Japanese Buddhism: A Cultural History

232 Pages·2001·5.823 MB·English

by  Yoshiro Tamura, Jeffrey Hunter

JAPANESE BUDDHISM

JAPANESE BUDDHISM
A Cultural History
by
Yoshiro Tamura
translated by
Jeffrey Hunter
KOSEI PUBLISHING CO. Tokyo
The contents of this book were originally published in Japanese by Kosei
Publishing Go. in the January-December 1967 issues of the monthly
magazine Yakuskin, under the series title “Hyakuman Nin no Bukkyö-shi”
(A History of Japanese Buddhism for a Million Readers). The series was
published in book form by Kadokawa Shoten in 1969 under the title Mhon
Bukkyö-shi Nyümon (An Introductory History of Japanese Buddhism).
Shown on the front and back covers is the frontispiece and the beginning
of the text of chapter 14 of the Lotus Sutra, “A Happy Life,” from the
Heikenö/cyö, a historic set of thirty-three scrolls of copied sutras. The
Siddham ideogram on a disk represents Shakyamuni, the historical Bud­
dha. The set was dedicated by Taira no Kiyomori and his clan in 1164
to the deity of Itsukushima Shrine in what is now Hiroshima Prefecture.
Designated a National Treasure of Japan. Owned by Itsukushima Shrine.
Photograph courtesy of the Nara National Museum.
Cover design by NOBU. The text of this book is set in Monotype Bas-
kerville with a computer version of Optima for display.
First English edition, 2000
Published by Kosei Publishing Go., 2-7-1 Wada, Suginami-ku, Tokyo
166-8535, Japan. Copyright © 1967, 1969 by Yoshiro Tamura, 2000 by
Kosei Publishing Co.; all rights reserved. Printed in Japan.
ISBN 4-333-01684-3 LCC Card No. applied for
Contents
Preface 7
Editorial Note 9
1. Early Japan and the Arrival of Buddhism • 13
2. The Birth of the Japanese Nation and
the Ascent of Buddhism • 23
3. The Buddhist Adaptation • 35
4. The Japanese Response • 49
5. Heian Buddhism: Saichö and Kükai • 59
6. Tendai Philosophy: The Ideal and the Real *73
7. Pure Land Buddhism • 79
8. The Founders of Kamakura Buddhism • 91
9. Key Features of Kamakura Buddhism • 103
10. The Triumph of the Secular • 113
11. The Subjugation of Buddhism • 127
12. Challenges to the Old Order • 139
13. Religious Reform Movements • 149
14. Christianity and the Buddhist Renaissance • 159
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6 CONTENTS
15. The New Buddhism and
the First Wave of New Religions • 169
16. The Second Wave of New Religions • 183
17. The New Religions and Mainstream Buddhism
Before and During World War II • 197
18. Postwar New Religions and the Future of Buddhism • 207
Index 217
Preface
JAPAN IS OFTEN DESCRIBED as having a hybrid culture. But this
does not mean that disparate cultured elements were simply em­
braced indiscriminately; rather, they were vigorously assimilated
and skillfully made over into Japanese cultural artifacts. The same
thing happened with Buddhism: It was absorbed into Japanese
culture and reconstituted as Japanese Buddhism. Thus it is impos­
sible to separate Japan’s Buddhism from the nation’s cultural ma­
trix, or to explicate the one without understanding the other.
Japanese scholars have produced some fine histories of Japanese
Buddhism. Most of these works, however, confine themselves to
historical facts and make use only of purely Buddhist sources. Few
discuss such literary classics as the Manÿôshü, Genji monogatari, Hö-
jöki, and Tsurezuregusa, though it is impossible to grasp the distinc­
tive features of Japanese Buddhism without some knowledge of
these works. Conversely, Japan’s literary scholars tend to disregard
or show only a cursory interest in Buddhism. This, too, precludes
true understanding of Japanese literature. Some literary works are
so deeply steeped in Buddhism that they can jusdy be considered
Buddhist writings, but they are ignored by Buddhist scholars, while
literary scholars discuss Japanese literature as though Buddhism
did not exist. This blinkered approach distorts both fields of schol­
arship.
Traditionally, historians have applied historical methodology to
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8 PREFACE
the study of Japanese Buddhism. That has become the mainstream
approach, one that focuses on what we might call the outer his­
tory. I have chosen to approach the subject from the inside, as it
were, by writing an intellectual history of Japanese Buddhism.
This has meant examining Japanese Buddhism in the context of
literary and intellectual trends, as well as of other religions. For
this reason I have devoted a great deal of space to literary works
and to other religions—Shintö, folk religion, Christianity, new reli­
gions—while omitting some of the details of stricdy Buddhist de­
velopments.
Since this book represents an approach to Japanese culture and
thought, nothing would make me happier than to have it read as
an introduction to Japan’s cultural and intellectual history.
Editorial Note
IN THIS BOOK all Japanese personal names follow the customary
Japanese name order: family name followed by given name. As a
rule, premodern figures are referred to by given name on second
and subsequent mentions, whereas modern figures are referred to
by surname. The transition from premodern to modern is the
Meiji era (1868-1912). In the case of transitional figures, the name
used tends to reflect the time at which the person was most active
or with which he or she is most closely identified.
Macrons, indicating sustained vowels, are used where appropri­
ate with all Japanese names and terms except in the case of the
cities of Tokyo (Tokyo), Kyoto (Kyoto), and Osaka (Osaka). A
modified orthography that does not include diacritical marks is
used for Sanskrit names and terms. The Wade-Giles system is fol­
lowed in the transliteration of Chinese names and terms.
Every effort has been made to adhere to the Western method of
reckoning people’s age. (The traditional Japanese method includes
the year of birth, so that on one’s first birthday one is considered
to be two years old, not one year old.) Some anomalies may re­
main, however, since it has proved impossible to verify all the ages
mentioned in the original Japanese text.
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