulism. In this situation, for Dalit, the meaning of Buddhist conversion is only an alternative religion of Hinduism and does not work as a religion itself.
Such religious limitations are analyzed in two ways: the doctrinal level and the religious level. On the doctrinal level, the Neo-Buddhism is based on Ambedkar's understanding of Buddhism. The aspect of pain and the problem of liberation were excluded while practicing discipline, wisdom, and mercy for the purpose of equality and emphasizing morality. At the religious level, Neo-Buddhism is not much different from Hinduism in terms of custom and worship. This limitation of Neo-Buddhism prevented the Buddhism from acting as a personal religion.
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Raz, Gil. "‘Conversion of the Barbarians’ [Huahu ] Discourse as Proto Han Nationalism." Medieval History Journal 17, no. 2 (October 2014): 255–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0971945814545862.
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In the early medieval period, many Chinese viewed the growing popularity of Buddhism, and the rapid integration of Buddhism into Chinese religious life, as a challenge to their own civilisation. A major aspect of the resistance to the growing dominance of Buddhism was a discourse known as the ‘conversion of the barbarians’. This basic narrative of this discourse claimed that Laozi had journeyed west to India where he either became the Buddha or taught the Buddha. This discourse, which was elaborated in several Daoist texts into complex cosmological and mytho-historical narratives thus asserted the primacy of Daoism and relegated Buddhism to a secondary teaching, inferior to Daoism, suitable for ‘barbarians’ but not for Chinese. This article discusses the development of this discourse, focusing on texts written by Daoists during the fifth century when this discourse was particularly vehement. In this article I will show that this discourse was not merely resistant to Buddhism, but was also critical of various Daoist groups that had accepted Buddhist ideas and practices. Significantly, this discourse associated Daoism with the essence of Chinese civilisation, rather than as a distinct teaching.
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Lecourt, Sebastian. "Idylls of the Buddh': Buddhist Modernism and Victorian Poetics in Colonial Ceylon." PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 131, no. 3 (May 2016): 668–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2016.131.3.668.
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This essay explores how Edwin Arnold's epic poem The Light of Asia (1879) popularized a formal analogy between Buddhism and Christianity. The poem was based on a series of missionary texts that had reshaped the Buddha's career into a close approximation of Jesus's in order to frame Buddhism as a fit object of Protestant conversion. Early anglophone readers in Sri Lanka, however, took it as evidence of Buddhism's equal stature and thus helped make The Light of Asia an international best seller and a touchstone for popular Buddhist nationalisms in the twentieth century. In this way Arnold's poem allows us to develop a more complex sense both of how literary forms globalize—how a literary construct can take on global purchase precisely because readers disagree over its meaning—and of the powerful role that specific literary media play in influencing these different interpretations.
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Gordon-Finlayson, Alasdair, and Michael Daniels. "Westerners converting to Buddhism: An exploratory grounded theory investigation." Transpersonal Psychology Review 12, no. 1 (2008): 100–119. http://dx.doi.org/10.53841/bpstran.2008.12.1.100.
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A ‘new Buddhism’ has been emerging in the Western world, for some time. An important area for research concerns the mechanisms by which people are engaging with the various traditions of this religion. Starting with sensitising concepts from religious conversion theory and transpersonal psychology, a grounded theory study was undertaken to investigate these mechanisms. Three committed Buddhists were interviewed and transcripts of their interviews carefully analysed to produce a higher-order explanation of the processes revealed. A model of religious conversion has emerged from the data that centres around a ‘Test for Fit’ between the potential convert and the religion in question. In terms of this model, religious conversion is the product of a successful match between the individual and a given religion in a social context that does not preclude the conversion. It was determined that while conversion theory offers the best currently available explanation to explain Westerners engaging with Buddhism, it needs to be expanded to account for the ‘Test for Fit’ model.
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Parvin, Samad P., Saeid S. Sattarnejad, and Elham H. Hendiani. "The Victory of Islam over the Buddhist Religion (Reviewing the Inscriptions of the Shrine of Imamzadeh Mulla “Ma’sum” of Maragheh)." Golden Horde Review 8, no. 4 (December 29, 2020): 636–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2020-8-4.636-646.
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Research objectives: The main purpose of this article is to study the Quranic inscription of the Imamzadeh Ma’sum Temple in Maragheh. This inscription shows the evolution of religious beliefs during the Ilkhanid period in Iran which started from the seventh century AH and continued until the eighth century AH. The main religions of the Ilkhanid rulers were Buddhism and Christianity, but they gradually adopted Islam as the official religion of government. The influence of the process of conversion has left traces in some of the inscriptions of this period. Another purpose of this study is to introduce the Imamzadeh Ma’sum temple as one of the Buddhist temples in Iran. Research materials: In this study, the authors have used two methods, namely field research and library surveys. Regarding the first method, the temple of Imamzadeh Ma’sum was examined. Regarding the second method, the historical sources of the Ilkhanid period, such as the Jami’ al-tawarikh of Khajeh Rashid al-Din Faḍlullah Hamadani, were used. These works refers to the situation of Buddhists in Iran during the Ilkhanid period (i.e. the seventh century AH). Results and novelty of the research: The results of the authors’ research in this article have demonstrated that the temple of Imamzadeh Ma’sum of Maragheh was one of the Buddhist temples in Iran. This Buddhist temple was changed to an Islamic mosque after the conversion of Ghazan Khan in 694 AH. The surviving Qur’anic inscription inside the building refers to the victory of Islam over Buddhism.
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Ghadage, Tushar. "Ambedkarites in Making: The Process of Awakening and Conversion to Buddhism among Non-Mahar Communities in Maharashtra." CASTE / A Global Journal on Social Exclusion 1, no. 2 (October 31, 2020): 107–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.26812/caste.v1i2.220.
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Scholars have presented Buddhist discourse in Maharashtra- the western part of India, as an expression of protest and emancipation of the former untouchable caste Mahar. But in the recent past, people coming from different social backgrounds belonging to non-Mahar castes have adopted Buddhism. Now it has become the collective discourse of protest of different castes and tribes. This paper, an outcome of my anthropological study concerns with changing consciousness among non-Mahar castes regarding conversion to Buddhism as a tool of resistance to overcome caste inequalities. As the Brahmanical patriarchy is the basis of the nourishment of the caste system and hence the root of women’s oppression, women’s assertion for gender-equal society and its actual implementation on the ground constitutes a major part of the anti-caste movement. Therefore, this study would also seek the answer to the question of how Buddhism helps to rupture the caste patriarchy and its rigid structure. This can be precisely seen through how women are breaking those boundaries of castes. Therefore, this paper will also address the issue of women's emancipation through Buddhism and how it challenges the Brahmanical patriarchy and liberates its women followers from oppression.
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Dy, Aristotle C. "Planting Good Roots and Creating Affinities: Engaged Buddhism in the Chinese-Filipino Context." Journal of Chinese Overseas 10, no. 1 (April 14, 2014): 33–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/17932548-12341267.
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AbstractAfter Chinese Buddhist temples were set up in the Philippines in the 20th century, temple communities proceeded to establish schools, charity clinics, and fund other socio-cultural projects. This paper traces the basis of such works to the concept of Engaged Buddhism in its Chinese manifestation, as well as to Chinese Buddhist history, teachings and contemporary trends in Chinese voluntary organizations. The author also presents fieldwork data that explores the motivations behind socio-cultural projects, using the concepts ofplanting good roots and creating affinities; these Buddhist concepts are then linked to the Chinese idea ofguanxi. Rather than religious conversion or social integration, Chinese Buddhist social projects were aimed at cultural preservation and the practice of Buddhist compassion.
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Johnston, Lucas. "The "Nature" of Buddhism: A Survey of Relevant Literature and Themes." Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology 10, no. 1 (2006): 69–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853506776114456.
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AbstractThis paper is a review of the scholarly conversation relating Buddhism to environmental issues, primarily in the United States. Topics of particular concern include important scholarly benchmarks in the field, and the nature of Buddhist ethics. Also considered are the relationships between Buddhism and other schools of thought that have been important in thinking about nature and the environment. In particular I focus on Deep Ecology and related philosophies, Buddhism and Christianity in Process thought, and the relationship between Buddhism and the natural sciences. I outline current practices performed worldwide by people who self-identify as Buddhists that clearly demonstrate environmental consciousness, sometimes actively participating in environmental movements in efforts to resist globalization and, often, Westernization. In the end, this survey perspective illustrates that there is no monolithic Buddhist tradition, but rather a substantial number of adapted (and adapting) Buddhisms.
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Gokhale, Jayashree B. "The Sociopolitical Effects of Ideological Change: The Buddhist Conversion of Maharashtrian Untouchables." Journal of Asian Studies 45, no. 2 (February 1986): 269–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2055844.
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The conversion of the Mahars to Buddhism in October 1956 was an ambitious attempt to construct a new ideology fundamentally opposed to the traditional Hindu system of beliefs, which had been destructive for the individual psyches as well as for the collective existence of Untouchables. The conversion was intended to transform the consciousness, both individual and collective, of the Mahar-Buddhists through the creation of new institutions and new modes of social interaction. The conversion was effective in inculcating a new ideology and relationships among the Mahar-Buddhists, and it did serve to make the community more cohesive and self-confident than it had been. Yet, because of the intrusion of the reservation issue and the ambiguous constitutional status of the Buddhists, they became more isolated from Untouchable communities than they had been. The conversion also had unexpected effects that ultimately reinforced divisions and class tensions both among Untouchable communities and within wider Maharashtrian society.
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Исаева, В. Б. "МАТЕРИАЛЬНАЯ И ДУХОВНАЯ ДЕПРИВАЦИЯ КАК ФАКТОРЫ РЕЛИГИОЗНОЙ КОНВЕРСИИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ЗАПАДНОГО БУДДИЗМА)." Вестник антропологии (Herald of Anthropology), no. 3 (October 1, 2021): 244–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.33876/2311-0546/2021-3/244-260.
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Статья посвящена исследованию роли факторов материальной и духовной депривации в процессе религиозной конверсии на примере обращения в западный буддизм. Постановка вопроса о значимости депривационных процессов для формирования религиозности осуществляется в рамках дискуссий о взаимосвязи депривации и религиозности, текущих дебатов о методологии исследования религиозной конверсии, а также проблематики изучения причин принятия буддизма в новых для него социокультурных ареалах. Объектом исследования выступают биографии последователей буддизма Алмазного пути, одного из наиболее распространенных в России направлений западного буддизма – варианта тибетского буддизма, ориентированного на потребности западноевропейской аудитории. В качестве методологического инструментария используется подход нарративного анализа Ф. Шютце, адаптированный к задачам исследования. В статье представлены результаты анализа материалов биографических интервью с российскими последователями буддийских общин, проведенных в рамках полевого исследования в 2018–2019 году в Санкт-Петербурге, Архангельске, Северодвинске и Москве. Анализ интервью показал, что непременным условием конверсии, кроме переживания структурных и культурных лишений, является изначальная предрасположенность, интерес к буддизму. Различение в теоретической модели материальной и духовной депривации и обуславливаемых ими двух типов интеграции в буддийскую общину, инструментального и неинструментального, позволило на эмпирическом материале реконструировать феноменологию этих типов во взаимосвязи с переживаемыми лишениями. Обнаружено, что «инструментальность» (ориентация на материальные ресурсы общины) проявляется не только на этапе активного вхождения в общину, но и сохраняется в дальнейшем как «профессионализация» в буддизме. «Неинструментальность» связана со стремлением переопределить мировоззренческие основы, чтобы совладать с жизненными трудностями, решив экзистенциальные вопросы, и, в конечном счете, восстановить субъективное благополучие. The article examines the influence of material and spiritual deprivation on religious conversion on the example of Western Buddhism. The significance of deprivation processes for religiosity is discussed in the light of the association between deprivation and religiosity, current debates about the methodology of religious conversion research, and the studies of Buddhism in new sociocultural areas. The research studies the biographies of the followers of Diamond Way Buddhism, one of the most widespread varieties of Western Buddhism in Russia – a variant of Tibetan Buddhism, oriented to the needs of the Western European audience. F. Schütze's narrative analysis was adapted to the objectives of the study and used as the primary methodological tool. The article presents the analysis of biographical interviews with the members of Buddhist communities conducted in 2018-2019 in St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk, and Moscow. Examination of the biographical materials showed that initial interest in Buddhism is a necessary condition for conversion, in addition to experiencing structural and cultural deprivations. The theoretical model we employed distinguished between material and spiritual deprivation and the two corresponding types of integration into the Buddhist community: instrumental and non-instrumental. This allowed us to reconstruct the phenomenology of these types in connection with the experienced deprivation basing on empirical material. It was found that "instrumentalism" (orientation towards the material resources of the community) manifests itself not only at the stage of entering the community but also persists in the future as "professionalization" in Buddhism. "Non-instrumentality" seeks to redefine the foundations of one’s worldview in order to cope with hardships by finding answers to existential questions and, eventually, to restore subjective well-being.
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Yuet, Keung Lo. "Conversion to Chastity: A Buddhist Catalyst in Early Imperial China." NAN NÜ 10, no. 1 (2008): 22–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/138768008x273700.
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AbstractThis paper traces the history of the notion of female chastity (zhen) in China from pre-Qin to the mid-imperial era and argues that, prior to the arrival of Buddhism in China, the idea of female “chastity” was concerned not so much with physical virginity as the dutiful fulfillment of wifely obligations as stipulated by the Confucian marriage rites. A woman's chastity was determined by her moral rectitude rather than by her biological condition. The understanding of the physical body as a sacrosanct entity that must be defended against defilement and violation emerged under the influence of Buddhist notions of the uncontaminated body, the pious observance of the Buddhist monastic code, and the performance of religious charity that became popular in early imperial China. Based on a critical analysis of a wide array of Confucian canonical texts, dynastic histories, Indian Buddhist scriptures, biographies of Chinese monks and nuns, the monastic code, and Chinese Buddhist encyclopedias, this paper delineates the gradual process by which the Buddhist concept of the “pure body” became fully assimilated into the indigenous Chinese notion of female “rectitude” and the notion of female chastity finally acquired an ontological identity around the end of the sixth century.
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Deo, Dr Tejaswini Nandkumar. "Conversion as Emancipation: A Study of Dalit Women’s Life narratives in Maharashtra." International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture 2, no. 4 (2022): 01–07. http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijllc.2.4.1.
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Millions of dalits converted to Buddhism in 1956 under the inspiring leadership of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. It was hoped that it will mark their socio-cultural emancipation from the clutches of erstwhile oppressive religion. Dalit women’s life narratives start appearing in public domain in Maharashtra from the late 1980s. A significant part of dalit women’s life narratives in Maharashtra is engaged in critiquing the still prevalent superstitions and ritual practices, and they wish to highlight the change and awareness brought in by ideological mobilization of Ambedkar led Dalit movement and conversion to Buddhism. Many life narratives recall how, with the conversion to Buddhism, the sense of shame, inferiority and degradation was washed away and document the intense feeling of liberation they experienced. In this paper, I wish to examine select life narratives written by dalit women in Maharashtra in order to analyse the role of religion, and conversion to Buddhism both as an actual event as well as a symbol of cultural regeneration in their self-assertion. There is a great element of self-reflexivity in the life narratives as they comment on the hold of Hindu cultural assumptions and traditions on their mind. I hope to trace this self-reflexive element as they introspect whether the community has lived up to the emancipatory hopes and expectations of Dr Ambedkar post conversion to Buddhism.
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박, 용희. "Conversion to Buddhism as a 'Religion of Reason'? - Karl B. Seidenstücker as an Early German Buddhist and his Perception of Buddhism -." JOURNAL OF THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR SILLA CULTURE 52 (August 31, 2018): 199–221. http://dx.doi.org/10.37280/jrisc.2018.08.52.199.
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D'ARCY MAY, John. "Conversion and Religious Identity in Buddhism and Christianity." Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 15, no. 2 (December 1, 2005): 240–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.2143/sid.15.2.2004107.
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May, John D'Arcy. "Conversion and Religious Identity in Buddhism and Christianity." Buddhist-Christian Studies 26, no. 1 (2006): 189–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2006.0017.
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Hertzberg, Michael. "Waves of Conversion? the Tsunami, ‘Unethical Conversions,’ and Political Buddhism in Sri Lanka." International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters 33, no. 1 (March 2015): 55–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/028072701503300104.
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Kleinfeld (2007) argues that humanitarian space should not be thought of as distinct from the political space, and that the repertoire of humanitarian actions always takes place within this pre-existing political space. This article explores this proposition within the context of the public debates on ‘unethical conversions’ in Sri Lanka following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. While, for my Buddhist informants, the tsunami was seen as enabling a sudden influx of numerous foreign NGOs to Sri Lanka, some of whom were suspected of proselytizing intentions, my Christian informants related to the post-tsunami period as involving a “suspension of hostilities”, which opened new opportunities to prove their worth to Sri Lankan society through their tsunami rehabilitation work. Indeed, some Christian relief organizations were able to temporarily negotiate a humanitarian space for themselves in local particularities. Nevertheless, allegations of ‘unethical conversions’ and the general mistrust of NGOs, which came to dominate Sri Lankan political discourse, were vital issues in the creation of a ‘nationalist’ political discourse which has had extensive and long-term effects.
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Bektimirova, Nadezhda N. "ON THE PARTICULARITIES OF THE SPREAD OF CHISTIANITY IN CAMBODIA IN THE XIX–XXI CENTURY." Humanitarian: actual problems of the humanities and education, no. 4 (December 30, 2018): 373–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.15507/2078-9823.044.018.201804.373-383.
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Introduction. This paper analyses the spread of Christianity in Cambodia – a rarely studied issue in Russian and Western oriental studies. Cambodia is a country where Buddhism is the state religion and has traditionally been adopted by the vast majority of its population. An analysis of the activity of Christian missions in Cambodia through a long historical period (XIX–XXIs centuries) allows for a deeper appreciation of the core issues for South East Asian countries in the XXI century, namely religious conversion and religious tolerance. The purpose of the article is to consider the reasons behind the lack of any significant enthusiasm towards Christianity among Cambodia’s population through the XIX–XX centuries as well as the impetus behind the growing conversion to Christianity in the XXIs century. Materials and Methods. The article is based on an analysis of the memoirs of French travelers and Christian missionaries of the XIX century as well as documents of the Ministry of Cults and Religion of Cambodia and the Cambodian press. The author uses both general scientific and special-historical methods: dialectical, comparative-historical and chronological. Results. The author shows that during the colonial period French Christian missionaries accepted the extreme unwillingness of the native population to convert to Christianity. At the time this could be explained by the prevalence of deeply held Buddhist ideas and traditions. By the end of the XX century Christianity began to attract a segment of the Khmer population, due to a whole host of pragmatic and ideological reasons. Given growing activities of various Christian organizations in Cambodia their influence is highly likely to increase over time. Conclusions. The analysis of the situation in Cambodia demonstrates that overall, the process of conversion to Christianity is unlikely to trigger a considerable change in the field of religion, especially considering that Buddhism still enjoys widespread state support. The vast majority of the Cambodian population shows a high degree of tolerance towards other religious confessions. Thus, the growth of Christian organizations has not so far led to a rise in negative attitudes. Keywords: Cambodia, Buddhism, Christianity, religious conversion, propaganda of Christianity, Christian missions, religious tolerance.
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Stroud, Scott R. "The Rhetoric of Conversion as Emancipatory Strategy in India: Bhimrao Ambedkar, Pragmatism, and the Turn to Buddhism." Rhetorica 35, no. 3 (2017): 314–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/rh.2017.35.3.314.
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Bhimrao Ambedkar, famous for being a political ally to the “untouchable” castes and a political sparring partner to Gandhi in India's struggle for independence, is also well-known for his public advocacy for Buddhism. Starting in the 1930s, Ambedkar began arguing that he and his fellow untouchables should convert from Hinduism to escape caste oppression. Ambedkar was also influenced by his teacher at Columbia University, John Dewey. Religious conversion transformed in Ambedkar's rhetorical strategy to a meliorative program. His rhetoric of conversion operated in three stages: reflection on one's religious orientation, renunciation of a problematic orientation, and conversion to a more useful orientation. This study explicates the final phase of Ambedkar's conversion rhetoric, the stage he only expands upon in his oratorical activity during his last decade of life. His rhetorical appeals to convert to Buddhism are found to be performative in nature and to be imbued with a Deweyan ethos of religious rhetoric as an emancipatory device for individuals and communities.
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Gannon, Shane P. "Conversion as a Thematic Site: Academic Representations of Ambedkar’s Buddhist Turn." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 23, no. 1 (2011): 1–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157006811x549670.
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AbstractMany scholars have written on the conversion of Bhimrao Ambedkar from Hinduism to Buddhism, trying to explain it. In this paper, I argue that a hermeneutics of conversion is needed to understand what this transition means in the larger academic community. Through using the concept of the ‘thematic site’, a narrative trope that draws on the Lacanian idea of the ‘point de capiton’ (also known as the ‘nodal point’ or ‘quilting point’), to investigate how the invisible is evoked in the visible of these scholarly accounts of Ambedkar’s Buddhism, this paper argues that academic accounts of this conversion rearticulate colonial dichotomies of modern/traditional, mapping them onto the binary of West/East. That is, by tracing common academic representations of Ambedkar’s conversion, this paper posits that there is an obfuscated relation that is articulated in the depiction of this event, a connection that invisibly connects Ambedkar’s act to colonial constructions of knowledge.
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Xiao, Chutian, and Chutian Xiao. "The Stillness in Movement: A Buddhist Reading of Ash-Wednesday." Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal 5, no. 1 (October 27, 2017): 27–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v5i1.216.
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Commonly seen as a religious poem that reflects T. S. Eliot’s conversion to Catholicism, Ash-Wednesday demonstrates intensively the poet’s religious experience, especially the union of the spiritual stillness and the movements in time which verges on mysticism. However, such extraordinary experience can be comprehended from the perspective of Buddhism. It corresponds with the Buddhist concept of suchness, which is further connected to religious meditation and the attitude of non-attachment in face of worldly life. It does not violate the speaker’s pursuit for a kind of Christian salvation, for it concerns more the process and the way to achieve the destination than the destination itself.
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Green, Nile. "Buddhism, Islam and the religious economy of colonial Burma." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 46, no. 2 (May 5, 2015): 175–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022463415000041.
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Bringing to light the first known Urdu primary source on Islam in colonial Burma, this essay examines the polemical encounter with Buddhism in the years surrounding the Third Anglo–Burmese War. Using the model of religious economy, the UrduSayr-e Barhmais contextualised amid the religious pluralisation and competition that accompanied colonisation as a multitude of religious ‘entrepreneurs’ and ‘firms’ rapidly entered the colony. Among them was the Indian Muslim author ofSayr-e Barhma, which provided a detailed account of the history, language and theology of Burman Buddhists and included an account of a public debate which, it claimed, culminated in the conversion of the Thathanabaing (Primate). Against the long-standing historiographical emphasis on the economic roots of anti-Indian sentiments in colonial Burma, this essay points to the religious dimensions of these enduring antagonisms.
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Gez, Yonatan N. "The Phenomenon of Jewish Buddhists in Light of the History of Jewish Suffering." Nova Religio 15, no. 1 (August 1, 2011): 44–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/nr.2011.15.1.44.
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Studies on the practice of Buddhism in the West clearly show that, ever since the 1960s, Buddhism has won a significant following from individuals of Jewish background. This article explores the links between Jewish adoption of Buddhism (as a form of spiritual practice, philosophy, therapy or overarching religion) and the pains of Jewish history, and proposes that conversion may be an attempt to disassociate one's self not only from her or his own Jewishness, but from the entire Abrahamic religious model. At the same time, the trend is confronted by its countertrend, by which the disassociation from Judaism for the sake of engagement with Buddhism often seems to be temporary, partial, or both. It is argued that in such instances, engagement with Buddhism may serve post-Holocaust needs for spiritual convalescence while at the same time instilling a pluralistic spirit that holds vicarious ramifications for Jewish attitudes towards and relations with other faiths, Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic alike.
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Zohaib Ahmad. "مریم جمیلہ کی مذہبی تبدیلی کا تجزیاتی مطالعہ." FIKR-O NAZAR فکر ونظر 58, no. 2 (December 31, 2020): 121–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.52541/fn.v58i2.1532.
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Maryam Jameelah was born in an American-Jewish family. She migrated to Pakistan on the invitation of Sayyid Abū al-A‘lā Maudūdī after her conversion to Islam. Earlier studies on her conversion have overlooked the fact that before her embracing Islam, she had opted for atheism and Bahaism as well. Moreover, it is also ignored that during her spiritual journey she had also studied Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Therefore, it is needed to understand why she adopted atheism, Bahaism, and Islam while rejecting other religions. After analyzing various aspects of her life along with her study of world religions and the contexts in which her conversions took place, the present study argues that her acceptance of Islam is a continuous process rather than a single event which is in fact triggered by a number of incidents.
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Pak, Pyong-Gwan. "Book Review: Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Christianity." Pacifica: Australasian Theological Studies 22, no. 3 (October 2009): 362–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1030570x0902200316.
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Young, Richard Fox. "Book Review: Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Christianity." International Bulletin of Missionary Research 34, no. 4 (October 2010): 238. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/239693931003400419.
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Frydenlund, Iselin. "Protecting Buddhist Women from Muslim Men: “Love Jihad” and the Rise of Islamophobia in Myanmar." Religions 12, no. 12 (December 8, 2021): 1082. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel12121082.
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Buddhist protectionism in contemporary Myanmar revolves around fears of the decline of Buddhism and deracination of the amyo (group/“race”). Buddhist protectionists and Burmese nationalists have declared Islam and Muslims the greatest threat to race and religion, and Myanmar has witnessed widespread distribution of anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim content, as well as massive violence against Muslim minority communities, the Rohingya in particular. The Indian neologism “Love Jihad” has scarce reference in contemporary Burmese Buddhist discourses, but, importantly, the tropes of aggressive male Muslim sexuality and (forced) conversion through marriage (“love jihad”) have been one of the core issues in Buddhist protectionism in Myanmar. The article shows that such tropes of the threatening foreign male have strong historical legacies in Myanmar, going back to colonial Burma when Burmese concerns over Indian male immigrant workers resulted in both anti-Indian violence and anti-miscegenation laws. Importantly, however, compared to colonial Indophobia and military era xenophobic nationalism, contemporary constructions are informed by new political realities and global forces, which have changed Buddhist protectionist imaginaries of gender and sexuality in important ways. Building on Sara R. Farris’ concept of “femonationalism”, and Rogers Brubaker’s concept of civilizationism, the article shows how Global Islamophobia, as well as global discourses on women’s rights and religious freedom, have informed Buddhist protectionism beyond ethnonationalism in the traditional sense.
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Castilla-Vázquez, Carmen. "La conversión religiosa como instrumento de búsqueda y construcción de identidades: el budismo tibetano en España." Revista de Humanidades, no. 38 (November 20, 2019): 161. http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/rdh.38.2019.25533.
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Resumen: Aunque el mapa religioso de la España actual ha cambiado considerablemente como consecuencia de la inmigración, no es solamente este factor el único a tener en cuenta a la hora de mencionar el cambio que ha experimentado la sociedad española en materia religiosa pues, el número de españoles que se convierten desde el catolicismo a otras confesiones ha aumentado extraordinariamente. Este trabajo busca reflexionar sobre los procesos de conversión al budismo en España, tomando como ejemplo, la ciudad de Granada, a partir de observaciones etnográficas y través del relato biográfico que nos ofrecen personas conversas a esta religión. Además de analizar los motivos que les llevaron a la conversión, nos acercamos a la manera en que estas personas han construido su nueva identidad religiosa, modificando su sistema de creencias y valores, así como su percepción de la sociedad en la que viven.Abstract: Although the religious map of Spain today has changed considerably as a result of immigration, this is not the only factor to take into consideration when mentioning the change in religious matters that the Spanish society has experienced. The number of Spaniards that convert from Catholicism to other faiths has increased remarkably as well. This project seeks to reflect on the processes of conversion to Buddhism in Spain, using the city of Granada as an example. This analysis is based on ethnographic observations and the biographical testimony offered by people who converted to Buddhism. In addition to analyzing the reasons that led to this conversion, we also shed light on the way in which these individuals have built their new religious identity, modifying their system of beliefs and values as well as their perception of the society they live in.
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Cabezón, José Ignacio. "The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation and Memory. Matthew T. Kapstein." Journal of Religion 82, no. 4 (October 2002): 679–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/491218.
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Cornille, Catherine. "Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Chrisitanity (review)." Buddhist-Christian Studies 28, no. 1 (2008): 161–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/bcs.0.0000.
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Kitinov, Baatr U., and Liu Qiang. "Religion in qirat Qing dynasty politics." RUDN Journal of World History 11, no. 1 (December 15, 2019): 44–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2312-8127-2019-11-1-44-55.
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During 1680s-1750s the Qing dynasty in its relations with the Oirats (Jungars and Khoshuts) actively used the potential and significance of Buddhism to achieve its main goal - the subordination of these nomads. At the same time, it had acted as a peacemaker and legislator, seeking to put under dynasty’s control not only the Oirat-Tibetan relations, but also the education of the Oirat lamas, and had tried to get them for their education in the Beijing Buddhist monasteries. In case of overt or covert insubordination, Beijing usually accused Oirat rulers in their rejection of Buddha’s teaching and conversion to Islam, claiming itself to be the only true defender of the teachings of Geluk school and personally the Dalai Lama. Such a policy, along with a complex political process in Tibet, and the Oirat internal strife, had had its impact on the crisis in the Oirat community in the middle of XVIII century.
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RAM, RONKI. "Beyond Conversion and Sanskritisation: Articulating an Alternative Dalit Agenda in East Punjab." Modern Asian Studies 46, no. 3 (May 12, 2011): 639–702. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0026749x11000254.
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AbstractGiven different socio-economic structures, and acute landlessness among the Dalits of East Punjab, the agendas of conversion to neo-Buddhism and sanskritisation, the two most popular Dalit social mobility models in India, have failed to strike a cord among the Dalits in this border state of northwest India. But that does not imply that Dalits of Punjab have failed in improving their social status. On the contrary, they have been very vocal in their assertions for social justice and dignity, and pressing for a due share in the local structures of power; a clear indication of a significant surge of Dalit social mobility in Punjab. The question that still remains largely unexplored, however, relates to the patterns of Dalit social mobility in Punjab that have emerged independently of the agendas of conversion to neo-Buddhism and sanskritisation. The study aims to map out the contours of an emerging alternative Dalit agenda in Punjab, which is conspicuous by its absence in existing Dalit studies, and examines its catalytic role in enhancing the legitimacy and effectiveness of increasingly visible Dalit social mobility in the state. The paper concludes by visualising the possibility of an articulation and assertion of a similar alternative Dalit agenda through highly contentious democratic politics in other parts of India, where the archetypical agendas of conversion and sanskritisation have either failed to deliver social justice and dignity or could not simply appeal to the local Dalit population.
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Aboobackar, Abdul Malik. "Dalits and Their Conversion to Islam: An Analytical Study of The Event in Meenakshipuram." ĪQĀN 4, no. 2 (June 28, 2022): 1–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.36755/iqan.v4i02.385.
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This research is focusing on a new development that is leading to modern reforms in Hinduism. It discusses an important part of contemporary Hindu-Muslim relations. Dalit outcastes are enthusiastically distancing themselves from Brahmanism or existing Hinduism due to its caste system as it ritualistically considers them impure, even though they are not allowed to enter the temple. Resultantly, their mass conversion to Christianity, Buddhism and Islam has been evidently witnessed for the last three centuries. This study is centred around such an event that represents the mass conversion of Dalits to Islam. It generally highlights the doctrinal status of the outcaste in Hinduism, elaborates on the conversion of Meenakshipuram’s residents and dilates upon the later consequences they encountered. This religious phenomenon resulted in the detachment of some great Hindu scholars from the caste order and its discriminative practices.
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Audette, Andre P., Mark Brockway, and Christopher L. Weaver. "Adapting Identities: Religious Conversion and Partisanship Among Asian American Immigrants." American Politics Research 45, no. 4 (January 22, 2017): 692–721. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1532673x16688459.
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Asian Americans constitute the largest group of new immigrants and the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. While Asian American immigrants have experienced greater economic success than other minority groups, this has not necessarily led to greater political incorporation such as identification with a political party. Political parties have made little substantive outreach to Asian Americans, leaving a void in political socialization that other institutions, such as churches, have sought to fill. Yet the U.S. religious landscape is often quite different from that of Asian immigrants’ sending countries, providing opportunities for changes in religious identity through conversion. Leveraging data from the 2012 Pew Asian American Survey, we show that conversion from Buddhism to Christianity among Asian American immigrants facilitates the development of partisan political identities. We demonstrate that conversion functions as an adaptation in identity that helps facilitate subsequent changes in identity, such as the acquisition of partisanship.
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Bianchi, Maria Alessandra. "De l’émotion dans la conversion. Interactions émotionnelles et apprentissage au sein du bouddhisme dzogchen occidentalisé." Social Compass 65, no. 3 (June 8, 2018): 378–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0037768618772971.
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This article presents an analysis of the role of emotions during the conversion process to a specific Tibetan Buddhism teaching – the dzogchen. It is based on qualitative data gathered from field research in France and in Italy amongst two organisations. I draw on Arlie Russel Hochschild’s interactionist approach to demonstrate that the aspiring convert carries out an emotional work on him/herself as a means of learning certain feeling rules proposed by the dzogchen organisations. This dynamic contributes significantly in the conversion process, which takes place during intersubjective interactions. Firstly, the ‘conversion agents’ use tools such as ‘training devices’, symbols, and a system that helps decide between the emotions to show and to avoid. This system stimulates the collective learning process of the dzogchen feeling rules by the social actor. Secondly, the dzogchen practitioners, by interacting with each other, learn to adjust their emotional behaviour.
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Ahn, Hwanki. "Psychotherapeutic Meaning of ‘Conversion of Perception’: Focus on Yogācāra Buddhism and Object Relations Theory." Journal of Humanities and Social sciences 21 12, no. 1 (February 28, 2021): 2335–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.22143/hss21.12.1.165.
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Pomplun, Trent. "Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Christianity - Edited by John D'Arcy May." Religious Studies Review 36, no. 3 (September 22, 2010): 249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2010.01456_7.x.
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Hoon, Hwang Kyung. "An ‘Enlightenment-centred’ Approach to Interreligious Dialogue." International Journal of Asian Christianity 2, no. 2 (October 17, 2019): 147–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/25424246-00202002.
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This study explores the possible dialogue between Catholic Philosopher Lonergan and Zen (Seon) Master Chinul in the light of enlightenment or conversion as ‘Christian enlightenment’. Keeping in mind that Zen Buddhism puts much stress on ‘direct cutting’ or ‘intuition’ rather than language or knowing, this comparative study examines Lonergan’s ‘transcendental epistemology’ in which he shows how humans could reach ‘conversion’ (Metanoia) or ‘Christian enlightenment’ with Chinul’s idea of Buddha-nature as ‘mystical or spiritual knowing’(靈智). Such ‘enlightenment-centered’ comparison will suggest a ‘deeper dialogue’ on the level of fundamental human consciousness, such that this study could be a suggestion or even a challenge for both Eastern and Western religious traditions by expanding the horizon of interreligious dialogue for a new and deeper way of promoting such dialogue.
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Das, Rahul. "THE ROLE OF HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM IN PROMOTING INDIANNESS OUTSIDE INDIA: SCENARIOS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA." International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH 8, no. 5 (June 4, 2020): 179–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v8.i5.2020.147.
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Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is considered to be the oldest religion in the world (Fowler 1997, p1). This religion originated in India. Similarly, India is also the birthplace of Buddhism. Apart from trade, religion was one of the means of inter-state communication and proximity in ancient times. It is through religion, ancient Indian civilization developed good relations and closeness with different parts of the world, one of which was Southeast Asia. Though Marx opined “Die Religion……ist das opium des volkes” or “religion…..is the opium of people”, but the positive role of religion cannot be denied in this case. Hinduism and Buddhism were the main driving force behind the Indianization or Sanskritization of Southeast Asian States. Buddhism and Hinduism are still among the most prevalent religions in this region, despite the subsequent large-scale conversion to Christianity and Islam. The influence of Indianness is evident in all the areas of this region, including ancient architecture, sculpture, art, painting, literature, language, script, lifestyle etc. These religions have never been limited to personal sphere of inhabitants of this region but have also flourished in the political and social spheres. These religions have sometimes been instrumental in unravelling colonial chains and sometimes in nation-building efforts. At present, the Government of India is very keen on finding the roots of ancient historical ties in establishing close bilateral relations with various countries, from that point of view, this following article will be considered very relevant.
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Soucy, Alexander. "A Reappraisal of Vietnamese Buddhism’s Status as “Ethnic”." Journal of Vietnamese Studies 12, no. 2 (2017): 20–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jvs.2017.12.2.20.
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In writings of Buddhism in the West, Vietnamese Buddhists have often been pigeonholed as bringing their Buddhism with them like baggage and replicating the practices of their native land. This paper problematizes this characterization by looking more closely at the way that Vietnamese Buddhism has been reconstructed in the diasporic context. I argue that many of the leading figures of this process were, in fact, heavily influenced by intra-Asian and Transpacific reformist trends and engaged in activist movements in southern Vietnam, rather than coming from “traditional’ Buddhist backgrounds. Furthermore, the orientations that they brought were the product of dialogues with other reform movements in Asia that started earlier in the nineteenth century and were, in turn, a result of the colonial encounter. Therefore, rather than a single transference from East to West, what actually took place was a multi-nodal and multidimensional conversation between Asian reformers from different countries and traditions, Western scholars, and Western converts to Buddhism. Consequently, what has been established in the West by Vietnamese is not simply an adaptation of Vietnamese traditional Buddhism to a Western context, but the creation of a new, invented tradition that we can call Vietnamese Transnational Buddhism.
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Fadhilatunnisa, Fadhilatunnisa, Iredho Fani Reza, and Zaharuddin Zaharuddin. "Religious Conversion to Converts at the Indonesian Chinese Islamic Association Palembang, Indonesia." TAZKIYA: Journal of Psychology 10, no. 1 (April 30, 2022): 64–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.15408/tazkiya.v10i1.19628.
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The ethnic Chinese in Indonesia mostly adheres to the religion of their ancestors, such as Christianity, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Only a small portion of the ethnic Chinese converted to Islam, and when they embraced Islam became a minority the Chinese community. Those who are a minority among minorities, are very important to research. This study aims to determine the experience of religious conversion in converts at the Indonesian Chinese Islamic Association (Persatuan Islam Tionghoa Indonesia, PITI) of Palembang. This research uses a qualitative method with a descriptive approach. The participants of this study were three Chinese converts. The data of this study were obtained by semi-structured interviews. Then the results were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman method. The results of this study indicate there are four main problems experienced by participants, namely towards the process of religious conversion, when converting to religion, after becoming a convert, and changing themselves. In general, this research concludes that participants experience changes that occur not only in themselves, but also in their social interactions.
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Puthiran, J. "Buddhism and Soteriology." Con Texte 3, no. 1 (May 26, 2022): 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.28984/ct.v3i1.388.
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This paper argues that research in Buddhism must have a soteriological focus. To demonstrate this, an overview of the Cūḷamālunkya Sutta (MN 63) is presented. This sutta consists of a conversation between the Buddha and one of his students, and it reveals that Buddhism’s topics of inquiry must address how one can be free from suffering. The implication of this conversation – the soteriological focus – seems to suggest that Buddhist research excludes topics in metaphysics, such as addressing the nature of the universe (if it has a beginning or an end, if it is finite or infinite, and so forth), or the nature of the self. Soteriology seems to suggest that ethics is the only focus of research in Buddhism; that is, to know how to be free from suffering, one must study how one should live and conduct oneself. Though this appears to be the case, this paper will show that research in Buddhism is not limited in this manner. Instead of excluding metaphysical research entirely, Buddhism instead excludes research that is done for its own sake; topics must therefore be researched for the sake of soteriology. Thus, the research implication of the Cūḷamālunkya Sutta is not that certain topics are unable to be researched, but rather that a qualification of soteriology is attached to topics of research.
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Mahadev, Neena. "Economies of Conversion and Ontologies of Religious Difference: Buddhism, Christianity, and Adversarial Political Perception in Sri Lanka." Current Anthropology 59, no. 6 (December 2018): 665–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/700650.
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OBER, DOUGLAS F. "From Buddha Bones to Bo Trees: Nehruvian India, Buddhism, and the poetics of power, 1947–1956." Modern Asian Studies 53, no. 04 (January 4, 2019): 1312–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0026749x17000907.
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AbstractIn the first decade after Indian independence in 1947, the secular Indian state projected a vision of itself as being guided by universal ethics rooted in the nation's ancient Buddhist past. From the circulation of Buddhist relics in distant lands to the reinvention and incorporation of Buddhist symbols in contemporary state regalia, the government sponsored a wide variety of programmes in the name of world peace, Pan-Asian unity, and enlightened democratic values that promoted Buddhism both within India and across Asia. This more than decades-long effort was entirely the outcome of the political and social visions of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and key members of his cabinet. In its most concise formulation, this Nehruvian-style Buddhism consisted of a two-pronged approach, one concerning the uses of Buddhism in the domestic sphere—that is, for domestic consumption by citizens of the new nation—and one concerning the uses of Buddhism as an instrument of foreign policy. At the heart of these projects was the dual effort to integrate a diverse South Asian populace into a wider national consciousness and yield influence among the post-colonial order in Asia. This article details the strategies and ideologies that Nehru and his cabinet employed vis-à-vis Buddhism from the mid-1940s to late 1950s when their Buddhist statecraft began to unravel due to geopolitical crises and the mass conversions of Ambedkarite Dalits. After tracing these developments, the article briefly considers the continued relevance of the Nehruvian engagement with Buddhism as it relates to twenty-first century Indian affairs.
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Harding, John S. "Bodily crisis and religious conviction: Implications of Kiyozawa Manshi's illness." Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 37, no. 2 (June 2008): 211–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000842980803700202.
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Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903) is well-known as a Japanese reformer of modern Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism. Kiyozawa's articles and diaries express an evolving religious conviction that emerged both within the context of Meiji Japan and as a result of life-threatening illness. Before he became bedridden with tuberculosis, Kiyozawa's religious orientation exemplified reliance on self-power, jiriki, and the preeminence of reason. Severe physical illness with its attendant limitations led Kiyozawa to repudiate his belief in both the viability and efficacy of jiriki, resulting in a reorientation of his religious conviction to a pronounced emphasis on faith as expressed by absolute trust in other-power, tariki. This case study of crisis and conversion in the life of Kiyozawa Manshi suggests interdependent and transformational connections between bodily illness and religious conviction.
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Wang, Yining. "“Cross Is Fix”: Christianity and Christian Community as Vehicles for Overcoming Settlement Crises of Chinese Immigrant Families." Religions 13, no. 2 (January 25, 2022): 119. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel13020119.
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Mainland Chinese grow up in a nation with Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism as their cultural heritage, and are educated with atheism, materialism, and scientism in contemporary China. However, the high rate of conversion to Christianity among Chinese immigrants in Anglo-Saxon countries constitutes a distinctive feature in studies of migration. This paper aims to investigate the reasons for becoming Christian and the development of spirituality of a group of first-generation Chinese Australians from mainland China. All the seven participants are highly educated women who migrated to Australia as adults and had young children at the time of conversion. Data were collected mainly through open-ended in-depth interviews, and triangulated with private conversations, observations, and WeChat messaging. This ethnographic qualitative research found that these immigrants’ Christian attempts were prominently triggered by settlement crisis as new immigrants and as immigrant parents. They see Christianity and church community as a strong vehicle to resolve integration difficulties in a new society, such as economic and career insecurities, social isolation, language barriers, marital crises, and parenting dilemmas. Their Christian movement is facilitated by identified ideological congruence but hindered by cultural conflicts between their newly acquired Christian doctrines and their previously instructed values. The findings have implications for immigrant families, secular institutions, and religious organizations, as to the psychosocial well-being of new migrants.
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Wesołowski, Zbigniew. "Beyond East and West: What ‘Ladder’ Did John Wu Use Towards This Goal? (Part Two)." Roczniki Humanistyczne 69, no. 9 (December 3, 2021): 23–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.18290/rh21699-2.
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John Wu Jingxiong (1899-1986) was a diplomat, scholar, and authority on international law. He was also a prominent Chinese Catholic convert. His spiritual autobiography Beyond East and West (1951) reminds us of the Confessiones of St. Augustine for its moving description of John Wu’s conversion to Catholicism in 1937 and his early years as a Catholic. The very title of Wu’s autobiography points to his spiritual ideal which let humanity go beyond cultural particularities (be they Western, Chinese, or other). John Wu found wisdom in China’s great traditions, i.e., Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, pointing to their universal truths that come ultimately from, and are fulfilled in, Christ. The author of this contribution has searched for John Wu’s universal traits which go beyond any culture and calls them, metaphorically, a “ladder”. He has found a threefold ladder, i.e. that of the Christian faith, of human friendship and human and divine love, and that of natural law.