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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... concerns over the impending loss of her job to friends, one of whom belonged to a new religious movement (shin shu ̄kyo ̄).1 Extolling the efficacy of this religious group and its practices—which, she claimed, enabled its devotees to ...
... with mainstream religious traditions, such as Buddhism, and by journalists in the mass media. Accusing the new religions of being solely materialistic in nature, such critics condemn them as being concerned with 2 Introduction.
... concerned with foolish superstition. From a psychological point of view, for example, Nakamura Kokyo ̄ attacked the new religion O ̄motokyo ̄ as “a frightful superstition unparalleled in the country.”5 Scholars too have joined in ...
... concerns. In this book we are talking about a non-Western culture and are dealing largely with matters not of doctrine and teaching, not necessarily even of belief, but of practice and action. Thus we readily use the term “religion” to ...
... concerned with the study of pilgrimage, wandering ascetics, folk legends, and miracle stories, and Miyata Noboru and Tsukamoto Manabu's edited volume Minkan shinko ̄ to minzoku shu ̄kyo ̄, which discusses shamanism, the role of the gods ...
Contents
1 | |
Settings and Dynamics | 37 |
2 Scripture and Benefits | 71 |
Morality Belief and Prayer | 107 |
Gods Saints and Wizards | 140 |
5 The Dynamics of Practice | 178 |
The Marketing of Efficacy and Truth | 206 |
7 Guidebooks to Practical Benefits | 234 |
8 Conclusions | 256 |
Notes | 263 |
Bibliography | 285 |
Index | 297 |
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Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan Ian Reader,George J. Tanabe No preview available - 1998 |