Twelfth Reading Assignment

Group 1
1: What became important in the royal court of Japan in the Early Medieval Buddhist period
and how do we know about it?
Noble families trying to acquire diverse rituals, ceremonial knowledge, and Buddhist rites. We
know this as Sovereigns (tennō) and Fujiwara nobles alike began to write journals (nikki) and
their families began to compile ritual protocols into personal journals.

3: What is the meaning of “aristocratic cloisters” and what do they tell us about Buddhism in
the Early Medieval Buddhist period?
The monastic halls that Jinzen and other sons of noble or royal background controlled in the
major temples would become referred to as monzeki, which can be translated as “aristocratic
cloisters”. Before any particular association with class, monzeki signified other important
monastic features. From the eleventh century onward, its meaning could have included a
Dharma lineage (hōryū) and the social body of believers who constituted such a lineage
(montei) and, from at least the Kamakura period, their particular hall of residence.

Group 2
9: What is the meaning of honji-suijaku? Please consult the following link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honji_suijaku
The term refers to a widely accepted theory until the Meji period according to which Indian
Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native kami to more easily convert and save the
Japanese. The theory states that some kami (but not all) are local manifestations of Buddhist deities.

10: Why is it that arts have always played an important role in Japanese Buddhist practices?
Arts have always played an important role in Japanese Buddhist practices. In particular, arts
seem to have thrived since they commonly represented, in one way or another, narratives or
images from Buddhist works. The seminal beginning of “preaching with pictures”, called e-toki,
seems to have been in 931 when the abbot of Jōganji explained the eight phases of the
historical Buddha’s life to the prince-diarist and his brother.

Group 3
12: What could a woman from the early medieval period say to challenge the idea that men
are essentially superior to women? In which Buddhist text could that woman justify her
argument?
In the Flower Garland Sutra text, women were more skilled and advanced bodhisattvas and
used different types of devices. The text compares these devices used by the greater
bodhisattva teachers to magical creations that display the wondrous quality of states of
bodhisattva realization while at the same time offering a representation of our world when
properly understood.
14: What was one of the motivations to integrate poetry into the practices of Buddhism?
Due to the perceived tension between the Buddhist imperative to cast off all attachments and
avoid falsity, on the one hand, and the seeming intoxication of those who made use of or found
beauty in the linguistic arts, on the other.

Group 4
16: What is usually understood by esoteric religions? Which Japanese tradition is the best
example of an esoteric religion?
Esoteric religions feature secret traditions that require an initiation to learn or understand. For
Japan, this would be the esoteric Buddhist lineages, which emphasized the importance of
initiation into and access to secret rituals and the related possession of ritual knowledge.

17: Which passages in the chapter lead us to believe that Shingon had close ties with the
centers of power?
The Shingon lineages, from a very early point, also had a special connection with the royal
line, a connection that was undoubtedly reflected in the fact that Tōji, their original
administrative center, was uniquely located within the capital of Heiankyō. Kūkai had also
managed to acquire permission for the establishment of a “Shingon Hall” (Shingon’in) within
the greater palace for the performance of the Latter Seven-Day rite every January, which was
likewise a unique development. No other major compound associated with a particular lineage
was located in either the capital or the palace

Group 5
22: Who was Hōnen and what did he realize?
Honen is seen by believers as having been the ancestral founder and inaugurator of Japan’s
Pure Land lineages (Jōdo shū). Hōnen realized that in his age the only available means to
salvation was the invocation of the Pure Land Buddha’s name, nenbutsu.

23: Shinran was a disciple of Hōnen, but he had a different interpretation of the nenbutsu.
What are this interpretation and its most important implication?
Shinran believed that the enunciated nenbutsu is Amida’s rather than the believer’s action, and
it is the faith instead of the nenbutsu that results in birth in the real Pure Land as opposed to an
expedient Pure Land.
Opinion question (15 points):
The development of Buddhism during the Early Medieval period seems to have been possible
because of an intimate connection between the centers of power and the religious institutions.
To some extent, we could say that the principle of separation between the State and the
Church, a principle that is at the heart of many modern countries, was not respected.

Based on the examples provided in the present reading, is it possible to argue favorably for
some kind of connections between secular and religious institutions?

Try to formulate your answer from a civilizational point of view, that is, by considering the
development of arts, science, social welfare, and culture in general.

The early medieval period of Buddhism in Japan lasted between 950 to 1300 A.D
marking the start of medieval society and related changes to Japanese Buddhist culture. During
this time Buddhism had started to play a bigger role in society and Japanese civilization as
Japanese noble houses started to make effort to acquire knowledge of traditions, rituals, and
Buddhist rites.

Buddhism held great influence on the people of Japan as well as on the way the country
would be led going forward. Buddhist institutions became tightly integrated into the Japanese
state and thus became a driving force behind changes happening in Japanese society and
culture. While I do argue that religion should be separated from the state because its ability to
intertwine with the culture and identity of a nation can become a dangerous tool to make the
people follow just as history had showed us. Despite that, religious institutions are not to blame
for that but rather the corrupt leaders within these institutions. As we have seen in the text,
religion can have a positive effect even if it is not secular. Throughout history, religion was
leading the efforts in developing society and statesmanship, creating different arts, and shaping
the culture as a whole. This can be seen in almost every culture and society we have today and
despite most of them being secular, the religious influence can still be felt. Religious institutions
are the most responsible for preserving culture and traditions during wartime and foreign
occupation as such was the case in Croatia during its war with the Ottoman Empire.

I believe that it is the leadership that makes the difference in having the state be secular
or connected to a religious institution. Bein non-secular does not inherently mean bad but how
the leadership utilizes these institutions and their influence on the people makes the difference.