Taking up the Practice: Conversion and Buddhist identity in New Zealand By Hugh P. Kemp A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies Victoria University of Wellington 2008 Abstract In a similar fashion to other Western nations, Buddhism is gaining traction in New Zealand. This thesis seeks to answer the question “why do New Zealanders convert to Buddhism?” Implicit within the question is “how do New Zealanders become Buddhists?” My chief concern however, is to address the subsequent question “what identity do convert-Buddhists construct for themselves as New Zealanders?” Employing qualitative sociological methodologies (formal and informal interview with participant observation) I demonstrate a variety of pathways New Zealanders take as they journey towards and embrace Buddhism. While initially using the word “conversion”, I demonstrate that this is not a word (or concept) with which the interviewees easily identify. Rather, “taking up the practice” is a more readily accepted conceptual field of the transformation one undertakes from being “not-Buddhist” to becoming “Buddhist”. Using methodology informed by narrative analysis, I conceptualize the content of interviews around four factors informed by Weltanschauung – worldview – and explore their inter-relationships: practice/ritual (PR), selfhood (SH), belief (BL) and involvement (IN). I demonstrate that having “taken up the practice of Buddhism” interviewees continued to find meaning chiefly in practice/ritual and involvement. I then locate the interviewees’ auto-narratives within a larger socio-historical narrative, that of Arcadia. I take a position on Arcadia, arguing that it is not only a seedbed for a clearly recognizable myth that shapes New Zealand worldview, but it also serves to be fertile socio-cultural soil into which Buddhism is readily planted. The Buddhist practitioners whom I interviewed, in the main, believed New Zealand to be a “good place to practise Buddhism”. I explore this notion by drawing on Arcadian images, and by identifying four socio-cultural locales where Buddhism can be seen to be taking on parochial New Zealand characteristics. One articulate interviewee has envisaged New Zealand as a Buddhist Pure Land. I develop the potential of this idea, arguing that the notion of the ideal society, embedded within Arcadia and the Pure Land offer to practitioner-Buddhists a “home” in New Zealand landscapes and social context. In the use of arguments informed by the ii field of semiotics, I appropriate the current international marketing slogan of “100% Pure” New Zealand, to conceptualise that Buddhist practitioners may indeed seek to create a “100% Pure Land”. It is in a new “imaginative order” that practitioner Buddhists in New Zealand will continue to create their own identity and find a turangawaewae, a place of identity in which to stand. iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank my two supervisors, Dr. Rick Weiss, and Prof. Paul Morris of Victoria University of Wellington. Dr. Weiss, my primary supervisor in the Religious Studies department, introduced me to the subtler nuances of academic research and writing, and Prof. Paul Morris, provided advice and resources at poignant moments in the whole process. Thanks very much to both for keeping me in the big picture and for timely encouragement and advice. Many others also deserve my thanks. Sean Brosnahan, Curator at Otago Settler’s Museum in Dunedin, and David Murray, of the Hocken Library (Dunedin) showed me the utmost cooperation at very short notice when I wanted to research the religion of the Chinese goldminers of Otago. Adrienne Troughton translated and interpreted Maori language resources. Thanks too for technical assistance from Chris Joll who introduced me to Mind Map, and Dr. John Hitchen who introduced me to Endnotes. Accommodation and hospitality while doing field work has been extended to me by Helen Kemp and Lofty Revell, Chris and Greg Mutton, Wayne and Nicola Fraser as well as numerous new Buddhist friends. Thanks too to Ian Kemp and others who have collected newspaper articles or visited Buddhist events on my behalf, and Sue Thomas who has offered encouragement and resources. Colin and Jackie Wheeler allowed me the use of their bach for a crucial week towards the end of the final write-up, for which I am thankful. Thankyou to many new Buddhist friends up and down the country in several different traditions. Without your cooperation and openness with me, this project would never have seen the light of day. iv To Karen, my wife, and daughters Anjali, Mikhaela and Anya: your patience and support have been inestimable. Thankyou. _______ Partial funding for this thesis has been provided by the Faculty Research Grant and the PhD Submission Scholarship of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. v Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements lV Introduction .•..........•.......................................••..........................................•...........••.. 1 The Project 4 The structure ofthe thesis 5 Chapter 1: Sources and Methodology 8 Contemporary Buddhism in New Zealand 8 Critical reflection on Buddhism in New Zealand 12 Western Buddhism 24 Theorizing about Western Buddhism 29 Conceptualizing Buddhism in New Zealand. 36 I Methodology 40 The Interviewees : :., 44 Chapter 2: The arrival of Buddhism in New Zealand 51 Introduction 51 A History ofBuddhism in New Zealand 52 The Early Period (pre-l970s) 53 The 19th century Chinese goldminers 53 Theosophy in New Zealand 56 Contemporary Buddhism: from the 1970s 60 The New Zealand Census 67 Chapter 3: "Taking up the Practice": Buddhist Conversion stories 83 Introduction 83 Conversion as change from not-Buddhist to Buddhist 87 Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels 88 The psychology ofconversion 91 Ambiguities ofconversion 106 Conversions ofintensity 107 Conversion as change between lineages 114 Passive conversion as karmic inevitability 116 Rejecting "conversion" 118 "Taking up the practice" : 121 VI I ,:1 t': __ --." Conclusions 127 Chapter 4: Being a Practitioner: Narrative and the Re-stabilization ofthe Self.. 130 Introduction 130 Narrative Analysis 131 Using narrative analysis: the twenty-one transcripts 138 Narrative andidentity: four worldview indicators 142 Narratives of're-stabilization 153 Self-construction ofa new identity: three examples 155 Beliefandpractice: further possibilities ofself-constructed identities 159 Multiple belonging 167 A Challenge to beliefandpractice: Soka Gakkai in New Zealand 172 Summary and Conclusions 175 Chapter 5: New Zealand as Arcadia: a "Good Place to Practise Buddhism" •..... 178 Introduction 178 New Zealand as a "good place to practise Buddhism" f ·.···· 179 James Davis (1981) and the ideal society : 184 New Zealand as Arcadia : 186 A history ofArcadia 188 Colonial idealism 192 Arcadia in the arts 198 Environmentalism 204 Buddhism in Arcadian New Zealand 210 The language ofdomesticity 212 This particular land , 214 Conclusions 221 Chapter 6: New Zealand as a 100% Pure Land 223 Introduction 223 Buddhism ofNew Zealand: four parochial locales 224 A quest for identity: Dhargyey Buddhism and Te Waiariki 224 The buddhafication ofNew Zealand: interconnectedness andlandscape 234 Conceptualising New Zealand as a Buddhist Pure Land 243 Creating a Pure Land through the practice ofethics 248 Conclusions 256 Conclnsions 258 Introduction 258 Vll Conversion, identity, and the establishment ofBuddhism in New Zealand 259 Turangawaewae: a place to stand 270 Appendix 1: Buddhist Groups Mentioned 277 Appendix 2: Schedule of Participant Observation 282 Appendix 3: Schedule of Formal Interviews.................•........................................ 286 Appendix 4: Summaries of the auto-narratives •..•289 Appendix 5: Information Sheet 298 Appendix 6: Ethics Consent Form 299 Appendix 7: Overall Summative Matrix 300 Bibliography 301 I' , i ,, Vlll Introduction “The Western adventure with Buddhism has begun” Jeffery Paine (2005, 31) On June 19 th , 2007, more than four thousand people filled the Wellington Convention Centre to hear His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama. Around twenty monks and nuns of various Buddhist traditions were clearly recognisable due to their attire. But what of the others in the audience? Were they all Buddhists too? What interest did they have in the Dalai Lama? Had they come to hear the Dalai Lama because he was Buddhist, or for some other reason? The Dalai Lama has not been the only foreign high-profile Buddhist to visit New Zealand. Others in various traditions, while not commanding the same numbers, visit New Zealand regularly. For example, on December 2 nd , 2004, around 120 people attended a public lecture by Stephen Batchelor, well known Buddhist author, in the National Library Auditorium, Wellington. While New Zealanders’ interest in Buddhist speakers may be readily observable, New Zealanders’ relationship with Buddhism is varied. For example, Tim has been “a Buddhist for thirty years, practising for ten years, although seriously for eight”. Kaye explains why she lives at a Buddhist centre: “I’m here [as a Buddhist at this centre] because of karma . I have no other meaning for my existence”. Noel relates: “I had a life changing experience through [Buddhist] meditation teaching. [When I heard the lama 1 teaching], something just clicked inside and I knew it was for me”. Jenny reveals: "I am only a beginner [in Buddhism]. I don't know much. It will take aeons". John says: