RG ST 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Wu Xing, Madhyamaka, Lotus Sutra
Background
Shinto, the native religion of Japan, is not a system of doctrines
○
It is a set of practices to connect present-day Japan with its ancient past
Ceremonial and ritual practices that don't serve a strict religious
purpose
§
Just a way to affirm one's Japanese identity and membership to
Japanese society/community
§
○
Shinto is derived from the Chinese shendao, meaning "the way of the
gods"
○
In Japanese, kami-no-michi means "way of the kami"
○
•
Kami
Kami means gods, spirits, or deities, or beings who possess sacred power
Kami is any kind of a spiritual being
§
○
Shinto myths teach that Japan was once exclusively populated with kami
Myths teach that Japanese islands were born from the union of
kami, which means that the islands of Japan are divine gods
themselves
§
○
Early Japanese considered all nature to be imbued with "kami", from gods
in the heavens to spirits in nature (plants, mountains, lakes, etc.)
○
Shinto expresses religious sentiment about Japan's past
○
•
Ethnic Origins
Modern Japanese descendants of Korean, Mongolian, Malayan, and
aboriginal Ainu peoples
○
Ancestors arrived in the islands over time from Asian mainland and Pacific
Islands
○
Ancient Japan is a loose conjunction of independent tribes and clans
○
Each had its own tradition of nature and chieftain worship
○
•
Early Japanese Religion
Magic, taboo, and religion all combined in a manner typical of primitive
societies
○
Fox worshipped as gods' messenger; bows and arrows powerful fetish
amulets
Foxes (kitsune) and Weapons
Worshipped as kami, weapons have spirits and are regarded
as gods
□
If the gods are on your side, you will be successfully defended
by them
□
Foxes had the ability to "shapeshift" and become human
beings
□
Foxes were intermediary between spiritual and earthly worlds□
§
○
Attitude to death is a dread of pollution
○
When mourning period is over, whole family bathes and even abandons
the dwelling where the deceased had lived
○
•
Prehistoric Culture: Jomon
Jomon Period (1400 -300 BCE)
Aboriginal hunting and fishing society
§
Hunter gatherer society - no systematic agriculture
§
○
Pottery marked with cords - among the earliest in the world
○
Relics suggest burial and fertility rituals
○
By the end of Jomon, immigrants from Asia brought rice farming and
metallurgy
○
Elements of later Japanese society have origins in this era
EX: Marriage rites, architecture, lacquerware, Shinto myths, etc.
§
○
•
Prehistoric Culture: Yayoi
Yayoi Period shows advanced pottery techniques
○
Intensive cultivation of rice in irrigated paddy fields
○
Society became richer, more complex, and stratified
○
Clans fragmented and there was no central authority
○
•
Kofun Period
Tombs/burial mound (kofun) erected for dead of the ruling classes
○
Shinto culture
○
Rise of Yamato Clan - eventually established Imperial House of Japan
○
•
Yamato Ascendancy
3 main cultural areas
Kyushu Island: Tribal cults centered on sea gods, concerned with
fishing
§
Izumo: clans prayed to storm gods
§
Yamato: revered sun goddesses, regarded as the ruler of heaven
and ancestress to the chieftains
§
○
Indigenous Ainu peoples in north (Hokkaido)
○
Warfare between competing clans
○
In 4th century, Yamato prevailed over other clans and placed their
chieftain on imperial throne
○
Emperor identified as descendent of the Sun Goddess
Worshipping the sun
§
○
•
Chinese and Korean Influence
At this point, Shinto is primitive and formless tradition
○
It became a clear pattern of national culture only when exposed to
Chinese and Korean civilization
○
Transformed Japanese culture
○
Quick adoption of skills such as metal working, wood carving, farming,
road and bridge making, canal dredging, etc.
○
•
Chinese Inlfuence
Adopted Chinese written language
○
Adopted Confucian ideals, particularly "filial piety"
○
Shinto's loosely organized nature worship with ancestor worship
influenced
○
FINISH
○
•
Buddhist Influence
Buddhism arrives in Japan 6th century
○
More influential than Chinese culture
○
Brings new literature, art, rituals
○
Introduced outside world to Japanese
○
Leads to creation of imperial Shinto myths
○
•
Early Sacred Literature
Kojiki: Chronicle of Ancient Events
First book ever written in Japanese
§
Archaic
§
Written in Chinese first, influenced by Buddhism
§
○
Nihongi: Chronicle of Japan
More popular and accessible text
§
○
Texts indebted to external influences from China and Buddhism
○
Texts legitimate royal line by grounding authority in antiquity
○
•
Nihon Shoki (Heian Period)•
Shinto Myth
Imperial court wanted to formulate official version of Shinto folk
traditions
○
Balances Chinese and Korean influence with traditional Japanese customs
○
Weaves two elements into unified "Shinto Myth"
○
•
Primal Progenitors
Japanese islands were created by gods
○
Primacl chaos divides into heaven and ocean
○
Male and female gods Izanagi and Izanami "churn" the ocean to create
the main island
○
Izanami gives birth to 8 small islands and 35 deities
○
Last deity, heat god Kagu-Tsuchi fatally burns Izanami
○
Izanagi hacks Kagu-Tsuchi to pieces, which become gods
○
•
Izanagi and Izanami
Izanami dies and goes to underworld
○
Izanagi follows, but Izanami has started to decompose
○
She tells him not to look; when he does, she chases him
○
Izanagi takes a ritual bath to cleanse pollution
○
Sun Goddess Amaterasu born from his left eye
○
•
Amaterasu and Other Kami
Rules celestial plane
○
Sends grandson Ninigi to rule Japan
○
Yamato emperors claim direct descent from Amaterasu
○
Other clans claim descent from other Kami
○
•
Impact of China
Adoption of technologies such as metal working, wood carving, farming,
road and bridge making, canal dredging, etc.
○
Through Chinese texts, Japanese learn about a variety of concepts
Daoism
§
Yin Yang
§
Five elements
§
Confucian ethics, social and political theories, law and education
§
○
•
Impact of Buddhism
Intro of Buddhist art has major impact
○
No prior artistic images of kami in Japan
○
Image of the Buddha was controversial
○
Anti-Buddhist factions argues that "foreign" kami would offend "native"
kami
○
Powerful Soga clan built temple to enshrine buddhist images
○
Thanks to the Soga clan, other families began to accept Buddhism
○
Buddhist statues thought to have magic properties
○
Not much belief or interest in doctrine
○
Buddhas and bodhisattvas considered a new kind of kami
○
•
Political conflict between Soga and Mononobe
Mononobe = Japanese island roots, saw no gain from change
○
Soga = favored new change and technology, recent immigrants
○
•
Buddhism in the Nara and Heian
Buddhism fluorishes during the Nara and Heian periods
○
Japanese monks trave to china to study
○
Important lineages if Tendai and Shingon formed
○
Madhyamika, Mind-Only, Vinaya, Avatamsaka too
○
•
Nara and Heian Buddhism
Kukai aka Kobo-Daishi founds the esoteric school of Buddhism called
Shingon (Zhenyan, "True Word")
○
Emphasizes practices such as mantra and ritual
○
Saicho founds the Tendai School
○
Continues Chinese Tiantai school with Zen and esoteric influences
○
Emphasizes Lotus Sutra and "original enlightenment" (hongaku)
○
•
Kamakura Buddhism
In the Kamakura period, several new schools emerged
Pure Land
§
Nichiren
§
Zen
§
○
•
Kamakura Pure Land Buddhism
Honen founded the pure land school
○
Taught only chanting the name of Amida Buddha
○
Emphasizes the concept of "end times" (mappo)
○
•
Kamakura Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren founded the Lotus Sutra school
○
Promoted chanting and the veneration of the title of the Lotus Sutra
○
Calls for the establishment of a Buddhocracy
○
•
Kamakura Zen Buddhism
Other traditions focusing on sitting meditation (chan, zen) emerge
○
The monk Eisai traditionally held to have founded the Rinzai School
○
Dainichi Nonin starts Daruma Zen school independently -- seeks
certification from China later
○
Dogen founded the Soto School of Zen
○
•
Eisai
Started as a Tendai monk
○
Became dissatisfied and went to China to study
○
Became interested in Zen
○
Returned to Japan and formed the Rinzai School
○
•
Dogen
Started as a Tendai monk
○
Studied with Eisai and Myozen
○
Went to China at age 24 to study Zen
○
Returned and founded the Soto School
○
•
Lecture 18: Shinto -The Way of the Gods
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
11:06 AM
Background
Shinto, the native religion of Japan, is not a system of doctrines
○
It is a set of practices to connect present-day Japan with its ancient past
Ceremonial and ritual practices that don't serve a strict religious
purpose
§
Just a way to affirm one's Japanese identity and membership to
Japanese society/community
§
○
Shinto is derived from the Chinese shendao, meaning "the way of the
gods"
○
In Japanese, kami-no-michi means "way of the kami"
○
•
Kami
Kami means gods, spirits, or deities, or beings who possess sacred power
Kami is any kind of a spiritual being
§
○
Shinto myths teach that Japan was once exclusively populated with kami
Myths teach that Japanese islands were born from the union of
kami, which means that the islands of Japan are divine gods
themselves
§
○
Early Japanese considered all nature to be imbued with "kami", from gods
in the heavens to spirits in nature (plants, mountains, lakes, etc.)
○
Shinto expresses religious sentiment about Japan's past
○
•
Ethnic Origins
Modern Japanese descendants of Korean, Mongolian, Malayan, and
aboriginal Ainu peoples
○
Ancestors arrived in the islands over time from Asian mainland and Pacific
Islands
○
Ancient Japan is a loose conjunction of independent tribes and clans
○
Each had its own tradition of nature and chieftain worship
○
•
Early Japanese Religion
Magic, taboo, and religion all combined in a manner typical of primitive
societies
○
Fox worshipped as gods' messenger; bows and arrows powerful fetish
amulets
Foxes (kitsune) and Weapons
Worshipped as kami, weapons have spirits and are regarded
as gods
□
If the gods are on your side, you will be successfully defended
by them
□
Foxes had the ability to "shapeshift" and become human
beings
□
Foxes were intermediary between spiritual and earthly worlds
□
§
○
Attitude to death is a dread of pollution
○
When mourning period is over, whole family bathes and even abandons
the dwelling where the deceased had lived
○
•
Prehistoric Culture: Jomon
Jomon Period (1400 -300 BCE)
Aboriginal hunting and fishing society
§
Hunter gatherer society - no systematic agriculture
§
○
Pottery marked with cords - among the earliest in the world
○
Relics suggest burial and fertility rituals
○
By the end of Jomon, immigrants from Asia brought rice farming and
metallurgy
○
Elements of later Japanese society have origins in this era
EX: Marriage rites, architecture, lacquerware, Shinto myths, etc.
§
○
•
Prehistoric Culture: Yayoi
Yayoi Period shows advanced pottery techniques
○
Intensive cultivation of rice in irrigated paddy fields
○
Society became richer, more complex, and stratified
○
Clans fragmented and there was no central authority
○
•
Kofun Period
Tombs/burial mound (kofun) erected for dead of the ruling classes
○
Shinto culture
○
Rise of Yamato Clan - eventually established Imperial House of Japan
○
•
Yamato Ascendancy
3 main cultural areas
Kyushu Island: Tribal cults centered on sea gods, concerned with
fishing
§
Izumo: clans prayed to storm gods
§
Yamato: revered sun goddesses, regarded as the ruler of heaven
and ancestress to the chieftains
§
○
Indigenous Ainu peoples in north (Hokkaido)
○
Warfare between competing clans
○
In 4th century, Yamato prevailed over other clans and placed their
chieftain on imperial throne
○
Emperor identified as descendent of the Sun Goddess
Worshipping the sun
§
○
•
Chinese and Korean Influence
At this point, Shinto is primitive and formless tradition
○
It became a clear pattern of national culture only when exposed to
Chinese and Korean civilization
○
Transformed Japanese culture
○
Quick adoption of skills such as metal working, wood carving, farming,
road and bridge making, canal dredging, etc.
○
•
Chinese Inlfuence
Adopted Chinese written language
○
Adopted Confucian ideals, particularly "filial piety"
○
Shinto's loosely organized nature worship with ancestor worship
influenced
○
FINISH
○
•
Buddhist Influence
Buddhism arrives in Japan 6th century
○
More influential than Chinese culture
○
Brings new literature, art, rituals
○
Introduced outside world to Japanese
○
Leads to creation of imperial Shinto myths
○
•
Early Sacred Literature
Kojiki: Chronicle of Ancient Events
First book ever written in Japanese
§
Archaic
§
Written in Chinese first, influenced by Buddhism
§
○
Nihongi: Chronicle of Japan
More popular and accessible text
§
○
Texts indebted to external influences from China and Buddhism
○
Texts legitimate royal line by grounding authority in antiquity
○
•
Nihon Shoki (Heian Period)•
Shinto Myth
Imperial court wanted to formulate official version of Shinto folk
traditions
○
Balances Chinese and Korean influence with traditional Japanese customs
○
Weaves two elements into unified "Shinto Myth"
○
•
Primal Progenitors
Japanese islands were created by gods
○
Primacl chaos divides into heaven and ocean
○
Male and female gods Izanagi and Izanami "churn" the ocean to create
the main island
○
Izanami gives birth to 8 small islands and 35 deities
○
Last deity, heat god Kagu-Tsuchi fatally burns Izanami
○
Izanagi hacks Kagu-Tsuchi to pieces, which become gods
○
•
Izanagi and Izanami
Izanami dies and goes to underworld
○
Izanagi follows, but Izanami has started to decompose
○
She tells him not to look; when he does, she chases him
○
Izanagi takes a ritual bath to cleanse pollution
○
Sun Goddess Amaterasu born from his left eye
○
•
Amaterasu and Other Kami
Rules celestial plane
○
Sends grandson Ninigi to rule Japan
○
Yamato emperors claim direct descent from Amaterasu
○
Other clans claim descent from other Kami
○
•
Impact of China
Adoption of technologies such as metal working, wood carving, farming,
road and bridge making, canal dredging, etc.
○
Through Chinese texts, Japanese learn about a variety of concepts
Daoism
§
Yin Yang
§
Five elements
§
Confucian ethics, social and political theories, law and education
§
○
•
Impact of Buddhism
Intro of Buddhist art has major impact
○
No prior artistic images of kami in Japan
○
Image of the Buddha was controversial
○
Anti-Buddhist factions argues that "foreign" kami would offend "native"
kami
○
Powerful Soga clan built temple to enshrine buddhist images
○
Thanks to the Soga clan, other families began to accept Buddhism
○
Buddhist statues thought to have magic properties
○
Not much belief or interest in doctrine
○
Buddhas and bodhisattvas considered a new kind of kami
○
•
Political conflict between Soga and Mononobe
Mononobe = Japanese island roots, saw no gain from change
○
Soga = favored new change and technology, recent immigrants
○
•
Buddhism in the Nara and Heian
Buddhism fluorishes during the Nara and Heian periods
○
Japanese monks trave to china to study
○
Important lineages if Tendai and Shingon formed
○
Madhyamika, Mind-Only, Vinaya, Avatamsaka too
○
•
Nara and Heian Buddhism
Kukai aka Kobo-Daishi founds the esoteric school of Buddhism called
Shingon (Zhenyan, "True Word")
○
Emphasizes practices such as mantra and ritual
○
Saicho founds the Tendai School
○
Continues Chinese Tiantai school with Zen and esoteric influences
○
Emphasizes Lotus Sutra and "original enlightenment" (hongaku)
○
•
Kamakura Buddhism
In the Kamakura period, several new schools emerged
Pure Land
§
Nichiren
§
Zen
§
○
•
Kamakura Pure Land Buddhism
Honen founded the pure land school
○
Taught only chanting the name of Amida Buddha
○
Emphasizes the concept of "end times" (mappo)
○
•
Kamakura Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren founded the Lotus Sutra school
○
Promoted chanting and the veneration of the title of the Lotus Sutra
○
Calls for the establishment of a Buddhocracy
○
•
Kamakura Zen Buddhism
Other traditions focusing on sitting meditation (chan, zen) emerge
○
The monk Eisai traditionally held to have founded the Rinzai School
○
Dainichi Nonin starts Daruma Zen school independently -- seeks
certification from China later
○
Dogen founded the Soto School of Zen
○
•
Eisai
Started as a Tendai monk
○
Became dissatisfied and went to China to study
○
Became interested in Zen
○
Returned to Japan and formed the Rinzai School
○
•
Dogen
Started as a Tendai monk
○
Studied with Eisai and Myozen
○
Went to China at age 24 to study Zen
○
Returned and founded the Soto School
○
•
Lecture 18: Shinto -The Way of the Gods
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 11:06 AM
Document Summary
Lecture 18: shinto - the way of the gods. Shinto, the native religion of japan, is not a system of doctrines. It is a set of practices to connect present-day japan with its ancient past. Ceremonial and ritual practices that don"t serve a strict religious purpose. Just a way to affirm one"s japanese identity and membership to. Shinto is derived from the chinese shendao, meaning "the way of the gods" In japanese, kami-no-michi means "way of the kami" Kami means gods, spirits, or deities, or beings who possess sacred power. Kami is any kind of a spiritual being. Shinto myths teach that japan was once exclusively populated with kami. Myths teach that japanese islands were born from the union of kami, which means that the islands of japan are divine gods themselves. Early japanese considered all nature to be imbued with "kami", from gods in the heavens to spirits in nature (plants, mountains, lakes, etc. )
