Constructing Religious Modernities: Hybridity, Reinterpretation, and Adaptation in Thailand's International Meditation Centers by Brooke Schedneck A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2012 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Juliane Schober, Chair Tracy Fessenden James Rush ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2012 ABSTRACT This dissertation project addresses one of the most critical problems in the study of religion: how new formations of religion are constructed and constituted. My work builds on the recent revisions of the secularization theory, which demonstrates the alternative and hybrid ways people seek out religion in modernity. To this end, my project examines the emerging popularity and phenomenon of international meditation centers in Thailand, focusing on encounters between international meditation center teachers and their international students. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews at these sites throughout Thailand, my project explores the social processes of religious change and adaptation, and the construction of religious meaning. I detail the historical conditions that led to the formation of persisting ideas of Buddhism by tracing the continuities between Orientalist interpretations and modern-day spiritual seekers. My work contributes to a greater understanding of the most recent articulation of this engagement and interaction between Buddhism and the international community and adds to the burgeoning scholarship that reconsiders the relationship between religion and modernity. I investigate this relationship in regard to international meditation centers in Thailand through three angles: promotional materials concerning meditation in Thailand, experiences of international meditators, and teachings of international meditation center teachers. I contextualize this ethnographic analysis with an evaluation of the relationship of Buddhism to discourses of modernity and Orientalism as well as a historical inquiry into the rise of lay meditation in i Thailand. Throughout I argue that international meditators’ engagement with meditation in Thai temples constitutes a hybrid religiosity where the decontextualized practice of meditation is mixed with both non-religious and other religious beliefs and practices. Social discourses and practices involving meditation, even in a Buddhist country, demonstrate the deconstruction of traditional religiosity in modernity and the rise of hybrid religiosity. Through the decontextualization of meditation and the discourse of the practice having no religious boundaries, meditation becomes mixed with tourism, therapy, healing, as well as other religious and secular practices. This research contributes to studies of Theravāda Buddhism as well as modern, global religions and the contemporary intersection between religion and tourism. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all of the people who supported and encouraged the writing of this dissertation. Special thanks go to my advisor, Juliane Schober, for her advice, gentle encouragement and constant enthusiasm for my project. Her mentorship has extended beyond this dissertation to include all aspects of academia. I would also like to extend my gratitude to committee members Tracy Fessenden and James Rush. Their comments on the theoretical conceptualization of the project were crucial. Joel Gereboff, chair of the department, greatly encouraged and supported my graduate student needs. Thank you to all of my informants throughout Thailand, both the international meditators I encountered who were happy to share their stories and the international meditation center teachers who valued my project. The international meditation center teachers especially took time out of their busy schedules to discuss issues of adaptation and reinterpretation with me. I extend my thanks to Fulbright for funding my research in Thailand, as well as Arizona State University Graduate College, and the Philanthropic Educational Organization for their dissertation writing awards. I want to thank all of the people who gave me feedback in conferences, workshops, and lectures where I presented my work in North America, Germany, the Philippines, and Thailand. Especially important in this regard is the Henry Luce Foundation for its support of my participation in the Theravāda Civilizations Dissertation Workshop. For their comments during this workshop I thank Steven Collins, Anne Hansen, iii Christoph Emmrich, and Justin McDaniel. Jaques Leider, director of the Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient in Chiangmai also allowed me use of their beautiful library, which was beneficial as I settled into life in Thailand and the initial stages of dissertation writing. Professor Donald Swearer’s enthusiasm for Buddhism in Southeast Asia sparked my own, and I would like to thank him for encouraging my interest in this field. My graduate school colleagues at Arizona State University offered support and helped me to think through my ideas in the early and developing stages of my research. I want to thank especially Jordan Johnson, Jean-Marie Stevens, and Semiha Topal. My friends and colleagues in Chiangmai, Thailand, my base while researching this dissertation, also need to be acknowledged. Thank you to the community of the American Pacific International School where I was given a space to write and contemplate, with much encouragement and interest. Also to my friends from Payap University, Adam Dedman, Jessica Loh, and Eva Pascal, for their interest in my work and discussions about all things Southeast Asia. My thanks and love also go to my parents and sister. Jillian Schedneck, an author and Ph.D. Candidate herself, provided much encouragement and direction while shaping this dissertation. My parents’ belief in my goals was never doubted; many thanks for their support. And most of all I thank my husband, William Starner. Not only did he move with me to Thailand, but has always supported me in whatever I felt I needed to complete my research and writing. His easygoing and light-hearted iv manner eased stressful moments and I will always be grateful for his time, patience, and partnership during the course of this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TRANSLITERATION OF THAI TERMS ................................................................ x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ..................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 Hybridity Studies ................................................................................ 4 Postcolonialism ................................................................................... 9 Modernity and Postmodern Religiosity ........................................... 12 Globalization and Cultural Flows ................................................... 16 Tourism, Religion, and Commodification ....................................... 21 Global Buddhist Studies ................................................................... 26 Methodology ..................................................................................... 29 Focus and Questions ........................................................................ 36 Chapter Summaries .......................................................................... 37 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 41 2 MODERN BUDDHISM AND THE DECONTEXTUALIZED PRACTICE OF MEDITATION ...................................................... 42 Orientalism and Buddhism ............................................................... 43 Modern Buddhism ............................................................................ 50 Modern Buddhism in Thailand ........................................................ 55 Postmodern Conjunctures of Meditation ......................................... 60 Postmodern Buddhist Hybridity ....................................................... 72 vi CHAPTER Page Conclusion ........................................................................................ 88 3 THERAVĀDA MEDITATION AND THE HISTORY OF MODERN VIPASSANĀ .................................................................................... 90 The Path to Nibbāna ......................................................................... 91 Sources of Theravāda Meditation .................................................... 97 The History of Modern Vipassanā ................................................. 104 Thai Buddhist Understandings of Vipassanā ................................. 124 The Field of Meditative Engagement ............................................. 129 Sites Descriptions ........................................................................... 140 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 155 4 MEDITATION AS COMMODITY, PROMOTING MEDITATION TO INTERNATIONAL TRAVELERS IN THAILAND ............ 157 Tourism as a Modern Phenomenon ................................................ 161 Consumerism and Modern Buddhism ............................................ 164 Commercialization of Thai Buddhism ........................................... 168 History of Tourism in Thailand ...................................................... 171 Institutions Promoting Thai Buddhism .......................................... 174 Promoting Meditation Through Guidebooks