Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism
Original enlightenment thought (hongaku shiso) dominated Buddhist intellectual circles throughout Japan's medieval period. Enlightenment, this discourse claims, is neither a goal to be achieved nor a potential to be realized but the true status of all things.. "Jacqueline Stone's study moves beyond the treatment of the original enlightenment doctrine as abstract philosophy to explore its historical dimension. Drawing on a wealth of medieval primary sources and modern Japanese scholarship, it...
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Original enlightenment thought (hongaku shiso) dominated Buddhist intellectual circles throughout Japan's medieval period. Enlightenment, this discourse claims, is neither a goal to be achieved nor a potential to be realized but the true status of all things.. "Jacqueline Stone's study moves beyond the treatment of the original enlightenment doctrine as abstract philosophy to explore its historical dimension. Drawing on a wealth of medieval primary sources and modern Japanese scholarship, it places this discourse in its ritual, institutional, and social contexts, illuminating its importance to the maintenance of traditions of lineage and the secret transmission of knowledge that characterized medieval Japanese elite culture. It sheds new light on interpretive strategies employed in premodern Japanese Buddhist texts, an area that hitherto has received little attention.
Charts and IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations and ConventionsPt. 1Perspectives and ProblemsCh. 1What Is "Original Enlightenment Thought"?3Ch. 2Tendai Hongaku Thought and the New Kamakura Buddhism: Rival Theories55Pt. 2The World of Medieval TendaiCh. 3The Culture of Secret Transmission97Ch. 4Hermeneutics, Doctrine, and "Mind-Contemplation"153Ch. 5Tendai Hongaku Thought and the New Kamakura Buddhism: A Reappraisal190Pt. 3Nichiren and His SuccessorsCh. 6Nichiren and the New Paradigm239Ch. 7Hokke-Tendai Interactions and the Emergence of a Nichiren Hongaku Discourse300Conclusion356Notes369Character Glossary461Bibliography481Index523
