Placing Nichiren in the “Big Picture” Some Ongoing Issues in Scholarship
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After Kiyozawa: a Study of Shin Buddhist Modernization, 1890-1956
After Kiyozawa: A Study of Shin Buddhist Modernization, 1890-1956 by Jeff Schroeder Department of Religious Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard Jaffe, Supervisor ___________________________ James Dobbins ___________________________ Hwansoo Kim ___________________________ Simon Partner ___________________________ Leela Prasad Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 ABSTRACT After Kiyozawa: A Study of Shin Buddhist Modernization, 1890-1956 by Jeff Schroeder Department of Religious Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard Jaffe, Supervisor ___________________________ James Dobbins ___________________________ Hwansoo Kim ___________________________ Simon Partner ___________________________ Leela Prasad An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2015 Copyright by Jeff Schroeder 2015 Abstract This dissertation examines the modern transformation of orthodoxy within the Ōtani denomination of Japanese Shin Buddhism. This history was set in motion by scholar-priest Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903), whose calls for free inquiry, introspection, and attainment of awakening in the present life represented major challenges to the -
THE Buddhist Thinker and Reformer Nichiren (1222–1282) Is Consid
J/Orient/03 03.10.10 10:55 AM ページ 94 A History of Women in Japanese Buddhism: Nichiren’s Perspectives on the Enlightenment of Women Toshie Kurihara OVERVIEW HE Buddhist thinker and reformer Nichiren (1222–1282) is consid- Tered among the most progressive of the founders of Kamakura Bud- dhism, in that he consistently championed the capacity of women to achieve salvation throughout his ecclesiastic writings.1 This paper will examine Nichiren’s perspectives on women, shaped through his inter- pretation of the 28-chapter Lotus Sutra of Gautama Shakyamuni in India, a version of the scripture translated by Buddhist scholar Kumara- jiva from Sanskrit to Chinese in 406. The paper’s focus is twofold: First, to review doctrinal issues concerning the spiritual potential of women to attain enlightenment and Nichiren’s treatises on these issues, which he posited contrary to the prevailing social and religious norms of medieval Japan. And second, to survey the practical solutions that Nichiren, given the social context of his time, offered to the personal challenges that his women followers confronted in everyday life. THE ATTAINMENT OF BUDDHAHOOD BY WOMEN Historical Relationship of Women and Japanese Buddhism During the Middle Ages, Buddhism in Japan underwent a significant transformation. The new Buddhism movement, predicated on simpler, less esoteric religious practices (igyo-do), gained widespread acceptance among the general populace. It also redefined the roles that women occupied in Buddhism. The relationship between established Buddhist schools and women was among the first to change. It is generally acknowledged that the first three individuals in Japan to renounce the world and devote their lives to Buddhist practice were women. -
The Saddharmapurdarikaas the Prediction
The JapaneseAssociationJapanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies Journal oflndian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 64, No. 3, March 2016 (113) The Saddharmapurdarika as the Prediction ofAll the Sentient Beings' Attaining Buddhahood: With Special Focus on the Sadaparibhata-parivarta SuzuKi Takayasu 1. The Aim ofThis Paper While the Saddharmapu4darika (Lotus SUtra, SP) repeatedly teaches that any person who speaks against the SP or against those who keep, read, preach, or explain the SP must experience severe retribution, it also teaches that those who keep, read, preach, or explain the SP shall attain a perfection of the six sense organs, i.e., eye, ear, nose, tongue, bodM and mind. These understandings have been considered the basis of the i] fo11owing teaching in Chapter lg ofthe SP (Sada'paribhUta-parivarta, SP 19): ' There once existed a Bodhisattva named SadaparibhUta. He did not read or preach any Buddhist scripture at all, but only continued to give prediction of attaining buddhahood to all the Buddhists who held the mistaken idea that they had already attainedenlightenment. ' Because ofhis prediction he was abused by them. ' They went to hell on the grounds of having abused him. The now arises: question ' Why did they have to experience such severe retribution for abusing Sada- paribhUta who did not read or preach the SP. To this question the fbllowing interpretation has been general: ' The SP is the prediction of all the sentient beings' attaining buddhahood. Through giving of this prediction to the Buddhists SadaparibhUta had essentially read and preached the SP. It is true that Chapter lo of the 5P predicts that all the sentient beings can attain buddhahood. -
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VOLUME 1: BORDERS 2018 Published by National Institute of Japanese Literature Tokyo EDITORIAL BOARD Chief Editor IMANISHI Yūichirō Professor Emeritus of the National Institute of Japanese 今西祐一郎 Literature; Representative Researcher Editors KOBAYASHI Kenji Professor at the National Institute of Japanese Literature 小林 健二 SAITō Maori Professor at the National Institute of Japanese Literature 齋藤真麻理 UNNO Keisuke Associate Professor at the National Institute of Japanese 海野 圭介 Literature KOIDA Tomoko Associate Professor at the National Institute of Japanese 恋田 知子 Literature Didier DAVIN Associate Professor at the National Institute of Japanese ディディエ・ダヴァン Literature Kristopher REEVES Associate Professor at the National Institute of Japanese クリストファー・リーブズ Literature ADVISORY BOARD Jean-Noël ROBERT Professor at Collège de France ジャン=ノエル・ロベール X. Jie YANG Professor at University of Calgary 楊 暁捷 SHIMAZAKI Satoko Associate Professor at University of Southern California 嶋崎 聡子 Michael WATSON Professor at Meiji Gakuin University マイケル・ワトソン ARAKI Hiroshi Professor at International Research Center for Japanese 荒木 浩 Studies Center for Collaborative Research on Pre-modern Texts, National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL) National Institutes for the Humanities 10-3 Midori-chō, Tachikawa City, Tokyo 190-0014, Japan Telephone: 81-50-5533-2900 Fax: 81-42-526-8883 e-mail: [email protected] Website: https//www.nijl.ac.jp Copyright 2018 by National Institute of Japanese Literature, all rights reserved. PRINTED IN JAPAN KOMIYAMA PRINTING CO., TOKYO CONTENTS -
Representations of Pleasure and Worship in Sankei Mandara Talia J
Mapping Sacred Spaces: Representations of Pleasure and Worship in Sankei mandara Talia J. Andrei Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2016 © 2016 Talia J.Andrei All rights reserved Abstract Mapping Sacred Spaces: Representations of Pleasure and Worship in Sankei Mandara Talia J. Andrei This dissertation examines the historical and artistic circumstances behind the emergence in late medieval Japan of a short-lived genre of painting referred to as sankei mandara (pilgrimage mandalas). The paintings are large-scale topographical depictions of sacred sites and served as promotional material for temples and shrines in need of financial support to encourage pilgrimage, offering travelers worldly and spiritual benefits while inspiring them to donate liberally. Itinerant monks and nuns used the mandara in recitation performances (etoki) to lead audiences on virtual pilgrimages, decoding the pictorial clues and touting the benefits of the site shown. Addressing themselves to the newly risen commoner class following the collapse of the aristocratic order, sankei mandara depict commoners in the role of patron and pilgrim, the first instance of them being portrayed this way, alongside warriors and aristocrats as they make their way to the sites, enjoying the local delights, and worship on the sacred grounds. Together with the novel subject material, a new artistic language was created— schematic, colorful and bold. We begin by locating sankei mandara’s artistic roots and influences and then proceed to investigate the individual mandara devoted to three sacred sites: Mt. Fuji, Kiyomizudera and Ise Shrine (a sacred mountain, temple and shrine, respectively). -
Religion and Culture
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 40/2: 355–375 © 2013 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture review article Constructing Histories, Thinking Ritual Gatherings, and Rereading “Native” Religion A Review of Recent Books Published in Japanese on Premodern Japanese Religion (Part Two) Brian O. Ruppert Histories of Premodern Japanese Religion We can start with Yoshida Kazuhiko’s 吉田一彦 Kodai Bukkyō o yominaosu 古代仏 教 をよみ なお す (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 2006), since it seems in many ways like a founder and precursor of the range of works written recently concerning early and, to some extent, medieval Japanese religion. Yoshida, who has long attempted to overcome common misconceptions concerning early Buddhism, succinctly tries to correct the public’s “common sense” (jōshiki 常識). Highlights include clarifications, including reference to primary and secondary sources that “Shōtoku Taishi” is a historical construction rather than a person, and even the story of the destruction of Buddhist images is based primarily on continental Buddhist sources; “popular Buddhism” does not begin in the Kamakura period, since even the new Kamakura Buddhisms as a group did not become promi- nent until the late fifteenth century; discourses on kami-Buddha relations in Japan were originally based on Chinese sources; for early Japanese Buddhists (including Saichō, Kūkai, and so on), Japan was a Buddhist country modeling Brian O. Ruppert is an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cul- tures, University of Illinois. 355 356 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 40/2 (2013) its Buddhism on the continent; and the term for the sovereign tennō, written as “heavenly thearch” 天皇, was based on Chinese religious sources and only used from the late seventh century. -
Esoteric Buddhist Traditions in Medieval Japan Matthew D
issn 0304-1042 Japanese Journal of Religious Studies volume 47, no. 1 2020 articles 1 Editor’s Introduction Esoteric Buddhist Traditions in Medieval Japan Matthew D. McMullen 11 Buddhist Temple Networks in Medieval Japan Daigoji, Mt. Kōya, and the Miwa Lineage Anna Andreeva 43 The Mountain as Mandala Kūkai’s Founding of Mt. Kōya Ethan Bushelle 85 The Doctrinal Origins of Embryology in the Shingon School Kameyama Takahiko 103 “Deviant Teachings” The Tachikawa Lineage as a Moving Concept in Japanese Buddhism Gaétan Rappo 135 Nenbutsu Orthodoxies in Medieval Japan Aaron P. Proffitt 161 The Making of an Esoteric Deity Sannō Discourse in the Keiran shūyōshū Yeonjoo Park reviews 177 Gaétan Rappo, Rhétoriques de l’hérésie dans le Japon médiéval et moderne. Le moine Monkan (1278–1357) et sa réputation posthume Steven Trenson 183 Anna Andreeva, Assembling Shinto: Buddhist Approaches to Kami Worship in Medieval Japan Or Porath 187 Contributors Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 47/1: 1–10 © 2020 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture dx.doi.org/10.18874/jjrs.47.1.2020.1-10 Matthew D. McMullen Editor’s Introduction Esoteric Buddhist Traditions in Medieval Japan he term “esoteric Buddhism” (mikkyō 密教) tends to invoke images often considered obscene to a modern audience. Such popular impres- sions may include artworks insinuating copulation between wrathful Tdeities that portend to convey a profound and hidden meaning, or mysterious rites involving sexual symbolism and the summoning of otherworldly powers to execute acts of violence on behalf of a patron. Similar to tantric Buddhism elsewhere in Asia, many of the popular representations of such imagery can be dismissed as modern interpretations and constructs (White 2000, 4–5; Wede- meyer 2013, 18–36). -
1 Engaged Buddhism East and West: Encounters with the Visions, Vitality, and Values of an Emerging Practice Paula Green The
Engaged Buddhism East and West: Encounters with the Visions, Vitality, and Values of an Emerging Practice Paula Green The latter decades of the 20th century witnessed the spread of Engaged Buddhism throughout Asia and the West, championed by Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam and building on earlier experiments especially in India and Sri Lanka. Based on wide interpretations of traditional Buddhist teachings, these new practices became tools of social change, creatively utilized by progressive monks, educators, reformers, environmentalists, medical doctors, researchers, activists, and peacebuilders. The experimental nature of a kind of sociopolitical and peace-oriented Dharma brought new followers to Buddhism in the West and revived Buddhist customs in the Asian lands of its birth and development. Traditionally inward and self-reflecting, Engaged Buddhism expanded Buddhist teaching to promote intergroup relations and societal structures that are inherently compassionate, just, and nonviolent. Its focus, embodied in the phrase, Peace Writ Large, signifies a greater magnitude and more robust agenda for peace than the absence of war. This chapter will focus on the emerging phenomenon of Engaged Buddhism East and West, looking at its traditional roots and contemporary branches, and discerning its impact on peacefulness, justice, tolerance, human and environmental rights, and related sociopolitical concerns. It will explore the organizational leadership and participation in engaged Buddhists processes, and what impact this movement has in both primarily Buddhist nations as well as in countries where Buddhists are a tiny minority and its practitioners may not have been born into Buddhist families. Traditional Buddhism and Social Engagement What is socially engaged Buddhism? For a religion that has traditionally focused on self- development and realization, its very designation indicates a dramatic departure. -
Part I Foundations of the Triple Gem: Buddha/S, Dharma/S, And
2 A Oneworld Book First published by Oneworld Publications, 2015 This eBook edition published 2015 Copyright © John S. Strong 2015 The moral right of John S. Strong to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved Copyright under Berne Convention A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-78074-505-3 ISBN 978-1-78074-506-0 (eBook) Typesetting and eBook by Tetragon, London Oneworld Publications 10 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B 3SR England 3 Contents List of Tables List of Figures Preface Schemes and Themes Technicalities Note on abbreviations Chapter 1 Introduction: Lumbinī, a Buddhist World Exposition 1.1 Theravāda and Mahāyāna 1.2 Lumbinī’s Eastern Monastic Zone: South and Southeast Asian Traditions 1.2.1 The Mahā Bodhi Society 1.2.2 The Sri Lanka Monastery 1.2.3 The Gautamī Center for Nuns 1.2.4 Myanmar (Burma) 1.2.5 Meditation Centers 1.3 Lumbinī’s Western Monastic Zone: East Asian Traditions 1.3.1 China 1.3.2 Korea 1.3.3 Japan 1.3.4 Vietnam 4 1.4 Lumbinī’s Western Monastic Zone: Tibetan Vajrayāna Traditions 1.4.1 The Great Lotus Stūpa 1.4.2 The Lumbinī Udyana Mahachaitya Part I: Foundations of the Triple Gem: Buddha/s, Dharma/s, and Saṃgha/s Chapter 2 Śākyamuni, Lives and Legends 2.1 The Historical Buddha 2.2 The Buddha’s World 2.3 The Buddha of Story 2.4 Past Buddhas and the Biographical Blueprint 2.5 The Start of Śākyamuni’s Career 2.6 Previous Lives (Jātakas) 2.6.1 The Donkey in the Lion’s Skin -
Buddhism As a Pragmatic Religious Tradition
CHAPTER 1 Introduction: Buddhism as a Pragmatic Religious Tradition Our approach to Religion can be called “vernacular” . [It is] concerned with the kinds of data that may, even- tually, be able to give us some substantial insight into how religions have played their part in history, affect- ing people’s ability to respond to environmental crises; to earthquakes, floods, famines, pandemics; as well as to social ills and civil wars. Besides these evils, there are the everyday difficulties and personal disasters we all face from time to time. Religions have played their part in keeping people sane and stable....We thus see religions as an integral part of vernacular history, as a strand woven into lives of individuals, families, social groups, and whole societies. Religions are like technol- ogy in that respect: ever present and influential to peo- ple’s ability to solve life’s problems day by day. Vernon Reynolds and Ralph Tanner, The Social Ecology of Religion The Buddhist faith expresses itself most authentically in the processions of statues through towns, the noc- turnal illuminations in the streets and countryside. It is on such occasions that communion between the reli- gious and laity takes place . without which the religion could be no more than an exercise of recluse monks. Jacques Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries 1 2 Popular Buddhist Texts from Nepal Whosoever maintains that it is karma that injures beings, and besides it there is no other reason for pain, his proposition is false.... Milindapañha IV.I.62 Health, good luck, peace, and progeny have been the near- universal wishes of humanity. -
Empty Cloud, the Autobiography of the Chinese Zen Master Xu
EMPTY CLOUD The Autobiography of the Chinese Zen Master XU YUN TRANSLATED BY CHARLES LUK Revised and Edited by Richard Hunn The Timeless Mind . Undated picture of Xu-yun. Empty Cloud 2 CONTENTS Contents .......................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ......................................................................... 4 Introduction .................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER ONE: Early Years ............................................................ 20 CHAPTER TWO: Pilgrimage to Mount Wu-Tai .............................. 35 CHAPTER THREE: The Journey West ............................................. 51 CHAPTER FOUR: Enlightenment and Atonement ......................... 63 CHAPTER FIVE: Interrupted Seclusion .......................................... 75 CHAPTER SIX: Taking the Tripitaka to Ji Zu Shan .......................... 94 CHAPTER SEVEN: Family News ................................................... 113 CHAPTER EIGHT: The Peacemaker .............................................. 122 CHAPTER NINE: The Jade Buddha ............................................... 130 CHAPTER TEN: Abbot At Yun-Xi and Gu-Shan............................. 146 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Nan-Hua Monastery ..................................... 161 CHAPTER TWELVE: Yun-Men Monastery .................................... 180 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Two Discourses ......................................... 197 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: At the Yo Fo & Zhen Ru Monasteries -
Shintō and Buddhism: the Japanese Homogeneous Blend
SHINTŌ AND BUDDHISM: THE JAPANESE HOMOGENEOUS BLEND BIB 590 Guided Research Project Stephen Oliver Canter Dr. Clayton Lindstam Adam Christmas Course Instructors A course paper presented to the Master of Ministry Program In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Ministry Trinity Baptist College February 2011 Copyright © 2011 by Stephen O. Canter All rights reserved Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served −Joshua TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements........................................................................................................... vii Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The History of Japanese Religion..................................................................3 The History of Shintō...............................................................................................5 The Mythical Background of Shintō The Early History of Shintō The History of Buddhism.......................................................................................21 The Founder −− Siddhartha Gautama Buddhism in China Buddhism in Korea and Japan The History of the Blending ..................................................................................32 The Sects That Were Founded after the Blend ......................................................36 Pre-War History (WWII) .......................................................................................39