Buddhist Teen Bowing to Parents: Straddling the Border between Private and Public Religion
Abstract
Bowing to parents is a Buddhist home practice that links with the spread of religious-led attitudes across a notional border into the public sphere of young Buddhists’ lives. A quantitative study sought to map the attitudes corresponding with bowing to parents for teen self-identifying Buddhists in Britain. A variety of statements including those concerning personal wellbeing, discrimination, work, school, RE, friends, family, substance use, collectivism, tradition and religion were rated for levels of agreement by 417 self-identifying Buddhists, aged between 13 and 20, using postal and online surveys. The 56% who bowed to parents were found to have stronger publicsphere attitudes such as work ethic, resilience to intoxicant use, valuing study and RE. In the private sphere, they were found to have a more positive attitude towards family and Buddhism. Additionally the study found the significance of bowing differed with age – being linked particularly with an increased subjective well-being in early teens and acceptance of hierarchy and parental influence in late teens. Also, the attitudes corresponding with bowing depended on religious style – bowing being linked with Asian values and feeling more religious for convert Buddhist teens, whereas for heritage Buddhist teens it was linked more with in-group mentality. Unlike non-Buddhist adolescents, bowing to parents in Buddhists was linked with wanting to look after parents in old age. The article argues that bowing to parents has the cultural function of bringing religiously-led good into society, acting as a perpetuating structure, binding the Buddhist community together, facilitating mutual respect from adults and a sense of social hierarchy and such deserves to be considered an aspect of Buddhist religiosity.
Budistlike teismeliste tava kummardada vanemate ees: ületades privaatse ja avaliku religiooni piire
Kummardamine vanemate ees on budistlik kodune tava, millel on seos noorte budistide usuliselt laetud suhtumiste ülekandumisega avaliku elu sfääridesse. Kvantitatiivse uurimuse abil kaardistati ennast budistidena määratlevate briti noorte hoiakute seoseid vanemate ees kummardamise tavaga. 417 budistlikku noort vanuses 13-20 hindasid oma nõustumist väidetega, mis puudutasid isiklikku heaolu, diskrimineerimist, tööd, kooli, religiooniõpetust, sõpru, perekonda, uimastite tarvitamist, seltskondlikkust, traditsioone ja religiooni. Küsitlus toimus posti teel ja veebis. Vanemate ees kummardamise tava järgis 56% vastanutest ja neil olid tugevamad sellised avalikku sfääri puutuvad hoiakud nagu näiteks tööeetika, parem vastupanuvõime meelemürkide tarvitamisele, suurem hariduse ja religiooniõpetuse hindamine.
Privaatsfääri puutuvalt leiti neil olevat positiivsem suhtumine perekonda ja budismi. Lisaks tõi uurimus välja, et kummardamise tava tähendus erineb vanuseti, olles seotud suurema isikliku heaolutundega varases teismeeas ning vanemliku mõju ja perekondliku hierarhia aktsepteerimisega hilises teismeeas. Ka sõltusid kummardamisega seotud suhtumised isiku religioossest stiilist – konvertiitide jaoks oli kummardamise tava pigem seotud Aasia väärtuste ja üldise usulise tundega, mitmenda põlvkonna budistidest teismeliste jaoks seostus see enam sisegrupi mentaliteediga. Erinevalt mittebudistidest noortest seondus tava kummardada ka sooviga hiljem eakate vanemate eest hoolitseda. Artikkel väidab, et taval kummardada vanemate ees on kultuuriline funktsioon – tuua religioosselt juhitud hüve ühiskonda. Samas on see põlistav struktuur, mis aitab budistlikku kogukonda koos hoida, soodustab
vastastikust lugupidamist täiskasvanutega ja säilitab sotsiaalset hierarhiat. Niisugusena tuleks seda tava näha budistliku religioossuse osana.
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