The essays in this volume focus on the historical，institutional，and ritual context of a number of Japanese Buddhist paintings, sculptures, calligraphies, and relics--some celebrated，others long overlooked. Robert H. Sharf’s introduction examines the reasons for the marginalization of images by modern Buddhist apologists and Western scholars alike，tackling the thorny question of whether Buddhists were in fact idolators.
The essays by Paul Groner and Karen Brock document and explicate the crucial role that sacred images played in the lives of two eminent medieval clerics, Eison and Myoe. James Dobbins looks at Shin representations of Shinran，founder of the Shin school of Pure Land Buddhism，and finds that early Shin piety was centered as much on Shinran and his images as on the Buddha Amida himself. Robert H. Sharf’s essay on the use of Tantric mandalas reveals that，contrary to received opinion，such mandalas were not used as aids to ritual visualization but rather as vivified entities whose presence ensured the efficacy of the rite.
In each case，the authors find that the images were treated，by elite monks and unlettered laypersons alike，as living presences with considerable apotropaic and salvific power，and that Japanese Buddhist monastic life was centered around the management and veneration of these numinous beings.
This collection of four essays offers case studies of the use of images in Japanese Buddhism. The word "icon" is employed consciously; in his lengthy introduction Robert Sharf (Buddhist studies, U. of Michigan) stresses the power these images had and still have for believers and the tendency of scholars of both religion and art history to underplay their power. The individual topics examine the use of portraits of Shinran in medieval Pure Land Buddhism，Myoe's vision of the Kasuga deity，the use of icons and relics by Eison，and mandalas in Shingon Buddhism.
