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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... discussions . Practical benefits , in such a perspective , are side products of a search for the spiritual state of an- shin rather than goals . Indeed , the notion of anshin itself presents pit- falls for the researcher . Like the ...
... discussion of temples , shrines , and guide- books in Chapter 7 these changes do not appear to affect the central place played by practical benefits in their histories . Ichibata Yakushi and Saijō Inari , both of which have emerged as ...
... discussing medieval religion , did not exist in re- ality . Not only scholars focusing on “ elite ” religion have made this assumption : those studying the " popular " traditions have done the same . Duffy's critique of Keith Thomas's ...
... discussing the trading of benefits - the buying and the selling - we also consider how people experience benefits and how , through making claims about the efficacy of the benefits they can provide , religious institutions and movements ...
... discuss these points more fully and show how closely religious success in Japan is related to the question of genze riyaku . The chapter returns us to our starting point by affirming that there is a core set of values , a common ...
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Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan Ian Reader,George J. Tanabe No preview available - 1998 |