Download or read book Miracles of Book and Body written by Charlotte Eubanks and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is an exciting exploration of the world of Buddhist attitudes towards religious texts, from Indian scriptures to Japanese medieval tales. Its emphasis on discursive strategies—how Buddhist texts function and what they expect of their readers/users (especially, the connection between books, their content, and their readers' bodies)—is a welcome new perspective."—Fabio Rambelli, author of Buddhist Materiality "Miracles of Book and Body is fluidly written and engaging. This book brings the reader to an awareness of the range and foci of medieval 'popular' readings of sutra literature, and Eubanks provides an important perspective to interpreting these narratives that is original and stimulating."—Thomas W. Hare, author of Zeami: Performance Notes "Charlotte Eubanks' sophisticated, insightful and readable study of the physicalities of sutra texts and sutra recitation makes sense of some of the strangest phenomena in medieval Japan. By disentangling the literal and metaphorical meanings in Buddhist setsuwa, Eubanks explains such things as how memorizing a text is an embodiment thereof, how texts can become sentient beings, and why the scroll is an appropriate format for recording dharma. Her work is both important and engaging."—Margaret H. Childs, University of Kansas "Drawing on an impressive range of Mahayana scriptures and medieval Japanese didactic tales, Eubanks unpacks recurrent tropes correlating text and flesh to reveal surprising connections among the literary, material, and ritual dimensions of Buddhist textual culture. Elegantly written and theoretically astute, this volume will be welcomed not only by specialists in Buddhist literature but also by readers interested in broader issues of text-based religious practice."—Jacqueline Stone, author of Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism

Download or read book The Karma of Words written by William R. LaFleur and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A masterly book . . . will prove of great assistance to a student of Japanese literature and thought from the eleventh century onwards."--Times Literary Supplement "A major contribution to the fields of Japanese studies, comparative literature, and history of religions . . . a book that begs for classroom use."--The Eastern Buddhist "Innovative and provocative . . . will be of interest not only to specialists in Japanese religion and Japanese culture, but also to literary critics and cultural historians."--Religious Studies Review "Rich and stimulating material . . . an important help and influence to all concerned with understanding the tradition that has shaped Japanese culture and religion."--History of Religions "Thought provoking, finely written . . . one of the more original and creative contributions to the study of medieval culture and religion to be produced by a Western scholar. . . . Can be read with profit by all Western students of Japanese culture . . . one of those rare books that has something to offer Japanese specialists in medieval studies."--Journal of Japanese Studies "A very important contribution to Japanese studies . . . a paradigm of the genre."--Pacific Affairs "This is an exciting, ground-breaking book."--Chanoyu Quarterly "I have been most impressed and even excited by what I have read."--Donald Keene, Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University "This is one of the most important books in Japanese studies in a long time and will influence the entire field."--Robert Bellah, former Elliott Professor of Sociology, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley

Download or read book Wondrous Brutal Fictions written by and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As works of Buddhist fiction, these texts relate the histories and miracles of particular buddhas, bodhisattvas, and local deities. Many of their protagonists have become recognizable cultural icons through their representation in later works of Japanese drama, fiction, and film. The collection includes such sekkyo "sermon-ballad" classics as Sansho Dayu, Karukaya, and Oguri, as well as the "old joruri" plays Goo-no-hime and Amida's Riven Breast. R. Keller Kimbrough provides a critical introduction to each vibrant performance genre, emphasizing the role of seventeenth-century publishing.

Download or read book Shapers of Japanese Buddhism written by Yusen Kashiwahara and published by Kosei Publishing Company. This book was released on 1994-10-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than thirteen centuries of clergy, laity, and social conditions interacted to mold Japan's Buddhism. Today's resulting characteristics, which distinguish it from its mainland sources, include a proliferation of independent sects, emphasis on religion for lay members, and de-emphasis of clerical codes. The twenty main biographies and seventy-five sketches presented in this book reveal both the individual and social aspects of Buddhist evolution and in Japan, spanning from the sixth through twentieth centuries. They cover the many separate interchanges that brought Buddhist texts and practices from Korea and China as well as the innovations that arose in Japan.

Download or read book Muroji written by Sherry D. Fowler and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2005-03-31 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Murōji, a magnificent temple founded in the eighth century, is known both for its dramatic location and the exceptional quality of its ritual objects and art dating from the ninth and tenth centuries of the Heian period. Sherry Fowler makes extensive use of primary sources to explore the circumstances surrounding the creation and function of the temple’s main images and considers why major works of early Heian sculpture were housed in such a remote mountain setting. Employing a multifaceted approach that looks at Murōji’s art and architecture in socio-political context, she explores the establishment of the temple, its role in the religious life and power structure of the region, and the ways in which the temple reconfigured its early history to suit its later circumstances. Emerging from Fowler’s study are pervasive themes relating to worship and practice at Murōji that highlight plurality of practice (of different schools of Buddhism as well as Shinto); flexibility of practice and its impact on sculptural icons; the relationship of Murōji to other temple/shrine complexes; and the association of the temple with women’s worship.

Download or read book A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism written by William E. Deal and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism offers a comprehensive, nuanced, and chronological account of the evolution of Buddhist religion in Japan from the sixth century to the present day. Traces each period of Japanese history to reveal the complex and often controversial histories of Japanese Buddhists and their unfolding narratives Examines relevant social, political, and transcultural contexts, and places an emphasis on Japanese Buddhist discourses and material culture Addresses the increasing competition between Buddhist, Shinto, and Neo-Confucian world-views through to the mid-nineteenth century Informed by the most recent research, including the latest Japanese and Western scholarship Illustrates the richness and complexity of Japanese Buddhism as a lived religion, offering readers a glimpse into the development of this complex and often misunderstood tradition

Download or read book The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy written by Gereon Kopf and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-06-03 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume introduces the central themes in and the main figures of Japanese Buddhist philosophy. It will have two sections, one that discusses general topics relevant to Japanese Buddhist philosophy and one that reads the work of the main Japanese Buddhist philosophers in the context of comparative philosophy. It combines basic information with cutting edge scholarship considering recent publications in Japanese, Chinese, English, and other European languages. As such, it will be an invaluable tool for professors teaching courses in Asian and global philosophy, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the people generally interested in philosophy and/or Buddhism.

Download or read book Nichiren written by Jack Arden Christensen and published by Jain Publishing Company. This book was released on 2001 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a chronicle of this important figure of Japanese Buddhism which tells of his conflicts with the rulers of his time and of his teachings. Nichiren was a Buddhist reformer, who saw the Lotus Sutra as the cornerstone of the Dharma. His life and teachings continue to serve as an inspiration and guide for people's lives today.

Download or read book Flowing Traces written by James H. Sanford and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the contributors to this volume, the relationship of Buddhism and the arts in Japan is less the rendering of Buddhist philosophical ideas through artistic imagery than it is the development of concepts and expressions in a virtually inseparable unity. By challenging those who consider religion to be the primary phenomenon and art the secondary arena for the apprehension of religious meanings, these essays reveal the collapse of other dichotomies as well. Touching on works produced at every social level, they explore a fascinating set of connections within Japanese culture and move to re-envision such usual distinctions as religion and art, sacred and secular, Buddhism and Shinto, theory and substance, elite and popular, and even audience and artist. The essays range from visual and literary hagiographies to No drama, to Sermon-Ballads, to a painting of the Nirvana of Vegetables. The contributors to the volume are James H. Foard, Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Frank Hoff, Laura S. Kaufman, William R. LaFleur, Susan Matisoff, Barbara Ruch, Yoshiaki Shimizu, and Royall Tyler. Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Download or read book Buddhist Texts from Japan written by Friedrich Max Müller and published by . This book was released on 1881 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Buddhist Texts from Japan written by Friedrich Max Müller and published by . This book was released on 1881 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book written by and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition written by Kyoko Motomuchi Nakamura and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first collection of Buddhist legends in Japan, and these stories form the repertoire of miraculous events and moral examples that later Buddhist priests used for preaching to the people. As Kyokai describes his own intentions, "By editing these stories of miraculous events I want to pull the people forward by the ears, offer my hand to lead them to good, and show them how to cleanse their feet of evil" (p.222). Nakamura's book is actually two works in one: first an introduction to the Nihon ryoiki, and then an annotated translation. The introduction analyzes the life of the author and the influence of earlier writings, and provides a valuable synthesis of the world view reflected in the work. The annotated translation renders the more than one hundred stories into English narrative, with copious notes. Difficult terms are identified in the text with the original Chinese characters, while historical matters and Buddhist technical terms are explained in the footnotes.

Download or read book Japanese Temple Buddhism written by Stephen Covell and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2005-09-30 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There have been many studies that focus on aspects of the history of Japanese Buddhism. Until now, none have addressed important questions of organization and practice in contemporary Buddhism, questions such as how Japanese Buddhism came to be seen as a religion of funeral practices; how Buddhist institutions envision the role of the laity; and how a married clergy has affected life at temples and the image of priests. This volume is the first to address fully contemporary Buddhist life and institutions—topics often overlooked in the conflict between the rhetoric of renunciation and the practices of clerical marriage and householding that characterize much of Buddhism in today’s Japan. Informed by years of field research and his own experiences training to be a Tendai priest, Stephen Covell skillfully refutes this "corruption paradigm" while revealing the many (often contradictory) facets of contemporary institutional Buddhism, or as Covell terms it, Temple Buddhism. Covell significantly broadens the scope of inquiry to include how Buddhism is approached by both laity and clerics when he takes into account temple families, community involvement, and the commodification of practice. He considers law and tax issues, temple strikes, and the politics of temple boards of directors to shed light on how temples are run and viewed by their inhabitants, supporters, and society in general. In doing so he uncovers the economic realities that shape ritual practices and shows how mundane factors such as taxes influence the debate over temple Buddhism’s role in contemporary Japanese society. In addition, through interviews and analyses of sectarian literature and recent scholarship on gender and Buddhism, he provides a detailed look at priests’ wives, who have become indispensable in the management of temple affairs.

Download or read book Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition written by Keikai and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When we read about the profundity and complexity of the Buddhist tradition, we are hard pressed to imagine how the earliest Japanese priests propagated this tradition and how the common people accepted it. Kyokai's collection of 'miraculous stories throw much light on this.

Download or read book written by Hisao Inagaki and published by Heian International. This book was released on 1989 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Buddhist terms, names, ceremonies, texts, teaching, major Buddhist sects and their founders are all explained."

Download or read book Japanese Buddhism written by Charles Eliot and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by Sir Charles Eliot (1862-1931) one of the great scholars of Eastern religion and philosophy, this book provides an in depth account of the history of Buddhism in Japan.