Building and Negotiating Religious Identities in a Zen Buddhist Temple: A Perspective of Buddhist Rhetoric

ISBN-13: 9789811388620 / Angielski / Twarda / 2019 / 100 str.

Fan Zhang

Spis treści

CHAPTER I. BUDDHISM AND RHETORIC: FROM AN 

INTERCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Buddhism in an Era of Globalization

Buddhism in the West

Buddhism and Technology

Defining Buddhist Rhetoric

The H temple and Its Unique Buddhist Rhetoric  

CHAPTER II.  A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN ZEN BUDDHISM IN 

THE UNITED STATES

Brief History of Modern Zen Buddhism in the West

Modernization of Buddhism on A Global Scale

The Introduction of Buddhism to Ohio and the L city

Temple Setting and Activities

Temple Operation and Communication

Articulating Buddhist Rhetoric in the H temple: on the Intersection of Culture, Communication, and Rhetoric

Viewing the H temple as both Intercultural and Rhetorical

Competing Ideologies in the H temple: When East meets West

Observing the H temple as a Practitioner and Cultural Critic

CHAPTER III.  THE TEMPLE’S PARADOX: MAINTAINING CULTURAL 

TRADITIONS IN THE DISCOURSE OF MODERNIZATION AND 

DEMOCRATIZATION

The Uniqueness of the Family Temple

as An Ideograph

The Married Abbot and Spousal Transmission: Pragmatism 

of American Buddhism

The Role of abbot N: More than Just a Temple Wife

and as Ideographs

Sunday Morning Dharma School: A Buddhist Moral Education

From Dharma Teaching to Moral Education

Sangha: This is Where We Belong

Community Building through Membership

Seeing through the Ideographs: A Democratic American Buddhism ...

CHAPTER IV.  CONSTRUCTING BUDDHIST IDENTITY AT THE H TEMPLE

Technology at the H temple and Identity Construction

Challenges from the Cyberspace

A Buddhist Identity via Technology

Dealing with the Secret Buddhist Identity: Being Rational 

and Trusting Yourself

The Secret Buddhist Identity

Mix-and-Match Buddhism for Individual Needs

The Power of Naming: Rituals, Members, and Objects

Experiencing Dharma Names in a Foreign Discourse

When Names Are Transplanted: An Orientalist Approach

Temple as the Sacred Space in Constructing Identity

Sacred Gaze in the Sacred Space

New Dimensions and Meanings of the Buddhist Identity 

CHAPTER V.  THE BUDDHIST RHETORIC OF THE H TEMPLE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST?

Rethinking the Buddhist Experience

Buddhist Rhetoric Revisited: through the Lens of Modernism

Looking Forward—A Postmodern Buddhism

REFERENCES

O autorze

​Fan Zhang is an instructor at Xi’an International Studies University. Her areas of work interest include intercultural communication, critical rhetoric, religious communication, gaming, media and technology.  She obtained her Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University, and her work has been published in the International Journal of Interactive Communication Systems and Technologies (2015). Her paper “Remaking Ancient Virtues for the Virtual World: A Case Study of the Voice of Longquan” was among the finalists in the National Communication Association’s International and Intercultural Communication Division (IICD) Honors Graduate Student Seminar in 2014. 

Blurb

This book explores the practices in a Zen Buddhist temple located in Northwest Ohio against the backdrop of globalization. Drawing on the previous studies on Buddhist modernization and westernization, it provides a better understanding of the westernization of Buddhism and its adapted practices and rituals in the host culture. Using rhetorical criticism methodology, the author approaches this temple as an embodiment of Buddhist rhetoric with both discursive and non-discursive expressions within the discourses of modernity. By analyzing the rhetorical practices at the temple through abbots’ teaching videos, the temple website, members’ dharma names, and the materiality of the temple space and artifacts, the author discovers how Buddhist rhetoric functions to constitute and negotiate the religious identities of the community members through its various rituals and activities. At the same time, the author examines how the temple’s space and settings facilitate the collective the formation and preservation of the Buddhist identity. Through a nuanced discussion of Buddhist rhetoric, this book illuminates a new rhetorical methodology to understand religious identity construction. Furthermore, it offers deeper insights into the future development of modern Buddhism, which are also applicable to Buddhist practitioners and other major world religions.