Pure Land was one of the main fields of mythopoesis and discourse among the Asian Buddhist traditions, and in Japan of central cultural importance from the Heian period right up to the present. However, its range, inconsistency, variability, and complexity have tended to be misevaluated. The pieces reproduced in this set, organized both chronologically and thematically, have been chosen as linchpin works accentuating the diversity of what evolved under this heading of Buddhism. Special attention is given to the traps into which Western observers may fall, the role of the large True Pure Land (Jōdoshinshū) school, and the richness of Tokugawa and twentieth-century developments. These selections of previously published articles will serve as an essential starting point for anyone interested in this perhaps underestimated area of Buddhist studies.
目次
Part 8 Meiji and Modernity: Political Resettlement and Realignment, Moments of Intellectual Hybridization, Emigration, Collaboration, Postwar Progressivism, Lingering Conservatism
Shin Buddhism in the Meiji Period 805–874 Against Buddhist Unity: Murakami Senshō and His Sectarian Critics 875–907 The Honganji: Guardian of the State (1868–1945) 908–930 Shinran’s Thought in Present-Day Japan 931–953 Propagation, Accommodation and Negotiating Social Capital: Jōdo Shinshū Responses to Contemporary Crises 954–977 Family Temples and Religious Learning in Contemporary Japanese Buddhism 978–992 Shin Buddhist Studies and Secularization 993–1004 Amida and Pure Land within a Contemporary Worldview: From Shinran’s Literal Symbolism to Figurative Symbolism 1005–1032 The Medieval and the Modern in Shin Buddhism 1033–1081 Rethinking Acculturation in the Postmodern World 1082–1088 Nenbutsu and Meditation: Problems with the Categories of Contemplation, Devotion, Meditation, and Faith 1089–1102
