Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi

Orientalism and the Mystical Marketplace

By: Sophia Rose Arjana

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

From jewelry to meditation pillows to tourist retreats, religious traditions - especially those of the East - are being commodified as never before. Imitated and rebranded as “new age” or “spiritual,” they are marketed to secular Westerners as an answer to suffering in the modern world, the “mystical” and “exotic” East promising a path to enlightenment and inner peace.

In Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi, Sophia Rose Arjana examines the appropriation and sale of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam in the West today, the role of mysticism and Orientalism in the religious marketplace, and how the commodification of religion impacts people’s lives.

©2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Interesting premise

I found this audiobook to be an interesting tour of mysticism in capitalist worlds. However, I left unsatisfied by the author’s neglect to delve deeply into the ethics of a mystical marketplace. Too often the author seemed to rely on the reader to go along with her implicit moral critique. The author seemed to rely heavily on the negative reactions that can be elicited by words like “whitewashing” and “colonialism.” For instance, she speaks of “muddled” religion, rather than really grappling with whether a healthy syncretism is taking place. Admittedly, she acknowledges such a tension. However, she never fully grapples with whether there is indeed anything morally perverse or harmful about universalizing religion and mystical practices. At times, she seems to essentialize and romanticize religious traditions rather than delving into the ways that religions and societies collide. Perhaps my negative impression about the moralizing tone of the book is in part related to the voice of the reader, who speaks in an ironic, aloof, and subtly arrogant manner, as if she is just a little bit too clever for the masses. These problems aside, I leave with a provocative vision of orientalism as it survives today.

Interesting concept, redundant writing

I was very interested in this book but unfortunately the writing is very hard to sit through. It is likely the most redundant book I've ever consumed. I agree with most of the author's points and believe that she has solid arguments however the writing is just unbearably repetitive. I understand an academic text such as this one is not exactly supposed to be riveting, but quite honestly you need only listen to the prologue to understand what she claims to elaborate on for the rest of the 8 hours. Her thoughts are not succinct and she repeats and repeats and repeats herself.

I think this would have been exponentially better as a short form essay rather than a full length book. The content is informative, I would have liked to see more a more skillful execution.