“Intertwined Sources of Buddhist Modernist Opposition to Ritual: History, Philosophy, Culture,” Religions 2018, 9(11), 366; doi: 10.3390/rel9110366 <here>

abstract: This essay is an inquiry into the religio-cultural background of the opposition to ritual evidenced by many adherents of Buddhist modernism. This background can be structured by three different kinds of questions—historical, philosophical, and cultural.

acknowledgment: This is a revised version of a paper presented in the second of a series of three conferences on Buddhism and psychotherapy. The first, “Between Cultures: Buddhism and Psychotherapy in the 21st Century” was held at Boston University, 2004 (proceedings Mark Unno, ed., Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures: Essays on Theories and Practices, Wisdom, 2006); the second, “Deep Listening, Deep Hearing” at University of Oregon, Eugene, 2006, and the third, “Journeys of the Heart, East and West,” at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, 2008. The sequence was organized by Mark Unno, David Malcolm Eckel, Naoki Nabeshima, and myself, and was collectively sponsored by Boston University, University of Oregon, Ryukoku University, and the Institute of Buddhist Studies. This essay allows me to express my thanks to the organizers, institutions and other participants in the series