* Three pages: Not more than 1000 words (You may use parenthetical
notation to indicate page numbers for textual references.)
* I encourage you to discuss these topics with one another.
* Be sure to write your name, the name of the class, number
and title of your topic at the top of the page.
* I also strongly encourage you to read the essays on my Writing web
pages, especially "Four Keys to Writing in the Humanities," "Paper
Writing Guidelines," "Checklist for Papers," "Writing: The Bridge
between Consciousness and Unconsciousness," and "Clauses and Commas."
- 1. The Formation of Japanese Buddhism and Society
- Drawing on two or three of the readings for Week II, discuss how
at least three factors contributed to the formation and development
of Buddhism from early to medieval Japan (such as Shinto and worship
of kami, the influence of the Fujiwara clan, the support of
the military government, and church-state relations). Why is
understanding these factors important for understanding Medieval
Japanese Buddhism?
- 2. Kami, Shinto, and Japanese Buddhism
- According to Toshio Kuroda, treating "Shinto" as a religion
separate from Buddhism is a mistake, at least in its formative
period and throughout much of its history before the modern period
post-Meiji restoration. Discuss three reasons he gives, include
direct quotations and/or page numbers from his article to
substantiate your points, and discuss at least two problems that
might be found with his idea that there is no "Shinto" apart from
Buddhism in Japan.
- 3. Tendai's Jien
- Select three poems by the Tendai Abbot Jien included in Robert
Morrell's article, "Tendai's Jien as Buddhist Priest," and discuss
how they illustrate different facets of his views of Buddhism and
his times (e.g. political commentary, Buddhist teachings, sense of
history). Discuss if these views are consistent with one another, or
whether there are fissures and contradictions.
- 4. Karma and the Tale of the Heike
- William LaFleur in his Karma of Words (pp. 26-59)
describes four types of karma operative in Medieval Japanese
Buddhism. How many of these can be found in the selections from the
The Tale of the Heike read for this course. Discuss which
ones do or don't fit and why they do or don't fit.
- 5. Women and Gender in the Tale of the Heike
- The story of Lady Gio, Lady Hotoke, and Kiyomori weaves a tapestry
of women's social and religious lives in relation to the dominant
male order. At the end of the story, Lady Hotoke joins Lady Gio and
her sister Ginyo, forming a triad of nuns looking to be reborn in
the Western Pure Land of Amida. Is this a story of women's
empowerment or disempowerment? In either case, is it a matter of
social, economic, or religious empowerment or disempowerment, or is
it some combination?
- 6. Kazuo Osumi, "Buddhism in the Kamakura Period
- Describe at least three characteristics that Osumi attributes to
emerging new forms of Buddhism during the Kamakura Period, including
direct quotations and/or page numbers from his article to
substantiate your points. Discuss at least two differences in the
way that two of the figures he mentions (e.g. Dogen and Shinran)
embody these characteristics (e.g. sociological differences,
differences in forms of practice they advocate).
- 7. The "Goddess" from the Vimalakirti Sutra and Lady
Gio from the Tale of the Heike
- The "Goddess" chapter from the Vimalakirti Sutra presents
the Goddess' view of the two-fold truth (conventional truth, form;
highest truth, emptiness), with sex and gender the topic of her
dialogue with Sariputra towards the end. Relate this discussion of
the two-fold truth and sex/gender to the story of Lady Gio from the
Tale of the Heike. Identify two similarities and two
differences in the views of sex/gender between these stories.
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