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Mourning the Unborn Dead A Buddhist Ritual Comes to America

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Jeff Wilson is a modern and highly regarded student of religion with a particular interest in Buddhism as it enters America and is developing and changing here. He has a particular expertise in Japanese practices.

For those who are interested in learning about the Buddhist ceremony for stillborn and aborted children as found in both America and Japan, this book describes and explains the history and concept, and compares Japanese and American practices in a manner that will almost certainly surprise and inform both ethnic and convert Buddhists, as well as members of other faiths. Who for instance would have suspected that a major US Zen Centre has no fewer than two statues of the Virgin Mary to comfort grieving parents? Wilson obtains his insights though careful research including 'hands on' experience through observation on both sides of the world and all over America.

For students of Buddhism, this book, like much of Wilson's work, is an important source of information about the several Japanese Buddhist sects that have come to America and how they are developing here- one cannot recommend it highly enough in that regard. Wilson's works will continue be a major source of information for students of religion long after we have all moved on to other realms.