Experimental religiosities and dharma traditions: new directions in the study of vernacular religion in Asia and the Diaspora

As the guest editor of this issue, I am delighted to present readers with an exciting volume of articles that provides in-depth and new ethnographic analyses of the worldviews and practices of the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain religions, or “Dharma traditions.” By referencing a range of practitioners and contexts in contemporary South Asia (India),East Asia (Japan), Southeast Asia (Indonesia), and the Oceanic Diaspora (Australia), this collection engages broad human concerns about the interdependence of religion and modernity in an interconnected global world. Our contributors explore the ways in which individuals, communities, and institutions within diverse Dharma traditions interpret the momentous social, cultural, economic, and environmental changes illustrative of the reach of globalization in the twenty-first century.