Presenting Japanese Buddhism to the West : Orientalism, Occidentalism, and the Columbian Exposition

Snodgrass challenges the predominant view that Asian cultures are objectified and understood strictly through Western ideas. Based on a detailed examination of presentations by Japanese Buddhists at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, Snodgrass argues that Buddhists themselves helped reformulate Buddhism into a modern world religion. Japanese Buddhism was introduced to a wide Western audience when a delegation of Buddhist priests attended the World's Parliament of Religions, part of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In describing and analyzing this event, Judith Snodgrass challenges the predominant view of Orientalism as a one-way process by which Asian cultures are understood strictly through Western ideas. Restoring agency to the Buddhists themselves, she shows how they helped reformulate Buddhism as a modern world religion with specific appeal to the West while simultaneously reclaiming authority for the tradition within a rapidly changing Japan. Snodgrass explains how the Buddhism presented in Chicago was shaped by the institutional, social, and political imperatives of the Meiji Buddhist revival movement in Japan and was further determined by the Parliament itself, which, despite its rhetoric of fostering universal brotherhood and international goodwill, was thoroughly permeated with confidence in the superiority of American Protestantism. Additionally, in the context of Japan's intensive diplomatic campaign to renegotiate its treaties with Western nations, the nature of Japanese religion was not simply a religious issue, Snodgrass argues, but an integral part of Japan's bid for acceptance by the international community. Japanese Buddhism Was Introduced To The West During The World's Parliament Of Religions, In The 1893 Columbian Exposition. In Describing And Analysing This Event, This Text Challenges The View Of Orientalism As A One-way Process By Which Asian Cultures Are Understood Through Western Ideas. Japan Faces The West -- Manifest Destiny: Christianity And American Imperialism -- The Rules Of The Parliament: Securing The Truth -- Alterity: Buddhism As The Other Of Christianity -- Buddhism And Modernity In Meiji Japan -- Buddhist Revival And Japanese Nationalism -- Deploying Western Authority 1.: Henry Steel Olcott In Japan -- Buddhism And Treaty Revision: The Chicago Project -- Defining Eastern Buddhism -- Paul Carus: Buddhism And Monist Mission -- Deploying Western Authority 2.: Carus In Translation -- From Eastern Buddhism To Zen: A Postscript. By Judith Snodgrass. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 323-343) And Index.