Intellectuals and Japanese Buddhism in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: de Albuquerque, Eduardo Basto [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2949; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/42490
• topic: Japanese Buddhism; intellectuals; Zen in Brazil; Buddhism in Brazil

This study concentrates on the discovery of Japanese Buddhism by Brazilian intellectuals as a group of spiritual practices and as a body of spiritual wisdom. The study has been realized through readings and meetings with Japanese Buddhist monks and/or Japanese immigrants. These intellectuals defend a religious experience based on a universal notion of representations of Japanese Buddhism, which provides them with a non-dualistic philosophical perspective and a unique psychological experience. Through innovative spiritual experiences these intellectuals have broken the tension created within the dispute between secularized science and the Catholic hegemony, both predominant in the intellectual panorama.