Emotion can be a locus of interpretation and a motor for religious commitment. This is illustrated with the thick description of uncontrolled weeping that recurred with the followers of a Buddhist charismatic movement in modern Taiwan. Ethnography of the ubiquity of weeping in this group suggests that emotion in religion expressed in tears is not limited to rituals or uncanny phenomena; and the devotees' and the leader's interpretation of weeping reveals the multivocality and the individual agency of the symbolic emotion. This emotion, expressed in weeping, is not a dialogue of culture but a construct of identity evoked by religious charisma.
目次
Setting 74 Crying in Taiwan 75 Crying in Ciji 76 Religious Consonance 77 Charismatic Appeal 78 Rituals 80 Volunteer Experience 80 Reproach, Conflict, and Shock 80 Why Dovotees Cry 81 An Expression of Guilt and Self-Pity 81 Contagious Crying 82 Charismatic Ecstasy and Selfless Merger 83 Redemption 83 Leader's Interpretation 84 Conclusions 84 Note 85 Bibliography 85
