Buddhism: Its Travels Through Asia

Book Report

Anthony Chambers, Tales of Moonlight and Rain

Yoshito S.Hakeda, Kkai: Major Works

Mack Horton, Traversing the Frontier: The Manysh Account of a

Japanese Mission to Silla

Inoue Yasushi. James T. Araki tr., The roof tile of Tempyo

Inoue Yasushi. Roger K. Thomas tr., Confucius

William Lafleur, The Karma of Words

Christopher Seeley. A History of Writing in Japan

Stefan Tanaka, Japans Orient

Your trip to Mars (by why did you
take Santa Claus?)

Image is from
the movie
Santa Claus
Conquers the
Martians
You nd out the Martians are very
religious (this has nothing to do with
Santa or decorating Orchard Road)
They worship the "Great Green
Blob"
The Great Green Blob is said to bring
health to those who worship, peace and
prosperity to nations of believers, and
eternal happiness to those who die in the
faith.
Many on your mission are convinced and
they return to Earth to make converts.
How Will Earthlings Understand This
New Religion?
Or
Buddha as the "Kami of a Foreign
Land"
The Case of Buddhism
From India to Japan
Changes
But this is built into some kinds of Buddhism
Lotus Sutra: Expedient Means
Buddhism
Religion and Philosophy
Arose around 2500 years ago
Siddhartha Gautama
Part of major religious movement
Reincarnation and Karma
Suering"
Enlightenment
-enlightened beings (Buddhas) pass into nirvana
Siddhartha Gautama not rst or last Buddha
The Buddha of our age
Four Noble Truths
1. Misery
2. Misery arises from within us from desire
3. Desire can be eliminated
4. By following the proper path
The Eight-fold Path
1. right views
2. right aspirations
3. right speech
4. right conduct
5. right livelihood
6. right eort
7. right mindfulness
8. right meditational attainment
More complex than this. For those of you who are
interested in Buddhism, I suggest "What the Buddha
Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts
from Suttas and Dhammapada" by Walpola Rahula
Buddhism in India
Spreads throughout North India
Becomes the religion of the great emperor Ashoka
(died 238 BCE)
Buddhism continues to develop, a leading religion
in India in the early centuries of the common era
Division between Theravada Buddhism and
Mahayana Buddhism
After Buddhism spreads to Northwest India, it
spreads to China via Central Asian trade routes
Arrives in China around the beginning of the
Common Era although there are also reports of
Buddhist there much earlier
Buddhism in China
Early Buddhism was oriented toward magic
-Very similar to popular Daoist religion
-A popular myth that Laozi had been reborn in India
as the Buddha
After Han period
-Monks used by rulers as counselors and for their
magical skills
-Buddhism becomes a part of the intellectual life of
the Chinese elite
-Translation of Buddhist sutras into Chinese
When the Sui re-unite China, Buddhism ourishes as a
state religion
Tang Dynasty is a golden age
-Tang emperors were usually Daoist but they
supported Buddhism
-Government extends control to monasteries and
ordination
-Scholars and monks travel to India, return with texts
and teachings which enrich Chinese Buddhism
845, the emperor Wuzong begins a persecution
4600 temples, 40,000 shrines destroyed. 260,500
monks and nuns forced to return to the laity.
Buddhism in Korea
Arrives in the 4th century CE, from China
Accepted rst at the courts (3 kingdoms), then
later by the common people
Flourishes after the Kingdom of Silla unies the
country in the 660's
Reaches its zenith in the Kory period (935-1392),
but at the end of this period, persecuted
Buddhism in Japan I
Arrives ocially in 538 or 552
But already present among immigrants

Originally understood as the "kami" of foreign lands

Kami = Shint deities (forces beyond human ken)

A key example of ltering the new through one's

own cultural matrix
Buddhism in Japan II
Politics and religion combined
Matsuri = religious rites (now festival)
Matsuri-goto (goto = thing) meant "politics" (now
use "seiji")

Emperor was a high priest, a sun-king, a rice-king

Buddhism intrudes, many uncomfortable

Early Buddhism
Becomes a technique of government
Prayer for the success of the state, emperor
Emperor combines power of Buddhism and Shint
in self
Things that Came with Buddhism
1. Monumental architecture
2. Medicine
3. Calendrical Sciences
4. Organized philosophical system
5. Writing
The Great Buddha of Nara

Vairochana
Amaterasu
By building this monstrosity, the Shmu Emperor
was proclaiming his right to rule:
Descendant of Amaterasu
Creator of Vairochana

Extremely hao lian!

At this point:

Buddhism for the upper classes

Emphasis on this world (statues of the "Medicine
Buddha" popular in Nara)
Some scholars such as Kkai

But not really a religion of the common people

Kamakura Buddhism I

Three main groups: Zen, Pure Land, Nichiren

Zen popular with samurai: meditation,

concentration = good preparation for killing people
Kamakura Buddhism II
Nichiren and Pure Land provide easy paths to
enlightenment
Call on the power of "other:" the Lotus Sutra, Amida
Buddha
Other power leads to enlightenment
Anyone can follow
Becomes main forms of Japanese Buddhism, even
until the present
The World View of Japanese Buddhism: Konjaku
Monogatari-sh I
Konjaku Monogatari-sh: Tales of Times Now Past
Each begins with "Ima ha Mukashi" (The time is
now the past)
Almost all end with "So the tale has been told and
so the tale has been handed down."
These are "genre markers": they prepare us for the
tale and tell us when it has ended
Konjaku Monogatari-sh II
Massive number of tales: more than 1000!
Author unknown but assuredly a learned monk
Probably written down before 1150
Forgotten for a while but gradually popularized
from 18th century onward
Inuential on 20th century artists such as
Akutagawa, Kurosawa
Konjaku Monogatari-sh III
5 volumes of tales in India (all related to
Buddhism)
5 volumes about China (4 about Buddhsim)
21 volumes about Japan (10 about Buddhism)
A few tales involve Korea
This is the "world" in Japan's 12th century:
geography is Buddhist geography!
History is Buddhist history!
Buddhism:
Binds cultures together from India to Japan
Shows how culture is borrowed (expedient means)
Provides a framework for understanding the
universe