Can I put this Jizō together with the Virgin Mary in the altar? : creolizing Zen Buddhism in Brazil

In this essay, I analyze the religious practices of Japanese Brazilians who adhere to SÅtÅ Zen, the only Japanese Zen Buddhist tradition represented in Brazil. I argue that the multiple influences that have shaped Japanese religious practices since their arrival in Brazil in 1908, along with the recent strong interest in Buddhism in Brazilian society, have given rise to creolized religious practices. I use the concept creolization to underscore the notion that identity is not formed through a seamless synthesis of two or more worlds, but rather it emerges from a dynamic process of exchange and interaction. In this context, the concept of creolization can shed light on the various ways in which Japanese immigrants and their descendants have overlaid a Brazilian religious 'vocabulary' onto their Buddhist 'grammar'. I examine several cases of how Japanese Brazilians strategically draw their religious identity from different sources at different occasions. While until the 1990s the main religious identities were derivations of Catholicism, French Spiritism, and Afro-Brazilian religions, more recently, some Japanese Brazilians are returning to Buddhism as a result of the status and prestige that it has acquired in Brazilian society in general. I show how symbolic and cultural capital - previously associated with Catholicism, and now associated with Buddhism as well - are strategically used to negotiate and construct a distinctive religious identity.