Global Shin Buddhism and Ritual Practice: Histories, Transformations and Localisations (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism)

This book explores the globalisation of Shin Buddhism through an examination of ritual practice and its transformations in four main geographical areas: Japan, the United States, South America, and Europe. Interrogating conservative and mono-ethnic images of Shin Buddhism, linked to the preservation of Japanese identity in diaspora communities, it offers a complex picture of this form of Buddhism, as multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and ever-changing.Drawing on historical sources, as well as fieldwork conducted in sites from three continents, the study shows the dynamic and transnational routes and local transformations of contemporary Shin Buddhism.The book further considers a range of ritual expressions of Shin Buddhism, including spatiality and architecture; music; embodiment and performance; and ritual adaptations to new virtual environments since the Covid-19 pandemic.All the authors are ordained Shin Buddhist priests, as well as academics, and bring a perspective which is informed bot