REL 444/544
Medieval Japanese Buddhism, Fall 2024
CRN 15826/7
Mark
Unno
Instructor:
Mark T. Unno, munno (at) uoregon.edu http://pages.uoregon.edu/munno/ Wed. 2:00-4:50 pm, PLC 248
Office
Hours by Zoom https://tinyurl.com/2zurdnhv M & Tu
1:00-1:45 pm or by appointment
(see also Syllabus Appendix)
Overview
REL 444/544 Medieval Japanese Buddhism focuses on major developments in the
formation of Japanese Buddhism, especially the Kamakura (1185-1333), such as
Zen, Pure Land, and Shingon Buiddhism.
This course also traces influences on later developments including the modern
period. The course weaves together the examination of religious thought,
practice, and cultural developments in historical context. We begin with an
overview of key Buddhist concepts for those without prior exposure and the
formative matrix of early Japanese religion. We examine in depth examples of
major founding figures and innovators, in particular three contemporaries: Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253), Zen
master and founding figure of the Sōtō sect; Myōe of the Shingon and Kegon sects, a reformer and innovator; and Shinran, founding figure of Jōdo Shinshū, the largest Pure Land sect, more simply known as
Shin Buddhism. We conclude with the study of some modern examples that trace
their origins to medieval developments, including Maura “Soshin”
O’Halloran, an Irish-American Zen adept, and Shinmon Aoki, a Shin Buddhist author and practitioner.
Themes of the course include: Buddhism as state
religion; the relation between institutional practices and individual religious
cultivation; ritual practices and transgression; gender and sexuality;
relations between ordained and lay; religious authority and enlightenment; and
the two-fold truth and religious practice. The seminar format includes lecture,
student presentations, and discussion. Students will have latitude to develop
their own final research projects.
Requirements
1. Attendance: Required. Students can have one unexcused absence without
penalty. Each class missed thereafter without prior permission will result in
1/2 grade penalty for the course grade.
2. Short exams: There
will be one short, in-class exams, based on materials from the readings,
lectures, and course web site.
3. Medium papers: There will be
two medium-length papers (3-4 pages) based on topics that will be provided by
the instructor.
4. Brief Research Assignment:
You will select from among three brief assignments: Bibliography, Final Paper
Proposal, or Final Paper Outline or Draft (see web site for specific
instructions).
5. Presentation: Students will
make a presentation on the readings for one of the section meetings. The
presenter should not summarize the reading but should use the
presentation to discuss why the selected ideas/passages in question are
important for understanding the reading and proceed to explain as well as raise
questions about these ideas/passages.
The primary purpose of these presentations is to launch the discussion,
not to demonstrate breadth of knowledge or to lead the discussion. Each
presenter will prepare a handout with 2 questions and brief, corresponding
quotations from the readings. More detailed instructions will be provided on
the course web site.
6. Final paper: Each student
will hand in a final paper of 8-11 pages double-spaced (A longer final paper of
12-15 pages will be required for those who have registered for REL544.)
Suggested topics will be provided. Students may choose to create their own
topics in consultation with the instructor. In the case of the latter, a
one-paragraph description of the topic must be submitted by email to the
instructor at least one week prior to the due date, but an earlier consultation
is recommended.
7. Late policy on written
assignments: Three grace days total will be allotted excluding the final paper
for which no extensions will be given. For the short papers, a cumulative total
of three late days will be allowed without penalty. Thereafter, each late day
will result in a two-point deduction from the course grade. Weekends are not
counted against the grace days.
8. Be sure to bring the readings
to class or have them available on a screen device so that we can discuss
specific passages.
Grades
Short Exam 10% Short
paper I 15% Short paper II 15% Group
Project 10%
Presentation 10% Discussion 10% Final paper 30%
Learning
Outcomes
In this course students will: 1) develop a sophisticated understanding of how Medieval
Japanese Buddhism constituted a formative moment in the development of major
schools such as Zen and Pure Land, 2) acquire tools for the study of Buddhism
based on both emic and etic sources (primary texts and secondary scholarly
literature), 3) learn to identify and analyze thematic presentations of
Buddhist thought and praxis including gender, sexuality, national identity, and
class, and 4) have their work assessed through exams, papers, and class
discussion.
Required Texts
1. Shinmon Aoki, Coffinman:
The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician (Anaheim, CA: Buddhist Education Ctr,
2002).
2. Maura O’Halloran, Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind (Somerville, MA:
Wisdom, 2017).
3. Mark Unno, Shingon Refractions: Myōe and the Mantra of Light (Boston: Wisdom
Publications: 2004).
4. Taitetsu Unno, Tannisho:
A Shin Buddhist Classic (Honolulu: Buddhist Study Center Press, 1996).
5. Course Packet-REL 444/544 Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Fall 2024 – on
Canvas).
Course Packet REL 444/544
Medieval Japanese Buddhism, Fall 2024 (Focus pages
marked with asterisk*)
Introductory background material
for those without coursework in Buddhism or Japanese Religion
1.
Peter
Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1990) 9-26.
2.
Robert
A. F. Thurman, trans., The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1987) 56-63, 73-77.*
3.
Hayao
Kawai, "Japanese Mythology: Balancing the Gods," in his Dreams,
Myths and Fairy Tales in Japan (Daimon, 1995) 67-97.*
Matrix of Japanese society and
religion leading up to the Kamakura Period
4.
Toshio
Kuroda, "Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion," tr. by James
Dobbins and Suzanne Gay, Journal of Japanese Studies 7:1 (Winter 1981),
1-21.*
5.
Joseph
Kitagawa, "Chapter 6. The Shadow and the Sun: A Glimpse of the Fujiwara
and the Imperial Families in Japan," in his On Understanding Japanese
Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), 98-116.
6.
William
LaFleur, "Chapter 2 In and out of the Rokudō,"
in his Karma of Words-Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1983) 26-59
(48-59*).
Matrix of Japanese society and the
development of Buddhism into the Kamakura Period
7.
Helen
Craig McCullough, tr. The Tale of the Heike (Stanford: Stanford Univ.
Press, 1988), 1-6, 17-19, 23-37.*
8.
Robert
E. Morrell, "Tendai's Jien as Buddhist Priest,"
Early Kamakura Buddhism-A Minority Report, 23-43.
9. Kazuo OSUMI, “Buddhism
in the Kamakura Period,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol 3 Medieval
Japan, gen. ed. Kozo YAMAMURA (NY: Cambridge University Press), 544-563
(544-555, 560-563*).
10.
Jeffrey
P. Mass, "The Emergence of the Kamakura Bakufu
[Military Government]" in Medieval Japan-Essays in Institutional
History, ed. John W. Hall and Jeffrey P. Mass (Stanford: Stanford
University Press), 127-156.
The Zen Buddhism of Dōgen
11. Mark Unno, “Philosophical
Terms in the Zen Buddhist Thought of Dōgen.”*
12. Mark Unno, “18.
Shushōgi Paragraph 30,”
Engaging Dōgen’s Zen, eds. Bret Davis, Jason Wirth, & Brian Schroeder (Boston: Wisdom, 2016),
179-184.*
13. Norman Waddell & Masao Abe,
tr. "Shōbōgenzō
Genjōkōan," by Dōgen Kigen, The Eastern Buddhist 5:2 (10/1972),
129-140.*
14. Steven Heine, The Zen Poetry
of Dogen (Boston: Tuttle, 1997), 1-34.
15.
Barbara
Ruch, "The Other Side of Culture in Medieval Japan," in The
Cambridge History of Japan - Volume 3 Medieval Japan, 500-511.*
The Shin Buddhism of Shinran
16. Mark Unno, “Key
Terms – Pure Land Buddhism and the Philosophy of Hōnen and Shinran.”
17.
Mark
Unno, “The Original Buddhist Rebel - Shinran,” Tricycle
(Winter 2017), 1-16.
18.
Mark
Unno, "The Nembutsu of No-Meaning and the Problem of Genres in the
Writings and Statements of Gutoku Shinran,"
The Pure Land 10-11 (12/1994) 1-9.*
Further readings on the background
of women and gender in Buddhism and in the context of the Kamakura Period
19. Rita Gross, Buddhism
after Patriarchy (Albany:
SUNY Press, 1990), 29-54.*
20. Lori Meeks, Hokkeji and the
Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan (Honolulu:
University of Hawai'i Press, 2010) 250-300.
REL 444/544
Medieval Japanese Buddhism: Weekly Schedule
[All
readings from Course Packet unless followed by (RT)=(Required Text)] (Focus
pages marked with asterisk*)
Week
I: Oct 2: Introduction-Course Overview: The Background of Buddhism; Buddhism
and Japanese Religion
Peter
Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1990), 9-26.
Robert
A. F. Thurman, trans., The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1987), 56-63, 73-77.*
Hayao
KAWAI, "Japanese Mythology: Balancing the Gods," in his Dreams,
Myths and Fairy Tales in Japan (Daimon, 1995), 67-97.*
Week
II: Oct 9: Background of Japanese Buddhism-Religion and the State; Karma in
Medieval Japan
Toshio
Kuroda, "Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion," tr. by James
Dobbins and Suzanne Gay, Journal of Japanese Studies 7:1 (Winter 1981),
1-21.*
Joseph
Kitagawa, "Chapter 6. The Shadow and the Sun: A Glimpse of the Fujiwara
and the Imperial Families in Japan," in his On Understanding Japanese
Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), 98-116.
William LaFleur, "Chapter 2 In and
out of the Rokudo," Karma of Words-Buddhism
and the literary arts in medieval Japan (Berkeley :
University of California Press, 1983), 26-59 (48-59*).
Week III: Oct 16: Buddhism in the Kamakura Period: Themes and
Background EXAM online by
Oct 21
Helen Craig McCullough, tr. The Tale
of the Heike (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), 1-6, 17-19, 23-37.*
Robert E. Morrell, "Tendai's Jien as Buddhist Priest," Early Kamakura Buddhism-A
Minority Report, 23-43.
Jeffrey P. Mass, "The Emergence of
the Kamakura Bakufu [Military Government]" in Medieval
Japan-Essays in Institutional History, ed. John W. Hall and Jeffrey P. Mass
(Stanford: Stanford University Press), 127-156.
Kazuo Osumi,
"Buddhism in the Kamakura Period," tr. by James Dobbins, in The
Cambridge History of Japan-Volume 3 Medieval Japan, 544-563 (544-555,
560-563*).
Week IV: Oct 23: Myoe Koben:
Kegon and Shingon Monk
Mark Unno, Shingon
Refractions: Myōe and the Mantra of Light (Boston:
Wisdom, 2004), (1-72, 111-149*) (RT).
Lori Meeks, Hokkeji
and the Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan, 250-300.
Week V: Oct 30: Eihei Dogen:
Zen Master of the Soto School PAPER
I DUE on Canvas 1 pm
Mark Unno, “Philosophical Terms in the Zen Buddhist Thought of Dōgen.”*
Mark Unno, “18. Shushōgi
Paragraph 30,” Engaging Dōgen’s Zen
(Boston: Wisdom), 179-184.*
Norman Waddell & Masao Abe, tr.
"Shōbōgenzō Genjōkōan,"
by Dōgen Kigen, The
Eastern Buddhist 5:2 (10/1972), 129-140.*
Steven Heine, The Zen Poetry of Dogen (Boston: Tuttle, 1997), 1-34.
Barbara Ruch, "The Other Side of Culture in Medieval Japan," in The
Cambridge History of Japan - Volume 3 Medieval Japan, ed. by Kozo Yamamura
(Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 500-511.*
Week VI: Nov 6: Gutoku
Shinran: Foolish Being of Pure Land Buddhism
Brief Research Proj
DUE 1 pm
Mark Unno, “The Original Buddhist Rebel - Shinran,” Tricycle
(Winter 2017), 1-16. on
Canvas
Mark Unno, "The Nembutsu of
No-Meaning and the Problem of Genres in the Writings and Statements of Gutoku Shinran," The Pure
Land 10-11 (12/1994), 1-9.*
Mark Unno,
"The Nembutsu as the Path of the Sudden Teaching," unpublished paper,
IASBS Conference, 1995, 1-7 (online, course web site).(Optional)
Taitetsu
Unno, Tannisho: A Shin Buddhist Classic (Honolulu:
Buddhist Study Center Press, 1987)(RT).*
Week VII: Nov 13: Between Pre-modern and Modern I: Coffinman PAPER II DUE on Canvas 1
pm
Shinmon
Aoki, Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist
Mortician (Anaheim, CA: Buddhist Education Ctr, 2002)(RT).*
Week VIII: Nov 20: Between Pre-modern and Modern II: Maura
“Soshin” O’Halloran
Maura “Soshin” O’Halloran, Pure
Heart, Enlightened Mind (Somerville, MA: Wisdom, 2017)(RT).*
Week IX: Nov 27: Discussion of Paper Topics
Week X: Dec 4: Wrap Lecture and Discussion
FINAL PAPER DUE on Canv 12/6
Wrap-up remarks and discussion.