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How to Count Religious Phenomena in China and East Asia

Explore methods to count, measure, and calculate diverse religious practices in China and East Asia, focusing on spiritual practices over identity. Introduce categories like ritual practitioners, incense-pilgrims, and lay disciples.

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How to Count Religious Phenomena in China and East Asia

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  1. How to Count Religious Phenomena in China and East Asia Liyong Dai PhD, Associate ProfessorSchool of Sociology, Central China Normal UniversityConfucius Institute at Carleton University, CanadaLiyong.Dai@carleton.caallen.days@gmail.com

  2. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  3. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  4. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  5. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  6. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  7. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  8. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  9. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  10. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  11. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  12. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  13. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

  14. La-ma Temple, Beijing (北京 • 雍和宫)

  15. La-ma Temple, Beijing (北京 • 雍和宫)

  16. La-ma Temple, Beijing (北京 • 雍和宫)

  17. Incense-pilgrim 香客

  18. Incense-pilgrim 香客 • The most common factor in East Asian Religions: • Buddhism,Daoism,Confucianism,Folk Religions… • How to categorize? • Buddhist “believers” • Daoism “believers” • … • How to count, measure and calculate?

  19. Incense-pilgrim 香客 曹德旺 Cao, Dewang Billionaire Philanthropist

  20. Incense-pilgrim 香客 • Religious identity? • Belonging? • Double belonging? • Or Partly belonging? • “Believing”? • Double “Believing”? • “Believe without belonging”? • “Self claimed religious identification”? • …

  21. Incense-pilgrim 香客 Believe? Belonging? … Just do it?

  22. Incense-pilgrim 香客

  23. Incense-pilgrim 香客 • Categories/instruments like “believe”, “belonging”, “identity”, “identification”, which are more based on monotheistic ideas … • Chinese and East Asian cultural context: the conception of God: Polytheism, pantheism, deism …

  24. Incense-pilgrim 香客 • Confucian ritual practitioners (儒礼的践行者) • cultural/spiritual tourist (文化/灵性旅游者) • occasional incense-pilgrims(偶然的香客) • constant incense-pilgrims(经常的香客) • lay disciples (居士 or 俗弟子) • other-worldly practitioners(出家修行者) • *sectarian believers (教门信众)

  25. A1: Confucian ritual practitioners A2: Cultural/Spiritual tourist A3: Occasional incense-pilgrims B3: Constant incense-pilgrims B2: Lay disciples B1: Other-worldly Practitioners D: Sectarian believers Population and Tension of Chinese Religions Tension: X2﹥X1﹥0 Population: Y3﹥Y2﹥Y1﹥0

  26. Hypothetical Distribution of Population and Tension of Religions in China and East Asia Tension: X3﹥X2﹥X1﹥0 Population: Y3﹥Y2﹥Y1﹥0

  27. East Asian Religions Vs. Religions in the West Asymmetrical Concave Curve Vs. Bell-shaped Curve

  28. Religious Phenomena in China & East Asia: How to Count, Measure and Calculation? • Statistic method of religious phenomena in China and East Asia requires a different approach. More attention should be given to spiritual practices rather than religious identity/identification… • By introducing categories like Confucian ritual practitioners (儒礼的践行者), cultural/spiritual tourist (文化/灵性旅游者), occasional incense-pilgrims(偶然的香客), constant incense-pilgrims(经常的香客), lay disciples (居士or俗弟子) ,other-worldly practitioners(出家修行者), and sectarian believers (教门信众), we can get a much better mapping of religious phenomena in China and East Asia. • An asymmetrical concave curve can be developed through the observance and analysis of the population and tension across different Chinese religious/spiritual niches. Then, we can compare the asymmetrical concave curve and the bell-shaped curve…

  29. Thank you! Liyong Dai PhD, Associate ProfessorSchool of Sociology, Central China Normal UniversityConfucius Institute at Carleton University, CanadaLiyong.Dai@carleton.caallen.days@gmail.com

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