[Buddha-l] Literature on Conversion to Buddhism

[Franz Metcalf]

Gang,

Andrew Skilton conjectured wisely on issues of identity formation, 
group cohesion and definition against the larger society, 
proselytizing, etc., and then commented,

> Mind you, I strongly suspect that this analysis is well-worn territory 
> in '(religious) conversion studies'. I am woefully ignorant of any 
> critical work on the psychology of conversion in Western Buddhist 
> groups.

I only wish this were well-worn territory. Though these issues have 
indeed been well surveyed among Christian converts (both to and among 
Christian sects), the process of conversion to Buddhism is mostly terra 
incognita. Perhaps things have changed in the last few years (since 
I've gone over to the dark side of popular writing), but when I was 
really up on such writings they were *extremely* limited. I did my 
masters work on the ongoing process of conversion in Rinzai Zen and my 
dissertation on the process of becoming and remaining Zen Buddhist in 
America, so I can tell you three times that through 1997, at least, I 
knew the literature and there wasn't much to it. And what I tell you 
three times is true. (Ssshhh, don't tell my advisors this near total 
lack of literature was one prime reason for my choice of dissertation 
topics.)

Far and away the best work on conversion to Zen is David Preston's 
study, _The Social Organization of Zen
Practice: Constructing Trans-cultural Reality_ (Cambridge Univ., 1988). 
Preston's work is based both on his participant-observation at 
California Zen centers and on his background as an innovative thinker 
as a sociologist in the field of conversion studies. I do not think his 
work has been superseded. In fact, the only other really academic work 
that comes to mind on the psychology of conversion to Zen in the West 
comes from folks in the psychology of religion. Frankly, from folks 
like me. Well, okay, not *like* me: me. With other strands of Western 
Buddhism, again psychologists have done most of the work that touches 
on the dynamics of conversion, and even on insider/outsider issues. 
They have done good work, though: I'm convinced your insight that 
fragile Buddhist groups parallel some fragile Buddhist selves is deeply 
true. But then I still like Freud's _Group Psychology and the Analysis 
of the Ego_, so that should tell you something about me.

The exceptions to my generalization are two books from Andrew's side of 
the pond: _A Time to Chant: The Soka Gakkai Buddhists in Britain_ by 
Bryan Wilson and Karel Dobbelaere (Oxford, 1994), and _Soka Gakkai in 
America: Accommodation and Conversion_ by Phillip E. Hammond and David 
W. Machacek (Oxford, 1999). The latter, especially, speaks to the 
dynamics of conversion, as you might expect from the subtitle.

I'd love to hear about more recent studies, but it's clear that much 
more work needs to be done and other approaches brought into the mix. 
The field remains wide open and (I think) potentially wonderfully 
illuminating--not just for Buddhist studies, but for the understanding 
of spiritual yearning among all persons (well, except for icchantikas 
like myself who have developed a distaste for all things "spiritual").

Cheers,

Franz Metcalf