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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... seen as false and superstitious , while the study of " religion " proper was conceptualized within a theological , doctrinal , and faith - oriented framework . This tendency has naturally had repercussions on the subsequent development ...
... seen as using skillful means in order to come to terms with local religious and social mores , thereby enabling it to establish roots in the culture and spread its message . The promise of practical benefits can thus be justified as one ...
... seen as simply or even primarily materialistic . As we shall see , a number of other qualities and spiritual states , including peace of mind and salvation , are closely related to these practices and the meanings upon which they are ...
... seen at the temple Kokawa - dera in Wakayama prefecture ( in June 1988 ) . In this case the supplicant sought spiritual solace in connec- tion with a practical aim : “ May I pay back the money I have borrowed quickly so as to become ...
... seen also in the history of Saijō Inari in Okayama prefecture . Once a Tendai temple , it became a temple in the Ikegami branch of the Nichiren sect in the sixteenth century and in 1954 became head temple of an independent sect of ...
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Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan Ian Reader,George J. Tanabe No preview available - 1998 |