ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the many ritual adaptations, innovations and re-imaginations brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. As different temples and smaller Jōdo Shinshū communities started gathering online, many aspects of their ritual life had to be recast to a virtual medium. The new context has brought significant reflections about doing ritual through a screen, its validity and convenience and the importance of embodied aspects of Shin ritual practices. By simultaneously using elements of autoethnography and netnography, the chapter analyses the dynamics of connection/disconnection and new transnational and transcontinental networks brought about by the new medium. As Shin Buddhism moves further into the twenty-first century, virtual gatherings and rituals seem to be surviving the pandemic, creating new forms of community, performance, and interaction.
