Zen in Brazil: The Quest for Cosmopolitan Modernity. .
By Cristina Rocha. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006,
256 pages. ISBN 8-8248-2976-X (cloth) $37.00.
Reviewed by
Frank Usarski
Professor of Religious Studies
Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil
For more than a decade now, Cristina Rocha has been one of the
most engaged and qualified researchers of Buddhism in Brazil and
her book on Zen in her home country, based on her Ph.D. dissertation
finished in 2003 at the University of Western Sydney, Australia,
is a summary of the results of her untiring field studies on the
issue.
According to the
introduction, the publication, whose main body is composed of
five chapters, represents "fundamentally a
study of how the discourse of modernity has historically influenced
a sector of Brazilian society... to adopt Zen as a sign of the
'modern'." (p. 3) The first two chapters deal with the historical
aspects constitutive for the emergence and diffusion of Japanese
Buddhism in Brazil. Chapters three and four discuss the manifestations,
the national socio-historical and religious circumstances, as well
as the global context of Buddhism in general and Zen in particular
in Brazil. Claiming that "the adoption of Buddhism in Catholic
countries... should be differentiated from its adoption in Protestant
nations," (p. 7) the last chapter takes up the main question
of the book, that is, how Buddhism in Brazil was "creolized" and
in which sense the outcome reflects the specific conditions of
the so-called "biggest Catholic country" in the world.
The first chapter
gives an overview of the formal and political prerequisites for
and the process of Japanese immigration to Brazil. It includes
attention to the socio-historical circumstances of the establishment
of Japanese religious institutions, especially after World War
II in reaction to the decision of most Japanese families not
to return to their homelands but to stay forever in Brazil. Though
this chapter focuses on the "sender" as
a key-element for the transplantation and adoption of Zen in Brazil,
Rocha also reminds her readers of the importance of the Kyoto School
for the contemporary predominant understanding of Zen as a culturally "independent" and
universally applicable religious practice. She notes this concept
is not immediately compatible with the "historical choices" made
by the Soto Zen School and therefore has been a potentially polemic
issue in the debates between the "conservative" hierarchy
of the Busshinji Temple of São Paulo and the "modernist" overseas
ministers sent by the Soto School to Brazil since the 1950s.
As its title "Non-Japanese
Brazilians and the Orientalist Shapings of Zen" indicates,
the book's second chapter focuses on the side of the "receiver," analyzing
the dynamics and sources that contributed to a positive image
of Japan in Brazil and that led members of the privileged social
strata to develop a sympathetic openness towards the country's
culture. While this erudite appreciation of Japanese culture
stood in opposition to the initially quite negative "popular" image
of the Japanese immigrants, it was in accordance not only with
a romantic Orientalism echoing the works of some Brazilian nineteenth
century poets and literary figures, but also with the Japan-friendly
tone in the works of European writers and the japonaiserie that
in the first half of the twentieth century rubbed off on Brazil
from France, whose trends and attitudes Brazilians took as an
exemplary model in that period. Among other articulations, the
latter influence expressed itself in a growing popularity of haiku poetry
which first was adopted in French and then English traditions,
but from the 1930s inspired Brazilian authors to write their own haikus in
Portuguese. Interest in Asian religions including Buddhism in general
and Zen in particular was also aroused through the books of European
and North American authors such as Hermann Hesse, Eugen Herrigel,
and Alan Watts. In a few (but for the adoption of Buddhism in Brazil,
significant) cases, Western Esotericism, particularly Theosophy,
played a role as a mediator. Rocha indicates that the number of
non-Japanese Brazilians who became regular practitioners or engaged
themselves in transmitting Buddhism to a "second generation" was
humble. But— according to the author— this small number
was partly compensated by the reputation of these protagonists
as intellectuals, a reputation that "would guarantee a constant,
if small, flow of interest in Zen by non-Japanese Brazilians." (p.
90)
Chapter three reflects
upon the conditions for the acceptance of Zen in a country often
stereotyped as the world's largest Catholic nation yet at the
same time well known for the multi-ethnic origins and the predisposition
towards religious syncretism of its population. Referring to
the results of the last national census of 2000, the author concludes
that taking "this complex, plural, and porous
religious universe" into consideration, "it is not surprising
that Zen Buddhism found a place in the country." (p. 95) For
Rocha, one important factor in this process has been the constant
decline of official Catholicism during the last decades. Further,
she reminds us not to forget the foregoing propagation of karma and
reincarnation in Kardecism and Umbanda, and even the presence of
Eastern entities including a figure known as "The Buddha" in
the symbolic universe of Umbanda. These have contributed considerably
to Buddhism's acceptance in Brazil, as it "encountered a
base in which it could germinate and develop." (p. 96) As
well as these constituents on the "supply-side," there
has also been a change on the "consumer side." A growing
individualization and autonomy has made these consumers more responsible
for "his/her own combination of picking, choosing, mixing,
hybridizing, and creolizing from different religious traditions
according to her/his needs in her/his 'spiritual journey.'" (p.
120)
Based on arguments
borrowed from theorists like Le Goff, Bourdieu and Featherstone,
the fourth chapter focuses on the public image of Buddhism created
by movies, cover stories of magazines, and newspaper articles
and their ambiguous effect on the Brazilian audience. Beyond
any doubt, the frequency with which Buddhism has been mentioned
in the press has considerably broadened common knowledge about
it. It is now generally associated "with values such
as nonviolence, inner peace, compassion, equality, justice, love,
happiness and harmony" and considered an "antidote to
the stress and violence of Brazil's urban centers." (p. 152)
At the same time, however, "the diffusion of Zen Buddhism
in Brazil can be seen as a part of a 'faculty club culture'" (p.
150) whose "members" do not necessarily welcome the
growing accessibility of Buddhism. For them, Zen is primarily an
expression of a lifestyle or fashion linked to the upper class
serving as a symbolic marker of a distinguished position and privileged
status within Brazilian society.
Nuancing earlier
reflections on the tensions between the ethnic Japanese hierarchy
of the Busshinji Temple and Soto Zen overseas ministers sent
to São Paulo, the fifth chapter starts by
questioning the universality of the "widespread assumption
that Buddhism in the West is typically fractured between 'ethnic'
and 'convert' practices," since in Brazil "there is
a host of interactions, hybridizations, and creolizations that
make the boundaries between the two congregations very porous." (p.
153) Therefore Rocha considers neither the above quoted dichotomization;
nor the threefold distinction between "elite," "missionary," and "immigrant" types
of Buddhism; nor the binary distinction between "traditionalist" and "modernist" Buddhists
fully compatible with the real situation of Brazilian Buddhism.
Instead, she calls attention to the religious spectrum generated
by different generations of Japanese Brazilians and by non-Japanese
Brazilian sympathizers or practitioners of Zen. Supplying appropriate
examples from already "Brazilianized" children and grandchildren
of Japanese immigrants to Brazil, Rocha notices a routine characterized
by "parallel" references both to Catholicism and traditional
Japanese Religions, including Buddhism. This "duality," which
is rooted in the traditional Japanese multi-religious attitude
and further stimulated by the tolerance and flexibility typical
of Brazilian culture, is shaped according to the particular biographical
events and actual problems of the practitioner. As far as Buddhist
institutions are concerned, the "creolization" of Buddhism
and Christianity manifests on the occasion of funerals, wedding-ceremonies,
and baptism-rituals capable of satisfying the expectations of a
Catholic, socialized, non-Japanese audience.
Before making a few critical remarks on this publication, I want
to emphasize that Rocha offers profound insight into a phenomenon
that in the past has been considerably neglected by the great majority
of the Brazilian researchers on religion. Additionally, Zen
in Brazil is very well organized and written in a reader-friendly
style.
First, a critique that is also a compliment. The book's scope
is larger than its title would indicate. A great deal of the information
presented, including many examples quoted by the author, transcends
a focus on Zen, since it refers to Brazilian Buddhism in general
or to other segments of Japanese Buddhism, especially to Shin Buddhism
(see, for example, p. 164 and p. 176). This inconsistency might
mislead an audience particularly interested in Zen Buddhism, but
turns out to be an advantage for readers involved in the study
of Western Buddhism in all of its facets. More essential for an
evaluation of the book are the following three issues.
The author repeatedly
confirms that there has been a "Zen-boom" in
Brazil. While it is obvious that Buddhism including Zen has gained
a high degree of visibility within Brazilian society and enjoys
a considerably positive public image, there is a dramatic gap between
this, one might say, "superficial" popularity and a
statistically relevant number of Brazilians who declare themselves
Buddhist or even practice it. As a (legitimate) consequence of
both her methodological preference (sixty in-depth interviews with "explicit" Buddhists,
enriched by a series of "paradigmatic" statements of
Buddhist protagonists) and her attention to written material stemming
from multiple sources, Rocha is not very concerned with the results
of quantitative studies. The table (p. 95) that gives some of the
main results of the 2000 National Census (and whose more profound
readings might, in my view, prove the hypothesis of a Zen-Boom
wrong), is very much an exception to the general focus of the book.
More than that, the number of 245,871 Buddhists (a mere 0.15% of
the Brazilian population!) quoted by Rocha originally appeared
in the context of the preliminary data published soon
after the last census. The final figure is not only lower
(214,873) but, in comparison to the number of Buddhists (236,408)
in the penultimate census in 1991, indicates a considerable statistical
decline of the Buddhist sector in only nine years (and despite
a growth of about 15% in the country's population). Unfortunately,
the National Censuses do not tell us how many of these Buddhists
are associated with Zen. But as far as the participation in the
meetings in local Zen institutions is concerned, one might assume
that the statement of Francisco Handa, minister of the Busshinji
Temple in São Paulo, is representative. According to Handa,
there are many Brazilians interested in Zen, but the great majority
are not committed to Buddhist practice. In the case of Soto Zen,
not more than about thirty people, most of them non-Japanese Brazilians,
regularly attend meetings. (1) Taking this kind of finding into
account, the assertion that Brazil has witnessed a "Zen-Boom" seems
not very convincing.
A second critique questions the book's leitmotif that
the adoption of Zen in Brazil is a function of the "quest
for cosmopolitan modernity." That makes sense, but what is
missing is an operationalization of the concept of "modernity" in
the Brazilian context and an explication of how Zen in particular
(or, better, Zen "creolized" according to the conditions
of Brazilian culture) fulfills this alleged quest. The reader is
left with important questions. Is the author's hypothesis completely
compatible with a religion frequently characterized as "anti-intellectual" and
as such once privileged by members of the counter-culture
in opposition to the standards a mainstream "modern" society?
To what degree has counter-culture rhetoric been maintained by
Brazilian Zen Buddhists not affiliated with the small circle of
intellectuals who attended the Busshinji Temple in the late 1950s
and 1960s and "saw their knowledge of Zen not as a form of
cultural resistance, but rather as a tool enabling them to demonstrate
both their role in Brazilian society as translators and interpreters
of overseas avant-garde movements and their prestigious
position as cosmopolitans" (p. 73)?
Last but not least,
the programmatic claim to analyze the adoption of Zen according
to the heuristic potential of the category of "creolization" is
not satisfactorily fulfilled. The—at best—five pages of the
conclusion (pp. 193-198) where one could expect the result of the
relevant discussion do not dispel this concern. Throughout the
book the process of "creolization" is almost taken for
granted. As the fifth chapter, as well as other parts of the book,
show, there is of course a considerable amount of "creativity,
agency, and innovation" (p. 19) within Zen Buddhism in Brazil,
but to what extent do its dynamics reveal something uniquely Brazilian?
Rather being exclusively true for Brazil as a predominantly Catholic
country, most of the aspects discussed by the author can be observed
in any Western country to which Zen was "exported." (see,
for example, p. 172) Indeed, as Rocha herself confirms, we can
observe the same dynamics in contemporary Japan (p. 177). Given
this, I suggest Brazilian Zen would be better described as a local
expression of "internationalized Zen" than as an "indigenized" Zen
(p. 19).
Independent of my critical remarks, Zen in Brazil is
an important, illuminating, and stimulating monograph on a widely
unknown subject. Reading it is recommended to everyone interested
in Western Buddhism and is a must for any Brazilian researcher
engaged in the study of the religious dynamics of his/her country.