Approaching the Land of Bliss: Religious Praxis in the Cult of Amitābha

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2003

Approaching the Land of Bliss

Religious Praxis in the Cult of Amitābha

Edited by: Richard K. Payne and Kenneth K. Tanaka

Volume 17 in the series Kuroda Studies in East Asian Buddhism

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824842987

Overview
Contents

About this book

The discourse of Buddhist studies has traditionally been structured around texts and nations (the transmission of Buddhism from India to China to Japan). And yet, it is doubtful that these categories reflect in any significant way the organizing themes familiar to most Buddhists. It could be argued that cultic practices associated with particular buddhas and bodhisattvas are more representative of the way Buddhists conceive of their relation to tradition. This volume aims to explore this aspect of Buddhism by focusing on one of its most important cults, that of the Buddha Amitâbha. Approaching the Land of Bliss is a rich collection of studies of texts and ritual practices devoted to Amitâbha, ranging from Tibet to Japan and from early medieval times to the present.

The cult of Amitâbha is identified as an integral part of Tibet’s Mahayana Buddhist tradition in the opening essay by Matthew Kapstein. Next Daniel Getz, Jr., locates the Pure Land patriarch Shengchang more firmly in a Huayancontext and his Pure Conduct Society not so much in the propagation of Pure Land praxis but as a means of modifying anti-Buddhist sentiments. Jacqueline Stone’s study of the practice of reciting nenbutsu at the time of death gives us an understanding of both the practice itself and the motivating logic behind it. Kakuban—the founder of the one major "schism" in the history of the Shingon tradition—is placed in a typology of Japanese Pure Land thought inJames Sanford’s study of Kakuban’s Amida hishaku. Hank Glassman contributes an essay on the "subsidiary cult" of Chujohime, whichderived from the cult of Amitâbha but grew to such importance that it displaced the latter as the focus of worship in medieval Japan. In his examination of "radical Amidism," Fabio Rambelli discusses different forms of Japanese Pure Land thought that constitute divergences from the mainstream or normative forms. Richard Jaffeexamines the work of the seventeenth-century cleric Ungo Kiyo, who sought to match his teaching to the needs and capacities of hisdisciples. Todd Lewis highlights the importance of cultic life and finds traces of the desire for rebirth into Sukhavati in stupa worship among Newari Buddhists. Charles Jones’ "thick description" of a one-day recitation retreat in Taiwan provides us with a closer look at how the cult of Amitâbha continues in present-day East Asia.

Approaching the Land of Bliss moves beyond the limitations of defining Buddhism in terms of its textual corpus or nation states,opening up the cult of Amitâbha in Nepal, Tibet, China, and Taiwan, and uncovering new aspects of Japanese Pure Land.

Contributors: Daniel A. Getz, Jr.; Hank Glassman; Richard Jaffe; Charles B. Jones; Matthew T. Kapstein; Todd T. Lewis; Richard K. Payne; Fabio Rambelli; James H. Sanford; Jacqueline I. Stone.

Author / Editor information

Payne Richard K. :

Richard K. Payne is Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley.Tanaka Kenneth K. :

Kenneth K. Tanaka is a professor of Buddhism at Musashino University in Tokyo, Japan, and is an ordained Jodo Shinshu priest. His work includes books and articles in the fields of Pure Land Buddhism and the development of Buddhism in the United States.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Richard K. Payne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Pure Land Buddhism in Tibet? From Sukhävatï to the Field of Great Bliss Matthew T. Kapstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
2. Shengchang’s Pure Conduct Society and the Chinese Pure Land Patriarchate Daniel Getz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
3. By the Power of One’s Last Nenbutsu Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan Jacqueline I. Stone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
4. Amida’s Secret Life Kakuban’s Amida hishaku James H. Sanford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
5. “Show Me the Place Where My Mother Is!” Chüjöhime, Preaching, and Relics in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan Hank Glassman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
6. “Just Behave as You Like; Prohibitions and Impurities Are Not a Problem” Radical Amida Cults and Popular Religiosity in Premodern Japan Fabio Rambelli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
7. Ungo Kiyö’s Öjöyöka and Rinzai Zen Orthodoxy Richard M. Jaffe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
8. From Generalized Goal to Tantric Subordination Sukhävatï in the Indic Buddhist Traditions of Nepal Todd T. Lewis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
9. Buddha One A One-Day Buddha-Recitation Retreat in Contemporary Taiwan Charles B. Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Character Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: September 30, 2003
ISBN: 9780824842987