Souls of Zen: Ancestors and Agency in Contemporary Japanese Temple Buddhism (2012)

• 71%
• 2012
• Documentary
• Tim Graf
• Jakob Montrasio

This documentary presents perspectives on Buddhism as practiced by clergy and millions of families in Japan today by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork about prayer practice and mortuary rituals "on the ground". "Souls" of Zen thereby refers to one of Japan's most enduring traditions - the commemoration of ancestral spirits. We visit rural graveyards, urban temples, modern funeral halls, and public events to trace the rapid change this tradition is undergoing in the last decades and, most recently, in the wake of the tsunami.