A secularised religious practice

Van der Veer discusses the term ‘secular’ alongside his discussion on spirituality. He claims that the two terms have been produced simultaneously and in mutual interaction.160 Many researchers have argued that tourism in general has a secularising effect on host communities. I argue that spiritual tourism was possibly left out of the definition of ‘tourism’ when this conclusion was reached. Stausberg discusses the topic of tourism’s secularising effect with some scepticism. He claims that few studies, although some prominent researchers such as Erik Cohen, Timothy Dallen, and Daniel Olsen actually support the hypothesis that tourism leads to secularisation of host communities.161 There is not much doubt as to whether or not tourism commercialises religion – in Kathmandu it most certainly does, but it does not automatically follow that commercialisation leads to secularisation.162 In several examples presented in research in this field, tourists often seem to arrive at their tourist destination with drugs and alcohol and a general bad influence, which is luckily not always the case. Most spiritual tourists whom I encountered had travelled to Nepal to escape a culture often associated with these negative aspects, and some will try and avoid these things as a part of their spiritual practice. In addition, if nostalgia could be playing the role as suggested in the previous paragraph, the secularising effect of spiritual tourism could possibly be rejected, at least in the case of Kathmandu.

When discussing the decontextualising of yoga from its culturally specific belief-system in Asia, Carrette and King claim that it is not actually being decontextualised into a ‘free floating state’, but rather that it is being ‘recoded in the terms of modern psychological discourse and the individualist values of the Western society from which that mindset originates.’ This results in yoga being ‘secularised, de-traditionalised and oriented exclusively toward the individual.’163

Precisely the secular aspect of yoga is according to Carrette and King largely what has made it so popular.164 Neither of the informants spoke of yoga as being a specifically religious practice, but rather as a scientific method beneficial to their health.

160 _{Van der Veer, The Modern Spirit of Asia, 36} 161

Stausberg, Religion and Tourism, 46. 162

Stausberg, Religion and Tourism, in note 41: p. 233. 163 _{Carrette and King, Selling Spirituality, 117.}

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Tourists bringing with them decontextualised, recoded, and possibly secularised practices such as yoga and meditation, could be said to be increasing the popularity of a ‘secular’ activity. It is from this possible to argue that single practices gaining popularity in Kathmandu, such as yoga and meditation in centres, have become more ‘secular’. A general secular influence on the host community from tourists is more difficult to find grounds for, and particularly when looking exclusively at spiritual tourism.

5.5 Chapter conclusion and summary

The spiritual practices Western spiritual tourists bring with them or seek out when arriving in Kathmandu, are many times practices that have originally been an integrated part of Asian religions. They have later been decontextualised and adapted to their current use within health and wellbeing discourses in the West today. The Nepali informants all exhibited similarities with religious or spiritual discourses that are present among spiritual tourists in Kathmandu, in their ways of speaking about religion and religious practices. These similarities were evident both with regards to their thoughts on yoga and meditation, and how they defined ‘religiosity’. These could be the results of an impact from the presence of spiritual tourists and the centres opened to meet their demands. Separating ‘religion’ and ‘philosophy’, defining religion as something opposing ‘logic and reasoning’, and emphasising scriptural knowledge, were the most striking of these similarities. Spiritual tourists mainly arrive with the intention of seeking out Buddhist practices. Several researchers, in addition to the khenpo, have detected a trend where Tibetan Buddhism is experiencing a resurgence in Asian countries. Spiritual tourists might be following a trend that is already happening in Nepal. It is also possible that they are contributing to Buddhism becoming more popular because their demands require an increase in the number of Buddhist institutions offering courses to both foreigners and locals.

Nostalgia might trigger the informants to try out something they never thought about trying before, because ‘it has always been there’, or it could perhaps make them consider learning more about the religion of their parents, which all of them had created a certain distance from.

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Chapter 6: Encounters

Contact zones between spiritual tourism and the host community

During fieldwork I observed ways in which spiritual tourists chose locations for spiritual practice, and how some of them interacted with the host community. Boudha is an obvious ‘contact zone’, where Western Buddhists studying Tibetan Buddhism communicate with locals. However I also want to take a step back and look at the whole of Kathmandu as being a contact zone between spiritual tourism and host community, where tourists are never separated from the greater whole. Shops, restaurants, cafés, entertainment sites, religious sites and various centres all adapt to the demands of those willing to pay for what they are offering. Religious festivals are among the events where Nepalis participate with tourists as audiences. The tourist market in Kathmandu has no doubt learnt that religion sells, and they are providing variations of what their customers want, whatever it is they are offering. What was most important to me during fieldwork was giving the host community a say on the topic of tourism, as most of the research on this topic has previously made with the tourist being the main focus. In the first part of this chapter I will be presenting the data on what the informants responded to questions regarding spiritual tourism, and their encounters with it, before I take a step back to analyse other possible ways in which Nepalis in Kathmandu are encountering spiritual tourism.