九州大学学術情報リポジトリ Kyushu University Institutional Repository

Dharma Devices, Non-Hermeneutical Libraries, and Robot-Monks : Prayer Machines in Japanese Buddhism

Rambelli, Fabio

University of California, Santa Barbara : Professor of Japanese Religions and IFS Endowed Chair Shinto Studies

https://doi.org/10.5109/1917884

出版情報：Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University. 3, pp.57-75, 2018-03. 九州大学文学 部大学院人文科学府大学院人文科学研究院 バージョン： 権利関係：

Dharma Devices, Non- Hermeneutical Libraries, and Robot-Monks: Prayer Machines in Japanese Buddhism

FABIO RAMBELLI

T is a well-documented fact—albeit perhaps not their technologies for that purpose.² From a broader emphasized enough in scholarship—that Japa- perspective of more general technological advances, it

I

nese Buddhism, historically, oſten has favored and is interesting to note that a Buddhist temple, Negoroji contributed to technological developments.¹ Since its 根来寺, was the first organization in Japan to produce transmission to Japan in the sixth century, Buddhism muskets and mortars on a large scale in the 1570s based has conveyed and employed advanced technologies in on technology acquired from Portuguese merchants.³ fields including temple architecture, agriculture, civil us, until the late seventeenth century, when extenengineering (such as roads, bridges, and irrigation sive epistemological and social transformations gradsystems), medicine, astronomy, and printing. Further- ually eroded the Buddhist monopoly on technological more, many artisan guilds (employers and developers advancement in favor of other (oſten competing) social of technology)—from sake brewers to sword smiths, groups, Buddhism was the main repository, beneficiary, from tatami (straw mat) makers to potters, from mak- and promoter of technology.

• ers of musical instruments to boat builders—were more
• It should come as no surprise, then, that Buddhism

or less directly affiliated with Buddhist temples. In ad- also employed technology for religious and ritual purdition, numerous professions specialized exclusively poses. Xylography is perhaps the most obvious exin the production of Buddhist objects and developed ample. Since the seventeenth century, the enormous development of the printing industry was fostered in part by temple presses and publishing houses related

I would like to express my gratitude to An Pham-guoc, José Cabezón, Sabine Frühstück, Hannah Gould, Leor Halevi, George

Hirshkind, Itō Satoshi, ꢀohn ꢁodern, ꢀennifer ꢂobertson, ꢃeter ꢂomaskiewicꢄ, Stefania ꢅraꢆagnin, and ꢇesna ꢈallace for their comments; suggestions from an anonymous reader forꢉꢀꢁꢂꢃꢄꢅhaꢆe significantly improꢆed this article.
23
See ꢂambelli, “Sacred ꢍbꢎects and Design in ꢋuddhism.” See ꢏonlan, “Instruments of ꢏhange,” p. 124. ꢈhile it is unclear

whether the priests involved in that endeavor envisioned

modern weapons as new forms of ꢋuddhist tools, they may haꢆe thought that the capacity for a strong military defense would protect their temple from its enemies; in any case, their enemies

proved stronger and better equipped, and the temple was

destroyed by the army of warlord ꢅoyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 ꢐ1537–1598) in 1585.

• 1
• ꢊ lack of more comprehensiꢆe, intercultural studies of ꢋuddhist

attitudes toward technology, especially in Southeast Asia, makes

it impossible to decide whether this is a constant feature of ꢋuddhism in general or a ꢀapanese cultural speciꢌcity.

57

to Buddhist organizations. Buddhists printed all kinds we shall see below, this is a significant difference with of materials, from prayers, scriptures, doctrinal texts, modern automated machines.

• and commentaries to temple gazetteers, legends, his-
• Concerning Buddhist “prayer,” the English equiv-

tories, and hagiographies. is vast range of printed alent for contemporary Japanese terms such as kigan material was envisioned as a support for prayer activi- 祈願, kit ō 祈祷, and inori 祈り, here it may be underties. An important precedent, based on earlier Chinese stood as any interaction, mostly and primarily verbal and Korean models, existed for the printing of the early (or translatable in discursive terms), with one or more modern period (early seventeenth to mid-nineteenth divine beings (buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other beings century): around 770 the Japanese government ordered of the Buddhist pantheon), carried out for multiple the printing of one million copies of a prayer (the so- purposes. Oſten a prayer is made to ask something of called Hyakumant ō darani 百万塔陀羅尼) to be placed the divinity on behalf of oneself or others (this also ininside miniature models of a pagoda and distributed cludes so-called magic formulae), to express gratitude to temples all over Japan.⁴ Although the printing of the to the divinity, or to perform and display sentiments Hyakumant ō darani occurred within social and histori- and acts of devotion. In certain Buddhist traditions, cal circumstances that were very different from those of prayers also can be used as instruments or supports the Edo period (1600–1868), this does suggest a strong for visualization or, more generally, for actualizing the interest, within Buddhist institutions, for technology presence of the divinity. is is the case for mantras in

• and its possible religious uses.
• Tantric Buddhism and repeated formulae such as the

Temple bells, musical instruments (such as the nenbutsu 念仏 (the praise given to the Buddha Amida shakuhachi 尺八 flute, gongs, and drums), and ritual 阿弥陀, a formula that actually started as a visualizaimplements (including the vajra club and juzu 数珠 ro- tion practice) in the Pure Land sects and the daimoku sary) were also envisioned as tools to convey prayers in 題目 (chanting of the title of the Lotus Sutra) in sects non-linguistic forms. In fact, any number of mechan- related to the teachings of the thirteenth-century monk ical devices can be turned into prayer machines, even Nichiren 日蓮 (1222–1282). Contemplative prayers intoilets.⁵ In this context, “machine” refers to any device volving visualizations of sacred realms also belong to created in order to carry out specific tasks, one typically this category. In all cases, prayer is believed to genermade of multiple parts and using some kind of power ate some form of merit (kudoku 功徳), that is, religious (physical, bodily, or mechanical), created in order to virtue that not only can improve the karma of the praccarry out specific tasks. In a premodern historical con- titioner but also can be transferred to others. e term text, machines oſten were operated by human power (in “prayer” also may define a ritual that includes prayer as some cases, also by natural agencies as with windmills defined above. Prayers do not need to be voiced: even and watermills, or animal force as with ploughs), and when the prayer is silent or meditative (such as when no functioned in close symbiosis with the human body; as specific words or, in extreme cases, even well-formed thoughts are present), silence can be configured as a semiotic system different from, and superior to, speech in matters of communication with the divinities. A prayer

45
See Kornicki, “ꢅhe ꢂyakumanꢆō ꢇarani and the ꢍrigin of ꢃrinting in ꢔighthꢕꢏentury ꢀapan.” ꢅhis is not an exaggeration. ꢃresentꢕday toilets at some ꢀapanese temples function as machines to cleanse the impurities caused by human excrement by mobiliꢄing the power of ꢑsusama

can be performed by an individual or a group, either by following established procedures (rituals, liturgies, or ceremonies) or by “improvising” ritual acts. Moreover,

• ꢁyōō 烏
• 枢瑟摩明王 ꢐSk. ꢑcchusmꢖ ꢆidyꢖrꢖꢎa). ꢅhe user of the

toilet is inꢆited to chant or ꢆisualiꢄe the initial letter of ꢑsusama’s mantric seed hūꢈ ꢐꢀp. un 吽), pronounced “nn” in ꢀapanese. Now, the sound of defecation is normally rendered in the ꢀapanese language as “nn,” which therefore sounds the same as the mantra un. In this way, the sound of the polluting act is also the ꢆery cause of its purification; these two acts ꢐpolluting and purification) are thus deeply related by ꢆirtue of semiotic

mechanisms centered on the mantra un, its sound, and its

meanings ꢐsee ꢂambelli, ꢁ ꢉuꢊꢊhisꢆ ꢋheory oꢌ Semioꢆiꢍs, pp.

136–37). ꢊll of this is made possible by the toilet, which changes its status from a mere practical tool into a ꢆeritable prayer machine.

a prayer can be performed directly by the practitioner or by mediators such as monks, priests, and ritual specialists in charge of defining the appropriate words and procedures for the prayer, and oſten leading the proceedings. In some cases, a prayer (both text and ritual procedure) is claimed to have originally been revealed directly by a divinity. Finally, a prayer can be extemporaneous (only done when needed) or performed at regular, specific times defined by liturgical calendars

(nenj ū gy ō ji 年中行事).

58

ꢀꢍꢑꢂNꢊꢒ ꢍꢓ ꢊSIꢊN HꢑꢁꢊNIꢅIꢔS ꢊꢅ KYꢑSHꢑ ꢑNIꢇꢔꢂSIꢅY

VOLUME 3

is essay will present and discuss the little-known manifestations of the sacred); and the diffusion and subject of the presence, in the Japanese Buddhist tradi- success of Buddhism in general has required many tion, of machines (special tools and other mechanical types of material things, including books, images, devices) used for the production and proliferation of implements, tools, documents and certificates, maps prayers and prayer-related activities, their status within and instructions, furniture, food, flowers, incense, the Buddhist cultural system, and the conceptual chal- clothes, vehicles, and countless other items⁷ Still, it is lenge that they pose to issues of individual agency, reli- somewhat surprising to find machines, and especially

• gious practice, and, ultimately, soteriology.
• prayer machines, among the stuff that made Buddhism

what it is, not only today but also in premodern Asia.
e realization that machines, including prayer machines, have been an important part of the Buddhist cultural system challenges received perceptions (wide-

Buddhist Prayer Machines

Even a cursory search of online sites selling Buddhist spread mainly in the West and dating back to the early objects and implements yields an impressive list of ar- modern period) about Western technological superiortifacts, including Tibetan prayer wheels powered by ity to other countries, on the one hand, and the sepsolar energy, soſtware with mantra-chanting loops to be aration of science and technology from the sphere of installed on computers, loop machines chanting con- the religious, on the other.⁸ With Buddhism, we have a tinuously the invocation to the Buddha Omituo 阿弥 major religion actually promoting technological devel陀仏 (Sk. Amitābha) in Taiwan, even a wallet with an opments also for religious, salvific purposes.

• automated scripture-chanting chip that activates when
• A full treatment of the entire spectrum of Buddhist

opened. Ritual services involving technology include prayer machines throughout history and across culinternet rituals in China and elsewhere, and Buddhist tures goes far beyond the scope of this essay. Here, the TV rituals in Taiwan.⁶ All of these machines and ma- focus will be limited to a few representative instances of chine-based services ostensibly are sold as ways to pro- prayer machines from the Japanese Buddhist tradition, mote and facilitate Buddhist practice; many are created, both premodern and modern. ey are, in order of in-

• used, and promoted by Buddhist organizations.
• creasing mechanical complexity, the shakuhachi, prayer

Some of these devices may appear exotic if not wheels and rotating sutra repositories, early modern even far-fetched, more like souvenir-shop curios than mechanical devices (karakuri からくり or 機巧), and prayer devices, or even as technological degenerations recent digital technologies such as robot priests. We away from the true, spiritual purpose of Buddhism. shall see how each of these devices contributed to proIndeed, many observers and practitioners, especially in moting novel and specific ways to “pray” and spread the West, cling to an image of Buddhism as a purely Buddhism. Next, the semiotic status of those prayer spiritual religion, unburdened by objects and hardly machines as special devices for disseminating signifi- needing any ritual. Yet Buddhism throughout history ers associated with Buddhism and its teachings will be has been characterized by the important role played by evaluated. Finally, the relationship of these prayer mamateriality, understood as both a system of objects and chines to Buddhist doctrines on materiality, practice, as philosophical speculations on them. To begin with, and salvation will be assessed. the Buddhist ideal of renunciation was predicated upon material objects and worldly attitudes to be abandoned; Buddhist rituals require a wide variety (and, not ▪ Shakuhachi Flute infrequently, vast amounts) of items (such as sacred images, scriptures, ritual implements, and offerings); e shakuhachi is a vertical flute, made of one single large monastic organizations need numerous kinds piece of bamboo with five holes (four in front and of materials, commodities, and services, some of which have been sacralized (transformed into direct

• 7
• ꢈhereas all religions reꢙuire material obꢎects, it may be argued

that the sheer amount of material obꢎects and the ꢆastness of their presence in ꢋuddhist practice set ꢋuddhism apart from most religious traditions.

6

ꢓor internet rituals, see ꢅraꢆagnin, “ꢏyberꢕꢊctiꢆities and ꢘꢏiꢆiliꢄed’

• ꢈorship.”
• 8

ꢍn this subꢎect, see ꢊdas, ꢎaꢍhines as ꢆhe ꢎeasure oꢌ ꢎen.

• SꢃꢂINꢗ 2018
• ꢀꢍꢑꢂNꢊꢒ ꢍꢓ ꢊSIꢊN HꢑꢁꢊNIꢅIꢔS ꢊꢅ KYꢑSHꢑ ꢑNIꢇꢔꢂSIꢅY

59

one in back), measuring approximately one foot, eight be sacralized and eventually turned into a sort of maninches (about 54.5 cm). It was brought to Japan around dala, a microcosm that embodies all of the fundamental the seventh or eighth century as one of the instruments forces and components of the entire Buddhist universe. used for court music (gagaku 雅楽), but at the time it roughout the early modern period, the Fukeshū prowas not widely played and eventually fell into oblivion. duced doctrinal documents in which the mandalic nae shakuhachi as we know it today began to be used ture of their instrument, their music, and their playing in the early Edo period (early seventeenth century) by style was defined and explained. What follows is a brief monks belonging to a newly formed and elusive Zen summary of their instrumental and musical doctrines.

• sect, the Fukeshū 普
• 化宗, to which the Japanese gov-
• Mandalization began with the very name and shape

ernment granted exclusive use of the instrument. of the instrument itself (in analogy with the Esoteric
Musical instruments, especially relatively simple Buddhist interpretations of mantras and other texts, wind instruments such as the flute, normally are not which focused on the terms and the shapes of the considered machines. Buddhist monks treated the objects to which they referred). us, shaku 尺 (one shakuhachi, however, as a peculiar device, made with foot) was taken to represent the nature of awakening, specific technologies, that employed musical tech- whereas hachi 八 (eight [inches]) stood for the eight niques in order to spread the Dharma in its unique types of mind (hasshiki 八識) in Buddhist epistemolways. According to governmental regulations, the ogy. e empty bamboo tube out of which the instrushakuhachi could not be played in public performances ment was made was seen as the supreme Dao of vacuity of a non-religious nature, but was only to be used by (kyomu shid ō 虚無至道), while the three nodes on the Fuke monks (known as komus ō 虚無僧) in meditation bamboo represented either the three components of the and other rituals as their unique Dharma device (or Confucian world (heaven, earth, and mankind; ten chi Dharma instrument, h ō ki 法器). Because the komus ō jin 天地人) or the three realms of the Buddhist cosmos did not have a public to please, they were relatively free (the realms of desire, forms, and formlessness, unified to develop new playing techniques and musical forms, by the single, universal, and pure mind, or yuishin 唯 which constituted the bases of today’s shakuhachi mu- 心). e two openings on the top and bottom of the sic.⁹ In addition, the Fuke sect came to develop what instrument were seen as the sun and the moon, heaven can be considered the first meditative instrumental and earth, and the two fundamental mandalas of Esmusic of the entire Buddhist tradition, much before oteric Buddhism. e five fingering holes represented contemporary New Age music. For the komus ō, playing the five elements (gogy ō 五行) of Chinese cosmology the shakuhachi amounted to practicing Zen; their quest (wood, metal, fire, water, and earth), or, in certain infor the absolute and ultimate sound (tetteion 徹底音) terpretations, a number of different sets of correlative

• aimed at attaining enlightenment (satori 悟り).
• series of cosmic elements: the five cakra centers of the

As mentioned above, for the komus ō the shakuha- body and the universe (gorin 五輪), the five musical chi was not just a musical instrument, but a veritable modes (goch ō 五調), the five Chinese elements of reDharma device (h ō ki). is term, literally meaning ality (gogy ō), the five fundamental sounds of the pen“Dharma vessel,” has a broad semantic range. Nor- tatonic scale (goon 五音), or the five buddhas at the mally it refers to a worthy recipient of the teachings, as center of the mandala (Sk. Śākyamuni, Jp. Shaka 釈迦; in the case of the best disciples of a Buddhist master. Sk. Ratnasambhava, Jp. Hōshō 宝生; Sk. MahāvairoYet “vessel” also may refer to “material objects,” as in cana, Jp. Dainichi 大日; Sk. Amitābha, Jp. Amida; and

• the expression “realm of material objects” (kikai 器界
• Sk. Akṣobhya, Jp. Ashuku 阿閦), all of which are envi-

or kisekai 器世界), with a special connotation indicat- sioned together as the origin and the condensation of ing tools and ritual implements. Because of its nature the totality of phenomena (shinra bansh ō 森羅万象 or as a ritual implement made specifically to express the banbutsu 万物).¹⁰ Dharma and attain awakening, the shakuhachi came to

10 In this regard, the shakuhaꢍhi was similar to other professional tools that were sacraliꢄed in different forms and to different

• 9
• See ꢗurtꢄwiller, “Shakuhachiꢚ ꢊspects of History, ꢃractice

and ꢅeaching”; ꢗurtꢄwiller, ꢇie Shakuhaꢍhi ꢊer KinkoꢃSꢍhuꢏe; Johnson, Shakuhaꢍhiꢐ ꢑooꢆs anꢊ ꢑouꢆes.

extents by their users ꢐsuch as the scale for merchants or the axe for carpenters); see ꢂambelli, “ꢂonji Suijaku at ꢈork”; ꢂambelli,

ꢉuꢊꢊhisꢆ ꢎaꢆeriaꢏiꢆy, pp. 172–210.

• 60
• ꢀꢍꢑꢂNꢊꢒ ꢍꢓ ꢊSIꢊN HꢑꢁꢊNIꢅIꢔS ꢊꢅ KYꢑSHꢑ ꢑNIꢇꢔꢂSIꢅY

VOLUME 3

Concerning musical practice, the Fuke sect taught ture). Known in Japanese as rinz ō 輪蔵 (abbreviation that the breath running through the empty bamboo of tenrinz ō 転輪蔵, literally, “revolving [sutra] repostube transcends all dichotomies, and that each melody itory”), these devices consist of a sort of multisided is a manifestation of the absolute silence of enlighten- (normally, octagonal) bookcase, with shelves on all ment. e komus ō playing the instrument did so not sides, placed on a rotating axis; the bookcase contains for individual pleasure, but as a way to enable listen- sutra scrolls of the entire Buddhist canon. e inveners to understand that the forms are not different from tion of this device is attributed to Fu Xi 伏羲 (497–569), mind (shiki soku shin 色即心), and as a way to attain an eccentric Chinese religious figure also known as Fu Zen sam ā dhi (zenj ō zanmai 禅定三昧), understood Dashi 伏大士 (Bodhisattva Fu; Jp. Fu Daishi), who was as a spiritual state of fusion between the self and the worshiped as a manifestation of Maitreya, the buddha

universe (banbutsu yo ga y ū mei 万物與我幽冥

). In this of the future.¹² Rotating sutra repositories were brought way, shakuhachi music served as a means to attain lib- to Japan by Zen monks in the late fourteenth century; eration from delusion, or nirvana (jakuj ō mui chi 寂静 one of the oldest existing rinz ō, built in 1408 (Ōei 応永

無畏地).¹¹

15), is located inside the Sutra Hall (Kyōdō 経堂) at An-
In the case of the shakuhachi, thus, a musical in- kokuji 安国寺 in Takayama (Gifu Prefecture in central strument is used as a Buddhist device to propagate Japan), and is designated by the Japanese government the Dharma in a different form from verbal or visual as a National Treasure.¹³

• dissemination, through manipulation of sound and si-
• A noh play attributed to Kanze Nagatoshi 観世長

lence, in ways that the human body alone cannot do. 俊 (ca. 1488–ca. 1541), entitled Rinz ō, describes a trave status of the shakuhachi and its music does not eling monk’s visit to the rotating sutra repository at depend only on the semiotic substance (sound and Tenmangū 天満宮 Shrine-temple in Kitano, Kyoto. music) that they employ. Rather, shakuhachi music en- At the sacred site, the god of fire (Sk. Agni, Jp. Kajin ables performers and listeners alike to represent and 火神) and the spirit of Fu Dashi appear to the monk, envision alternative ways to understand, practice, and and tell him that by turning this device he can, in fact, experience Zen. Specifically, strategies of doctrinal en- pay homage to the entire Buddhist canon.¹⁴ is drama coding (mandalization) turned the instrument into a points to the novelty and exoticism of the device to the mandala or microcosmic device, and composition and Japanese audience in the early sixteenth century. In the performance techniques were correlated with particular early seventeenth century, these devices spread beyond doctrinal elements (such as nondualism and enlighten- Zen institutions to temples of other sects as well. At ment). In other words, the shakuhachi became a prayer that time, many large temples in big cities and regional machine because, once the semiotic system associated centers, which owned the entire Buddhist canon, also with performance techniques and aesthetic principles built rotating sutra repositories. Rinz ō provided a way was mastered, playing music on it enabled the player for these temples to display their prestige (owning the to “pray” and practice Buddhism in ways that would entire Buddhist canon was a rare and great privilege, not have been possible with other tools/machines—or, strengthened by the novelty of the rotating reposi-

• indeed, without them.
• tory), while at the same time enabling them to share

the canon with the illiterate and semi-literate masses, to many of whom the sutras were accessible only through this device.