Soto Zen Buddhism in the American Midwest; Psychophysical skills; religious praxis as the cultivation of skills; the mind-body relationship in Zen; psychophysical approach to religion; Ryumonji Zen Monastery; Clouds in Water Zen Center; Zen in America
摘要
Ryumonji Zen Monastery and Clouds in Water Zen Center both belong to the same Sōtō Zen lineage founded by the Japanese priest Dainin Katagiri and are both located in the same geographical region, the American Midwest. Yet, in only twenty-five years, Sōtō Zen in these two institutions shows subtle but significant differences. Based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork, this dissertation focuses on the processes of teaching and learning to analyze Zen Buddhism at Ryumonji and Clouds in terms of how they have transformed over the years, correlating their transformations to how they transform their practitioners. Furthermore, it argues for the need to study how Zen Buddhism transforms its practitioner in a holistic way, considering the practitioner as an indivisible body and mind in the world. To this end, I develop a psychophysical approach that analyzes how Zen Buddhism transforms its practitioner’s physical and mental modes of engaging the world. The psychophysical analysis shows that Ryumonji develops psychophysical skills in its practitioners through the ritualization of physical postures and gestures while Clouds develops them through the ritualization of psychological postures and gestures. As a result, practitioners at Ryumonji and Clouds develop different modes of attending to and understanding the world—what I call psychophysical skills. In addition, Ryumonji and Clouds have different conceptions of social engagement and their practitioners apply the psychophysical skills they develop through Zen Buddhism in social engagement in different ways. This dissertation analyzes these differences between Ryumonji and Clouds within the contexts of their rural and urban locations, the biographies of their founders and teachers, and their institutional histories, situating the local and particular contexts within the larger contexts of the development of Sōtō Zen in the United States and the cultural landscape of the United States. It brings careful ethnographic fieldwork at Ryumonji and Clouds to bear upon the philosophies of Zen Buddhism developed through the study of religious texts, grounding philosophical analysis in the lived experience of Zen practitioners. It contributes to the academic conversations on the relationship between body and mind and teaching and learning in religious traditions. Finally, it contributes to the understanding of regional variations of American Buddhism by addressing the dearth of scholarship on Buddhism in the Midwest.
