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Book Reviews: Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism By Jacqueline Ilyse Stone |
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| Author |
Payne, Richard (著)
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| Source |
H-Net Reviews in the Humanities & Social Sciences
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| Date | 2003.12 |
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| Publisher | H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine |
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| Publisher Url |
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/
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| Location | East Lansing, MI, US [東蘭辛, 密歇根州, 美國] |
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| Content type | 期刊論文=Journal Article; 書評=Book Review |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Keyword | 鎌倉佛教=Kamakura Buddhism; 日本佛教史=Japanese Buddhist History |
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| Abstract | Jacqueline Stone's Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism is not simply a benchmark of scholarly excellence, but also firmly establishes the approach to the study of medieval Japanese Buddhism found in her previous work on the doctrine of mappou. There she examined how the idea of the decay of the dharma was understood and used by several different Kamakura-era figures--Hounen, Shinran, Dougen, and Nichiren. Here her topic is the doctrine of original enlightenment (hongaku).
The doctrine of original enlightenment has received a great deal of attention in the recent past because of the criticism of modern Japanese Buddhism by Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shirou, which has largely circled around the idea of original enlightenment. In turn, this criticism has stimulated additional scholarship in both Japan and the West. Stone, however, looks at what original enlightenment actually meant in the Kamakura era.
【frame】
The work is organized into three sections:
The first of these, "Perspectives and Problems," sets out the issues involved.
The second section, "The World of Medieval Tendai," comprises three chapters.
Part 3 focuses specifically on an examination of "Nichiren and His Successors".
【conclusion】
In conclusion, I would like to discuss some of the ways in which this work has been valuable in graduate-level education in Japanese Buddhism.
First, Stone's work is very thoroughly and coherently organized. Were this not the case, the detailed level of discussion--one of the work's values--might lead the reader to lose the overall thread of the argument. Stone, however, regularly summarizes where we have been and lays out where we are going. This models for students a way of presenting their own work.
Second, the approach--examining how a doctrine permeated the entirety of Kamakura Buddhisms--provides a way of thinking outside the formulaic summaries which seem to characterize not only textbook presentations of Japanese Buddhism (Dougen equals shikan taza; Nichiren equals daimoku recitation) but also much of contemporary humanities education (Descartes equals cogito ergo sum; Darwin equals evolution).
Third, examining the patterns of cross-fertilization, including how individuals studied a variety of different traditions, helps to loosen the sectarian historiography which is another of the main ways in which the study of Japanese Buddhism has been structured. Similarly, understanding how institutional organization was based on lineages of master-disciple relations, rather than the sects and their unique doctrinal claims--more familiar from contemporary presentations--facilitates students' abilities to think about institutional structures. This is similar to the way in which William Bodiford's Soutou Zen in Medieval Japan (1993) can be employed to introduce students to the issues of institutional history.
Fourth, Stone's emphasis on the difference between medieval original enlightenment doctrine and practice, and the interpretive, academic category, assists students to reflect critically on the construction of the field of study, whether conceived of as Buddhist studies or Japanese religions.
Stone's work is also important because it both examines medieval sources and introduces us to the works of many contemporary Japanese scholars. Her summaries of their works open up an important world of research and study. The value of Stone's contribution to the study of religion generally, as well as Japanese Buddhism specifically, has been recognized by the American Academy of Religion, which in 2001 awarded her the Historical Studies Book Award.
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| ISSN | 15380661 (E) |
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| Hits | 373 |
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| Created date | 2004.10.01 |
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| Modified date | 2022.04.07 |
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