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Dharma Possession: Daishi Myōjin and the Roles of Gods and Past Masters in the Preservation of Teachings at Premodern Kōyasan
Author Tinsley, Elizabeth Noelle (撰)
Date2019
Pages417
PublisherColumbia University
Publisher Url https://www.columbia.edu/
LocationNew York, NY, US [紐約, 紐約州, 美國]
Content type博碩士論文=Thesis and Dissertation
Language英文=English
Degreedoctor
InstitutionColumbia University
DepartmentReligion
AdvisorComo, Michael I.
Publication year2019
KeywordHistory; Buddhism – Study and teaching; Buddhism – Doctrines
AbstractThis dissertation is about the preservation of Buddhist teachings by means of seemingly unconventional methods. When lineages and factions competed for authority and for teachings that were believed to be in danger of being corrupted, or lost altogether, scholar monks of the Chūin-ryū lineage at Kōyasan restored, reinstated, and redelivered certain teachings through oracles given by the mountain gods, through paintings and their inscriptions, and through rituals.

In the first part of the dissertation I examine the Chūin-ryū and its connection to the role of leadership of the mountain-based community, and an oracular possession that functioned to transmit teachings from a hitherto obscure god named Daishi Myōjin. The background to this was extreme violence between two major factions in the community, and the subsequent exiles of some of the participants, which exacerbated—or perhaps provided a reason for—concerns about the decline of the lineage and even the entire community through the loss, via both corruption of teachings and exile of teachers, of embodied teachings. In the second part I examine paintings that I suggest were produced by the Chūin-ryū and involved important Chūin-ryū scholar monks who strove to restore scholarship after the exiles had exerted a damaging effect on the institutions of education. The paintings are linked to the oracle examined in the previous section and they, as well as those figures to which the paintings and inscriptions on them are linked, are connected to debate and mondō ceremonies, and to the kami worship rites they involved. I then move into an examination of Daishi Myōjin and its character as an amalgamate deity comprised of patriarchs and kami, appropriate as both the ultimate authority in teaching, and as arbiter of justice. Furthermore, this deity seems to have been appropriated and defined by the Chūin-ryū. It was of great use at a time when they sought control of the community and consolidation of their position, via knowledge transmission, worship, and punishment, for Daishi Myōjin performed all these functions. I then examine scholarship at Kōyasan, and the most prominent debates from the Kamakura to the Muromachi periods, noting that the development of the kami iconography seems to have been related to that of scholarly institutions. Finally, I look at the scholarship-related ceremonies and related rituals and discern that they involve considerable “re-enactments” of events and encounters that were important to the Chūin-ryū and to their authority as prime lineage at Kōyasan.
Table of contentsList of Figures iv
List of Abbreviations vii
Textual Conventions viii
Acknowledgements ix

Introduction: Beyond the Mountain: Monograph, Monolith 1
Overview of Chapters 28

Chapter 1
Early Medieval Kōyasan, Site of Esoteric Shingon Buddhism in Japan: A General Summary 37
Site structure, and the expansions of territory and faith 41
Power configuration and conflict at Kōyasan in the early medieval period 50
Kōyasan’s Kamakura period kami, and the use of foundation documents 55

Chapter 2
Administrating in His Absence: The Chūin-ryū in the Institutional History of Kōyasan 63
Lineage-making and legitimacy 67
The Chūin-ryū at Kōyasan 85
The Kengyō role, the Chūin-ryū monopoly, and closeness to the founder 92
On Henmyō’in and its connection with Chūin 97

Chapter 3
“Homesick Spirits”: Exile, Soul-summoning, and the Retention of Embodied Teachings in Takusenki 104
The section “On the Disturbance Between the Two Temples” in Takusenki 111
From Arson to Aizen (or from 『焚戦記』to『託宣記』 ): The Takusenki account of the 1242-43 incident 119
Disembodied teachings: On authorship, date, and function 146

Chapter 4
The Oracle at Henmyō’in 158 The history and procedures of oracular possession in Buddhism in Japan 158
The chigo’s possession at Henmyō’in 176
The connections of the Henmyō’in oracle and its text to the Chūin-ryū 181

Chapter 5
The Kongōbuji Kami Mandala: Paintings of Kami, the Discourse of Decline, and the Legitimation of the Chūin-ryū Lineage 196
Narrative sources 201
The Kariba inscriptions: The absent patriarch, revival, and protection 220
The Niu inscriptions: On remaining at Kōyasan, and reaching the Pure Land of Maitreya 231

Chapter 6
Reading “Daishi Myōjin”: Kōbō Daishi as Patriarch, Buddha, and Kami 250
The apotheosis of the founder and the Pure Lands of Kōyasan 252
Neglect of the subject 260 Daishi Myōjin in contractual vows and curses 262
The development of Daishi Myōjin 271
Vocal patterns: Daishi Myōjin in the world of chanting 280

Chapter 7
Something Seen in a Dream: Conversations with Kami as Preparations for Mondō and Debates 285
The offering of knowledge: The history of doctrinal debates in Japan 285
Kōyasan’s monastic education and debate system 291
The Rissei Rongi debate 301

Chapter 8
The Visual Culture of Scholarly Rites and Ceremonies 326
Mystical perception and scholarly virtue: production of “Yōgō” Myōjin 327
Painting for the Chigo Mondō-kō 338
Paintings as providers of living encounters 345
A visual genealogy: The significance of the Chūin-ryu figures found in paintings 362
Postscript: Fudō Myōō, the Gohonjiku Mandala, and Henmyō’in 366

Conclusion 372
Figures 376
Bibliography 390
Appendix 415
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7916/d8-z3nf-z032
Hits453
Created date2021.12.11
Modified date2022.04.07



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