Religious Labor in the Making of Buddhist Worlds

What is religious labor? Is it a monk tending to radishes in a temple garden or a Buddhist statue carver at work in his workshop? Labor within religious contexts is intertwined with everyday moral economies and realities molded by local and global capitalistic networks. Religion influences the ways work is organized, valued, and experienced, shaping how people recognize and understand their own and others’ labor. It challenges individuals and communities to envision alternative perspectives on labor processes and practices. By exploring the intersection of Buddhism and labor, this roundtable unravels the logics of what we term “religious labor” to investigate not only how religion shapes labor processes but also how work is a co-constitutive element in the formation of Buddhist worlds. This roundtable explores how religious labor serves as a conduit through which material and immaterial labor become co-constituted and how the interdependent processes of valuation make such transformations intelligible.