Japanese Buddhism: A Cultural History

Description

Buddhism was founded in India more than two thousand years ago, but the Japanese molded it to suit their culture, and it became one of the most enduring and far-reaching cultural and intellectual forces in Japan's history. The stamp of Japanese Buddhism is unmistakable in the nation's poetry, literature, and art; and the imprint of Japan's indigenous culture is clear from the amalgamation of pre-Buddhist worship and esoteric Buddhism in the practice of the Shugendo ascetics. Japan's Buddhism and the nation's cultural infrastructure are so inextricably linked that it is impossible to understand one without the other. Japanese Buddhism is both a history of Japanese Buddhism and an introduction to Japan's political, social, and cultural history. It examines Japanese Buddhism in the context of literary and intellectual trends and of other religions, exploring social and intellectual questions that an ordinary history of religion would not address. Contents Preface Editorial Note 1 Early Japan and the Arrival of Buddhism 2 The Birth of the Japanese Nation and the Ascent of Buddhism 3 The Buddhist Adaptation 4 The Japanese Response 5 Heian Buddhism: Saichö and Kükai 6 Tendai Philosophy: The Ideal and the Real 7 Pure Land Buddhism 8 The Founders of Kamakura Buddhism 9 Key Features of Kamakura Buddhism 10 The Triumph of the Secular 11 The Subjugation of Buddhism 12 Challenges to the Old Order 13 Religious Reform Movements 14 Christianity and the Buddhist Renaissance 15 The New Buddhism and the First Wave of New Religions 16 The Second Wave of New Religions 17 The New Religions and Mainstream Buddhism Before and During World War II 18 Postwar New Religions and the Future of Buddhism Index