Leaving Home, Staying Home: A Case Study of An American Zen Monastery Varant Nerces Arslanian Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montreal August 2005 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree ofMaster of Arts. © Varant Nerces Arslanian 2005 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24844-7 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24844-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Abstract The subject of this thesis is an American Zen monastery in New York, Zen Mountain Monastery (ZMM). The study is approached through a survey of methodologies: (1) through the scholarship on American culture and religion, (2) through the sociology of the study 0 f religious institutions and c ommunities and (3) through a comparison with East Asian Zen monasticism. The study reveals that ZMM's monasticism: 1) is part of a systematization of Zen in America that has made Zen into a mainstream option in American society, 2) has created group practices and commitment mechanisms that put ZMM in a better position than American lay Zen centers to challenge the individualist trends of American society and spirituality and 3) is based on a conception of the self more in line with the individualism of American society than the asceticism of East Asian Zen monasticism. Resumé Le sujet de cette thèse est à propos d'un monastère Americaine Zen à New York, le "Zen Mountain Monastery," et la creation d'un monastère Zen en Amerique. L'etude est basée sur: 1) la recherche sur la culture et la religion Americaine, 2) la sociologie à travers l'etude des institutions religieuses et communautaires et 3) la comparaison avec le Zen monasticism de l'Asie Est. L'etude revèle que le monasticisme à ZMM: 1) fait partie d'un systematization du Zen en Amerique qui a fait de Zen une option principale parmis la societé Americaine, 2) a etablie la mechanisme de commetant qui met ZMM dans une position meilleur que les centre Zen Americaine laïques pour defier les trats individuals de la societé et la spiritualité Americaine et 3) est basée sur la conception du soi beaucoup plus en accord avec l'individualism de la societé Americaine que l'asceticisme du Zen monasticisme de l'Asie Est. 1 Acknowledgments 1 am greatly indebted to the residents of ZMM, my teachers, friends and family for the completion ofthis thesis. Not only would 1 have never fini shed this thesis without you but 1 would have never been in the position to start it. 1 thank you aIl for your help and vow to somehow someway repay your kindness. More specifically, 1 would like to thank my supervisor G. Victor Sogen Hori, who sent me to the pits of "thesis hell," challenged nearly everything 1 wrote, made me lose aIl faith in myself and in the end taught me how to write a thesis. Thank you for the great kindness and confidence you have shown towards my fellow graduate students and my self. Thank you. To the residents and teachers at Zen Mountain Monastery, thank you for your practice, open mindedness, honesty, friendship and teachings. Thank you for allowing me to live among you and to participate in your daily practices. Thank you to John Daido Loori Roshi for showing great open mindedness in allowing me to do a research project on Zen Mountain Monastery. Thank you also to Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, a Dharma Holder and senior monastic at ZMM for providing me with assistance throughout my project and commenting on the data of an earlier draft ofthis thesis. And thank you to the "bodhisattvas" at ZMM who kindly sacrificed their own limited free time in order to allow me to interview them. Your life stories greatly moved me and 1 regret not being able to integrate them more fully into my thesis. Thank you and gasshô. To my fellow graduate students at McGill University, thank you for numerous conversations and great friendships. In particular, 1 would like to thank my senpai and neighbor, Melissa Curley (Curley-sama), for assisting me in innumerable ways during the writing of this thesis, for her friendship and for awakening my passion in academia. Thanks Mel. 1 would also like to thank Chris Byrne, who 1 bugged about my thesis every moming b efore Ja panese c lass, Philippe Turenne, Joe Markowski, Carl Leslie, Jessica Main, Richard Walker, Meera Kachroo and Erin Reid for insights they provided me with during discussions on the topic of American Buddhism. Thank you aiso to Allen Youster, the religious studies librarian. 1 wouid aiso Iike to thank my undergraduate supervisor at the University of Califomia Riverside and newIy ordained monk Brian K. Smith (Ven. Marut) for tuming 11 me on to the work of Robert BeHah. Thank you Vivi an Lee Nyitray, also from the University of Riverside, who "converted" me to the field of religious studies, Zhiru Ng from Claremont Pomona with w hom 1 wrote 0 ne 0 f mye arliest p apers 0 n East A sian Buddhist Monasticism and Ann Taves, my supervisor at Claremont Graduate University, with whom 1 first began studying American religions. Thank you. Last but not least, 1 would like to thank my wonderful family for their endless support and confidence in me. Thank you mom, Ed and Uncle Razmig. 1 am forever indebted to the three of you. Thank you Aunt Sonig for helping me translate my abstract into French. Lastly, thank you to my fiancée, Sylvia, for putting up with me when aH 1 could think and talk about was my incomplete thesis. 1 could not have done this without you. Thank you. Despite my dependence on others throughout the writing of this thesis, 1 alone am responsible for the errors and shortcomings of the thesis. 111 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents ................................................................................. iv Conventions ........................................................................................ vi Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Literature Review, Ethnography and Background ........................ 5 1.1 Literature Review ............................................................... 5 1.2 Ethnography ....................................................................... 7 1.3 Zen Mountain Monastery ..................................................... II 1.3.1 From Lay Seeds Sprouts a Monastery ........................... 11 1.3.2 An American Monastery ............................................. 16 Chapter 2 Zen Buddhism: The American Religion 26 2.1 Zen in America: An Overview ................................................ 27 2.2 America in Zen: The Issue of Individualism ............................... 34 2.2.1 The Problem with Individualism ................................... 35 2.2.2 Pacific Zen Center ................................................... 37 2.2.3 Zen Mountain Monastery .......................................... 42 2.2.4 American Spirituality ............................................... 47 Chapter 3 Instituting Monasticism: A Sociologie al Perspective ..................... 51 3.1 Institutions, Dispositions and Habitus ....................................... 52 3.1.1 Bellah: Community, Institutions and Instrumentalism ... 52 3.1.2 Bourdieu: Institutions and Individuals ........................ 56 3.1.3 Kanter and Goffman: Totalizing Institutions ............... 62 IV 3.2 Commitment Mechanisms ..................................................... 66 3.2.1 Commitments, Dispositions and Place .........................67 3.2.2 Socializing 75 3.2.3 Celibacy .............................................................. 78 3.2.4 Hierarchy ...........................................................