Japanese Temple Buddhism

Japanese Temple Buddhism
Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages : 274
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780824829674
ISBN-13 : 0824829670
Rating : 4/5 (74 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Japanese Temple Buddhism by : Stephen Covell

Download or read book Japanese Temple Buddhism written by Stephen Covell and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2005-09-30 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There have been many studies that focus on aspects of the history of Japanese Buddhism. Until now, none have addressed important questions of organization and practice in contemporary Buddhism, questions such as how Japanese Buddhism came to be seen as a religion of funeral practices; how Buddhist institutions envision the role of the laity; and how a married clergy has affected life at temples and the image of priests. This volume is the first to address fully contemporary Buddhist life and institutions—topics often overlooked in the conflict between the rhetoric of renunciation and the practices of clerical marriage and householding that characterize much of Buddhism in today’s Japan. Informed by years of field research and his own experiences training to be a Tendai priest, Stephen Covell skillfully refutes this "corruption paradigm" while revealing the many (often contradictory) facets of contemporary institutional Buddhism, or as Covell terms it, Temple Buddhism. Covell significantly broadens the scope of inquiry to include how Buddhism is approached by both laity and clerics when he takes into account temple families, community involvement, and the commodification of practice. He considers law and tax issues, temple strikes, and the politics of temple boards of directors to shed light on how temples are run and viewed by their inhabitants, supporters, and society in general. In doing so he uncovers the economic realities that shape ritual practices and shows how mundane factors such as taxes influence the debate over temple Buddhism’s role in contemporary Japanese society. In addition, through interviews and analyses of sectarian literature and recent scholarship on gender and Buddhism, he provides a detailed look at priests’ wives, who have become indispensable in the management of temple affairs.


Japanese Temple Buddhism Related Books

Japanese Temple Buddhism
Language: en
Pages: 274
Authors: Stephen Covell
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-09-30 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

There have been many studies that focus on aspects of the history of Japanese Buddhism. Until now, none have addressed important questions of organization and p
The Four Great Temples
Language: en
Pages: 354
Authors: Donald F. McCallum
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-11-30 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In his detailed analysis of the four temples, McCallum considers historiographical issues, settings and layouts, foundations, tiles, relics, and icons and allow
Bonds of the Dead
Language: en
Pages: 275
Authors: Mark Michael Rowe
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-09-30 - Publisher: University of Chicago Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Despite popular images of priests seeking enlightenment in snow-covered mountain temples, the central concern of Japanese Buddhism is death. For that reason, Ja
Murōji
Language: en
Pages: 332
Authors: Sherry Dianne Fowler
Categories: Architecture
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Muroji, a magnificent temple founded in the eighth century, is known both for its dramatic location and the exceptional quality of its ritual objects and art da
Experimental Buddhism
Language: en
Pages: 322
Authors: John K. Nelson
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-10-31 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, it is one of the first studies to give readers a sense of what is happening on the front lines as a growi