Interpretations of the Lotus Sūtra in Heian Period Culture

William E. Deal
Case Western Reserve University
 

Lecture Topics and Readings

Lecture: Buddhism in Heian Period Japanese Culture

Readings

• Joseph M. Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1966), pp. 46-85.

• Conrad Totman, Japan Before Perry: A Short History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), pp. 18-69.

• William E. Deal, "Ascetics, Aristocrats, and the Lotus Sūtra: The Construction of the Buddhist Universe in Eleventh Century Japan." (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1988), pp. 24-31; 32-39; 166-171; 180-185.

Discussion Questions

• What was the importance and significance of the Lotus Sūtra in Heian period Japan?

• What was the relationship between Lotus Sūtra rituals and the desire for birth in the Pure Land?

• What conception of the worldview of Heian Buddhists emerges from your reading?

• What were the primary religious practices in the Heian period?

• Was Heian society unified in thought and action around a central power, or did competing factions exist?

Lecture: The Lotus Sūtra in Heian Aristocratic Society: Eiga monogatari

Readings

• William H. and Helen Craig McCullough, trans. A Tale of Flowering Fortunes: Annals of Japanese Aristocratic Life in the Heian Period, Vol. 2 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), pp. 493-516, and additional excerpts from Volume 2.

• William E. Deal, "Ascetics, Aristocrats, and the Lotus Sūtra: The Construction of the Buddhist Universe in Eleventh Century Japan." (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1988), pp. 147-152; 157-165; 186-207.

Discussion Questions

• Why does the Eiga monogatari compare Fujiwara no Michinaga to the Buddha depicted in the Lotus Sūtra?

• Which Lotus Sūtra rituals are important in the Eiga monogatari? Why?

• How do the aristocrats understand and use the Lotus Sūtra?

• It has been argued that chapter 15 of the Eiga monogatari is meant to parallel chapter 15 of the Lotus Sūtra. What, if any, are the similarities, either in content or structure, between these two chapters?

• What, if any, are the political and social consequences of the aristocratic interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra?

Lecture: Lotus Sūtra Art and Ritual in Heian Japan

Readings

• MIYA Tsugio, "Pictorial Art of the Lotus Sūtra in Japan." In The Lotus Sūtra in Japanese Culture. Ed. by George J. Tanabe, Jr., and Willa Jane Tanabe (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989), pp. 75-94.

• Willa Jane Tanabe, "The Lotus Lectures: Hokke Hakkō in the Heian Period." Monumenta Nipponica. Vol. 39, No. 4 (Winter 1984), pp. 393-407.

Discussion Questions

• Why were Lotus Sūtra images and concepts depicted in art?

• Which Lotus Sūtra themes were depicted in art?

• What is the ritual significance of Lotus Sūtra art?

• What is the ritual significance of the Lotus lectures?

• Who promoted Lotus lectures? What was their purpose?

Lecture: Heian Devotional poetry and the Lotus Sūtra: Hosshin wakashū)

Readings

• Edward Kamens, The Buddhist Poetry of the Great Kamo Priestess: Daisaiin Senshi and Hosshin Wakashū) (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, Number 5. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1990), entire.

Discussion Questions

• What is the connection between Lotus Sūtra devotional poetry and ritual?

• How would you explain Senshi's understanding of the Lotus Sūtra?

• Why did she write these poems?

• What, if any, are the political and social consequences of Senshi's interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra?

Lecture: Lotus Sūtra Ascetics: Hokke genki

Readings

• Yoshiko K. Dykstra, trans., Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sūtra from Ancient Japan: The Dainihonkoku Hokekyōkenki of Priest Chingen (Osaka: Intercultural Research Institute, Kansai University of Foreign Studies, 1983), pp. 22-23; 36-51.

• William E. Deal, "Ascetics, Aristocrats, and the Lotus Sūtra: The Construction of the Buddhist Universe in Eleventh Century Japan." (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1988), pp. 40-57.

Discussion Questions

• Why does the Hokke genki compare ascetics to bodhisattvas depicted in the Lotus Sūtra?

• Which Lotus Sūtra rituals are important in the Hokke genki? Why?

• How do the ascetics understand and use the Lotus Sūtra?

• Which chapters from the Lotus Sūtra does the Hokke genki most often cite? Why?

• What, if any, are the political and social consequences of the Hokke genki's interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra?

Term Paper Topics

1) Compare and contrast the understanding and use of the concept of "expedient means" (Skt. upāya; J. hōben) by Heian period aristocrats and ascetics. How were their views different? To what issues and problems was the concept applied?

2) In Heian Japan, Lotus Sūtra rituals were important expressions of faith in the power of this scripture. Explain the significance of these rituals and the different ways they were understood and used by aristocrats and ascetics.

3) Heian aristocrats were opulent supporters of Buddhist rituals and institutions, and Buddhist concepts and sentiments were central to their lives. Yet modern scholars sometimes describe these aristocrats as insincere, accusing them of supporting Buddhism for worldly gain alone. Do you agree or disagree with this characterization of Heian aristocratic Buddhism? Did the aristocrats somehow violate the canons of Buddhism, or were the aristocrats legitimate Buddhists? What is a "proper" use of Buddhism and how would it be determined? What was the function of Buddhism in Heian culture?

4) The Hokke genki often draws analogies between ascetics and bodhisattvas depicted in the Lotus Sūtra. What is the significance of these analogies? Why are they made? Which bodhisattvas are most often referred to? Which characteristics are most often highlighted? Does the Hokke genki depict the function of bodhisattvas in the same way that the Lotus Sūtra does?

Suggested Additional Readings

The Lotus Sūtra in Heian Buddhism

Andrews, Allan A. The Teachings Essential for Rebirth: A Study of Genshin's ’jōyōshū). Tokyo: Sophia University, 1973.

Groner, Paul. Saichō: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School. Berkeley: Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series 7, 1984.

Inagaki, Hisao. A Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist Terms. 3rd ed. Kyoto: Nagata Bunshodo, 1988.

Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary. Tokyo: Daitō Shuppansha, 1979.

Kakao, Takashi, "The Lotus Sūtra in Japan," Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1984), pp. 132-137.

LaFleur, William R. The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

Matsunaga, Daigan and Alicia Matsunaga. Foundation of Japanese Buddhism. Volume 1: The Aristocratic Age. Los Angeles and Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1974.

McMullin, Neil. "The Lotus Sūtra and Politics in the Mid-Heian Period," in The Lotus Sūtra in Japanese Culture. Eds. George J. Tanabe, Jr. and Willa Jane Tanabe. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989, pp. 119-141.

Nichiren Shoshu International Center, ed. A Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and Concepts. Tokyo: Nichiren Shoshu International Center, 1983.

Reischauer, A.K. "Genshin's Ojo Yoshu: Collected Essays on Birth Into Paradise." Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Second Series, Vol. VII (1930), pp. 16-97.

Tanabe, George J., Jr., and Willa Jane Tanabe, eds. The Lotus Sūtra in Japanese Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989.

Visser, M.W. de. Ancient Buddhism in Japan. 2 volumes. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1935.

Lotus Sūtra Ascetics

Hori, Ichirō. Folk Religion in Japan: Continuity and Change. Edited by Joseph M. Kitagawa and Alan A. Miller. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.

Hori, Ichirō. "On the Concept of Hijiri (Holy-Man)," Numen. Vol. 5, No. 2 (April 1958) and Vol. 5, No. 3 (September 1958).

Nakamura, Kyoko Motomichi, trans. Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition: The Nihon ryōiki of the Monk Kyōkai. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973.

The Lotus Sūtra in Aristocratic Life

Kamens, Edward. The Three Jewels: A Study and Translation of Minamoto Tamenori's Sanbōe. Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, Number 2. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1988.

Kurata, Bunsaku and Yoshiro Tamura, eds. Art of the Lotus Sūtra: Japanese Masterpieces. Tokyo: Kōsei Publishing Co., 1987.

Morris, Ivan. The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964.

Tanabe, Willa Jane. Paintings of the Lotus Sūtra. Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1988.