Buddhist Networks: The Japanese Preparation for the World’s Parliament of Religions, 1892–1893

Abstract

Aihua Zheng is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of History at the University of Iowa. This article examines how the Japanese Buddhist delegates to the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893 prepared in Japan for their task of representing Japanese Buddhism to the West. From the late 1880s to the early 1890s, the Japanese Buddhist community was connected through the popular press, print media, and private organizations, which facilitated their resource sharing. The national network empowered the Japanese to collaborate with Buddhists in South Asia and with supporters in the West and participated in their pan-Asian networking. Through these networks, a group of internationally minded Japanese Buddhists helped the delegates gain information and resources to prepare a version of Japanese Buddhism acceptable to most domestic sects. Moreover, the delegates decided to portray their faith as a Japanese-style Mahāyāna tradition in line with the Western view of Buddhism. Their popularity in Chicago contributed to the globalization and revival of Japanese Buddhism.