LEARN TO LIVE: EMOTIONS, RELIGIOSITY AND WORLD KNOWLEDGE IN SOKA GAKKAI OF ARGENTINA

Abstract

Although the anthropological study of emotions dates back several decades, studies related to its presence and uses in religious groups are more recent and with little development in Argentina. This paper contributes to the efforts to understand how emotions are evoked as part of religious practices by analysing Soka Gakkai International of Argentina´s (SGIAR) Buddhism. My general argument is that Buddhism operates as a knowledge system that provides a set of conceptual tools that allows its practitioners to transform their subjectivities. I will stress the role that emotions have in this process, and how they are locally conceptualized according to some key Buddhist concepts, such as the ten states of life, karma, and the principle of oneness of individual and environment. This religious practice involves a process of emotion rationalization by classifying them in terms of upper and lower emotions. The incorporation of this worldview shapes SGIAR member´s perceptions about themselves and others, as well as their decisions about how they should relate to them. These ideas about emotions, as both a goal to achieve and a means to do it, together with the Buddhist ritual practice, allow members to resolve and overcome difficult situations, feeling better and happier about themselves.