“Fly Buddha to Mars”: The co-production between religiosity and science & technology at Longquan Monastery, Beijing

Abstract

<p>This article attempts at a re-theorization towards the symbiosis and co-production of religion, modern science and technology, inspired by theoretical thinking within geographies of religion and science and technology studies (STS). Recent scholarship on the geographies of religion has made substantive advancements in discerning the convergence of religion and secular modernity. However, science and technology (S&T), as an essential condition and driving force of secular modernity, remain peripheral to this ongoing theoretical agenda, yet to be fully incorporated into the analytical framework about the co-constitution of religion and secular modernity, arguably because of the entrench divide between the rationalism of science and metaphysical thinking underlying religion. This paper addresses this issue by foregrounding the social and cultural constitution of science and in particular, its susceptibility to religious and spiritual sensibilities. Through an empirical case of Longquan Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in Beijing, China , this paper shows how the monastery brings S&T and Buddhism into close encounter in order to enrich both – in particular, we examine how Buddhism is appropriated to address the spiritual alienation caused by technological domination, how Buddhism acts as an alternative source of inspiration for technological creativity, and how Buddhist institutions reinvent themselves as rational and scientific to cater to a religious clientele socialized into modern scientific progress. Through the dialogue with STS, this research further contributes to addressing enduring concerns in the geographies of religion with religious spaces and practices as context-specific and spatially variable.<br></p>