Jeff Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371932
- eISBN:
- 9780199870967
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371932.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Buddhism
Americans from a wide variety of backgrounds have increasingly been appropriating the Japanese Buddhist ritual mizuko kuyō, which this book uses as a window into the complexity of the ...
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Americans from a wide variety of backgrounds have increasingly been appropriating the Japanese Buddhist ritual mizuko kuyō, which this book uses as a window into the complexity of the process of adapting Buddhism to a new culture. In Japan, mizuko kuyō is used by women after abortion or miscarriage to placate the fetal spirit and offer it assistance in the afterlife. In America, for Japanese-American Buddhists it can be a marker of sectarian affiliation, a method of generating funds, and a way to serve the wishes of newer Japanese immigrants. For converts to Zen, mizuko kuyō helps women deal with pregnancy loss, moving the ritual from pacification of angry ghosts to healing the wounded self. It thus demonstrates the reorientation that rituals undergo in new Buddhist communities while simultaneously pointing out a new turn toward affirmative ritual in convert meditation centers. Meanwhile, mizuko kuyō provides fresh ammunition for both sides of the American cultural war over abortion: pro-life interpreters present it as evidence that abortion is universally traumatizing, while pro-choice interpreters use it as proof that religious rather than legal means can effectively deal with negative post-abortion feelings. Beyond the battle lines, ordinary women and men seek a way to bring the two sides together through mizuko kuyō, while other (non-Buddhist) women have begun to perform their own private mizuko kuyō rituals and seek to bring knowledge of the ritual to others suffering after miscarriage or abortion.
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Americans from a wide variety of backgrounds have increasingly been appropriating the Japanese Buddhist ritual mizuko kuyō, which this book uses as a window into the complexity of the process of adapting Buddhism to a new culture. In Japan, mizuko kuyō is used by women after abortion or miscarriage to placate the fetal spirit and offer it assistance in the afterlife. In America, for Japanese-American Buddhists it can be a marker of sectarian affiliation, a method of generating funds, and a way to serve the wishes of newer Japanese immigrants. For converts to Zen, mizuko kuyō helps women deal with pregnancy loss, moving the ritual from pacification of angry ghosts to healing the wounded self. It thus demonstrates the reorientation that rituals undergo in new Buddhist communities while simultaneously pointing out a new turn toward affirmative ritual in convert meditation centers. Meanwhile, mizuko kuyō provides fresh ammunition for both sides of the American cultural war over abortion: pro-life interpreters present it as evidence that abortion is universally traumatizing, while pro-choice interpreters use it as proof that religious rather than legal means can effectively deal with negative post-abortion feelings. Beyond the battle lines, ordinary women and men seek a way to bring the two sides together through mizuko kuyō, while other (non-Buddhist) women have begun to perform their own private mizuko kuyō rituals and seek to bring knowledge of the ritual to others suffering after miscarriage or abortion.
