Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism. Edited by Jacqueline I. Stone, and Mariko Namba Walter. . University of Hawai’i Press, 2008. 382 pages. $52.00.
摘要
Scholars suggest that Buddhism has dominated death-related rituals in Japan. Is it that simple? In understanding funeral rites in Japan, George Tanabe Jr. cites Itō Yuishin who notes that the mortuary system “did not arise from specific doctrines of Buddhism” (340). Then, from what did it arise? According to Tanabe Jr., “The source … is folk beliefs, which Buddhism had no choice but to accommodate for the sake of its survival” (340). With regard to the source of death-related ritual practices in Japan, we are here provided with at least two contenders—Buddhism and folk customs—bearing in mind that Buddhism's involvement in death rituals had to do with its strategy of survival rather than with its teachings or doctrine.
On the other hand, Mariko Walter tries to identify “a pattern in funerary ritual common to most Buddhist funerals across sectarian traditions” (261), although she is careful to remind us that “the structure and meaning of Japanese Buddhist funerals cannot be comprehended if one ignores the nature of the ‘spirit’ in Japanese beliefs” (274). Nevertheless, Walter proceeds to pinpoint “a unified deep structure in Buddhist funerals across sectarian lines” (278), apparently on the premise that the nature of death-related rituals in Japan is basically Buddhist. For her, the key question should, therefore, involve the interactive dynamics of ritual performance (practice) and ideological domain (doctrine) within the bounds of Buddhism.
If we relate the ritual practices of death and the afterlife to the broader context of social agency and the environments beyond Buddhism (such as family life, social structure, governing system, etc.), the whole picture becomes much more complicated. Rituals for the dead are performed and consumed by the living who have their own needs and goals. How has this chain of actions, reactions, and interactions surrounding death evolved over time in Japan? Depending on …
