The Global Repositioning of Japanese Religions by Ugo Dessi

Author:Ugo Dessi [Dessi, Ugo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472480798
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2016-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

Jōdo Shinshū meditation and the global context

The material illustrated earlier reveals a great diversity of approaches to meditation within Hawaiian Jōdo Shinshū. Of the thirteen groups of Jōdo Shinshū meditators that I have been able to distinguish during my fieldwork in Hawaii, five are still active. However, several members of the discontinued groups are still practicing meditation at home. To these one should add those Jōdo Shinshū practitioners who have been practicing some form of meditation privately without joining any group. All groups of meditators are or were small in size, ranging from a minimum of five to a maximum of about twenty participants; some of them included people not affiliated to Jōdo Shinshū or belonging to other religious traditions.

One striking aspect emerging from this ethnographic material is the variety of sources upon which these Jōdo Shinshū meditators draw for their practice. Since meditation is not traditionally available as a viable practice in Jōdo Shinshū, those with an interest in it generally have to rely on techniques developed within other traditions. Moreover, it is evident that the term meditation can have different meanings for the practitioners involved. Meditation can refer to practices as diverse as spontaneous quiet sitting during the Sunday service, informal breathing practices, the reflection on selected themes, the practice of mindfulness, and highly formalized techniques developed by other schools within or outside the Buddhist tradition.

In two groups operating on the island of Oahu, very few instructions are given during the sessions. Even though in one of them the facilitators have a background in Siddha Yoga, participants are free to adopt their own personal style while sitting in chairs or pews for their informal meditation practice. Most of the other groups have relied on specific meditational techniques. Two groups, one of which is still active on the Big Island, are related to the tradition of mindfulness meditation developed by Thich Nhat Hahn. In the past there have been two instances of meditation sessions promoted by Jōdo Shinshū ministers who followed the Zen Buddhist style or a modified form of it. In another group on Oahu, Zen meditational techniques are blended with vipassanā and yoga. In at least three cases, series of meditation sessions have been conducted following either the seiza style or Kawahata’s Universal Meditation method, both of which have been developed in Japan at the intersection between the local tradition and modern medical/bodily practices imported from the West.

As one might expect, an even greater diversity emerges from the narratives of individual practitioners. Many of them have been involved in the formal practice of Zen meditation in the Sōtō or Rinzai tradition, Siddha Yoga, some form of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, or Transcendental Meditation. Others have been exposed to Zen or other forms of meditation through books. Still others have learned how to meditate within the practice of a Japanese martial art, or have been exposed to Sahm Bo Dahn, tai-chi, yoga, and New Age practices involving meditational approaches. It is apparent that whether or not they are involved

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