DOCSLIB.ORG

Creating Heresy: (Mis)Representation, Fabrication, and the Tachikawa-Ryū

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Creating Heresy: (Mis)Representation, Fabrication, and the Tachikawa-Ryū Creating Heresy: (Mis)representation, Fabrication, and the Tachikawa-ryū Takuya Hino Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2012 © 2012 Takuya Hino All rights reserved ABSTRACT Creating Heresy: (Mis)representation, Fabrication, and the Tachikawa-ryū Takuya Hino In this dissertation I provide a detailed analysis of the role played by the Tachikawa-ryū in the development of Japanese esoteric Buddhist doctrine during the medieval period (900-1200). In doing so, I seek to challenge currently held, inaccurate views of the role played by this tradition in the history of Japanese esoteric Buddhism and Japanese religion more generally. The Tachikawa-ryū, which has yet to receive sustained attention in English-language scholarship, began in the twelfth century and later came to be denounced as heretical by mainstream Buddhist institutions. The project will be divided into four sections: three of these will each focus on a different chronological stage in the development of the Tachikawa-ryū, while the introduction will address the portrayal of this tradition in twentieth-century scholarship. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………...ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………….………..vi Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………...vii Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…………….1 Chapter 1: Genealogy of a Divination Transmission……………………………………….……40 Chapter 2: The Mutual Independence of Imperial, Religious, and Local Institution…………..101 Chapter 3: Kanmon, Star Worship, and Divining the Future……………………………….…..168 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...225 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………236 i ABBREVIATIONS DNKC Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Chūyūki DNKD Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Denryaku DNKG Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Gonijō moromichiki DNKIK Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Inokuma Kanpakuki DNKK Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Kyūreki DNKM Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Minkeiki DNKMK Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Midō Kanpakuki DNKS Dai Nihon Kokiroku, Shōyūki DNS Dai Nihon Shiryō GR Gunsho Ruijū HI Heian Ibun KK Kokusho Kankōkai ND Nihon Daizōkyō NKBT Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei NST Nihon Shisō Taikei SHG Shiryō Hensan, Gonki SNKBT Shin Nihon Koten Bunka Taikei SZKT Shintei Zōho Kokushi Taikei SZKTA Shintei Zōho Kokushi Taikei, Azuma kagami SZKTK Shintei Zōho Kokushi Taikei, Kugyō bunin T Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō ZGR Zoku Gunsho Ruijū ZZGR Zoku Zoku Gunsho Ruijū ZST Zōho Shiryō Taisei ZSTC Zōho Shiryō Taisei, Chōshūki ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee coordinators—Professors Shirane Haruo, Michael I. Como, Chün-fang Yü, D. Max Moerman, and Hank Glassman—for their generosity and advice concerning my both the content and structure of my dissertation. Without their guidance and support during my time at Columbia University I would not have been able to complete this dissertation, and I regard them as my academic parents. I would also like to thank Professors Donald Keene, Barbara Ruth, Robert Hymes, Tomi Suzuki, Paul Anderer, David Lurie, Feng Li, Robert Thurman, Mark Taylor, Jonathan Schorsch, Miwa Kai, and Sachie Noguchi, all of Columbia University. In addition, I would like to thank my colleagues, my academic brothers and sisters as it were, at Columbia University: Luke N. Thompson, Andrea Castiglioni, Hsuan-Li Wang, Stephanie Lin, Hsin-Yi Lin, Sujung Kim, Jimin Kim, Susan Andrews, Gregory Scott, David Monteleone, Rafal Stepine, and Kevin Buckelew. They have provided me with much support during my graduate studies. Luke and his family (Cindy and Eléa) greatly enhanced my ability to understand the strange ways of American culture in the context of my own “Japanese” framework. Without their generosity, this work would not have been finished. I would like to thank my instructors at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley- —Professors Judith A. Bering, Richard K. Payne, David Matsumoto, Lisa Grumbach, and Don Drummond—for encouraging me to pursue the humanities and the study of East Asia. I would also like to thank Ryūkoku University faculty members—Professors Shōryū Katsura, Yukio Kusaka, Mitsuya Dake, and Eishō Nasu—for their encouragement. Under their influence, I iii began to explore Buddhist Studies as an academic field and to focus in particular on the Tachikawa-ryū and Original Enlightenment thought (hongaku shisō 本覚思想). I would like to thank my mentors at the Pacific Lutheran University: Professors Charles and Margaret Anderson, Seiichi and Yōko Adachi, Paul and Regina Ingram, Robert L. Stivers, David Keyes, Douglas E. Oakman, and Craig Fryhle. Their support and kindness throughout my time in the United States will remain with me until my dying days. I was completely lost during my first few years in this country, and they dedicated many hours and much effort to training and counseling me, much as one would with one’s own child. I shall never forget their generosity and patience. I can only hope that I am able to inherit and continue their passion for teaching and research, and transmit that passion to future generations as I set out on my academic career somewhere in this impure world. I would like to thank my family members—Masahiko, Kuniko, and Yukie Hino—for their support of my studies and understanding of my ambiguous status as a student, which has lasted almost fifteen years now. I am an undutiful son, and since my father, Masahiko Hino, passed away in June 2008 after suffering from advanced stomach cancer, my mother, Kuniko Hino, and my old sister, Yukie Hino, have shown nothing but constant warmth and generosity towards me. Without their kindness, this work would not have been written. Finally, I would like to thank Rie Yamashita, who fought against the demon of an untreatable disease and maintained a passionate desire to live; it was her guidance that led me to a new theory, which I hope to have explained coherently in the present work. Although we experienced a sad farewell, due to my naive suggestion that she trust me, and although I have iv struggled with my terrible “Buddhist karma” for fifteen years, I have finally finished this work and through it been able to begin to grasp the true significance of her life. I would like to respectfully express my gratitude and appreciation for her and the bond (goen ご縁) we shared from the moment we met at a small restaurant somewhere in Kamakura one sunny day years ago. v Dedicated to the Memory of Rie Yamashita, Masahiko Hino, and Seiichi Adachi Without their determination to fight their terminal illnesses and to live their lives as fully as possible, this work would not have been written. vi PREFACE This dissertation will examine the so-called “heretical” teachings and practices of the Tachikawa-ryū 立川流 that proved to be popular among medieval Japanese religious practitioners in the Nara 奈良 and Kantō 関東 areas. Recently, Japanese and Anglophone scholars of Buddhist studies have begun to realize the significance of the Tachikawa-ryū, a sub-branch of the principle Japanese esoteric Buddhist school that experienced a sudden growth and rise in popularity during the tenth to fifteenth centuries. No one, however, has yet studied it in any systematic manner, and since most of the Tachikawa-ryū texts and records were destroyed as a result of religious and political suppression, this Japanese Buddhist trend remains largely unknown or, in some cases, misunderstood. The argument in this thesis will challenge some commonly held concepts about this puzzling Japanese religious tradition and offer a critical analysis of the history of the scholarship—both modern and medieval—that produced these concepts. During the Japanese medieval period, the Tachikawa-ryū was dismissed for its supposedly heretical doctrines and practices, and it was commonly held that its adherents enshrined a skull as the principle image of Mahavairocana and advocated some sort of religious sexual union between males and females as part of their practices. It was believed that this school taught that sexual practices would lead to enlightenment and awakening of buddhahood “in this very body” (J. sokushinjōbutsu 即身成仏), and that these rituals and practices would bring one great benefits, religious awakening, and purity of mind and body when practiced in front of the main object of veneration. One might wonder whether these highly charged vii depictions present an accurate portrayal of the school and its teachings. In fact, this historically inaccurate depiction of the Tachikawa-ryū provides us with an example of the uncritical acceptance of polemical portrayals of the Tachikawa-ryū as positivist historical accounts. This is not to say that the target of the polemics did not exist; it is simply to hint at what I hope to demonstrate in this dissertation, namely, that what we have come to accept as representative of the Tachikawa-ryū is but a marginal and oft misunderstood aspect of a larger phenomenon. viii 1 INTRODUCTION After having been largely ignored by modern scholarship, the Tachikawa-ryū 立川流 has recently enjoyed increased scholarly attention by Japanese and non-Japanese academics alike. This is due to a growing awareness of the important role that this sub-branch of Shingon Buddhism played in the history of Japanese Buddhism, a role that has yet to be fully clarified. Despite this interest, there has yet to be any systematic study of the Tachikawa-ryū in English or Japanese, and many of the previous misconceptions about this tradition
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Japan's Secretive Death Penalty Policy
    Japan’s Secretive Death Penalty Policy: Contours, Origins, Justifications, and Meanings♦ David T. Johnson I. ABSTRACT...................................................................................................62 II. “REIKO IN WONDERLAND” .....................................................................63 A. SECRECY AND SILENCE ..............................................................................70 III. ORIGINS .......................................................................................................76 A. MEIJI BIRTH ...............................................................................................76 B. THE OCCUPATION’S “CENSORED DEMOCRACY” ........................................80 C. POSTWAR ACCELERATION..........................................................................87 IV. JUSTIFICATIONS ........................................................................................97 V. MEANINGS.................................................................................................109 A. SECRECY AND LEGITIMACY......................................................................109 B. SECRECY AND SALIENCE ..........................................................................111 C. SECRECY AND DEMOCRACY.....................................................................117 D. SECRECY AND LAW ..................................................................................119 VI. CONCLUSION.............................................................................................123
    [Show full text]
  • Master Hsu Yun's Discourses and Dharma Words
    Master Hsu Yun's Discourses and Dharma Words Edited, Translated and Explained by Lu Kuan Yu [Charles Luk] (Including: An Introduction to Empty Cloud by Richard Hunn and Master Hsu Yun's sermons and discourses of December 1952) "Universally regarded as the most outstanding Buddhist of the Chinese order in the modern era." —Richard Hunn "Dharma successor of all five Chan schools; main reformer in the Chinese Buddhist Revival (1900-50). Born Chuan Chou (Quan Zhou), Fukien (Fujian) province. Left home at 19. At 20 took precepts with master Miao Lien and received Dharma name Ku Yen. In 56th year achieved final awakening at Kao Min Ssu in Yang Chou (Yang Zhou). Thereafter began revival and teaching work. Eventually invited to take charge of the Sixth Patriarch's temple (Tsao-Chi/Chao Xi), then very rundown; restored it along with temples and monasteries; also founded many schools and hospitals. Died in his 120th year. Had also traveled in Malaysia and Thailand, and taught the King of Thailand." —Autobiography: Empty Cloud, translated by Charles Luk The supreme and endless blessings of Samantabhadra's deeds, I now universally transfer. May every living beings, drowning and adrift, Soon return to the land of Limitless Light! —The Vows of Samantabhadra, Avatamsaka Sutra Master Hsu Yun's Discourses and Dharma Words 1 Contents MASTER HSU YUN (虚云), A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY ....................................... 4 INTRODUCTION TO EMPTY CLOUD ......................................................... 10 PREREQUISITES OF THE CH'AN TRAINING .............................................. 21 The Ch'an Training ............................................................................... 33 Master Hsu Yun's Discourse in the Ch'an Hall ................................. 33 (1) Firm Belief in The (Law of) Causality .........................................
    [Show full text]
  • True Words, Silence, and the Adamantine Dance on Japanese Mikkyo and the Formation of the Shingon Discourse
    Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1994 21/4 True Words, Silence, and the Adamantine Dance On Japanese Mikkyo and the Formation of the Shingon Discourse Fabio R am b e lli This paper deals with Japanese esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyo), in particular the Shingon tradition, as it relates to the emergence of new and peculiar epistemological concerns. Through a discussion of the kenmitsu system outlined by Kuroda Toshio，the paper first situates Mikkyo within the reli­ gious and institutional framework of medieval Japan, underlining its lim- inal and heterological nature as both an institutionalized discourse and a reservoir of oppositional possibilities. The paper then analyzes the forma­ tion of Shingon orthodoxy as an attempt to systematize the Tantric field in Japan through a re-organization of preexisting religious doctrines and practices. Special attention is given to the actual articulation of the ken­ mitsu episteme and its orders of significance. Finally, the paper outlines some fundamental epistemological tenets of Mikkyo discourse. Though it focuses on Shingon discourse and orthodoxy, this paper confronts basic epistemic assumptions and discursive practices common to the multi­ farious forms of esoteric Buddhism in Japan. The purpose of this paper is to describe the discourse of Japanese esoteric Buddhism (particularly the Shingon 具百 tradition) as it developed in conjunction with the emergence of a distinctive form of philosophical reflection on signs and the formation of a corpus of An earlier draft of this essay, entitled “Kenmitsu Episteme and Mikkyo Heterology: On the Semiotic Doctrines and Practices in Medieval Japan,” was presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for A sian Studies, Los Angeles, March 1993.
    [Show full text]
  • Full Download
    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
    [Show full text]
  • English Index of Taishō Zuzō
    APPENDIX 2: TEXTS CITED FROM THE TZ. TZ. (Taisho Zuzobu) is the iconographic section of the Taisho edition of the Chinese Tripitaka. The serial numbers of the Hobogirin are given in brackets. Volume 1 1. (2921) Hizoki ‘Record kept secretly’: 1. Kukai (774-835). 2. Mombi (8th cent.). 2. (2922) Daihi-taizd-futsu-daimandara-chu - Shoson-shuji-kyoji-gydso-shoi-shosetsu-fudoki ‘Observations on the bljas, symbols, forms, and disposition of the deities in the Garbhadhatu-mandala’, by Shinjaku (886-927). 3. (2923) Taizo-mandara-shichijushi-mon ‘Seventy-four questions on the Garbhadhatu’, by Shinjaku (886-927). 4. (2924) Ishiyama-shichi-shu ‘Collection of seven items at Ishiyama’, by Junnyu (890-953). The seven items are: Sanskrit name, esoteric name, blja, samaya symbol, mudra, mantra and figure. 5. (2925) Kongokai-shichi-shu ‘Collection of seven items of the Vajradhatu’, by Junnyu (890-953). 6. (2926) Madara-shd ‘Extract from mandala’, by Ninkai (955-1046). No illustration. 7. (2927) Taizo-sambu-ki ‘Note on three families of the Garbhadhatu’ by Shingo (934-1004). 8. (2928) Taiz5-yogi ‘Essential meaning of the Garbhadhatu’, by Jojin (active in 1108). No illustration. 9. (2929) Ryobu-mandara-taiben-sho ‘Comparison of the pair of mandalas’, by Saisen (1025-1115). No illustration. 10. (2930) Taizokai-shiju-mandara-ryaku-mo ndo ‘Dialogue on the fourfold enclosures of the Garbhadhatu’, by Saisen (1025-1115). No illustration. 11. (2931) Kue-hiyo-sho ‘Extract of the essentials of the nine mandalas’, author unknown. 12. (2932) Ryobu-mandara-kudoku-ryakusho ‘Extract on the merit of the pair of mandalas’, by Kakuban (1095-1143).
    [Show full text]
  • 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).
    [Show full text]
  • Noh Theater and Religion in Medieval Japan
    Copyright 2016 Dunja Jelesijevic RITUALS OF THE ENCHANTED WORLD: NOH THEATER AND RELIGION IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN BY DUNJA JELESIJEVIC DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in East Asian Languages and Cultures in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Elizabeth Oyler, Chair Associate Professor Brian Ruppert, Director of Research Associate Professor Alexander Mayer Professor Emeritus Ronald Toby Abstract This study explores of the religious underpinnings of medieval Noh theater and its operating as a form of ritual. As a multifaceted performance art and genre of literature, Noh is understood as having rich and diverse religious influences, but is often studied as a predominantly artistic and literary form that moved away from its religious/ritual origin. This study aims to recapture some of the Noh’s religious aura and reclaim its religious efficacy, by exploring the ways in which the art and performance of Noh contributed to broader religious contexts of medieval Japan. Chapter One, the Introduction, provides the background necessary to establish the context for analyzing a selection of Noh plays which serve as case studies of Noh’s religious and ritual functioning. Historical and cultural context of Noh for this study is set up as a medieval Japanese world view, which is an enchanted world with blurred boundaries between the visible and invisible world, human and non-human, sentient and non-sentient, enlightened and conditioned. The introduction traces the religious and ritual origins of Noh theater, and establishes the characteristics of the genre that make it possible for Noh to be offered up as an alternative to the mainstream ritual, and proposes an analysis of this ritual through dynamic and evolving schemes of ritualization and mythmaking, rather than ritual as a superimposed structure.
    [Show full text]
  • Boldface Page Numbers Indicate a Major Treatment, While Italicized Numbers Indicate a Color Plate Or Figure
    INDEX Boldface page numbers indicate a major treatment, while italicized numbers indicate a color plate or figure. Abe family, 689–90 Yuqi jing abhisekạ and Annen’s Abe no Seimei, 690 commentaries, 774–75 Kūkai born into, 1033 Wuwei sanzan chanyao and, 298 Abé, Ryūichi, 88, 177, 280, 304, 354, 593, see also cakravartin kings; kanjō; 668, 693, 702, 704, 1031 praxis; The Tōji Lecture Hall abhisekạ bodhimaṇḍa ( guanding Abhisekạ sūtra (Bussetsu-kanjō-kyō), daochang, consecration arenas), in the Nara period, 666 according to Haiyun, 287 Acala abhisekạ (guanding) Amoghavajra’s ritual command of, 356 administration of via government Budong shizhe tuoluoni mimi fa, T.1202 infrastructure, 265–66, 330 (secret dhāraṇī methods of Acala), 349 Amoghavajra’s performance of at the importance of cult of in the Zhenyan imperial court, 281, 351, 356–57 tradition, 102 analogues to, in the ritual systems in summary of iconography of, 106–8, the Dhāraṇisaṃ graha sūtra, 23–24 107f.8 appropriation of ritual details into as Vairocana, 106 early practices of, 74–75 Vajrapāṇi and, 102, 106 bestowal of, on Koryŏ kings, 603 Acalanātha Vidyārāja (Fudō Myōō) Consecration Scripture (Guanding jing, cult of initiated by Enchin, 748 T.1331) and, 74, 221, 305 esoteric and tantric practice associated coordination of with triple refuge in with, 15, 134, 931, 1049 MVS, 85–86 the five great mantra kings and, 911 discrete uses of within Indian ritual gomadō dedicated to at Byōdōin, 917 programs, 71–72 images of, 943f.7, 973f.18, 974 as feature of esoteric Buddhism, 5, Kamakura
    [Show full text]
  • 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).
    [Show full text]
  • Powerful Warriors and Influential Clergy Interaction and Conflict Between the Kamakura Bakufu and Religious Institutions
    UNIVERSITY OF HAWAllllBRARI Powerful Warriors and Influential Clergy Interaction and Conflict between the Kamakura Bakufu and Religious Institutions A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY MAY 2003 By Roy Ron Dissertation Committee: H. Paul Varley, Chairperson George J. Tanabe, Jr. Edward Davis Sharon A. Minichiello Robert Huey ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing a doctoral dissertation is quite an endeavor. What makes this endeavor possible is advice and support we get from teachers, friends, and family. The five members of my doctoral committee deserve many thanks for their patience and support. Special thanks go to Professor George Tanabe for stimulating discussions on Kamakura Buddhism, and at times, on human nature. But as every doctoral candidate knows, it is the doctoral advisor who is most influential. In that respect, I was truly fortunate to have Professor Paul Varley as my advisor. His sharp scholarly criticism was wonderfully balanced by his kindness and continuous support. I can only wish others have such an advisor. Professors Fred Notehelfer and Will Bodiford at UCLA, and Jeffrey Mass at Stanford, greatly influenced my development as a scholar. Professor Mass, who first introduced me to the complex world of medieval documents and Kamakura institutions, continued to encourage me until shortly before his untimely death. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to them. In Japan, I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude to Professors Imai Masaharu and Hayashi Yuzuru for their time, patience, and most valuable guidance.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience*
    BUDDHIST MODERNISM AND THE RHETORIC OF MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCE* ROBERT H. SHARF What we can 't say we can't say and we can't whistle either. Frank Ramsey Summary The category "experience" has played a cardinal role in modern studies of Bud- dhism. Few scholars seem to question the notion that Buddhist monastic practice, particularly meditation, is intended first and foremost to inculcate specific religious or "mystical" experiences in the minds of practitioners. Accordingly, a wide variety of Buddhist technical terms pertaining to the "stages on the path" are subject to a phenomenological hermeneutic-they are interpreted as if they designated discrete "states of consciousness" experienced by historical individuals in the course of their meditative practice. This paper argues that the role of experience in the history of Buddhism has been greatly exaggerated in contemporary scholarship. Both historical and ethnographic evidence suggests that the privileging of experience may well be traced to certain twentieth-century Asian reform movements, notably those that urge a "return" to zazen or vipassana meditation, and these reforms were pro- foundly influenced by religious developments in the West. Even in the case of those contemporary Buddhist schools that do unambiguously exalt meditative experience, ethnographic data belies the notion that the rhetoric of meditative states functions ostensively. While some adepts may indeed experience "altered states" in the course of their training, critical analysis shows that such states do not constitute the reference points for the elaborate Buddhist discourse pertaining to the "path." Rather, such discourse turns out to function ideologically and performatively-wielded more often than not in the interests of legitimation and institutional authority.
    [Show full text]
  • WW Jan-Mar 2020 Snglpgs.Indd
    Water Wheel Being one with all Buddhas, I turn the water wheel of compassion. — Gate of Sweet Nectar Buddha Bows to Buddha by Wendy Egyoku Nakao During this time of the novel coronavirus pandemic, our teachers and senior students are offering daily “Encouraging Words” through the Shared Stewardship e-group. Each offering has been a unique voice and inspiration. In this issue, we are sharing excerpts from some of these offerings. We wish we could feature all of them. Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao. March 17, 2020 Sangha Treasures: Well, here we are in the midst of a Pan- demic. How fortunate that our spiritual training is to relax into Not-Knowing. No one knows what will happen. Zen Master Dizang said, “Not knowing is most intimate.” We are living this truth right now. whole universe—the virus and all you are experiencing, The virus is just doing what a virus does: Spreading. Repli- fear and sorrow, the wonder of it all—oohhhhhhh. cating. Infecting. Giving life and taking it away. Tell me, right now, where are your hands? Your feet? Your You know how to go through this: eat well, sleep enough, breath? What are you seeing? Hearing? Touching? move your body, and stay connected to the people in your life. Do what is important to do to keep yourself men- Now, smile! Smile inwardly and outwardly. Remember: A tally, emotionally, and physically healthy. Turn off your smile has no boundary—it spreads joy, replicates kindness, television and get your news only from the most reliable and infects others with being seen just for who they are.
    [Show full text]