Research Catalog
Mourning the unborn dead : a Buddhist ritual comes to America / Jeff Wilson.
- Title
- Mourning the unborn dead : a Buddhist ritual comes to America / Jeff Wilson.
- Author
- Wilson, Jeff (Jeff Townsend)
- Publication
- Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | BQ5030.F47 W55 2009 | Off-site |
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Details
- Description
- viii, 260 p. : ill.; 24 cm.
- Summary
- "Many Western visitors to Japan have been struck by the numerous cemeteries for aborted fetuses, which are characterized by throngs of images of the Bodhisattva Jizo, usually dressed in red baby aprons or other baby garments, and each dedicated to an individual fetus. Abortion is common in Japan and as a consequence one of the frequently performed rituals in Japanese Buddhism is mizuko-kuyo, a ceremony for aborted and miscarried fetuses. Over the past forty years, mizuko-kuyo has gradually come to America, where it has been appropriated by non-Buddhists as well as Buddhist practitioners." "In this book, Jeff Wilson examines how and why Americans of different backgrounds have brought knowledge and performance of this Japanese ceremony to the United States. Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork in Japan and the U.S., as well as the literature in both Japanese and English, Wilson shows that the meaning and purpose of the ritual have changed greatly in the American context. In Japan, mizuko-kuyo is performed to placate the potentially dangerous spirit of the angry fetus. In America, however, it has come to be seen as a way for the mother to mourn and receive solace for her loss. Many American women who learn about mizuko-kuyo are struck by the lack of such a ceremony and see it as filling a very important need. Ceremonies are now performed even for losses that took place many years ago. Wilson's well-written study not only contributes to the growing literature on American Buddhism, but sheds light on a range of significant issues in Buddhist studies, interreligious contact, women's studies, and even bioethics."--Jacket.
- Uniform Title
- University press scholarship online.
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-254) and index.
- Processing Action (note)
- committed to retain
- Contents
- Introduction: "Different meanings, different ends" -- "Carried with Jizō Bosatsu" : mizuko kuyō in Japanese-American communities -- "A shadow in the heart" : mizuko kuyō in convert American zen -- "We need to free ourselves" : adaptations of convert mizuko kuyō -- "Branching streams flow on in the dark" : rethinking American Buddhism in light of mizuko kuyō -- "Without biblical revelation" : rhetorical appropriations of mizuko kuyō by Christians and other non-Buddhist Americans -- "Thank you getupgrrl for giving me my mizuko" : therapeutic appropriations of mizuko kuyō by non-Buddhist Americans -- Postscript: "Where is Buddhism?".
- ISBN
- 9780195371932
- 0195371933
- LCCN
- ^^2008017072
- OCLC
- 226304687
- Owning Institutions
- Harvard Library