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How to Count Religious Phenomena in China and East Asia. Liyong Dai PhD, Associate Professor School of Sociology, Central China Normal University Confucius Institute at Carleton University, Canada Liyong.Dai@carleton.ca allen.days@gmail.com. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺).
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How to Count Religious Phenomena in China and East Asia Liyong Dai PhD, Associate ProfessorSchool of Sociology, Central China Normal UniversityConfucius Institute at Carleton University, CanadaLiyong.Dai@carleton.caallen.days@gmail.com
Incense-pilgrim 香客 • The most common factor in East Asian Religions: • Buddhism,Daoism,Confucianism,Folk Religions… • How to categorize? • Buddhist “believers” • Daoism “believers” • … • How to count, measure and calculate?
Incense-pilgrim 香客 曹德旺 Cao, Dewang Billionaire Philanthropist
Incense-pilgrim 香客 • Religious identity? • Belonging? • Double belonging? • Or Partly belonging? • “Believing”? • Double “Believing”? • “Believe without belonging”? • “Self claimed religious identification”? • …
Incense-pilgrim 香客 Believe? Belonging? … Just do it?
Incense-pilgrim 香客 • Categories/instruments like “believe”, “belonging”, “identity”, “identification”, which are more based on monotheistic ideas … • Chinese and East Asian cultural context: the conception of God: Polytheism, pantheism, deism …
Incense-pilgrim 香客 • Confucian ritual practitioners (儒礼的践行者) • cultural/spiritual tourist (文化/灵性旅游者) • occasional incense-pilgrims(偶然的香客) • constant incense-pilgrims(经常的香客) • lay disciples (居士 or 俗弟子) • other-worldly practitioners(出家修行者) • *sectarian believers (教门信众)
A1: Confucian ritual practitioners A2: Cultural/Spiritual tourist A3: Occasional incense-pilgrims B3: Constant incense-pilgrims B2: Lay disciples B1: Other-worldly Practitioners D: Sectarian believers Population and Tension of Chinese Religions Tension: X2﹥X1﹥0 Population: Y3﹥Y2﹥Y1﹥0
Hypothetical Distribution of Population and Tension of Religions in China and East Asia Tension: X3﹥X2﹥X1﹥0 Population: Y3﹥Y2﹥Y1﹥0
East Asian Religions Vs. Religions in the West Asymmetrical Concave Curve Vs. Bell-shaped Curve
Religious Phenomena in China & East Asia: How to Count, Measure and Calculation? • Statistic method of religious phenomena in China and East Asia requires a different approach. More attention should be given to spiritual practices rather than religious identity/identification… • By introducing categories like Confucian ritual practitioners (儒礼的践行者), cultural/spiritual tourist (文化/灵性旅游者), occasional incense-pilgrims(偶然的香客), constant incense-pilgrims(经常的香客), lay disciples (居士or俗弟子) ,other-worldly practitioners(出家修行者), and sectarian believers (教门信众), we can get a much better mapping of religious phenomena in China and East Asia. • An asymmetrical concave curve can be developed through the observance and analysis of the population and tension across different Chinese religious/spiritual niches. Then, we can compare the asymmetrical concave curve and the bell-shaped curve…
Thank you! Liyong Dai PhD, Associate ProfessorSchool of Sociology, Central China Normal UniversityConfucius Institute at Carleton University, CanadaLiyong.Dai@carleton.caallen.days@gmail.com