Wilson, 260 pp., Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-537193-2
Many Western visitors to Japan have been struck by the ceremonies for
aborted fetuses, which are often characterized by throngs of images of
the bodhisattva Jizo, usually dressed in red bibs or other baby
garments, and each dedicated to an individual fetus. Abortion is
common and accepted 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 fieldwork in the
United States and Japan, as well as English and Japanese literature
concerning mizuko kuyo, Wilson shows that the meaning and purpose of
the ritual have changed greatly in the American context. In Japan,
mizuko kuyo is often performed to placate the potentially dangerous
spirit of the angry fetus. In America, however, it has come to be
seen primarily as a way for the mother to mourn and experience solace
for her loss. Many American women who learn about mizuko kuyo are
struck by the lack of such a ceremony in their own culture and see it
as satisfying a crucial need. Ceremonies are now performed even for
losses that took place many years ago. At the same time, culture
warriors on both sides of the abortion divide have appropriated mizuko
kuyo as ammunition in their ongoing battles.
Wilson's 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. This book provides indispensable insight into a unique and
little-known, but growing, movement in American culture.
Jeff Wilson is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian
Studies at Renison College, University of Waterloo, in Waterloo,
Canada.
Fwd by
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm>
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