Japanese Philosophy a Sourcebook
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Hagiwara Sakutarô, Buddhist Realism, and the Establishment of Japanese Modern Poetry
HAGIWARA SAKUTARÔ, BUDDHIST REALISM, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF JAPANESE MODERN POETRY Roberto Pinheiro Machado1 Resumo: Este artigo aborda a obra do poeta Hagiwara Sakutarô (1886-1942) a partir de uma perspectiva comparativa que engaja filosofia e literatura. A dimensão filosófica da poesia de Sakutarô é analisada por meio de uma leitura intertextual entre a obra do poeta japonês e a epistemologia budista presente nos textos em sânscrito dos filósofos Dignāga and Dharmakīrti (século V). Essa análise comparativa é efetuada sob a perspectiva da influência do naturalismo europeu no surgimento da poesia japonesa moderna. Demonstrando a possibilidade de um realismo budista que compartilha importantes características estéticas com o naturalismo, o artigo enfatiza a dimensão budista da poesia de Sakutarô, a qual se desvela apesar da rejeição ao budismo operada pelo próprio poeta como passo necessário para o estabelecimento da modernidade nas letras japonesas. Palavras-chave: Hagiwara Sakutarô, Poesia japonesa, Budismo, Modernidade, Filosofia Abstract: This article approaches the works of poet Hagiwara Sakutarô (1886-1942) from a comparative perspective that engages philosophy and literature. The philosophical dimension of Sakutarô’s poetry is analyzed by means of inter-textual readings that draw on the tradition of Buddhist epistemology and on the texts of logicians Dignāga and Dharmakīrti (5th century). The comparative analysis is considered under the perspective of the influence of Naturalism and the use of description in the emergence of Japanese modern poetry. Pointing to the possibility of a Buddhist realism that shares some common characteristics with Naturalism, the article emphasizes the Buddhist dimension of Sakutarô’s poetry, which appears in spite of the poet’s turn to Western philosophy (notably 1. -
2019-20 Annual Report
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT AND PROGRAM OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES Annual Report 2019-2020 1 COVER: The wooden doors to 202 Jones. Photo taken by Martin Kern. 2 Annual Report 2019-20 Contents Director’s Letter 4 Department and Program News 6 Language Programs 8 Undergraduates 11 Graduate Students 14 Faculty 18 Events 24 Summer Programs 26 Affiliated Programs 29 Libraries & Museum 34 3 Director’s Letter, 2019-20 In normal years, the Director’s Letter is a retrospective of the year in East Asian Studies—but where to begin? Annual disasters and upheavals are standard topics in traditional East Asian chronicles. By June of 2020 (a gengzi 庚子 year), we had already lived through more than our share: the coronavirus pandemic, severe economic downturn, government inaction and prevarication, Princeton’s shift to online teaching, dislocation of undergraduate and graduate life, shuttering of libraries and labs, disruption to travel, study, and research for students, staff, and faculty, the brutal murder of George Floyd, and the international renaissance of the Black Lives Matter movement. invigorate campus intellectual life, completing book This spring semester, the usual hum of summer manuscripts, or starting new projects. The heaviest burden, programming and plans for next academic year grew no doubt, fell on our language instructors. The faculty quiet, and many EAS projects were cancelled, postponed, in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean innovated non-stop to shifted online, or put on hold. As this Annual Report goes insure that, in the era of Zoom, students would remain fully to press, plans for undergraduate residence on campus engaged in all four language skills of speaking, listening, and the format for classes in fall of 2020 are still being reading, and writing. -
Zen Is a Form of Buddhism That Developed First in China Around the Sixth Century CE and Then Spread from China to Korea, Vietnam and Japan
Zen Zen is a form of Buddhism that developed first in China around the sixth century CE and then spread from China to Korea, Vietnam and Japan. The term Zen is just the Japanese way of saying the Chinese word Chan ( 禪 ), which is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word Dhyāna (Jhāna in Pali), which means "meditation." In the image above one sees on the left the character 禪 in Japanese calligraphy and on the right an ensō, or Zen circle. In Japan the drawing of such a circle is considered a high art, the expression of a moment of enlightenment by the Zen master calligrapher. The tradition known as Chan Buddhism in China, and Zen Buddhism in Japan, brings together Mahāyāna Buddhism and Daoism. This confluence of Buddhism and Daoism in Zen is most obvious in the Chinese script on the left which reads: "The heart-mind (xin 心) is the buddha (佛), the buddha (佛) is the path (dao 道), the path (dao 道) is meditation (chan 禪)." The line is from a text called the Bloodstream Sermon attributed to the legendary Bodhidharma. An Indian meditation master, Bodhidharma had come to China around 520 CE and in time would come to be regarded as the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism. In Bodhidharma’s Bloodstream Introduction to Asian Philosophy Zen Buddhism Sermon (in the Chan Buddhism online selections) it is evident that Bodhidharma had absorbed something of Daoism after he came to China. The Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings that are most evident in Bodhidharma’s text are the teachings of emptiness (Śūnyatā) from the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras as well as the notion of the buddha-nature (dharmakāya) that is part of the Mahāyāna teaching of the three bodies (trikāya) of the Buddha. -
Buddhist Bibio
Recommended Books Revised March 30, 2013 The books listed below represent a small selection of some of the key texts in each category. The name(s) provided below each title designate either the primary author, editor, or translator. Introductions Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction Damien Keown Taking the Path of Zen !!!!!!!! Robert Aitken Everyday Zen !!!!!!!!! Charlotte Joko Beck Start Where You Are !!!!!!!! Pema Chodron The Eight Gates of Zen !!!!!!!! John Daido Loori Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind !!!!!!! Shunryu Suzuki Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening ! Stephen Batchelor The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation!!!!!!!!! Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhism For Beginners !!!!!!! Thubten Chodron The Buddha and His Teachings !!!!!! Sherab Chödzin Kohn and Samuel Bercholz The Spirit of the Buddha !!!!!!! Martine Batchelor 1 Meditation and Zen Practice Mindfulness in Plain English ! ! ! ! Bhante Henepola Gunaratana The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English !!! Bhante Henepola Gunaratana Change Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Buddhist Meditation ! Paramananda Making Space: Creating a Home Meditation Practice !!!! Thich Nhat Hanh The Heart of Buddhist Meditation !!!!!! Thera Nyanaponika Meditation for Beginners !!!!!!! Jack Kornfield Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path !! Ayya Khema The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation Thich Nhat Hanh Zen Meditation in Plain English !!!!!!! John Daishin Buksbazen and Peter -
Hakuin on Kensho: the Four Ways of Knowing/Edited with Commentary by Albert Low.—1St Ed
ABOUT THE BOOK Kensho is the Zen experience of waking up to one’s own true nature—of understanding oneself to be not different from the Buddha-nature that pervades all existence. The Japanese Zen Master Hakuin (1689–1769) considered the experience to be essential. In his autobiography he says: “Anyone who would call himself a member of the Zen family must first achieve kensho- realization of the Buddha’s way. If a person who has not achieved kensho says he is a follower of Zen, he is an outrageous fraud. A swindler pure and simple.” Hakuin’s short text on kensho, “Four Ways of Knowing of an Awakened Person,” is a little-known Zen classic. The “four ways” he describes include the way of knowing of the Great Perfect Mirror, the way of knowing equality, the way of knowing by differentiation, and the way of the perfection of action. Rather than simply being methods for “checking” for enlightenment in oneself, these ways ultimately exemplify Zen practice. Albert Low has provided careful, line-by-line commentary for the text that illuminates its profound wisdom and makes it an inspiration for deeper spiritual practice. ALBERT LOW holds degrees in philosophy and psychology, and was for many years a management consultant, lecturing widely on organizational dynamics. He studied Zen under Roshi Philip Kapleau, author of The Three Pillars of Zen, receiving transmission as a teacher in 1986. He is currently director and guiding teacher of the Montreal Zen Centre. He is the author of several books, including Zen and Creative Management and The Iron Cow of Zen. -
'What Is Japanese Philosophy'?
Introduction: ‘What is Japanese Philosophy’? 459 Introduction: ‘What is Japanese Philosophy’? Raji C. Steineck and Elena Louisa Lange Remarks on the History of a Problem Until very recently, a first inquiry about ‘Japanese Philosophy’ could end up right in wonderland. Depending on which book or expert one turned to for general orientation, one would either learn that a) ‘Philosophy’ has never existed in Japan;1 b) ‘Philosophy’ was evident in Japan from the earliest written sources;2 or c) ‘Japanese Philosophy’ started with Nishida Kitarō’s Study of the Good (1911).3 To make things even more mind-boggling, experts and books upholding proposition b) – philosophical thought is evident in Japan from the earliest written sources – would either assert that it was b’) essentially the same as in the West, or b’’) essentially different from Western, and even from Indian and Chinese philosophy. The publication of a monumental sourcebook in Japanese Philosophy which contains materials from the 8th to the 20th century,4 and the introduction of pertinent articles in standard philosophical encyclopaedias such as the Routledge and the Stanford Encyclopaedias of Philosophy have changed the situation somewhat in the Western world, giving pre-eminence to variants of position b). But position a) is still upheld by many, 1 The locus classicus is Nakae Chōmin’s statement: ‘Since olden times to this day there has been no philosophy in Japan’, quoted recently eg. in Clinton, ‘“Philosophy” or “Religion”?’, p. 75. Godart adds: ‘This view, that there is no such thing as Japanese thought before 1868 which can be labeled “philosophy”, has become prevalent in Japan. -
MEDIATING SCANDAL in CONTEMPORARY JAPAN Igor
French Journal For Media Research – n° 7/2017 – ISSN 2264-4733 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MEDIATING SCANDAL IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN Igor Prusa PhD The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies1 [email protected] Abstract Cet article aborde des traits essentiels des affaires médiatiques dans le Japon contemporain. Il s'agit d'une étude interdisciplinaire qui enrichit non seulement le discours des sciences de médias et du journalisme, mais aussi la pholologie japonaise. L’inspiration théorique s'appuie sur la conception néo-fonctionnaliste du scandale en tant que performance sociale située à la limite du « rituel » (la conduite expressive à la motivation socioculturelle) et de la « stratégie » (une action stratégique délibéreée). La première partie de cette étude est consacrée aux caractéristiques du journalisme politique et du contexte médiatico-politique du Japon d’après-guerre. La seconde partie analyse le procès du scandale médiatique lui-même et quelques techniques ritualisées des organisations médiatiques japonaises. Mots-clés Médias japonais, pratiques de journalisme, affaire médiatique, rituel médiatique, procès de la scandalisation Abstract This paper investigates the main features of media scandal in contemporary Japan. This is important because it can add a fresh interdisciplinary direction in the fields of media studies, journalism, and Japanese philology. Furthermore, the sources from the mainstream media, semi-mainstream tabloids and foreign press were examined vie the lens of contemporary neofunctionalist theory, where scandal is approached as a social performance between ritual (motivated expressive behavior) and strategy (conscious strategic action). Moreover, this research illuminates the logic behind the scandal mediation process in Japan, including the performances of both the journalists and the non-media actors, who become decisive for the development of every media scandal. -
Wobbly Aesthetics, Performance, and Message Comparing Japanese Kyara with Their Anthropomorphic Forebears
Debra J. Occhi Miyazaki International College Wobbly Aesthetics, Performance, and Message Comparing Japanese Kyara with their Anthropomorphic Forebears This article compares contemporary Japanese entities known as kyara (“char- acters”) with historical anthropomorphized imagery considered to be spiritual or religious. Yuru kyara (“loose” or “wobbly” characters) are a subcategory of kyara that represent places, events, or commodities, and occupy a relatively marginalized position within the larger body of kyara material culture. They are ubiquitous in contemporary Japan, and are sometimes enacted by humans in costume, as shown in a case study of a public event analyzed within. They are closely tied to localities and may be compared to historical deities and demons, situated as they are within the context of popular representations of the numinous created to inspire belief and spur action. However, the impera- tives communicated by yuru kyara are not typically religious per se, but civic and commercial. Religious charms and souvenirs also increasingly incorporate the kyara aesthetic. keywords: Japan—characters—cuteness—marketing—religion Asian Ethnology Volume 71, Number 1 • 2012, 109–132 © Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture his article explores possible connections between cute anthropomorphized Tcartoon characters (kyara) of domestic Japanese origin and use, and a long- standing tradition of anthropomorphized objects and animals used in spiritual or religious contexts. It broadly examines what similarities and discontinuities may be observed in comparing contemporary and historical anthropomorphized char- acters, their narratives, and their uses. This approach is not entirely original: the character Ultraman, for example, has elsewhere been likened to a Shinto savior of humanity (Gill 1998, 38). -
Philosophy 1
Philosophy 1 PHILOSOPHY VISITING FACULTY Doing philosophy means reasoning about questions that are of basic importance to the human experience—questions like, What is a good life? What is reality? Aileen Baek How are knowledge and understanding possible? What should we believe? BA, Yonsei University; MA, Yonsei University; PHD, Yonsei University What norms should govern our societies, our relationships, and our activities? Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy; Visiting Scholar in Philosophy Philosophers critically analyze ideas and practices that often are assumed without reflection. Wesleyan’s philosophy faculty draws on multiple traditions of Alessandra Buccella inquiry, offering a wide variety of perspectives and methods for addressing these BA, Universitagrave; degli Studi di Milano; MA, Universitagrave; degli Studi di questions. Milano; MA, Universidad de Barcelona; PHD, University of Pittsburgh Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy William Paris BA, Susquehanna University; MA, New York University; PHD, Pennsylvania State FACULTY University Stephen Angle Frank B. Weeks Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy BA, Yale University; PHD, University of Michigan Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies; Professor of Philosophy; Director, Center for Global Studies; Professor, East Asian Studies EMERITI Lori Gruen Brian C. Fay BA, University of Colorado Boulder; PHD, University of Colorado Boulder BA, Loyola Marymount University; DPHIL, Oxford University; MA, Oxford William Griffin Professor of Philosophy; Professor -
Reconsidering the Theoretical/Practical Divide: the Philosophy of Nishida Kitarō
University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2013 Reconsidering The Theoretical/Practical Divide: The Philosophy Of Nishida Kitarō Lockland Vance Tyler University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Tyler, Lockland Vance, "Reconsidering The Theoretical/Practical Divide: The Philosophy Of Nishida Kitarō" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 752. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/752 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RECONSIDERING THE THEORETICAL/PRACTICAL DIVIDE: THE PHILOSOPHY OF NISHIDA KITARŌ A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Philosophy University of Mississippi by LOCKLAND V. TYLER APRIL 2013 Copyright Lockland V. Tyler 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Over the years professional philosophy has undergone a number of significant changes. One of these changes corresponds to an increased emphasis on objectivity among philosophers. In light of new discoveries in logic and science, contemporary analytic philosophy seeks to establish the most objective methods and answers possible to advance philosophical progress in an unambiguous way. By doing so, we are able to more precisely analyze concepts, but the increased emphasis on precision has also been accompanied by some negative consequences. These consequences, unfortunately, are much larger and problematic than many may even realize. What we have eventually arrived in at in contemporary Anglo-American analytic philosophy is a complete repression of humanistic concerns. -
The State and Racialization: the Case of Koreans in Japan
The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies CCIS University of California, San Diego The State and Racialization: The Case of Koreans in Japan By Kazuko Suzuki Visiting Fellow, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies Working Paper 69 February 2003 The State and Racialization: The Case of Koreans in Japan Kazuko Suzuki1 Center for Comparative Immigration Studies ********** Abstract. It is frequently acknowledged that the notion of ‘race’ is a socio-political construct that requires constant refurbishment. However, the process and consequences of racialization are less carefully explored. By examining the ideology about nationhood and colonial policies of the Japanese state in relation to Koreans, I will attempt to demonstrate why and how the Japanese state racialized its population. By so doing, I will argue that the state is deeply involved in racialization by fabricating and authorizing ‘differences’ and ‘similarities’ between the dominant and minority groups. Introduction The last decade has seen a growing interest in the state within the field of sociology and political science. While the main contributors of the study have been scholars in comparative and historical sociology and researchers in the economics of development, student of race and ethnicity have gradually paid attention to the role of the state in forming racial/ethnic communities, ethnic identity, and ethnic mobilization (Barkey and Parikh 1991; Marx 1998). State policies clearly constitute one of the major determinants of immigrant adaptation and shifting identity patterns (Hein 1993; Olzak 1983; Nagel 1986). However, the study of the state’s role in race and ethnic studies is still underdeveloped, and many important questions remain to be answered. -
Art of Zen Buddhism Zen Buddhism, Which Stresses a Connection to The
Art of Zen Buddhism Zen Buddhism, which stresses a connection to the spiritual rather than the physical, was very influential in the art of Kamakura Japan. Zen Calligraphy of the Kamakura Period Calligraphy by Musō Soseki (1275–1351, Japanese zen master, poet, and calligrapher. The characters "別無工夫 " ("no spiritual meaning") are written in a flowing, connected soshō style. A deepening pessimism resulting from the civil wars of 12th century Japan increased the appeal of the search for salvation. As a result Buddhism, including its Zen school, grew in popularity. Zen was not introduced as a separate school of Buddhism in Japan until the 12th century. The Kamakura period is widely regarded as a renaissance era in Japanese sculpture, spearheaded by the sculptors of the Buddhist Kei school. The Kamakura period witnessed the production of e- maki or painted hand scrolls, usually encompassing religious, historical, or illustrated novels, accomplished in the style of the earlier Heian period. Japanese calligraphy was influenced by, and influenced, Zen thought. Ji Branch of Pure Land Buddhism stressing the importance of reciting the name of Amida, nembutsu (念仏). Rinzai A school of Zen buddhism in Japan, based on sudden enlightenment though koans and for that reason also known as the "sudden school". Nichiren Sect Based on the Lotus Sutra, which teaches that all people have an innate Buddha nature and are therefore inherently capable of attaining enlightenment in their current form and present lifetime. Source URL: https://www.boundless.com/art-history/japan-before-1333/kamakura-period/art-zen-buddhism/ Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/arth406#4.3.1 Attributed to: Boundless www.saylor.org Page 1 of 2 Nio guardian, Todai-ji complex, Nara Agyō, one of the two Buddhist Niō guardians at the Nandai-mon in front of the Todai ji in Nara.