As with Arai's first book, Bringing Zen Home is an anthropological study delving into the lived experience of a small group of Sōtō Zen practitioners in contemporary Japan. The work is built upon a foundation of in-depth interviews conducted with twelve laywomen and is informed by fourteen years of participant observation. Arai draws on this wealth of ethnographic data in order to elucidate a picture of “domestic Zen,” that is, Zen which is “done amidst the sounds of water running from the laundry, dishes, and baths,” where the “aroma of food cooking” blends with that of incense burning on the family altar (p. 165). Arai's particular concern is to describe the various, often homemade, rituals of her consociates and to articulate the ways in which the women experience these activities as healing.
In the opening chapter (Mapping the Terrain), Arai lays the tripartite theoretical groundwork of her study, defining her...
