This final chapter discusses how a cross-cultural paradigm can reconcile different manifestations of dharma, from ancient to modern, while remaining relevant to a glocal understanding of religion. This new conceptualization explicitly rejects the homogeneous and universal claims of dharma from colonial writers and Indian thinkers. It shows how dharma is non-sovereign, plural and multidimensional, interacting with different global situations and transcending the boundaries of religious groups and traditions. However, it reframes globalization not simply as Westernization but as a complex set of global-local dynamics—glocalization—with religion playing an important role in the promotion of this phenomenon. In critiquing the conventional idea of “world religions” as a Western construct imposed on non-Western cultures, the chapter emphasizes how the glocalization of religion offers a more complex understanding that challenges homogeneous identities while interacting with the productions of global modernity. And also, the chapter examines how glocalization transforms dharma into therapeutic and spiritual practices worldwide. It highlights the role of dharma in guru traditions, temple movements and festivals in diasporic communities. In the end, the chapter concludes that in a glocal and cross-cultural synthesis, the idea of dharma takes on multiple forms and meanings, shedding colonial, Western and political constraints to contribute to a more open understanding of religion that transcends traditional binaries and homogeneity.

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Dharma: A Glocal Phenomenon

  • Jijoy Mathew

摘要

This final chapter discusses how a cross-cultural paradigm can reconcile different manifestations of dharma, from ancient to modern, while remaining relevant to a glocal understanding of religion. This new conceptualization explicitly rejects the homogeneous and universal claims of dharma from colonial writers and Indian thinkers. It shows how dharma is non-sovereign, plural and multidimensional, interacting with different global situations and transcending the boundaries of religious groups and traditions. However, it reframes globalization not simply as Westernization but as a complex set of global-local dynamics—glocalization—with religion playing an important role in the promotion of this phenomenon. In critiquing the conventional idea of “world religions” as a Western construct imposed on non-Western cultures, the chapter emphasizes how the glocalization of religion offers a more complex understanding that challenges homogeneous identities while interacting with the productions of global modernity. And also, the chapter examines how glocalization transforms dharma into therapeutic and spiritual practices worldwide. It highlights the role of dharma in guru traditions, temple movements and festivals in diasporic communities. In the end, the chapter concludes that in a glocal and cross-cultural synthesis, the idea of dharma takes on multiple forms and meanings, shedding colonial, Western and political constraints to contribute to a more open understanding of religion that transcends traditional binaries and homogeneity.