 |
|
| An American Buddhist Monastery: Sociocultural Aspects of Soto Zen Training | ||
| 作者 | Vryheid, Robert Edward |
|---|---|
| 出版日期 | 1985 |
| 出版者 | University of Oregon |
| 出版者網址 | http://uoregon.edu/ |
| 出版地 | Eugene, OR, US [尤金, 奧勒岡州, 美國] |
| 資料類型 | 博碩士論文=Thesis and Dissertation |
| 使用語言 | 英文=English |
| 學位類別 | 博士 |
| 校院名稱 | University of Oregon |
| 畢業年度 | 1981 |
| 關鍵詞 | Monastic; religious life (Zen Buddhism); Oregon; Monasticism; Zen |
| 摘要 | This dissertation provides an ethnographic description of the way of life of a particular American Soto Zen monastery, and shows how the way of life facilitates the internal, meditative training. Buddhist history reveals how the essential core of the meditation and teachings was passed from culture to culture by adapting the institutions and practices to trainees' needs. Various books on Zen monasteries each have advantages and disadvantages resulting from the authors' backgrounds and chosen emphases. This dissertation has been influenced by my dual role as Zen trainee and cultural anthropologist, and by various professors' and priests' input. The physical setting, meditation practice, ritual symbolism, daily and yearly schedules, social organization and processes, demography, teachings, work, and relations outside the monastery are described. The meditation hall serves as the physical and spiritual center of the monastery, where people do a form of seated meditation in which one sits still and alert, allowing thoughts to arise and pass, "neither trying to think nor trying not to think." Various symbols, statues, and teachings describe what one finds within oneself naturally in meditation. The on-day schedule provides meditation, ceremonies, work, meals, reading periods and classes designed to facilitate meditation in ordinary daily life. Days-off show one how to train in a less structured format, and other special schedules are used for various retreats and work days. Seniority and the teacher-trainee relationship form the fundamental social organization principles, as those who have trained longer and more deeply can guide those newer. The various ranks of the laity, monks, priests, and teachers provide roles, training programs, and responsibilities fitted to their different needs. The processes of administration, spiritual counseling, and passage through the system put these spiritual principles into concrete social action. Almost all members are white or Oriental, middle and upper class, 25-40 years old, and college educated, and most are men, because these people have enough control of their external needs to turn toward other pursuits. Fall and spring terms are the most intensive, with winter and summer more relaxed. Various major ceremonies are celebrated in those periods. Community interaction is done in a style facilitating and adjusting to people's training. The teachings explain how physical, mental, and spiritual karmic consequences are created and passed on, and how training helps one become one with the Cosmic Buddha, God, by cleansing one's karma. Various departments do the practical work as an active form of meditation, and people work on the moral dilemmas of daily life as an integral part of their training. The monks devote most of their time to the monastic activities, leaving little time for interacting with other organizations besides its congregation, but they do maintain spiritual but not organizational relations with the Japanese Soto Zen church. This monastery continues the core of Zen tradition, while adapting its externals to Western culture. The gradually growing monastery and congregation change their procedures whenever needed, and are planning for the future. Recent social trends have induced many Americans to change their religious participation in various directions. Many new and Eastern religious groups have developed, and are finding their niches among different demographic segments with different religious needs. Turner's theories of multivocal ritual symbolism were used in the interpretation because they are more appropriate to a discussion of Zen practice than other theories on ritual symbolism. |
| 點閱次數 | 407 |
| 建檔日期 | 1998.04.28 |
| 更新日期 | 2016.03.30 |
建議您使用 Chrome, Firefox, Safari(Mac) 瀏覽器能獲得較好的檢索效果，IE不支援本檢索系統。
