Insular Buddhist Communities and Attendance Patterns: The True Buddha School and the Calgary Pai Yuin Temple's Outreach to the Wider Community
Date
2015-05-01
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Abstract
The overarching focus of my proposed research is: What are the necessary factors for people in a community to practice their religious tradition together? In North America, the majority of Buddhist groups practice in separate communities. For instance, the East Asian Buddhists practice within their own cultural group, and the non-Asian Buddhists gather independently. One Buddhist group known as the Calgary Pai Yuin Temple (a branch of the True Buddha School organization) has claimed to devote much effort, since its establishment in 1992, to create a harmonized congregation in which Canadians, both Chinese and non-Chinese, can practice together. The purpose of this endeavor is to reinforce the notion of community or sangha, one of the three foundations or jewels of the Buddhist tradition as taught by the historical Buddha. Based on ongoing discussion with the temple’s core members, however, they claim that despite their efforts for over two decades, they have been unsuccessful. Their perceived lack of success is based on the low membership numbers of non-Chinese and second-generation Chinese. The board members of the Calgary Pai Yuin Temple claim that while there is a steady flow of visitors to the temple interested in their group and interested in participating in their activities, they have been unable to retain a non-Chinese and primary English-speaking membership base.
In an effort to combine the interests of the scholarly and the local community together, the researcher proposes to shed light on the above issue with the following dissertation question: What are the causes for the departure of potential participants, and what do these causes reveal about the cultural preferences and assumptions of both East Asian and non-Asian Buddhists?
An underlying question of concern to both the scholarly community and the Pai Yuin Temple’s members is whether or not the long-term survival of their group in Canada is threatened by their inability to retain second-generation members and members outside of their ethnic community. In other words, will their inability to expand beyond the ethnic community lead to their impending doom? In this way, the proposed research is crucial because these concerns do not only apply to the survival of East Asian Buddhist groups but they also apply to other ethnic religious communities in Canada. According to Mark Mullin’s pioneer research of Japanese Buddhists in Canada, when the membership base of an ethnic religious group is no longer supported by subsequent generations of members, the base gradually dwindles and faces the danger of becoming extinct. An example of this phenomenon was demonstrated by the amalgamation of five Alberta Jodo Shinshu (Japanese Pure Land School) communities, which include the districts of Raymond, Rosemary, Picture Butte, Taber and Lethbridge, into one Southern Alberta branch in 2009 due to an aging congregation and stagnant growth.
The research question is answered through the lens of three academic disciplines, which include religious studies, anthropology and Canadian studies, to facilitate a multi-faceted understanding of the issue. The research involves both quantitative and qualitative field research, including field observations and interviews with members and participants of the temple’s services.
Though Buddhist scholars have suggested that the lack of popularity among East Asian Buddhist groups is based on disinterest towards devotional aspects of Buddhism, this research suggests that the main hindrance regarding the growth of non-Asian members lies in key sociological and cultural factors.
Sociological factors include the intimidation felt by non-Asian participants among Asian group dynamics, the post-modern attitude of picking and choosing various aspects of established traditions without committing to formal membership, and the time crunch or lack of time resulting from contemporary lifestyles. These findings contrast with popular opinion in Buddhist scholarship that East Asian Buddhist groups are insular based on intellectual differences. In fact, in-depth interviews suggest that non-Asian participants attended temple services despite conceptual differences with the Asian members towards the notion of devotion, due to the development of affective social bonds with other members.
Differences in cultural attitudes toward social bonding also underlie the intimidation experienced by non-Asian participants. Whereas social bonds are fostered by individuals that establish commonality with one another in Western culture, social bonds are created through family units and social roles in East Asian culture. In turn, the divergences in social bonding carry over into the group dynamics in Buddhist temples.
The research also investigates the diverse religious and sociological factors that affect attendance, and compares the Pai Yuin Temple’s attendance patterns and characteristics with national statistics and attendance patterns. The findings suggest that members of the ethnic community at large continue to rely on Buddhist temples and clergy to perform funeral services and rituals concerning ancestor veneration, in Canada. These observations contrast with statistics about the public’s decreased reliance on Christian groups to perform end of life services and rites of passage such as weddings.
Finally, the research suggests specific strategies to the Pai Yuin Temple’s members to achieve their aims, which could also be adapted by other religious groups that have the same endeavor of fostering a hybrid congregation and which face similar challenges in Canada. The overall aim of the research is to create awareness about the ethnic-cultural barriers that hinder the potential for the harmonious co-existence within Canadian religious communities.
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Ho, J. (2015). Insular Buddhist Communities and Attendance Patterns: The True Buddha School and the Calgary Pai Yuin Temple's Outreach to the Wider Community (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26564