Building and Negotiating Religious Identities in a Zen Buddhist Temple

A Perspective of Buddhist Rhetoric

Fan Zhang (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

100 Seiten

2020 | 1st ed. 2019
Springer Verlag, Singapore
978-981-13-8865-1 (ISBN)

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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 formationand 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.

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.

Chapter I. Buddhism and Rhetoric: From an Intercultural Perspective.- Chapter II. A Brief History of Modern Zen Buddhism in the United States.- Chapter III. The Temple's Paradox: Maintaining Cultural Traditions in the Discourse of Modernization and Democratization.- Chapter IV. Constructing Buddhist Identity at the H Temple.- Chatper V. The Buddhist Rhetoric of the H Temple: What does it Meam to be an American Buddhist?.- References.

Erscheinungsdatum	27.07.2020
Zusatzinfo	1 Illustrations, black and white; VI, 100 p. 1 illus.
Verlagsort	Singapore
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Themenwelt	Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Wörterbuch / Fremdsprachen
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Buddhismus
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Kommunikationswissenschaft
Schlagworte	Buddhist Rhetoric • Intercultural Rhetoric • Modernization of Buddhism • Religious Identity • Zen Buddhist Temple
ISBN-10	981-13-8865-2 / 9811388652
ISBN-13	978-981-13-8865-1 / 9789811388651
Zustand	Neuware