Explorations of Silence in the Religious Rituals of Buddhists and Quakers
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-19-2012
Department
Anthropology and Sociology
Abstract
This paper is a participant-observation-based study of one Quaker and three Buddhist groups. Using a sociological framework, it explores silence as actively practiced in religious ritual. It demonstrates the usefulness of employing multiple continuums to analyze practices, including a speech–silence continuum, a body movement–body stillness continuum, and a thinking–not thinking continuum. Even when silence is seen as active, it may be construed as functioning to turn people inward and away from each other. Instead, this paper demonstrates how silence for these groups is not necessarily socially isolating. For instance, participants not only learned, practiced, and reflected on silence together, but drew connections between the practice of silence and changes in everyday social interactions, including bringing compassion into these. Some persons referred to realizing a sense of interconnectedness in the silence akin to a Meadian fusion.
Publication Title
Religion
Volume
42
Issue
1
First Page
549
Last Page
574
Recommended Citation
Fennell, D.
(2012). Explorations of Silence in the Religious Rituals of Buddhists and Quakers. Religion, 42(1), 549-574.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/15385
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