Mountain Buddhism and the Emergence of a Buddhist Cosmic Imaginary in Ancient Japan
This article attempts to clarify the emergence of a Buddhist "cosmic imaginary," or a generally shared understanding of the natural world, in early Heian Japan. Through examination of poems preserved in the 751 Kaifūso and the 759 Man'yoshū, it shows how this cosmic imaginary first to...
| Published in: | Japanese journal of religious studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Nanzan Institute
2018
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| In: |
Japanese journal of religious studies
Year: 2018, Volume: 45, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-36 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Japan
/ World view
/ Understanding of nature
/ Universism
/ Buddhism
/ Mountain
/ History 650-850
|
| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BL Buddhism BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism KBM Asia NBA Dogmatics TF Early Middle Ages |
| Further subjects: | B
Emperors
B Wisdom B Buddhism B Meditation B Monks B Religious Studies B Japanese culture B Poetry B Shintoism B Treatises |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article attempts to clarify the emergence of a Buddhist "cosmic imaginary," or a generally shared understanding of the natural world, in early Heian Japan. Through examination of poems preserved in the 751 Kaifūso and the 759 Man'yoshū, it shows how this cosmic imaginary first took shape as an inflection of prevailing Confucian and Daoist ways of understanding the natural world among monks and poets who pursued the Buddhist teachings in the mountains. It then situates the introduction of Tendai and Shingon Buddhism in the early ninth century by Saicho and Kūkai, respectively, in the context of this trend toward mountain practice. Based on analysis of Saicho's and Kūkai's poetical and doctrinal writings, the argument is made that the teachings and practices of their new schools reconfigured the cosmic imaginaries of the Nara period and thus effected a transformation of the way people in Japan understood and imagined their world. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Japanese journal of religious studies
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18874/jjrs.45.1.2018.1-36 |