Crafting Utopias for Spiritual Nationhood: Digested India in Contemporary Self-cultivation Practices in China

ABSTRACTThis study examines how India – both as a modern nation-state and a symbolic geography – is digested by Chinese self-cultivators to negotiate their belonging in China’s spiritual nationhood, defined as the landscape of belief that corresponds to the geo-body of the nation-state. It follows the practitioners of Oneness (Heyi), one of the most popular Indian new religious movements in China today, for whom such negotiations are riddled with tensions. While Oneness practitioners align themselves with political orthodoxy disseminated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), emphasizing China’s special role as a spiritual leader for humanity, they engage in quasi-religious heterodox practices, risking being labeled an “evil cult” (xie jiao). These frictions occur at the junction of two contrasting notions of spiritual nationhood, one derived from lingxing (spirituality) and the other from jingshen, a secularized notion of spirit that situates the CCP as the sacred center of the polity.KEYWORDS: spiritualitynationalismutopianismspiritual civilizationPan-Asianism AcknowledgementsI would like to express my gratitude to the contributors to the project BRINFAITH. (“Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road”), especially Professor David A. Palmer (PI) for generous support and feedback on this study. I also thank the two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their thoughtful critiques and comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.Notes1 All names of research participants as well as seminars in China they organized or took part in have been changed to protect their anonymity.2 Rather than the Judeo-Christian understanding of “spiritual,” the meaning of such leadership aligns with the term jingshen and the history of sacralizing the state and, later, the Communist Party in China.3 Wielander Citation2017.4 Srinivas Citation2008, 5.5 Palmer, Katz, and Wang Citation2011.6 Platt Citation2012, xxiii.7 Duara Citation2001.8 Billioud Citation2020.9 Palmer Citation2007.10 Osho, also known as or Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh (1931–1990) was an Indian spiritual leader and a transnational New Age celebrity, known for his critique of institutionalized religion and his progressive approach to sexuality. In 1971, he funded an ashram in Pune, India that still operates. From 1981 until 1985 he relocated to the United States, where he started a commune in Antelope, Oregon. He was ultimately deported to India when his movement was investigated for multiple felonies that included attempted murder, drug smuggling, and arson. See Urban Citation2015.11 The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University is a new religious movement founded and funded by Lekhraj Khubchand Kirpalani (1884–1969). It originated in the 1930s in in Hyderabad, Sindh (present-day Pakistan). In 1950, following the partition of India, Brahma Kumaris was relocated to Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The movement disseminates millenarian teachings and highlights the importance of meditation as the primary self-cultivation practice. Brahma Kumaris has raised controversies due to its teachings about the end of the world and promoting celibacy. In 1980, Brahma Kumaris was registered as an NGO with the United Nations Department of Public Relations and in 1998 it was granted General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. See Tamasin, Smith, and Manderson 2012.12 The Art of Living is a neo-Hindu new religious movement funded by Sri Ravi Shankar (born 1956). Originally part of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation movement, Ravi Shankar broke away in 1981 to establish the Art of Living Foundation. The organization currently has a presence in 180 countries and teaches courses on meditation, yoga, and ayurveda. It has Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council. See Tøllefsen Citation2011.13 Body Mind Spirit (shen xin ling) is a term used in an Euro-American context for what was earlier referred to as “New Age” (both are still sometimes used interchangeably). While these Indian new religious movements are part of the Body Mind Spirit milieu, the milieu encompasses many other New Age teachings, many of which are unrelated to India. See Iskra Citation2022.14 Thorsén Citation2017.15 The Oneness movement capitalizes this term, a practice I follow in this paper.16 Iskra Citation2022.17 Thorsén Citation2016.18 Srinivas Citation2008, 75.19 Gvili Citation2022.20 Aravamudan Citation2006, Srinivas Citation2008, Urban Citation2015.21 Two prominent examples are the Sathya Sai Baba movement and the Rajneesh (Osho) movement. Accusations against the founder of the first organization, Sathya Sai Baba, have included deception, money laundering, sexual abuse, and murder (see Palmer Citation2005). For controversies around the Osho movement, see footnote 6.22 Subramanian and Devulapalli Citation2019.23 Rajan Citation2019.24 Iskra Citation2021.25 Iskra Citation2023a.26 Iskra Citation2023b.27 Li Citation2023.28 Jones Citation2011, 548.29 Esler Citation2020.30 In Chinese official documents, the term xie jiao is translated into English as “cults” or “evil cults.” This choice of wording is deliberate as it is meant to link the Communist Party’s efforts to eradicate xie jiao to an international anti-cult movement. These linkages are established through the efforts of Chinese academics who specialize in the study of xie jiao. These scholars, usually Communist Party members, promote translations of classical American and European anti-cult publications, and invite specialists and deprogrammers to China. However, the term xie jiao has a distinctive history that can be traced back to the Ming period. A more accurate English translation is “heterodox teachings.” From the Ming dynasty onwards, Chinese governments compiled lists of teachings that were deemed xie jiao due to political and religious reasons. For instance, Christianity was classified as heterodox in 1725, a label which was dropped in 1842 due to pressure from European imperialists. The term xie jiao was adopted by Republican and Communist governments in their campaigns against various millenarian movements they deemed political threats. The term became especially popular in the 1990s with the persecution of Falun Gong (See Introvigne 2023).31 I follow Massimo Introvigne’s (2023) translation of the Chinese name of this organization (Zhongguo Fan Xie Jiao Xiehui) as the “China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association.” I do this to highlight the distinct history and meaning of xiejiao that cannot be fully encapsulated in the English term “cult.” For more details, please see the footnote above.32 Global Times Citation2020a, Citation2020b, Citation2020c.33 Yahoo News Citation2019. The post was likely referring to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of the religious movement Dera Sacha Sauda who in 2017 was sentenced to twenty years in prison for raping two of his female followers and a year later was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. See Nagarkoti Citation2019.34 Global Times Citation2019.35 Iskra Citation2022.36 Global Times Citation2019.37 See footnote thirty three.38 Zhongguo Xie Jiao Wang Citation2019.39 Urban Citation2015, 2.40 Iskra Citation2022.41 Chen and Shao Citation2019, 61.42 Zhi Citation1998.43 Iskra Citation2022.44 Urban Citation2015, 78.45 Yao Citation2012.46 Liang Citation2012.47 Global Times Citation2020b.48 Liang Citation2012.49 This statement in English originally appeared in the essay “India Our Great Teacher” published in Asia Magazine in 1942 (Hu Citation1942, republished in Chou and Hu Citation2013, 187). In this piece, Hu Shi actually portrays China’s “cultural indebtedness” to India in a positive light. However, since then his words have often been linked to his earlier discussion in 1937 (Hu Citation1937, republished in Chou and Hu Citation2013, 147–163) of the detrimental effects of the cultural “Indianization” of China (for example, see Sheel Citation2014). This might be because a similar statement in Chinese appears in Hu’s article, “Examining China’s Problems” (Zhongguo wenti de yi ge zhencha) and translates as, “rather than sending soldiers, India sent a few missionaries to conquer China culturally” (Hu 1932).50 Sheel Citation2014.51 Hu Citation1937, republished in Chou (ed.) and Hu Citation2013, 147-163.52 Sen and Tsui Citation2021.53 Cheng Citation2020.54 Sarao Citation2002.55 Sen Citation2003.56 Forte Citation1985.57 Sen Citation2017.58 Mangalagiri Citation2023.59 Murthy Citation2011.60 Kang Citation1981, 496.61 Mangalagiri Citation2023, 39.62 Karl Citation2002.63 Mangalagiri Citation2023.64 Ciaudo Citation2020, 140.65 Gvili Citation2022.66 Gvili Citation2022, 9.67 Van der Veer Citation2014.68 Das Citation2005.69 Mangalagiri Citation2023, 9.70 Gvili Citation2022, 71.71 Hay Citation1970, 101.72 Nasser Citation2022.73 Yan Citation2022, 67.74 Yan Citation2022.75 Sheel Citation2007.76 Sen Citation2021, 380.77 Mangalagiri and Sen 2022.78 Sen Citation2021.79 Cf. Duara Citation2021; Van der Veer Citation2016.80 Van der Veer Citation2009, 5.81 Van der Veer Citation2014, 41.82 Van der Veer Citation2007; Citation2009; Citation2014. More recently, the idiom of spirituality in the context of Sino-Indian comparisons is discussed, though not as a key concept, in Gvili Citation2022.83 Chau Citation2006.84 This reflects a popular Chinese saying: “Everyone sweep the snow in front of their own door and does not care about the frost on other people's tiles” (ge ren zi sao men qian xue, mo guan ta ren was hang shuang), which means not caring about other people’s business. The phrase comes from the Story of Qi Prince Who Toiled as a Gardener (Qi shi zi guan yuan ji) authored by a Ming dynasty playwright named Zhang Fengyi.85 Winichakul Citation1994.86 Wielander Citation2017, 175.87 Palmer and Winiger Citation2019a.88 Ownby Citation2008.89 Introvigne Citation2020.90 Deng Citation1983, 208.91 The Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization was established in 1997 under the direct authority of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Its work is parallel to and overlaps with the Leading Group for Propaganda and Ideological Work. The Commission works closely with the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Education, the State Press and Publishing Administration, and Xinhua News Agency (See Shambaugh Citation2007).92 Palmer and Winiger Citation2019b; Kipnis Citation2006.93 Palmer and Winiger Citation2019b.94 “Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Exposition on the Construction of Socialist Spiritual Civilization” (Citation2023).95 Palmer and Winiger Citation2019b.96 In China, such strategies are not unique for religious and spiritual groups. Labor and environmental activists have also engaged in such appropriations (see, for example Chen Citation2023; Hansen and Liu Citation2018).97 Iskra, Winiger, and Palmer Citation2020, 61.98 Iskra, Winiger, and Palmer Citation2020.99 Cao Nanlai (2012) describes “boss Christians” as an elite group of Christian businessmen who have been the driving force behind the growth of independent churches in the Wenzhou area.100 Cao Citation2013b.101 Cao Citation2013a.102 Penny Citation2012, 102.103 Penny Citation2012, 216 –217.104 Iskra, Winiger, and Palmer Citation2020.105 Introvigne 2023.106 Dunn Citation2009, 100.107 Pan Citation2015.108 Mangalagiri Citation2023, 7.Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project no. HKU C705218GF on “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road”). This research was partly funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF171). Additional funding also came from the Sin-Wai Kin Junior Fellow Program and the Lee Hysan-HKIHSS Fellowship, awarded by the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes on contributorsAnna IskraAnna Iskra is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Culture and the Mind, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is an anthropologist with a focus on China. Her main research focus is on transnational circulations of psy-sciences and spiritualities.