Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Research Unit on “3.11 as Crisis and Opportunity” presents a screening of a documentary film on

Film Showing: Buddhism after the Tsunami-The Souls of Zen 3/11 Japan Special http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/html/events/2014-2015/140620_graf.pdf

Followed by discussion with Tim Graf, the director.

June 20, 2014
18:30~20:00
Room 301, Building 10,
Yotsuya Campus, Sophia University

This documentary explores the role of Buddhism in care for the 3/11 bereaved and the dead based on attention to the everyday lives of Buddhist professionals in the disaster zone. Shot from March to December 2011 with a focus on Zen and Pure Land Buddhism, the film captures Buddhist temples and local communities in their struggles to rebuild. By contextualizing the triple disaster within recent rapid transformations in Buddhism and Japan’s enduring tradition of ancestor veneration, Souls of Zen reflects on the complex role of Buddhism in a society shaped by natural disasters, religious pluralism, and demographic change.

soulsofzen . com

Tim Graf is a Ph.D. candidate at Heidelberg University (Religious Studies), and a Ph.D. candidate and Research Associate at Tohoku University (School of Law). He worked at the Collaborative Research Center Ritual Dynamics at Heidelberg University and conducted fieldwork on Zen Buddhism as a JSPS fellow at the University of Tokyo. His research interests focus on transformations of Buddhism in contemporary Japan and more broadly deal with the interplay of religious practice and modern social change.

No prior registration necessary

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David H. Slater, Ph.D.
Director of the Institute of Comparative Culture Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology Faculty of Liberal Arts, Graduate Program in Japanese Studies Sophia University, Tokyo