1. Sociological Analysis, Vol. 52, No. 4, Religious Movements and Social Movements (Winter, 1991)
2. Henry C. Finney, University of Vermont
摘要
Participant observation data from both Japan and the United States are used to correct the common argument in the sociology of religion that Zen Buddhism in America is mainly a deviant cult response to personal strains resulting from various social discontinuities and conflicts. While such explanations do shed light on the recruitment of some participants in new religious groups, they suffer from being exaggerated and from being historically and cross-culturally incomplete. The present analysis argues that the emergence of organized Zen in America must also be understood as the result of a process of culture diffusion of Mahayana Buddhism from East Asia to North America since World War II. This process has also involved a sectarian reformation of Zen in the course of its diffusion from Japan, suggesting that American Zen may be better understood as a sectarian rather than a "cult" movement. Data are provided by the author's accompaniment of an American Zen Master on his travels in Japan for the purpose of official confirmation by the Soto Sect as a Zen priest and teacher. Visits to numerous temples in the American priest's lineage provided extensive illustration of the reality of Zen's cultural and institutional diffusion to North America, of the ancient and traditional origins of this "new" American religion, and of the reformation it has undergone during its transplantation from East to West. The article concludes with an outline of a six-stage culture diffusion model for future research.
目次
ANNOTATED OVSERVATIONAL NARRATIVE 384 Zuise at Soji-ji Monastery 384 Ancestral Temples at Yokohama and Kamakura 385 Abbot Installation at Kirigaya-ji 387 Dogen's Eihei-ji Monastery 388 Ancestral Temples on the Sea of Japan 388 Lineage Connections in Kyoto 389 Family Guests at Unsen-ji 390 Maezumi's Family Temple 390 CONCLUSIONS 391 OUTLINES OF A CULTURE DIFFUSION MODEL 393 REFERENCES 395
