Sufism and Zen in the West: The Transformation of Modern Religious Life and Practice

(Hardback)

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Historically and culturally, Sufism and Zen may not seem to have anything in common. However, in the West, their spiritual messages are often perceived as strikingly similar. In this book, scholars analyse the ways in which Sufism and Zen were introduced to and developed in the West. The collection shows that the popularity of these religions arose not because of the substantive shared elements within the two traditions, but because their promoters in the West employed similar strategies to respond to the interests of a modern, Western audience. The first book to make a close comparison of Sufism and Zen, this study is an important contribution to understanding Western religious life and processes of easternisation. It sheds new light on how Sufism and Zen came to represent a spirituality that is both countercultural and in touch with modern sensitivities.

Author Bio

Saeko Yazaki is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow. Previously she was Research Associate in the Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge having completed her PhD in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She is Section Editor for the Journal of Open Theology and has published in various books and journals. Michael Conway is Lecturer at Otani University in Kyoto, Japan, where he also completed his PhD. He has been Managing Editor of The Eastern Buddhist Society and has published in various books and journals, including The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Ethics.