Chapter 9 Accidental Esoterics: Han Chinese Practicing Tibetan Buddhism
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Abstract
Han Chinese lay Buddhists in major PRC cities can now often be seen adopting elements from Tibetan Buddhism into their practices. This trend has increased over the past two decades but has received relatively little attention in the scholarly literature. This chapter aims to address this gap by focusing on two questions: how do ordinary Han Chinese lay Buddhists in eastern cities come to adopt Tibetan Buddhist elements into their practices, and what does it look like when they do? Based on in-depth interviews and participant-observation with lay Buddhists in Nanjing, this chapter investigates common processes of encounter and adoption of Tibetan Buddhist elements. Through fine-grained profiles of three urban lay Buddhists and their activities, it also provides the first detailed illustration of what it looks like when these are incorporated into lay Buddhists’ practices and outlook. I argue that the majority of Han Chinese lay Buddhists who incorporate Tibetan Buddhism into their practice are “Accidental Esoterics.” That is, they did not intentionally seek out esoteric or Tibetan forms of Buddhism, and they adopted Tibetan Buddhism into their toolkits primarily based on availability and effectiveness, not because of a preference for Tibetan Buddhism over Chinese Buddhism. Specifically, I contend that we should understand the incorporation of Tibetan Buddhist elements into Han Chinese toolkits as (1) accidental in the majority of cases, (2) driven by availability rather than preference, (3) eclectic rather than exclusivist, and (4) surprisingly ubiquitous. This study thus suggests that previous research has missed two key points by focusing on the tiny minority of Han Chinese Buddhists who seek out Tibetan Buddhism, and by asking why people choose Tibetan Buddhism, rather than how people encounter and adopt it. First, that Tibetan Buddhist elements are found in the toolkits of a significant percentage of Han Chinese lay Buddhists in eastern cities. Second, that this trend, however large, may matter less than we suppose, as these Tibetan Buddhist elements are absorbed into people’s toolkits in a way that reduces their distinctiveness or impact on the worldviews of Han Chinese people.