Buddhist Ritual as “Connectionwork”: Aesthetics and Technologies of Mediating Religious Belonging

Abstract In September 2016, the Himalayan Buddhist festival Naropa 2016 took place in the Northwest Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. This article analyzes the spectacular aesthetics of the Naro Gyen Druk ritual, the focus of Naropa 2016. Drawing on ethnographic documentation of this ritual, I cons...

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1. VerfasserIn: Williams-Ørberg, Elizabeth 1975- (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Brill 2021
In: Numen
Jahr: 2021, Band: 68, Heft: 5/6, Seiten: 488-512
normierte Schlagwort(-folgen):B Ladakh / Naḍapāda 956-1040 / Religiöses Fest / Geschichte 2016 / Tibetischer Buddhismus / Ritus / Religiöse Identität / Gefühl / Beziehung / Pad-ma-dbang-chen 1963- / Drukpa-Kagyü
RelBib Classification:AD Religionssoziologie; Religionspolitik
AG Religiöses Leben; materielle Religion
BL Buddhismus
KBM Asien
weitere Schlagwörter:B Charisma
B Himalayan Buddhism
B religious belonging
B Ritual
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Zusammenfassung:Abstract In September 2016, the Himalayan Buddhist festival Naropa 2016 took place in the Northwest Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. This article analyzes the spectacular aesthetics of the Naro Gyen Druk ritual, the focus of Naropa 2016. Drawing on ethnographic documentation of this ritual, I consider the role of ritual aesthetics in provoking affective, emotional, and bodily experiences among participants and their felt connections to the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, the charismatic leader of the Drukpa Kagyü organization. I introduce the term “connectionwork” to emphasize how Buddhist conceptualizations of connections, drelwa (‘brel ba), bring to light how ritual and performances of charisma either work or fail to work in establishing religious belonging among Himalayan and international participants. Connectionwork helps to emphasize not only the work to organize and orchestrate religious rituals with the intention to institute religious belonging, but also the agential role that participants play in charismatic ritual performances.
ISSN:1568-5276
Enthält:Enthalten in: Numen
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341637