The Reception of Genshin's Ichijō yōketsu 一乗要決 in Japanese Medieval Buddhism - An Intertextual Analysis (2024)

Japanese Buddhism in the Tale of Genji

2015

Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) is a work of literature, attributed to MURASAKI Shikibu, written around the year 1000, which counts of a young imperial prince, Genji. It remained central to the Japanese cultural life (directly or by derivatives) until today. Tales might prove among the most reliable sources we have about actual Buddhist practice. In particular, tales which are not about Buddhism, and don’t particularly thrive on preserving any clan’s reputation, might offer a window into historical realities without the distortions caused by a doctrinal or political agenda. This report shows how Buddhist doctrine plays a fundamental rôle in the Tale, as a religion which had social ramifications —notably when one’s nearing the end of one’s life. It also highlights some rituals, practices and views from the Heian period, which might have influenced Japanese culture for many centuries onwards (even if they didn’t necessarily capture a mature understanding of the doctrines), in part due to the popularity of this Tale itself. By ‘illustrating’ various doctrines (be it karma or Amida’s paradise) rather than discussing theories, the celebrated Tale of Genji might thus have participated in the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan, reinforcing any appropriation of its doctrines as simple “common sense”.

The philosophical reception of Japanese Buddhism after 1868

Dao Companion of Japanese Buddhist Philosophy, ed. by Gereon Kopf, 2017

In the writings of the Japanese Pure Land Buddhist Shinran 親鸞 (1173-1263) we read: “I, Shinran, do not have a single disciple of my own” (SZ Supplement: 10; Saitō 2010: 242). Is he simply being modest? Does Shinran defy discipleship? Does he rule out the possibility of the reception of his thought? The answer to these questions is not clear; nevertheless, what we do know is that the reader of his writings is supposed to arrive at the Buddha’s original teaching. Shinran’s voluminous works, however, exhibit more than an introduction to or simple interpretation of the Buddha’s preaching. We may say that Shinran has given us sermons and treatises that manifest an authentic and unique appropriation of the Buddhist tradition, and thereupon his works offer the possibility of a thoughtful reception for his interpreters and disciples. RECEPTION AND ITS HISTORY: REMAINS AND REMINDERS OF THE PAST The philosopher KUKI Shūzō 九鬼周造 (1888-1941) wrote remarkable verses about Shinran seven centuries after his death: “I will have no disciple, said Shinran; as for me [Kuki], I long to have his soul” (KSZ Supplement: 146; Saitō 2010: 242). Kuki’s poetic reflections expresses Shinran’s quest for an authentic life, and echo back the existentialist aspect of his philosophy. More than this, his words commit him to Shinran as his teacher. Do these words not enact the most authentic discipleship possible? In fact, SAITŌ Takako takes Kuki’s verses as empirical evidence of his receiving the intellectual legacy of Shinran. Thus at the end of her article, the proof of historical facticity of reception retroactively justifies Saitō’s careful comparison of Kuki’s thought with Shinran’s, which began based on presuming similarities in content. In other words, the factual findings prove the validity of comparing Shinran and Kuki, although a truthful reading is impossible to verify historically.2 Be that as it may, Kuki’s poetic expression demonstrates the history of the reception of a pre- modern Buddhist by a modern philosopher in Japan; regardless of whether this discipleship was ultimately judged to be authentic and perfected, or an untimely failure.

Mark L. Blum and Shin’ya Yasutom (eds.)i - Rennyo and the Roots of Modern Japanese Buddhism

“Disenchanting Medieval Japan: Hōnen and Shinran in a Weberian Perspective.” In Hōnen bukkyō no shosō 法然仏教の諸相. Edited by Fujimoto Kiyohiko Sensei koki kinen ronbunshū kankōkai 藤本淨彦先生古稀記念論文集刊行会, 101-125 (1178-1202). Kyōto:Hōzōkan, 2014.

2016, June 30 - July 2, Translating Buddhism, "Civilising Buddhism in early Meiji Japan: the shifting meaning of 教化 in Shin Buddhist writings"

Japan’s effort of the early 1870s to “civilise“ as quickly as possible along Western norms is widely known as bunmei kaika 文明開化 or the Japanese Enlightenment. In a time where the relevance of Buddhism was questioned and the Buddhist institution was thoroughly shaken by the haibutsu kishaku 廃仏毀釈 (“abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakyamuni”) movement that aimed at removing Buddhism from its place of prominence in Japanese society, Buddhist participation in this Enlightenment campaign became an important device to reassert the usefulness of Buddhism for the country and the people, and to declare its allegiance to the new regime. Earlier scholarship has pointed out that this transition from Tokugawa to Meiji brought about a number of changes in Shin (True Pure Land) Buddhist doctrine. For example, the meaning of ōbō 王法 shifted from the regulations and laws promulgated by the Shogunate and local domain administrations, to those issued by the Emperor or the imperial government. This paper will introduce a less noted change and look at how, upon their return from a mission to Europe in 1872–73 to observe the religious situation there, visionary Shin Buddhist intellectuals reinterpreted the Buddhist notion of “instructing the people” (庶民 教化 shomin kyōke) in its narrow sense of “enlightening the people on Buddhist doctrine”, to also include the people’s general education (教化 kyōka). This was part of their project to “civilise” Buddhism, that is, to define Buddhism as an indispensable partner in Japan’s bunmei kaika effort. More precisely, they believed that people needed to receive the general type of education that would enable them to remain unharmed by the absurdities of Christian doctrine which, if widely introduced to Japan, they argued, would jeopardise the progress of the nation. Following a brief introduction of these Buddhist ventures, the paper will focus on how these new circumstances were reflected in the use of the term 教化 in journal articles and memorials written by Shin Buddhists in the 1870s, and of its different meanings and possible translations in light of the historical context of the early Meiji period. It will also look at the question of how attributing connotations to the term 教化 beyond its Buddhist meaning might change our understanding of the role of Buddhism in this period of Japanese history.

Editors' Introduction: Vernacular Buddhism and Medieval Japanese Literature

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2009

Regendering The Literary and Buddhist Textual Tradition of Medieval Japan

2018

This article considers both the possibilities and limits of 'gender' for our analyses of medieval Japanese texts. It does so on the grounds that the conceptual category of gender and woman, body and agency, closely associated with it, were produced within the broader historical, cultural and religious context of Europe, and therefore do not travel seamlessly when brought to bear on non-Western pasts.

“Neither Two nor One: Identity and Fluidity in Medieval Japan.” Pacific World Journal 20 (2019): 377-384.

Buddhism Ab Ovo: Aspects of Embryological Discourse in Medieval Japanese Buddhism

In Anna Andreeva and Dominic Steavu, eds., Transforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions, Brill 2016

The Joy of the Dharma: Esoteric Buddhism and the Early Medieval Transformation of Japanese Literature

2015

This dissertation explores the nexus between Buddhism and literature in Japan’s early medieval period. Specifically, it elucidates the process by which forms of court literature such as Chinese-language verse (kanshi), Japanese poetry (waka), and romance tales (monogatari) were incorporated into Buddhist rites and liturgies from the tenth through twelfth centuries and attempts to show how this process supported and was supported by Esoteric Buddhist discourse. I call special attention to a discourse on ritual performance that understands the chanting of a mantra, hymn, or poem as an act of giving the joy of the Dharma (hōraku) to the kami and buddhas. By attending to this discourse and the rituals through which it was articulated, this dissertation sheds light on the doctrinal reasons why and the practical paths by which even literary genres that were considered to be “worldly” such as nature poetry, love poetry, and romance tales were reconceived as vehicles for offering the joy of...