Japanese Tendai Research Articles

Precepts, Ordinations, and Practice in Medieval Japanese Tendai by Paul Groner (review)

Precepts, Ordinations, and Practice in Medieval Japanese Tendai by Paul Groner (review)

Precepts, Ordinations, and Practice in Medieval Japanese Tendai by Paul Groner (review)

Precepts, Ordinations, and Practice in Medieval Japanese Tendai by Paul Groner (review)

Smuggled Hinduism—From Dōgen’s Viewpoint

The central question of this paper is what kind of view Dōgen had about Mazu. At first glance, this may seem completely irrelevant to the theme of this issue. In fact, however, Dōgen’s view points to a subtle relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism in an interesting way. Dōgen seems to regard Mazu as an ambiguous figure, standing on the borderline between Buddhism and Hinduism. However, Dōgen’s intention was to save Mazu and keep him on the side of Buddhism. So how can Mazu be saved? To answer this question is to trace the fundamental boundary between Buddhism and Hinduism according to the outstanding Zen master. In this study we adopt the usual method of textual analysis. Our discussion proceeds in the following order. (The steps do not correspond exactly to the section breaks.) (1) First, the argument of a person called Senni is presented from Dōgen’s Bendōwa, where Dōgen severely criticizes him as a non-Buddhist heresy. At this step we will confirm that Senni is a Sāṅkhya theorist (hence, a Hinduist). (2) We take up a parallel to the above passage from Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, Chapter “Sokushinzebutsu”. It becomes clear that the true target of Dōgen’s criticism was Mazu, the great Chinese Chan master. (3) The above operation shows that Dōgen was trying to position Mazu as someone on the borderline between Hinduism and Buddhism. (4) We try to reconstruct from the text what in Senni angered Dōgen, or, in other words, from what he wanted to save Mazu. As a result, the borderline as seen by Dōgen will be visible to us. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) The mark that distinguishes Buddhism from Hinduism, according to Dōgen, is the presence of the never-ending Bodhi-mind. This is in fact what TSUNODA Tairyū suggested in his 1985 article. Dōgen implemented this idea as an endless loop of Bodhi-mind, which makes the goal unreachable. (2) The implicit object of Dōgen’s criticism is not the Japanese Tendai or the Darumashū, but Mazu, as HE Yansheng indicated in his 2000 book. The so-called Critical Buddhism movement began on the basis of a misunderstanding. The large amount of secondary literature that has resulted is also indirectly based on this error.

Sources of Japanese Buddhist Philosophy of Education: Saichō (最澄, 766/7–822) on Study, Reflection, and Cultivation

Recent studies on the Buddhist threefold wisdom model and its suggested potentialities have warranted a rediscovery of the model in different historical and cultural contexts. Saichō (最澄, 766/7–822), founder of Japanese Tendai Buddhism, references the three wisdoms in his documents outlining the Tendai monastic education curriculum. Through modification of translation and analysis of related original texts by Saichō, and an interview with the current dean of the Tendai monastic education institution, this paper aims to (1) uncover Sino-Japanese history of expressions of threefold wisdom and Buddhist education, (2) clarify the content of Saichō’s curriculum, and (3) examine the role of compassion in said curriculum. This paper argues that the threefold wisdom served as a foundational framework of Saichō’s education; he envisioned that his graduates would develop into religious leaders of the nation who would benefit all sentient beings through their own training, preaching the Dharma, and contributing to social work. At the same time, it became clear that compassionate attitudes were considered to be fundamental to all practices of the three wisdoms at Mount Hiei, which makes Saichō’s curriculum a captivating case of a theological application of the threefold wisdom.

Ryōbu gōgyō 両部合行 in Tendai Esoteric Buddhism: The Ritual Manuals of the Samaya Precepts

In Japanese Tendai, the lineages of the Garbhadhātu and Vajradhātu each have two parts 両部各別. The first appearance of a samaya ritual manual in Tendai is the Nyūmandara jubosatsukai gyōgi 入曼荼羅受菩薩戒行儀 of Genjō 玄静 （fl. around 904）. The samaya ritual manuals imported from China were not categorized into garbha and vajra （両部）, so the content is very different from Genjō’s ritual manual.

The Essence of the Precepts in Mingkuang’s 明曠 <i>Tiantai pusajie shu</i> 天台菩薩戒疏

It is said that Mingkuang’s view on the essence of the precepts in the Tiantai pusajie shu, a commentary of the Fanwang jing 梵網経, influenced the Japanese Tendai school. The characteristics of his view are as follows: 1） Explaining the essence of the Bodhisattva precepts by two modalities, the expressed and the unexpressed precepts （the spontaneous precepts）; 2） Defining the essence of the expressed as form and mind; 3） Recognizing the unexpressed precepts as the mind on the true features. His mentor Zhanran’s 湛然 view on the essence of the precepts examined the two modalities from the view point of Mahāyāna precepts. Since Zhanran’s idea was likely influenced by the Vinaya school, especially Daoxuan 道宣, Mingkuang also seems to have been so influenced. The third characteristic of the unexpressed precepts originated from Zhiyi’s 智顗 Fahua xuanyi 法華玄義, which also focused on the mind of the true features from the perspective of the perfect teaching’s precepts. There are also traces of Daoxuan’s partial impact on Mingkuang’s text. Therefore, we may see Mingkuang’s view as based on the Tiantai school and partly affected by the Vinaya school.

Borderland Complexes and Translocations: How a Japanese Tendai Monk Discovered Chan/Zen Buddhism in an Indian Buddhist Homeland in the Hangzhou Region

Borderland Complexes and Translocations: How a Japanese Tendai Monk Discovered Chan/Zen Buddhism in an Indian Buddhist Homeland in the Hangzhou Region

『계람습엽집(渓嵐拾葉集)』에 나타난 일본 중세 천태(天台)의 정토관(淨土觀)

『계람습엽집(渓嵐拾葉集)』에 나타난 일본 중세 천태(天台)의 정토관(淨土觀)

Grace, Symbol, and Liturgy: Constructing the Theological Anthropology of Nichiren Daishonin

Anthony B. Pinn called upon theologians to do theology in "non-traditional ways," by considering overlooked dimensions of African American life and black theology. One way to do this is to consider a non-Abrahamic religious tradition that African Americans practice, such as Nichiren Buddhism. As I am both African American and a Buddhist, failure to consider such overlooked dimensions of African American life and black theology cause people like myself to be excluded. In this article, I examine the writings and liturgical recommendations of Nichiren Daishonin (1222–1282) in order to construct his theological anthropology. Nichiren was a Buddhist monk who publicly broke with the Japanese Tendai tradition in which he had been ordained, by declaring that the best way to express devotion to the teachings contained in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra or The Sūtra on the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Law (Lotus Sūtra) was to chant its title in the form of a mantra: Nam-MyōhōRenge-Kyō. I bring Nichiren's writings into dialogue with Karl Rahner's theology of the symbol, as presented by US Hispanic Catholic theologian Miguel Diaz; with feminist theologian Jennifer Beste's work on trauma theory as a challenge to Rahner's theology of grace; and with womanist theologian M. Shawn Copeland's notion of "liturgy of the Spirit." This dialogue shows that for Nichiren, the human being is "Buddha-in-the-world," and has an innate potential to express the life-state of Buddhahood; one primary symbol, the Gohonzon, manifests this potential; and suffering is the result of an innate capacity for "hellish experiences" due to a kind of ignorance known as fundamental darkness. Further, Beste's work on trauma theory and Copeland's notion of "liturgy of the Spirit" show that Nichiren's theological anthropology is concretized in the liturgical practice known as gongyō that he recommended his followers engage in, and demonstrates that Nichiren gives sufficient attention to experiences of brokenness and healing, thereby avoiding the charge of having too positive a theology. [End Page 267]

The Development of the Idea of the Reception of the Four Sects in the Japanese Tendai Tradition

The Development of the Idea of the Reception of the Four Sects in the Japanese Tendai Tradition

【書評】Paul GRONER, Ryogen and Mount Hiei Japanese Tendai in the Tenth Century, Studies in East Asian Buddhism, No. 15, A Kuroda Institute Book, Universitiy of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2002

【書評】Paul GRONER, Ryogen and Mount Hiei Japanese Tendai in the Tenth Century, Studies in East Asian Buddhism, No. 15, A Kuroda Institute Book, Universitiy of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2002

Constructing a Place, Fracturing a Geography: The Case of the Japanese Tendai Cleric Jōin

Constructing a Place, Fracturing a Geography: The Case of the Japanese Tendai Cleric Jōin

初期日本天台における『無量義経』の位置付け

初期日本天台における『無量義経』の位置付け

The influence of “Shingonshu Miketsumon” upon Japanese Tendai

The influence of “Shingonshu Miketsumon” upon Japanese Tendai

十二世紀末までの日本天台宗の新羅仏教認識について

十二世紀末までの日本天台宗の新羅仏教認識について

Chigo in the Medieval Japanese Imagination

This article explores the representation of chigo—adolescent males attached to Buddhist temples or aristocratic households who were educated, fed, and housed in exchange for personal, including sexual, services—in medieval Japan. The author discusses how chigo were depicted in historical records, in contemporary short fictional narratives, and in a “Chinese” legend invented by Japanese Tendai monks; the chigo are also compared to the Tang consort Yang Guifei. Fictional and real chigo tend to fall victim to violence, and it is argued that the chigo functions as a surrogate sacrificial victim, a cultural figure whose role is outlined most prominently in the works of René Girard.

Interpretations of neixun ziwu in the Chinese Tiantai and Japanese Tendai Schools

Interpretations of neixun ziwu in the Chinese Tiantai and Japanese Tendai Schools

On Shogen's Shikan girei inokuma sho

Shogen was a learned priest of the Japanese Tendai school in the 14th century. He lectured on the Shikan girei written by Chanjan. Etatsu recorded the content of the lecture and summarized it in the work Shikan girei inokuma sho.In this book, Shogen criticized various opinions about Shikan, meditation theories of the Chinese Tendai sect. A distinguishing characteristic of his claim is that his theory about Shikan is mixed with a doctrine of esoteric Buddhism of Japanese Tendai sect.

Ryōgen and Mount Hiei: Japanese Tendai in the Tenth Century

This work focuses on the transformation of the Tendai School from a small and impoverished group of monks in the early ninth century to its emergence as the most powerful and influential school in Japanese Buddhism in the last half of the tenth century.

Review of: Paul Groner, Ryōgen and Mount Hiei: Japanese Tendai in the Tenth Century

Review of: Paul Groner, Ryōgen and Mount Hiei: Japanese Tendai in the Tenth Century