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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... give a presentation at the 1996 meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Hawai'i , and also to the audience at the talk for their responses and questions . We acknowledge the help of Abe Ryuichi of Columbia University , who ...
... gives rise to a joyful life , and teaches us an awareness of the way toward re- specting the true nature of human beings . In the end , seeking the Pure Land and praying for its realization are nothing if not a this- worldly activity ...
... it de- serves.84 The aim of this volume is to bring the topic center stage in the study of Japanese religion and give it the prominence it merits . 1 Benefits in the Religious System Settings and Dynamics Hōzanji 36 INTRODUCTION.
... gives Hōzanji the name by which it is popularly known : Ikoma Shōten . Hōzanji developed as a center of Kankiten worship from the seventeenth century onward : its founder , the monk Hōzan Tankai , was a worshiper of the deity and hence ...
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Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan Ian Reader,George J. Tanabe No preview available - 1998 |