Experimental Buddhism: Innovation and Activism in Contemporary Japan from the University of Hawaii Press.

http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9072-9780824838980.aspx

(320 pages, 11 illustrations, $32.00 paper, $60.00 hardcopy)

Experimental Buddhism highlights the complex and often wrenching interactions between long-established religious traditions and rapid social, cultural, and economic change. The book is aimed at undergraduate audiences in Asian studies, Buddhist studies, Japanese studies, Cultural Studies, Religious Studies, and Cultural Anthropology; it assumes no prior knowledge of Japanese religious or social history.

Experimental Buddhism examines the activities of a number of priests (both male and female) who are trying to “reboot” their temples and roles as religious specialists in order to respond to a growing crisis in temple Buddhism: the loss of parishioners due to demographic, generational, cultural, and even technological shifts.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, Experimental Buddhism first provides an overview of contemporary Japanese society (both before and after the March 2011 earthquake disaster), taking care to position topics and trends within local, regional, national, and global networks of influence.  After an “executive summary” of Japanese Buddhist history, readers are introduced to a variety of examples of a “Buddhist-inspired activism” that embodies some of the characteristics of an experimental approach to religious practice.

From suicide prevention to care for the elderly and homeless, and from store-front temples to fashion shows, rap performances, chanting in jazz clubs, and bars run by priests, Experimental Buddhism conveys some of the creative and often controversial attempts to rejuvenate a religious tradition seen by many Japanese as having little relevance for today’s world.  Students (and perhaps instructors as well?) will appreciate particularly the first-person accounts from a number of priests, as well as examples of humor, risk-taking, and the importance of youth culture for the future of Japanese Buddhism.

For a longer description and ordering information, please visit http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9072-9780824838980.aspx  This book is the latest in the series “Topics in Contemporary Buddhism” edited by Professor George Tanabe, at http://uhpress.wordpress.com/books-in-series/topics-in-contemporary-buddhism/