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East Asian Buddhism - Empirical
and Analytical Differences in its Brazilian Adaptation
Rafael Shoji, Ph.D. Candidate, <raffas@attglobal.net>
Seminar für Religionswissenschaft
Universität Hannover
1. General Information
The objective of this doctorate research
is to describe the adaptation of East Asian Buddhism in Brazil,
analysing resemblances and differences of the Brazilian case in
relation to other analytic perspectives already developed about
Buddhism in West. The research project is financed by DAAD (Deutscher
Akademischer Austauschdienst - German Academic Exchange Service),
having been initiated in the Religious Studies Department from
University of Hannover in October 2001, under the orientation
of Prof. Peter Antes. The final results from the research should
be available around June 2004, but partial results have being
published in the form of articles.
2. Adaptation of East Asian Buddhism
in Brazil
The general objective of the dissertation
is a description and analysis of East Asian Buddhism in Brazil
and then a comparison with the models supplied by the more general
theories about the Buddhism in western countries, for a complementation
and critique of these perspectives with the Brazilian case. More
specifically, the objective is divided in two main tasks. These
division of tasks is part of a spiral between local contextualization
and analysis necessary to the study under the discipline of Religious
Studies, which is normally divided into an historical and descriptive
task and on hand, and on the other, more analytical and comparative
research. Therefore I will first try to make a historical description
of the Buddhism of Brazil, presenting the situation of the main
Asiatic immigrants to Brazil, and with these data I reviewing
the categories for the comprehension of the Buddhist phenomenon
in western countries.
In more detail, the first task is a
description and systematization of the East Asian Buddhism in
Brazil. Academic studies on Buddhism in Brazil are relatively
scarce, and the few in existence are dedicated almost entirely
to specific schools of Japanese Buddhism, although the situation
has improved in the last years. In this doctoral research, I will
try to synthesize the history and strategies of adaptation of
the diverse schools of East Asian Buddhism in the Brazilian context
and the types of conversion in the present time. The history of
Buddhism in Brazil is mainly related to Asian immigration, especially
Japanese, because Brazilians didn't have interest in Buddhism
before the 60s, in contrast to the USA and Europe. As part of
the systematization of East Asian Buddhism in Brazil, I will try
to detail the history and the present situation of the Japanese
Buddhism in Brazil, since the majority of temples arose due to
the Japanese immigration in the 20th century and Brazil had the
biggest Japanese community outside Japan. Further, because Brazil
has also received hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Koreans
since the 70s, I will describe the most important Buddhist temples,
mainly the Chinese ones. In this part of the project, I will utilize
the empirical data of the available publications about Buddhism
in Brazil that has been collected and carried out since 1998.
The second task is a more detailed analysis
of the development of East Asian Buddhism in Brazil, in contrast
with other perspectives already developed about the Buddhism in
"western" countries. In this sense, I will try to show
the general motives for differentiated aspects of Buddhism in
Brazil, which can offer a review and complementation to the more
general international patterns of adaptation from Buddhism in
West. Brieflly these Brazilian elements are the different ethnic
relations and identities, a presence of a Catholic majority, a
tendency toward syncretism and the location of Brazil in the "Third
World." Despite the influence of globalization, in Brazil
there are some social elements that are very different from others
countries, especially the USA and Europe. When possible, I will
contrast such elements in Brazil with the different suppositions
and perspectives in the USA and in Europe.
3. Related Publications
Shoji, Rafael. 2002a. Estratégias
de adaptação do Budismo Chinês: Brasileiros
e Chineses na Fo Kuang Shan. In Usarski, Frank. 2002. O Budismo
no Brasil. Lorosae: São Paulo.
Abstract: This article describes the
dialectics between ethnicity and adaptation that can be analysed
in the context of the activities of Fo Kuang Shan in Brazil. To
analyse this question, this article has two parts. The first presents
the Fo Kuang Shan and the activities of the group in Brazil, showing
also some of its future projects. The second part discusses important
aspects of its insertion into Brazilian society through parameters
supplied by the form of Buddhism practiced and by its organizational
structure, mainly the role of the layman organization BLIA in
Brazil and the division of its tasks with the main temple. Finally,
the article analyses the place that Fo Kuang Shan has occupied
in the Brazilian society and argues for the increasing role of
Chinese Buddhism in Brazil.
Shoji, Rafael. 2002b. Uma Perspectiva
Analítica para os convertidos ao Budismo Japonês
no Brasil. In Revista Eletrônica de Ciências da Religião,
Rever, Ano 2, 2002, n. 6, disponível em português
em http://www.pucsp.br/rever/rv2_2002/t_shoji.htm.
Abstract: The purpose of this
article is to describe a type of conversion of Brazilian Buddhists
that still has not received enough attention in current theorizing.
It is suggested here how the described particularities and conclusions
can offer contributions to the study of Buddhism, since these
cases are exceptions to the most general theories on converted
Buddhists in the so-called Western countries. This article, moreover,
tries to contribute critically with models for a classification
of the Brazilian Buddhists and argues for a difference between
an intellectualized Buddhism and a Buddhism for results. Some
partial results of a field research on Brazilian Buddhism are
described, with the purpose of arguing for the existence of a
popularized and indigenized form of Buddhism in a sizeable parcel
of these converted Brazilians.
Shoji, Rafael. "Buddhism in Syncretic
Shape": Lessons from Shingon in Brazil (forthcomming, to
be translated and submitted in English)
Abstract: If syncretism is frequently
described in the history of Buddhism in Asia, little has been
discussed regarding its presence in Buddhism in western countries,
where the concept would be able to analyse the popularization
and new combinations of Buddhist identity. From this point of
view, the first objective of this article is to show elements
and possible contributions of a new heuristic category, in contrast
to the so called "Buddhism in Protestant Shape". Given
the growing dilution from Buddhist identity and some cases as
Brazil, with its tendency to syncretism, the article proposes
the heuristic concept of a "Buddhism in Syncretic Shape",
from some theoretical elements from Religious Studies in Germany
and Brazil. Even if the concept can be more useful for some groups
in Brazil, it is suggested that this concept can be helpful also
for the study of Buddhism in West. In the second part of this
article, the concept is illustrated through the adaptation of
Shingon Buddhism in Brazil, mainly from the description of the
presence of the syncretism of Shingon with Catholicism and African
religions that has occurred in the Japanese Esoteric Buddhism
in São Paulo.
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