Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism

Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism
Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages : 440
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780824832049
ISBN-13 : 0824832043
Rating : 4/5 (043 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism by : Jacqueline I. Stone

Download or read book Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism written by Jacqueline I. Stone and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2008-08-20 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than a thousand years, Buddhism has dominated Japanese death rituals and concepts of the afterlife. The nine essays in this volume, ranging chronologically from the tenth century to the present, bring to light both continuity and change in death practices over time. They also explore the interrelated issues of how Buddhist death rites have addressed individual concerns about the afterlife while also filling social and institutional needs and how Buddhist death-related practices have assimilated and refigured elements from other traditions, bringing together disparate, even conflicting, ideas about the dead, their postmortem fate, and what constitutes normative Buddhist practice. The idea that death, ritually managed, can mediate an escape from deluded rebirth is treated in the first two essays. Sarah Horton traces the development in Heian Japan (794–1185) of images depicting the Buddha Amida descending to welcome devotees at the moment of death, while Jacqueline Stone analyzes the crucial role of monks who attended the dying as religious guides. Even while stressing themes of impermanence and non-attachment, Buddhist death rites worked to encourage the maintenance of emotional bonds with the deceased and, in so doing, helped structure the social world of the living. This theme is explored in the next four essays. Brian Ruppert examines the roles of relic worship in strengthening family lineage and political power; Mark Blum investigates the controversial issue of religious suicide to rejoin one’s teacher in the Pure Land; and Hank Glassman analyzes how late medieval rites for women who died in pregnancy and childbirth both reflected and helped shape changing gender norms. The rise of standardized funerals in Japan’s early modern period forms the subject of the chapter by Duncan Williams, who shows how the Soto Zen sect took the lead in establishing itself in rural communities by incorporating local religious culture into its death rites. The final three chapters deal with contemporary funerary and mortuary practices and the controversies surrounding them. Mariko Walter uncovers a "deep structure" informing Japanese Buddhist funerals across sectarian lines—a structure whose meaning, she argues, persists despite competition from a thriving secular funeral industry. Stephen Covell examines debates over the practice of conferring posthumous Buddhist names on the deceased and the threat posed to traditional Buddhist temples by changing ideas about funerals and the afterlife. Finally, George Tanabe shows how contemporary Buddhist sectarian intellectuals attempt to resolve conflicts between normative doctrine and on-the-ground funerary practice, and concludes that human affection for the deceased will always win out over the demands of orthodoxy. Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism constitutes a major step toward understanding how Buddhism in Japan has forged and retained its hold on death-related thought and practice, providing one of the most detailed and comprehensive accounts of the topic to date. Contributors: Mark L. Blum, Stephen G. Covell, Hank Glassman, Sarah Johanna Horton, Brian O. Ruppert, Jacqueline I. Stone, George J. Tanabe, Jr., Mariko Namba Walter, Duncan Ryuken Williams.


Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism Related Books

Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism
Language: en
Pages: 440
Authors: Jacqueline I. Stone
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-08-20 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

For more than a thousand years, Buddhism has dominated Japanese death rituals and concepts of the afterlife. The nine essays in this volume, ranging chronologic
Breaking the Circle
Language: en
Pages: 212
Authors: Carl B. Becker
Categories: Family & Relationships
Type: BOOK - Published: 1993 - Publisher: SIU Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this much-needed examination of Buddhist views of death and the afterlife, Carl B. Becker bridges the gap between books on death in the West and books on Bud
The Buddhist Dead
Language: en
Pages: 506
Authors: Bryan J. Cuevas
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-01-01 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In its teachings, practices and institutions, Buddhism in its varied Asian forms is centrally concerned with death and the dead. This title offers a comparative
Bonds of the Dead
Language: en
Pages: 275
Authors: Mark Michael Rowe
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-09-30 - Publisher: University of Chicago Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Despite popular images of priests seeking enlightenment in snow-covered mountain temples, the central concern of Japanese Buddhism is death. For that reason, Ja
The Wiley Blackwell companion to East and inner Asian Buddhism
Language: en
Pages: 535
Authors: Mario Poceski
Categories: Buddhism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism combines outstanding contributions covering Buddhism as it developed and is practiced in this reg