Mourning The Unborn Dead

I have always had a passionate adherence to the sanctity and dignity of life. I've never hooked a fish or shot a deer or even squashed a spider without a silent apology, at the very least. Many times, a silent prayer is in order, and on occasion I've even performed some form of death ritual for the slain creature. For while I firmly believe in the circle of life and the food chain and such, I also acknowledge that every creature, no matter how small or slimy, is a creature of God.

For this reason, among others, abortion has no place in a truly human society. The very thought goes against nature and it betrays the invaluable gifts of reason and insight that we possess above all other beings. Abortion is a violation of human rights, a misuse of our scientific advancement, and a disservice to society.

Given my feelings on this hot-button issue, I was looking forward to reading Mourning The Unborn Dead by Jeff Wilson for my Buddhism in America class. Wilson was a graduate student of my highly esteemed professor, Dr. Thomas Tweed. Due to his impressive educational background and top-notch mentoring, I began reading with high hopes of his respectful portrayal of a subject close to my heart.

The book investigates the Japanese Zen ritual of Mizuko Kuyo, which honors the bodhisattva Jizo, the patron saint of travelers and children. Women who have committed abortions or undergone miscarriages perform this ritual, guided by a priest, to ask for forgiveness from Jizo and their unborn fetus, as well as seek protection from the moral and spiritual ramifications of a terminated pregnancy. Around the late 1980s, the ritual slowly made its way to American Zen communities and has since been adopted by some Evangelicals and Catholics.

The traditional Japanese Zen ritual is linked to the importance of family, as well as a strong belief (some might say superstition) that the ghosts of the aborted fetuses will cause misfortune to their mothers and their extending family members unless they make amends. Thus, the women who participate are motivated primarily out of fear for the well being of themselves and their families (at least according to the majority of academics who have studied this area). The ritual is also viewed as misogynistic by most scholars, since all the blame for the unwanted pregnancy lies with the mother, who is often told that she is dirty and evil, while the father of the child is absolved.

However, the way it has been adopted by various Buddhist appropriators in the U.S. omits the legends of hauntings and ill-fortune and focuses primarily on the mother's need to ritualize this very real, very profound act she has committed. It was while reading Wilson's descriptions of these adapted rituals that I began to see the author's thinly veiled contempt for the pro-life movement.

Both Evangelicals and Catholics decontextualize the ceremony in order to suit a Christian agenda. And while it is true that Evangelicals often view it as a more punitive ritual, both aim to help the mother memorialize her unborn child, forgive herself, and reunite her with God (for guilt and shame prevent us from accepting God's love). Feminists have also advocated the ritual as a way to remove the taboo of abortion and ease the mother's residual, "perplexing" guilt.

However, Wilson's language in describing the Christian appropriations of this memorial rite is at times subtly pejorative and at others outright smug and condescending. What's even more disturbing is that he presents as fact his assertion that the underlying cause of Christian interest in this ritual is to perpetuate a misogynistic tradition of subservient women in the social and religious structure of the faith.

Now, I realize that most authors in academia have an agenda, and obviously they are entitled to such. I object not to the author's prerogative to assertions, but more to his dishonest portrayal of religions. He presents only the facts that support his covert arguments and omits evidence that weakens them, all while claiming a purely objective desire to discover the "truth" about this ritual and how it is reshaped in America.

On a side note, let me just say that I reject wholeheartedly the idea that having the right to an abortion liberates women. Any woman who is fully in touch with her womanhood, with her full humanity, does not feel liberated after committing such an atrocity. Many intellectuals and progressives cite archaic societal and cultural programming as the agent of guilt and shame felt by women to choose this path. The fact is, only when we fully embrace our responsibility of being both creature and spirit, both instinctual and reflective, can we be free. Killing your unborn child rejects both natures.