Preston provides both a first-hand account and a theoretical analysis of the way an American Zen community works. The form Zen practice takes in the United States is described in detail through close study of two Zen groups in southern California. Preston leads readers through the buildings and grounds of a Zen residential community and introduces them to the main forms of Zen practice, paying special attention to the styles and implications of meditation. The book's second half develops a theory of the nature of religious reality as it is shared by Zen practitioners. Prestonattempts to explain how this reality—based on a group's ethnography yet at the same time transcending it—relates to meditation and other elements of Zen practice by drawing on the notions of ritual, practice, emotions, and the unconscious found in the writings of Pierre Bourdieu, Randall Collins, Erving Goffman, and Emile Durkheim.
Foreword Randall Collins; Preface; Part I. A Sociological View of Zen: 1. Approaching the study of religion; 2. On going native; Part II. A Profile of Zen Membership and Formal Orgainzation in Southern California: 3. A profile of Zen membership; 4. The physical layout of a Zen center; 5. Formal organization and staff; Part III. The Zen Teacher: 6. The teacher; 7. Daily schedule; 8. Interaction with students; Part IV. What is Zen?: 9. Learning about Zen; 10. Varieties of Zen practice; 11. Zen viewed sociologically; 12. Zen practice; Part V. Meditation as a Social Phenomenon: I: 13. Becoming a Zen practitioner; 14. Consequences of meditative practice; 15. Becker's model; Part VI. Meditation as a Social Phenomenon II: 16. The social constructionist view; 17. Meditation defined; 18. Some consequences of meditative practice; Part VII. Doing Zen Meditation: 19. Sudnow's view of improvised conduct; 20. Using Sudnow to see Zen practice sociologically; 21. The social organization of Zen meditation; 22. Problems in Zen practice; 23. An experience of sitting meditation; Part VIII. The Social Organization of Zen Meditative Ritual Practice and its Consequences: 24. Bourdieu's concept of habitus; 25. Ritual, self-transformation, and reality construction; Part IX. The Meanings of Zen Practice: 26. Subjective (conscious) meaning; 27. Objective (unconscious) meaning; Part X. Summary and Conclusions; Appendix; Notes; References; Index.
Overview
Preston provides both a first-hand account and a theoretical analysis of the way an American Zen community works. The form Zen practice takes in the United States is described in detail through close study of two Zen groups in southern California. Preston leads readers through the buildings and grounds of a Zen residential community and introduces them to the main forms of Zen practice, paying special attention to the styles and implications of meditation. The book's second half develops a theory of the nature of...