ABSTRACT
This chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of religious change in Hawaiian Jōdo Shinshū in contemporary perspective, and provides case study for the investigation of responses to relativization at the discrete-elements level. Meditational activities seem to be more successful when they are promoted by 'ethnically correct' Japanese-American members, especially if they occupy a position of leadership. The resonance factor emerging from these narratives lies at the heart of processes of glocalization taking place in Hawaiian Jōdo Shinshū. The Hawaii Kyodan promotes inter-religious activities, and alongside other religions is one of the watchdogs of church-state separation. Issues of social justice also occupy an important role in its institutional agenda. The island of Oahu has been the stage for various experiments involving the use of meditation in a Jōdo Shinshū context. The control over the interference of meditation into the structure of religious liberation is understood within the Honganji-ha as a matter of religious identity.
