{"id":574,"date":"2020-10-31T09:40:27","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T09:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=574"},"modified":"2020-10-31T09:40:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T09:40:27","slug":"the-american-encounter-with-buddhism-what-it-tells-us-about-japan-and-its-pursuit-of-modernity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2020\/10\/the-american-encounter-with-buddhism-what-it-tells-us-about-japan-and-its-pursuit-of-modernity\/","title":{"rendered":"The American Encounter with Buddhism: What it tells us about Japan and it\u2019s Pursuit of Modernity"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second chapter of <\/span>The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent<\/span><\/i>, Thomas Tweed discusses American engagement with Buddhism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Tweed explains that, \u201cThis study analyzes the public conversation about Buddhism (in English) and focuses on Euro-American Buddhists.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> The author describes a contradictory engagement with Buddhism in America: the chapter starts off with evidence of Buddhism’s proliferation in America, but quickly turns to consider the many factors which limited American support of Buddhism. In addition to shedding light on American reactions to Buddhism, Tweed\u2019s chapter, \u201cShall We All Become Buddhists?\u201d points to major differences in Japanese and Chinese engagement with overseas populations, and illuminates in particular the Japanese relationship with modernity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his discussion about Asian-American Buddhists, Tweed asserts that \u201cThe Japanese provided greater support for their immigrant Buddhist communities than the Chinese. They apparently did so, in part, in response to Christian missionary efforts.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup> As evidence for this assertion, he points to the 1898 decision by the Japanese <\/span>Jodo-Shin-shu<\/span><\/i> (True Pure Land Sect) to send two representatives to the United States to study immigrant spiritual practices and the subsequent move by the Kyoto headquarters to send two missionaries, officially recognizing the Buddhist mission in America. Tweed\u2019s observations are useful in a discussion of Japanese reactions to Western industrialization and modernization. Just as the arrival of Mathew Perry\u2019s \u201cblack ships\u201d in 1854 threatened Japanese sovereignty, Christian missionaries’ attempt to convert Japanese immigrants in America jeopardized the future of one of the major Japanese religious traditions. Japanese powers intervened to preserve Pure Land Buddhism in America and therefore prove that it was a religion suited for the modern age. Tweed points out that as opposed to Japanese powers, the Chinese did not send missionaries to their American immigrant communities.3<\/a><\/sup> The resulting poor adherence to Buddhism that Tweed notes among Chinese-Americans mirrors China\u2019s failure to institute the systematic program of modernization undertaken in the Meiji era in Japan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both the adoption of Western ideas about Chinese-Americans and the copying of certain Western elements of Buddhism that Tweed observes also represent manifestations of Japan\u2019s pursuit of modernity. Although they largely arrived after the Chinese, \u201cJapanese immigrants, often repeating American criticism of the Chinese, tried to distinguish themselves from the \u201clower class\u201d Chinese who seemed unable to assimilate.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup> This adoption of western beliefs allow Japanese-Americans to elevate themselves to a status above Chinese-Americans, and therefore separate themselves from a \u201cless developed\u201d nation. In addition, Tweed comments that \u201cA limited amount of Americanization and Protestantization also occurred in Japanese Pure Land Buddhist communities before World War I.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup> The construction of Buddhism along Western lines demonstrates Japan\u2019s attempt to Westernize within the traditional Japanese framework of Pure Land Buddhism. Modern Western powers attained global primacy through intense industrialization and a Christian civilizing mission, Japan sought to do the same by utilizing the discursive tradition made available by Buddhism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This pattern is indicative of the new conceptualization of religion which emerged in mid nineteenth century Japan \u201cas both transcending the profane society and responsible for improving and \u2018civilizing\u2019 its mores.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup> Religion was now seen as a force separate from the state, that could be used as a tool in Japan’s civilizing and modernizing mission. The Japanese policy regarding Buddhism in America mirrors the propagation of Christianity as a \u201ccivilizing religion\u201d by Western powers and is a reaction to the introduction of Western modernity which reached Japan, along with Perry\u2019s ships, in 1854.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Tikhonov, V. M, <\/span>Social Darwinism and Nationalism in Korea – The Beginnings, 1883-1910: Survival as an Ideology of Korean Modernity<\/span><\/i> (Brill, 2010).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tweed, Thomas, <\/span>The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent<\/span><\/i> (UNC Press Books, 2005).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

  1. Thomas Tweed, <\/span>The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent<\/span><\/i> (UNC Press Books, 2005), p. 38 [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  2. <\/span>Ibid<\/span><\/i>., p. 36 [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  3. <\/span>Ibid<\/span><\/i>., p. 35 [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  4. <\/span>Ibid<\/span><\/i>., p. 37 [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  5. V. M. Tikhonov, <\/span>Social Darwinism and Nationalism in Korea – The Beginnings, 1883-1910: Survival as an Ideology of Korean Modernity<\/span><\/i> (Brill, 2010), p. 113. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In the second chapter of The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent, Thomas Tweed discusses American engagement with Buddhism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Tweed explains that, \u201cThis study analyzes the public conversation about Buddhism (in English) and focuses on Euro-American Buddhists.\u201d1 The author describes a … Continue reading “The American Encounter with Buddhism: What it tells us about Japan and it\u2019s Pursuit of Modernity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[70,25,68,69],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-buddhism-in-america","tag-japan","tag-modernity","tag-pure-land-buddhism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}