The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan

261 Pages·2004·3.954 MB·English

by  Duncan Ry?ken Williams

The Other Side of Zen
BUDDHISMS
A PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS SERIES
Edited by Stephen F. Teiser
The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Sôtô Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan,
by Duncan Ryûken Williams
Relics of the Buddha,
by John S. Strong
Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand,
by Donald K. Swearer
The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture,
by John Kieschnick
The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender,
by Bernard Faure
Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism,
by Richard M. Jaffe
Buddhist Learning and Textual Practice in Eighteenth-Century Lankan Monastic Culture,
by Anne M. Blackburn
The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality,
by Bernard Faure
The Other Side of Zen
A SOCIAL HISTORY OF SÔTÔ ZEN
BUDDHISM IN TOKUGAWA JAPAN
DUNCAN RYÛKEN WILLIAMS
P R I N C E T O N U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S
P R I N C E T O N A N D O X F O R D
Copyright ©2005 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams, Duncan Ryûken, 1969–
The other side of Zen : a social history of Sôtô Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan /
Duncan Ryûken Williams.
p. cm. — (Buddhisms : Princeton University Press series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-11928-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Sôtôshû—Social aspects. I. Title: Social history of Sôtô Zen. II. Title: Buddhism
in Tokugawa Japan. III. Title. IV. Buddhisms.
BQ9412.6 W55 2005
294.3(cid:2)927—dc22 2004044339
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
NOTES ON TRANSLITERATION AND ABBREVIATIONS xiii
ONE
Toward a Social History of SôtôZen 1
TWO
Registering the Family, Memorializing the Ancestors:
The Zen Temple and the Parishioner Household 13
THREE
Funerary Zen: Managing the Dead in the World Beyond 38
FOUR
The Cult of Dôryô Daigongen: Daiyûzan and Sôtô
Zen Prayer Temples 59
FIVE
Medicine and Faith Healing in the Sôtô Zen Tradition 86
CONCLUSION
The Other Side of Zen 117
APPENDIX A: NYONIN JÔBUTSU KETSUBONKYÔENGI
(THE ORIGINS OF THE BLOOD POOL HELL SUTRA FOR
WOMEN’S SALVATION) 125
APPENDIX B: SHINSEN GEDOKU MANBYÔEN FUKUYÔNO KOTO
(HOW TO PREPARE AND TAKE THE WIZARD MOUNTAIN
“POISON-DISPELLING” PILL THAT CURES ALL ILLNESSES) 129
NOTES 133
GLOSSARY OF CHINESE AND JAPANESE 193
BIBLIOGRAPHY 197
INDEX 235

FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures
FIGURE1. 53
Cover of the Blood Pool Hell Sutragiven during precept ceremonies
FIGURE2. 54
Jizô talisman for women’s salvation
FIGURE3. 55
Ususama Myôô talisman for the purification of the body-mind
and for the protection of women
FIGURE4. 63
Dôryô scroll from the late Tokugawa period
FIGURE5. 64
Statue of a tengu on route to Dôryô Shrine at Daiyûzan
FIGURE6. 113
Senryûji’s Musôgan medicine wrapper
FIGURE7. 115
Senryûji’s Benzaiten smallpox talisman
Tables
TABLE1. 69
Tokugawa-period stone markers and pilgrimage confraternities at
Daiyûzan
TABLE2. 69
Early Meiji stone markers and pilgrimage confraternities at Daiyûzan
TABLE3. 71
Pilgrimage to Daiyûzan as seen in Tokugawa-period travel diaries
TABLE4. 73
Stone markers on the road to Daiyûzan
TABLE5. 75
Legends of Daiyûzan
TABLE6. 99
Incidents of counterfeit Gedokuen sales in the early modern period
TABLE7. 108
Miracle stories in the Enmei Jizôson inkô riyaku ki

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The causes and conditionsthat give rise to a book are innumerable, but
I would like to express my gratitude to at least some of the people who
helped me produce this manuscript. As a graduate student at Harvard Uni-
versity, I was launched onto the scholar’s path by Masatoshi Nagatomi,
while Helen Hardacre directed the doctoral dissertation on which much of
this book is based. Whatever contribution my research might make to the
field, I owe the greatest debt to these two distinguished scholars of Buddhist
studies and the study of Japanese religions, respectively. My training in the
study of Japanese Buddhism was enriched by Masatoshi Nagatomi’s en-
couragement to investigate the topic within the broader world of East Asian
Buddhism. He instilled in me a concern for placing the study of Buddhism
within cultural contexts while never losing sight of the Buddhist tradition as
a whole. Helen Hardacre taught me the importance of setting my studies on
Zen within a sociohistorical framework so as to connect the study of reli-
gion to society. She encouraged me to learn how to read Tokugawa-period
handwritten materials, which allowed me to investigate temple and local
history archives throughout Japan. With extraordinary patience and com-
passion, these two teachers shaped not only my research, but also my entire
outlook as a scholar.
Since the bulk of the research for this book was conducted in Japan, I
must mention several individuals who assisted me during the summers of
1993–97 as well as the more extended dissertation research period of
1998–2000 and postdoctoral work during 2002–3. I was fortunate to re-
ceive the guidance of two scholars who shared their wisdom, unpublished
documents, and invitation to attend seminars and field research trips.
Tamamuro Fumio of Meiji University, a pioneer in the study of Tokugawa-
period religions, helped me to understand Sôtô Zen Buddhism in the context
of early modern Japanese religious history by encouraging me to focus on
the lives of ordinary temple priests, temple economics, and quantitative
data. He accompanied me on numerous trips to Eiheiji and Noto Sôjiji tem-
ples and to innumerable local history archives. Hirose Ryôkô of Komazawa
University, a leading researcher of medieval and early modern Sôtô Zen his-
tory, advised me to think about the Sôtô tradition in the context of local so-
ciety, patronage patterns, and regional administration. He also accom-
panied me on research trips to Eiheiji Temple and provided me access to
the documents held at the Sôtôshû Bunkazai Chôsa Iinkai at Komazawa
University.
A number of scholars, including Andô Yoshinori, Itô Katsumi, Kôdate
Naomi, Matsuoka Takashi, Ôwada Kôichi, Sakai Tatsurô, Tsutsumi Kuni-
hiko, Umezawa Fumiko, and Watanabe Shôei, also helped me recognize the
significance of popular tales, narrative literature, and the cults of local