Religion 270 Fall 2005

Japanese Buddhism: Ancient Japan through the 19th Century

Jamie Hubbard (jhubbard@smith.edu)

Seelye 303, x3449

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 4:00-5:00 and by appointment

]     Norito exorcisms [6 pp]

]     Manyoshu poetry From the Country of Eight Islands [5 pp];

]     “Japanese Aesthetics” by Donald Keene [16 pp];

]     “The Shinto Wedding Ceremony: A Modern Norito” from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 12 [4 pp].

]     Vocabulary

Supplementary Readings:

·       “Tama Belief and Practice in Ancient Japan” by Gary L. Ebersole from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch.13 [11 pp]. http://media.smith.edu/media/courses/rel1270/

]            Developments in the concept of the Buddha

o      Tales of the Buddha's past lives: “The Goat Who Laughed and Cried” [1];

o      Tales of the Buddha's past lives: "Vesantara" [4];

o      The bodhisattva ideal: Shantideva on the Bodhisattva’s career [6];

o      "Bodhicitta and Enlightenment" by the Dalai Lama [1];

o      "What is a Boadisattva" by Kosho Uchiyama [1]

o      "Maitreya, The Future Buddha" [2]

o      The Lotus Sutra: “The Immeasurable Lifespan of the Buddha” [1];

o      The Lotus Sutra: “Skillful Means”

o      Visions of Buddha: Williams, “Faith and Devotion: The Cult of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas” [5];

o      "A Footprint on the Shore" (Visions of Kuan-yin) by Sandra Boucher

o      “Amida Buddha” by Tetsuo Unno [2];

o      Buddha-Nature (various readings from Radiant Mind) [8].

Supplementary Readings:

·        A Sketch of the Buddha's Life: Readings from the Pali Canon from Access to Insight

Practices of the sangha

]     Joining the order: conversion and ordination

o      "The Household Life" and ""A Progressive Talk" [1];

o      "Tales of Conversion" [2] from Strong, The Experience of Buddhism

o      Sujata, the first laywoman [2]; from Strong, The Experience of Buddhism

o      "On the Duties of Bhikkhunis" (Accepting women into the monastic community) [3] from Vinaya Texts;

o      Various poems from the early Buddhist nuns [4];

 Monday, October 3: Practices of the sangha, cont.

  Readings [27 pp]:

]     Monastic practices: the Vinaya (monastic precepts)

o      The Pratimoksha: Recitation of the Rules [2]

o      "The Ongoing Interpretatoin of the Rules" (Thanisarro Bhikkhu on killing) [4]

o      The Vinaya on shoes [2] and the Vinaya on meat-eating [1];

o      Walls Make Good Neighbors (The Big Fat Pumpkin Nun) [1];

]              Monastic practices: liturgy, contemplation, analysis

o      The Seven-limbed Puja [4];

o      Metta Sutta [1];

o      “Metta Practice” by Sharon Salzberg [2];

o      The benefits of metta: Good Will;

o      Vipasanna Meditation by Bhante Gunaratna [6];

o      The Foundations of Mindfulness by Stepen Batchelor [3];

Readings [45 pp]: 

]     Japanese Culture, ch. 2 [28 pp];

]     Buddhist Spirituality, ch. 19.1 “The Birth of Japanese Buddhism” by Hanayama Shinshō and Hanayama Shōyū [7 pp];

]     The Founding of the Gango-ji Monastery trans. Hubbard, Tyler, Swanson [6 pp];

]     “Harmony between the Buddhist Pantheon and Shinto Kami” from Byron Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: Sources and Interpretations [4 pp].

]     Vocabulary

Readings [21 pp]:  

]         Buddhist Spirituality, chs. 19.2  “The Impact of Buddhism in the Nara Period” by Thomas P. Kasulis [11 pp]

Readings [40 pp]: 

]    Japanese Culture ch. 3, pp. 44-55 [11 pp];

]    Buddhist Spirituality, ch. 20.2, “Kūkai” by Paul B. Watt [11 pp];

]    “Ajikan: Ritual and Meditation in the Shingon Tradition” by Richard Payne [18 pp].

]    Vocabulary

  Supplementary Readings:

·        Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, ch. 2, pp. 59-85 [26 pp];

·        “A View of Temple Life and Practice” by James Bissett Pratt [9 pp];

·        “A Morning Star Meditation” by Taiko Yamasaki [10 pp].

         Supplementary Readings:

·       “Symbol and Yūgen: Shunzei’s Use of Tendai Buddhism” by William LaFleur from The Karma of Words [24 pp];

·       The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei, Part 1; Part 2; Part 3 (excerpts) by John Stevens

·       “The Lotus Sutra and Politics in the Mid-Heian Period” from The Lotus Sutra and Japanese Culture by Neil McMullin [26 pp].

**MID-SEMESTER EXAM**

Readings [ 82 pp]: 

]     Japanese Culture ch. 3, pp. 55-71 [16 pp];

]     “Religion” and “Superstitions” from The World of the Shining Prince by Ivan Morris [52 pp].

]     from The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, various Heian poetry [5 pp];

]     “Genshin's Deathbed Nembutsu Ritual in Pure Land Buddhism” by James C. Dobbins from  Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 16 [9 pp];

]     Vocabulary

Supplementary Readings:

·       Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, ch. 2, pp. 48-59 [11 pp];

·       “Is Poetry a Sin?” by H. Plutschow [18 pp]

·       “Feminine Sensibility in the Heian Era” by Donald Keene [9 pp].

Wednesday, October 26: Collapse of Heian: Buddhist military power; mappō thought; yūgen, the aesthetic of the mysterious plenitude.

Readings [34 pp]:

]     Japanese Culture ch. 4; Ch. 5, pp. 83-93 [10 pp].

]     Buddhist Spirituality, ch. 20.3, “Heian Foundation of Kamakura Buddhism” by David Lion Gardiner [13 pp]; 

]     Mappō from the Encyclopedia of Religion [3 pp];

]     Mappō Tōmyoki trans. by Robert Rhodes [4 pp]

selections from Tale of the Heike, Account of My Hut and Saigyō [4 pp];

Supplementary Readings:

·  Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, ch. 3, pp. 86-100 [14 pp];

·  “Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age” Part I by Jackie Stone [28 pp];

·  “Chōmei as Hermit: Vimalakīrti in the Hōjō-ki” by William LaFleur in The Karma of Words [9 pp];

Monday, October 31:

Challenges to the establishment: Hōnen, Ippen, and the Pure Land movement

Readings [35 pp]:

]     Buddhist Spirituality, ch. 21.1, “Early Pure Land Leaders” by Tamaru Noriyoshi [12 pp];

]     Buddhist Spirituality, ch. 21.2, “Hōnen’s Spiritual Legacy” by Fujimoto Kiyohiko [9 pp];

]     “The Illustrated Biography of Ippen” by Dennis Hirota from Buddhism in Practice [14 pp].

]     Vocabulary

Supplementary Readings:

·       “A Personal Account of the Life of the Venerable Genkū” by Allan Andrews from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 35 [13 pp]

Wednesday, November 2: Shinran’s teaching of pure faith

Readings [44 pp]: 

]     Buddhist Spirituality, ch. 21.3, “Shinran’s Way” by Alfred Bloom [17 pp];

]     Unno, trans., Tannisho [6 pp];

]     “Great Practice and Deep Hearing” by Taitetsu Unno from Shin Buddhism: Bits of RubbleTurn into Gold [9 pp];

]     “Progressive Stages of Deep Hearing” by Taitetsu Unno from Shin Buddhism: Bits of RubbleTurn into Gold [6 pp]

]     “The Buddhist Temple as a Center of Devotion” from Byron Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: Sources and Interpretations [6 pp].

Supplementary Readings:

·       Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, ch. 3, pp. 109-118 [9 pp];

·       “On Attaining the Settled Mind: The Condition of the Nembutsu Practitioner” by Dennis Hirota from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 25 [10 pp];

·       “Shinran's Faith as Immediate Fulfillment in Pure Land Buddhism” by James C. Dobbins from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 27 [11 pp].

Monday, November 7:  Nichren: An evangelist for the end of time

Go-Honzon

Nichren going into exile by Kuniyoshi

Supplementary Readings:

·       Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, ch. 3, pp. 118-122 [4 pp];

·        “A Tale of Two Times: Preaching in the Latter Days of the Dharma” by Jamie Hubbard [24 pp]

·       “Rising from the Lotus: Two Bodhisattvas from the Lotus Sutra as a psychodynamic paradigm for Nichiren” by Paul D. Jaffe, from JJRS 13/1 [20 pp];

·       “Chanting the August Title of the Lotus Sutra” by Jackie Stone [42 pp];

·       “Rebuking the enemies of the Lotus: Nichirenist exclusivism in historical perspective” by Jackie Stone [29 pp];

·       “Sanctuary”, “What A Person who chants Odaimoku should bear in Mind”, and “Enter into the Relieving Power of the Profound Dharma,” by Nichidatsu Fujii [6 pp].

     Bodhidharma

Readings [42 pp]:

]     Japanese Culture, ch. 5, pp. 93-100 [7 pp]

]     Buddhist Spirituality, chs. 23.1, “[Zen:] A Historical Sketch” by Philip Yampolsky [18 pp];

]     “Eisai's Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country” by Albert Welter from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 4 [7 pp]

]     Ten Ox Herding Pictures.

]      Vocabulary

Supplementary Readings:

·       Review of Brian Victoria, Zen at War [3 pp];

·       “The Zen Institution in Modern Japan” by T. Griffith Foulk [20 pp]

·       “Kokan Shiren's Zen Precept Procedures” by William M. Bodiford from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 8 [10 pp];

·       Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, ch. 3 122-126 [4 pp]];

v    A Sanskrit New Age Heart Sutra

Monday, November 14: Dōgen’s “just sitting”

Readings [31 pp]:

]     Buddhist Spirituality 23.2, “Dōgen” by Tsuchida Tomoaki [7 pp];

]     Dōgen’s Instructions to the Cook trans. T. Griffith Foulk [18 pp];

]     readings from Dogen (from Sources of Japanese Tradition) [6 pp].

Video: Principles and Practice of Zen

Supplementary Readings:

·                 Buddhist Spirituality, 15.3, “Ch’an Spirituality” by Thomas P. Kasulis [12 pp];

·                 “Dōgen’s Lancet of Seated Meditation” by Carl Bielefeldt from Religions of Japan in Practice Ch. 22 [9 pp];

·                 Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, ch. 3 126-130 [4 pp];

·                 “The Meaning of `Zen’” by Matsumoto Shirō [9 pp];

·                  “Sōtō Zen Nuns in Modern Japan” by Paula Arai [17 pp],

·                 Another Heart Sutra Chant

Wednesday, November 16: To be a Zen Monk

Guest Speaker: Catherine Anraku Hondorp, Zen Center on Main Street

 Review the readings for April 7 and April 9.

Issho Fujita with Smith College Students

Readings [60 pp]:

]     Japanese Culture, ch. 5, pp. 100-123 [23 pp];

]     Yamamba, translated by Royall Tyler [19 pp];

]     “`The Path of My Mountain': Buddhism in Nō – part 1” and Part 2 by Royall Tyler [18 pp].

]     Video: Yamamba

]     Vocabulary

Supplementary Readings:

·       “Zeami on the art of the Nō Drama: Imitation, Yugen, and Sublimity” by Makoto Ueda [15 pp];

Readings [49 pp]: 

]    Japanese Culture, Ch. 6 [22 pp];

]    “Bushidō: Mode or Ethic?” by Roger Ames [16 pp];

]    “The Relation of Ethics to Budō and Bushidō in Japan” by Uzawa Yoshiyuki [10 pp].

]    “Kiyota lives philosophy of peace” [1 page]

v    Vocabulary

Supplementary Readings:

·        “Spontanteity in Western Martial Arts: A Critique of Mushin (No-Mind)” by John P. Keenan (JJRS 16.4) [13 pp].

·       Buddhist Spirituality 23.3, “Three Zen Thinkers” by Minamoto Ryōen [16 pp];

Guest Speaker: Jeff Brooks, Northampton Karate Dojo & Northampton Zendo

Readings [35 pp]:

·         The Rhinoceros Tale, by Jeffrey M. Brooks (selections)

Readings [47 pp]:

]    Japanese Aesthetics, Wabi-Sabi, and the Tea Ceremony

]    “The One-Page Testament of Rikyū,” from Wind in the Pines [4 pp];

]    “Pointing to the Moon: Sōtan’s Anecdotes of Rikyū’s Tea,” from Wind in the Pines [14 pp];

]    “The Zen Tea Record,” from Wind in the Pines [25 pp];

]    “Social and Aesthetic Expressions of Religion: The Art of Tea” from Byron Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: Sources and Interpretations [4 pp].

]    Vocabulary

Supplementary Readings:

·       “The Wabi Aesthetic Through the Ages—Part 1,” and Part 2 by Haga Koshiro [34 pp].

·       Wabi-sabi in Wikipedia

Readings:

]    Religious Content in Haiku from Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience

]    “Bashō on the Art of the Haiku: Impersonality in Poetry” by Ueda Makoto [24 pp].

]    "The Role of Nature in Zen Buddhism" by D. T. Suzuki

]    The Narrow Road to the Deep North – an excellent website for everything Basho, including translations, original Japanese, discussions, and images—browse through the text, pick one poem and be prepared to discuss it in class.

Sengai