The culture of secrecy in Japanese religion / edited by Bernhard Scheid and Mark Teeuwen.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Scheid, Bernhard, 1960-

Teeuwen, Mark.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secrecy--Religious aspects.

Secrecy.

Secrecy--Japan.

Tantric Buddhism.

History.

Japan--Civilization--Buddhist influences.

Japan.

Civilization.

Secrecy--Religious aspects--Tantric Buddhism.

Tantric Buddhism--Japan--History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 397 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2006.

Summary:

The Japanese Middle Ages were a period when secrecy dominated many forms of religious practice. This fascinating collection traces the secret characteristics and practices in Japanese religion, while analyzing the rise and decline of religious esotericism in Japan. Esoteric Buddhism developed in almost all Buddhist countries of Asia, but it was of particular importance in Japan where its impact went far beyond the borders of Buddhism, also affecting Shinto as well as non-religious forms of discourse. During the Middle Ages, secret initiations became a favoured medium for the transmission of knowledge among Buddhist monks, Shinto priests, scholars, actors and artisans alike.

The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion looks at the impact of esoteric Buddhism on Japanese culture, and includes comparative chapters on India and China. Whilst concentrating on the Japanese medieval period, this book will give readers familiar with present-day Japan many explanations for the still visible remnants of Japan's medieval culture of secrecy. This compelling look at a largely undiscovered field of research successfully demystifies the study of esotericism and Tantrism, and will be essential reading for scholars of East Asian Buddhism. Japanese religion and religious history.

Contents:

Introduction : Japan's medieval culture of secrecy / Mark Teeuwen

Secrets, secrecy, and the study of religion : comparative views from the ancient world / Albert de Jong

The Problem of secrecy in Indian Tantric Buddhism / Ronald M. Davidson

Myth and secrecy in Tang-period Tantric Buddhism / Martin Lehnert

Secrecy in Japanese esoteric Buddhism / Fabio Rambelli

Reconsidering the taxonomy of the esoteric : hermeneutical and ritual practices of the lotus sutra / Lucia Dolce

Knowing vs. owning a secret : secrecy in medieval Japan, as seen through the sokui kanjo enthronement unction / Mark Teeuwen

Secrecy, sex and apocrypha : remarks on some paradoxical phenomena / Nobumi Iyanaga

Esotericism in noh commentaries and plays : Konparu Zenchiku's Meishuku shu and Kakitsubata / Susan Blakeley Klein

The elephant in the room : the cult of secrecy in Japanese Tantrism / Bernard Faure

Myths, rites, and Icons : three views of a secret / Kadoya Atsushi

Two modes of secrecy in the Nihon shoki transmission / Bernhard Scheid

When secrecy ends : the Tokugawa reformation of Tendai Buddhism and its implications / William M. Bodiford

Hiding the shoguns : secrecy and the nature of political authority in Tokugawa Japan / Anne Walthall

"Esoteric" and "public" in the late Mito thought / Kate Wildman Nakai.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0415387132

9780415387132

OCLC:

63679956

Online:

Publisher description