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Japanese Buddhism

Japanese Buddhism. Some kinds of Japanese Buddhist practice “Funeral Buddhism” “Community Buddhism” Pilgrimage. “Community Buddhism”. Annual festivals at local temples Often relating to local history or the temple ’ s history Takeda Shingen festival, Yamanashi Taima festival at Taimadera

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Japanese Buddhism

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  1. Japanese Buddhism • Some kinds of Japanese Buddhist practice • “Funeral Buddhism” • “Community Buddhism” • Pilgrimage

  2. “Community Buddhism” • Annual festivals at local temples • Often relating to local history or the temple’s history • Takeda Shingen festival, Yamanashi • Taima festival at Taimadera • Local commemorations of common tradition • eg. O-bon festival

  3. Pilgrimage • Acting out the Buddhist path • Aimed at spiritual reassurance • Most famous; the Shikoku pilgrimage • Most often undertaken by the elderly • Other pilgrimages: • related to Kannon, for example

  4. The Shikoku Pilgrimage

  5. The Shikoku Pilgrimage

  6. Practice over doctrine • Practice matters most; always has • Many schools/sects of Buddhism • Differences in practice small • Most people have a formal affiliation with a temple (those statistics), but • Often they don’t know which temple or • What sect it belongs to

  7. Goals of Japanese Buddhism • Care for ancestors • A good life after death • This-worldly benefits • Health • Safety • Prosperity

  8. Japanese Conceptionsof the Netherworld • Reincarnation and the six realms • Gods • Humans • Asuras • Animals/beasts • Hungry ghosts • Hell dwellers • Post-death rituals aimed at ensuring the departed moves on

  9. Rise of Japanese Buddhism • Entered Japan ca. 1st-3rd centuries CE from the Asian mainland • Not a unified state, no writing system • As today, Buddhism well mixed with • Daoism • Yin-yang belief • Geomancy (directional taboos) • Confucianism

  10. “Formal Introduction” of Japanese Buddhism • Mid 500s, letter from a Korean king to a Japanese emperor • The emperor embraced it but his courtiers resisted it • They feared their prestige would be reduced

  11. First Buddhist institutions • ca. 600-1000 CE • Mainly monasteries • Patronized by aristocrats • Served official functions • Most important: state protection • Common people little served by these official institutions

  12. Medieval Buddhism • True or false:Zen is the most popular kind of Buddhism in Japan • False. Zen comes in at number two • Most popular: Pure Land • Begins to develop about the year 1000 • Focuses on Amida and posthumous birth into his Pure Land (Pure Land = heaven)

  13. Medieval Buddhism II • Zen comes to Japan from China about the year 1200 • Embraced by the warriors who ruled Japan at the time • However, many warriors held on to older family beliefs and did not embrace Zen • Older schools also thrive, supported by landholdings donated over the years

  14. Buddhism in Modern Japan • Buddhist temples separated from shrines (to kami, Japanese deities) • Buddhism suppressed for a time in the interest of national identity • Stripped of their landholdings • Temple destruction in some areas • Ultimately a failure

  15. New Religions • Two types: • Those begun by charismatic leaders claiming special visions and insights • Tenri-kyō, Agon-shū • Popular lay movements that grew out of older Buddhist institutions • Risshō Kōsei-kai, Soka Gakkai

  16. Agon-shū • Leader: Kiriyama Seiyū

  17. Agon-shū • Hoshi matsuri — goma ritual

  18. Conclusion • In Japan, the distant goal of awakening (enlightenment) was and is relatively not important • Buddhism in its Japanese form seeks • This-worldly benefits • Salvation in the next life • Visits to temple mostly occasional: a death in the family, festival, pilgrimage, in times of need

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