Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of JapanPraying for practical benefits (genze riyaku) is a common religious activity in Japan. Despite its widespread nature and the vast numbers of people who pray and purchase amulets and talismans for everything from traffic safety and education success to business prosperity and protection from disease, the practice has been virtually ignored in academic studies or relegated to the margins as a uh_product of superstition or an aberration from the true dynamics of religion. Basing their work on a fusion of textual, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary studies, the authors of this volume demonstrate the fallacy of such views, showing that, far from being marginal, the concepts and practices surrounding genze riyaku lie at the very heart of the Japanese religious world. They thrive not only as popular religious expression but are supported by the doctrinal structures of most Buddhist sects, are ordained in religious scriptures, and are promoted by monastic training centers, shrines, and temples. |
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... Japanese Studies at the Univer- sity of Hawai'i , where George Tanabe is based . Patricia Steinhoff , Di- rector of the Center for Japanese Studies in the School of Hawaiian , Asian and Pacific Studies at that time , was instrumental in ...
... Japan Foundation Research Committee for funds ( JFEC grant 843 ) for a research visit to Japan in 1995 , and the Leverhulme Trust for a grant that enabled him to carry out the survey of Shikoku pilgrims ' prayer requests discussed in ...
Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan Ian Reader, George J. Tanabe. Introduction MICHIKO WATANABE was an " office lady " in a major Japanese com- pany . Normal company policy ( as is so often the case in Japan ) was to make ...
... Japanese new religious movements tell stories such as Michiko's and make it clear that direct , immediate , and often material benefits flow from religious faith , practice , and adherence to their tenets.2 Such stories are common ...
... Japanese folk beliefs cor- rupted the idea to include material pleasures.7 The Nichiren scholar Asai Endō characterizes the new religions as being devoid of doc- trine and having only methods for magical healing ; he criticizes the Sōka ...
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Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan Ian Reader,George J. Tanabe No preview available - 1998 |