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The Discipline of Writing: Scribes and Purity in Eighth-Century Japan |
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| Author |
Lowe, Bryan D.
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| Source |
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies
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| Volume | v.39 n.2 |
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| Date | 2012 |
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| Pages | 201 - 239 |
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| Publisher | Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture=南山宗教文化研究所 |
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| Publisher Url |
http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/en/
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| Location | 名古屋, 日本 [Nagoya, Japan] |
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| Content type | 期刊論文=Journal Article |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Note | Bryan D. Lowe is Mellon assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Vanderbilt University. |
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| Keyword | purity; sutra copying; scribes; Nara Buddhism; state Buddhism; Shōsōin |
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| Abstract | This article focuses on ritualized scribal practices in eighth-century Japan. It uses colophons, scriptorium documents, and narrative tales to explore how
sutra copyists upheld vegetarian diets, performed ablutions, wore ritual garments, and avoided contact with pollutants stemming from death and illness.
Such practices, often described in terms of purity, spread widely on the Asian
continent in the seventh century and reached Japan by the eighth century.
This article argues that upholding purity was deeply connected to notions of
ritual efficacy but also enabled pious lay scribes to train for monastic careers.
The evidence is used to reassess historiographical debates on Nara Buddhism
with particular attention to the well-known “theory of state Buddhism” (kokka
Bukkyō ron).
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| Table of contents | Purity and Scripture Copying on the Continent 204
Defining Purity 207
On Pure Grounds: The Office of Sutra Transcription 209
Dietary Discipline 210
Washing Away Impurity 213
Pure Robes 215
Contact Pollution 216
Sexual Discipline 219
Beyond the Office of Sutra Transcription 221
Cultivating Purity 222
Conclusion 228 |
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| ISSN | 03041042 (P) |
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| Hits | 815 |
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| Created date | 2013.04.16 |
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| Modified date | 2017.09.14 |
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