The Making of a Modern Buddha: Global Buddhism and Theater PDF

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International Association of Buddhist Studies XVIIIth Congress, Toronto, August 20–25, 2017 Section Contemporary Buddhism Friday August 26 The Making of a Modern Buddha Global Buddhism and Theater Samuel Thévoz 2016 Research Fellow, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies O...

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International Association of Buddhist Studies XVIIIth Congress, Toronto, August 20–25, 2017 Section Contemporary Buddhism Friday August 26

The Making of a Modern Buddha Global Buddhism and Theater Samuel Thévoz 2016 Research Fellow, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies

On March 26, 1900, Paul Carus (1852–1919), wrote to the German painter and illustrator Friedrich Paul Thumann (1834–1908) that «one of the greatest requirements of the age is to shape an ideal Buddha in the style of Europo-American civilisation». Paul Carus was a prominent German-American monist philosopher based in Chicago. Carus was the champion of the «Religion of Science», an influential proponent—though not a convert—of Buddhism, which he called the «Religion of Enlightenment» (OC1903). He was most notably the acclaimed author of the worldwide bestseller The Gospel of Buddha, first published in 1894. This book quickly superseded Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia as the cornerstone reference of modern Buddhism. Like many other scholars at the time, notably in Oriental studies, Carus was a Olga Kopetzky, in Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha (Chicago, The Open Court, polymath who practiced a wide array of literary 1915 [1894]): 37. styles and genres. Not a visual artist himself, he concentrated his efforts in writing ‘stories’ of Buddhism in the wake of The Gospel of Buddha: Nirvana (1896), Karma (1905), Amitâbha (1906). Carus most notably produced a collection of Buddhist Hymns (1911), adapted to Western musical criteria and molded on classical works, as well as a largely neglected drama The Buddha, of which he published two versions, first in 1911 and then in 1913, when it was also translated into German. Paul Carus is a key figure for my inquiry on Buddhism and theater, for he was quite uniquely both a sympathizer of Buddhism and at times an art and literary writer concerned with introducing Buddha in modern art. Based on Carus’s play and other earlier attempts at staging the Buddha, I have therefore taken in earnest the idea of «shaping a modernized Buddha» required by Carus, and focused on the aesthetic inventions and dramatic treatment of the Buddha’s life story. The making of modern Buddhism strongly entailed art forms and works, and encompassed a wider set of agents than the mere self-proclaimed modern Buddhist proponents—converts or sympathizers—and brought into play larger issues than those concerning a «network of intellectuals» and practitioners. From this perspective, modern Buddhism was propelled into the public sphere at the end of 19 th century and was literally fashioned not only through the writings of its advocates, but also through the efforts of artists, writers and playwrights—many of whom were not directly linked to Buddhism but who nonetheless strongly contributed to turn the Buddha into a modern icon and popularize Buddhism on a wide scale. While culturally assimilating the life story of the Buddha to Western aesthetic criteria, the «Buddha-dramas» buddhified in return the very idea of theatrics. In creating unprecedented secularized standards of modern Buddhism, they have been crucial fictional experiments that contributed not only to re-imagine who the Buddha was, but also to perform and experience what it is to be a Buddha....