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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... Benefits 8 Overview of the Book Shinto and Practical Benefits Genze riyaku in Japanese Religion A Common Religion 1 Benefits in the Religious System : Settings and Dynamics Comprehensive Responses : Types and Extent 13 14 23 32 37 of ...
... practical benefits in the common religion of Japan , and our desire to write a book together was encouraged by Patricia Crosby , our editor at the University of Hawai'i Press . She nudged us beyond talking about our ideas over lunch ...
... benefits that can accrue from following their religious practices , numerous Japanese new religious movements tell ... practical benefits in this lifetime , " or simply “ practical benefits . " As these three translations of the term are ...
... practical benefits can thus be justified as one of these expedient tricks used to lead people to the higher objective of renunciation and transcendental wisdom : by af- firming the powers of Buddhism , and of the buddhas , to grant prac ...
... practical benefits , is actually closer to being an afterword : it is the centrality of practical benefits to Buddhism that creates the need for the doctrine of skillful means for those who in- voke it rather than the doctrine creating ...
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Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan Ian Reader,George J. Tanabe No preview available - 1998 |