Becoming Buddhist

Eddy, Glenys:
Becoming Buddhist : Experiences of Socialization and Self-Transformation in Two Australian Buddhist Centres / Glenys Eddy. - London ; New York : Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012. - xiii, 266 S. - (Continuum Advances in Religious Studies)
ISBN 978-1-4411-1846-2
£ 65,00 / US$ 120,00
DDC: 294.30994

Beschreibung
What does it mean to be a Western Buddhist? For the predominantly Anglo-Australian affiliates of two Western Buddhist centres in Australia, the author proposes an answer to this question, and finds support for it from interviews and her own participant-observation experience.Practitioners’ prior experiences of experimentation with spiritual groups and practices—and their experiences of participation, practice and self-transformation—are examined with respect to their roles in practitioners’ appropriation of the Buddhist worldview, and their subsequent commitment to the path to enlightenment.Religious commitment is experienced as a decision-point, itself the effect of the individual’s experimental immersion in the Centre’s activities.During this time the claims of the Buddhist worldview are tested against personal experience and convictions.
   Using rich ethnographic data and Lofland and Skonovd’s experimental conversion motif as a model for theorizing the stages of involvement leading to commitment, the author demonstrates that this study has a wider application to our understanding of the role of alternative religions in western contexts. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
Foreword. viii
Acknowledgements. x
Glossary. xi
1. Approaching the Western Buddhist Experience. 1
2. Instruction and Practice at the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre. 31
3. Self-Transformation Through Vipassana Practice. 71
4. Participation and Exploration at Vajrayana Institute. 107
5. The Practice of Self-Transformation at Vajrayana Institute. 137
6. An overview of the experimental Journey: Vipassana and Vajrayana Insights. 167
Appendices. 211
Notes. 221
References. 249
Index. 263

Autorin
Dr GLENYS EDDY completed her doctoral thesis in the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney in 2007. She currently works as a Research Administrative Officer at the University of Sydney.

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