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P aradigm Change in

Japanese Buddhism

Joseph M. K ITAG A W A

Paradigm change in Japanese Buddhism has o fte n been dis


cussed in terms o f e ith e r the Japanization o f Buddhism or
the Buddhaization o f Japanese re ligion. I have learned
much from both approaches. Nevertheless, as an historian
o f religions, I would lik e to approach the subject from a
s lig h tly d iffe re n t perspective. I would lik e to a tte m p t to
understand this nebulous phenomenon as the convergence of
tw o in te rtw in in g processes o f paradigm changeone in
Japanese re lig io n and the oth e r in the Buddhist tra d itio n .
My schema w ill compel me to give a tte n tio n as w e ll to two
subsidiary fa c to rs fir s t, the im pact o f China as both the
main source o f c u ltu ra l inspiration fo r Japan and the
secondary ce nte r of Mahayana Buddhism (the tra d itio n o f
Buddhism th a t penetrated Japan); and second, the m ediating
and tu to ria l role o f Korea in the c u ltu ra l and religious
contacts between China and Japan.
I t is my modest hope to try to untangle the criss
crossing web which provided both the threads and the
p a tte rn o f the c o lo rfu l brocade o f Japanese Buddhism,
woven by the combination o f h isto rica l "givens" and re li
gious c re a tiv ity a t several cru c ia l phases o f Japanese
h is to ric a l, c u ltu ra l, and religious experience.

BUDDHIST PARADIGM CHANGE UNDER KING ASOKA


As is true w ith other religions, there are three related but
d iffe re n t levels o f meaning attached to B u d d h is m :(1)
Buddhism as re lig io n , (2) Buddhism as cu ltu re , and (3) the
B uddhist-related or oriented s o c io -p o litic a l order. W ith
respect to the firs t, Buddhism takes fo r granted the neces
s ity fo r the human being to see the meaning o f a ll exis
tence in re la tio n to Nirvana, the u ltim a te meaning. This

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Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

s p iritu a l insight, derived from the Buddha,s own religious


experience, has been expressed in doctrines, scriptures,
cu lts, ethics, and the e cclesiastical stru cture s o f the
Buddhist re lig io n . On the second level, Buddhism nurtures
and impregnates its ethos in to the domain o f values ideo
logy, the arts, and the im agination, th a t is, into cu lture.
On the th ird level, Buddhism is related variously to actual
s o c io -p o litic a l stru cture s and organizations. In Buddhism,
paradigm change usually involves not only im portant
changes n each o f these three levels o f meaning but also
a lte ra tio n in the balance o f and the relationship among the
three levels.
It is w e ll known th a t Buddhism had undergone
s ig n ific a n t paradigm changes before reaching China. The
significance o f early Buddhism lies in the fa c t th a t it
began, as Thomas a stutely points out, "n o t w ith a body
o f d octrine , but w ith the form ation o f a [com m unity] bound
by ce rta in rules" (Thomas 1933, p , 14). In sharp contrast to
the m etaphysico-social p rin cip le o f the Brahmanic-Hindu
tra d itio n based on three fo c ithe eternal cosmic dharma,
the divinely-ordered social stru ctu re , and the sacred
k in g s h ip th e B u d d h is t m e ta p h y s ic o -s o c ia l p rin c ip le
a ffirm e d th a t the true Dharma, which was discovered and
preached by the Buddha, could be realized only in the
corporate life o f the Buddhist community (Sarjigha). This
p rin cip le was cle a rly expressed in the early Buddhist creed
o f the th re e -fo ld refuge ( t r f - ararpa-gamana): taking refuge
in the Buddha, Dharma, and Samgha. Even though early
Buddhism was an in sig n ifica n t regional movement of
monastics and la ity in northeastern India, its concern was
the universal and perennial problem o f existence in the
w orld (loka).
S hortly a fte r the demise o f the Buddha, northeastern
India was exposed to a strong Brahmanic-Hindu cu ltu ra l
influence. A t the same tim e, Buddhism was gradually conso
lidated and in s titu tio n a liz e d under the leadership of
monastics. The oral tra d itio n s o f the Buddha and his
im m e d ia t e d is c ip le s w e re c o d i f i e d , m o d if ie d , and

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Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

in te rp re te d . Philosophical inquiries into the nature of


Dharma produced a series o f doctrines, w ritte n scriptures,
and e th ic a l precepts fo r monastics and la ity . The Buddha,
who sh ortly a fte r his death was "d e ifie d " in the minds of
the fa ith fu l, came to be id e n tifie d w ith the popular image
o f the supreme universal monarch (C a kra va rtin ) who was
believed to be na d ivinely ordained fig ure w ith a special
place in the cosmic scheme" (Basham 1954, p. 83).
The most far-re a chin g paradigm change in Buddhism
took place during the th ird century B.C. under the
influence of the new ly-converted Buddhist king A oka (r.
274-232 B.C.) He proudly stated in the a ira t Buddhist
Texts E d ict his, "g re a t reverence fo r and fa ith in Buddha,
the Dharma [and] the Samgha11 (Sen 1956 p, 30; p p ,134-135).
His strong advocacy o f the p ra ctice o f Dharma n o tw ith
standing, A okas understanding o f the term included a
whole series o f moral deedsmercifulness; c h a rity to
Brahmans, ascetics, and a ll other human beings; tru th fu l
ness; p u rity o f thought; honesty; gentleness; g ra titu d e;
non -in ju ry; re lie vin g the su ffe rin g o f the aged; tolerance
tow ard other religions; and other deeds, a ll o f which,
according to Professor Sen, form "the basic teachings of all
Indian religions, w ith this exception tha t he lays emphasis
on n o n -k illin g o f life as was taught by Buddhism and to a
much g reater extent by Jainism" (Sen 1956 p. 34).
The new paradigm o f Buddhism which emerged may be
characterized as blending two levels and structures of
meaning, the classical form ula o f the Three Jewels
(Buddha, Dharma, Samgha) and a second trip le schema o f
the kingship, the state, and Buddhist-inspired m o ra lity.
A ccording to the new paradigm, the king is not only the
p o litic a l head; he is endowed w ith religious a u th o rity, a
claim not made by any previous Buddhist monarch. In
Anoka's own words, "W hatever the Lord Buddha has said,
Reverend Sirs, is o f course w e ll said. But it is proper fo r
me to enumerate the te xts which express the true Dharma
and which make it everlasting" (Nikam and McKeon 1959,
p, 66). Not only did A oka thus assume as king the

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Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

pre ro ga tive to evaluate doctrines; he also exercised his


a u th o rity to require monks and nuns to observe the
d iscip lin e . As Rahula points out, the notion o f establishing

the Sasana or Buddhism as an in s titu tio n in a p a rticu la r


country or a place was perhaps fir s t conceived by
A^oka him self. He was the fir s t king to adopt Buddhism
as a state re lig io n , and to s ta rt a great s p iritu a l
conquest which was called Dharm a-vijaya. , . * Like a
conqueror and a ru le r who would establish governments
in countries p o litic a lly conquered b him, so A^oka
probably thought o f establishing the Sasana in countries
s p iritu a lly conquered . . . by him (Rahula 1956,
pp. 5- 55).

A t the same tim e, A^oka considered i t the king*s religious


duty to p ro te c t and honor a ll fa ith s found in his realm.
C le a rly , A^oka conducted him self according to the m ytholo
g ic a l model o f the idealized supreme monarch, the Cakra
v a rtin . Many scholars have pointed out th a t A^oka never
mentions Nirvana in his E dicts. Instead, he repeatedly
mentions his pious hope to a tta in "heaven" in the next life
(Sen 1956, p, 78).
The lin k between the two triads o f the new paradigm,
Buddha-Dharma-Samgha, and the kin g ship -sta te-m orality,
was the notion o f sacred kinsgship modelled a fte r the
image o f the C a kra va rtin . A^oka su ccin ctly expressed the
lo fty ideal o f king as ru le r and agent o f Dharma:

The king [as a ru le r] w ill forgive those who can be


forgiven: and, fo r th a t they may be induced by me to
practise the Dharma; and, th a t they may a tta in (the
happiness of) this world and o f the next world (Sen
1956, p. 116).

As m ight be expected, such a new paradigm had immediate


and fa r-re a ch in g e ffe cts, both positive and negative, on the
Buddhist t r a d it io n : ( 1 ) The new paradigm enabled Buddhism

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P aradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

to lo ca te religious meaning in the s o c io -p o litic a l order and


s o c io -p o litic a l in stitu tio n s. (2) The model of the Buddhist
path, which had been understood e a rlie r as th a t o f leaving
the w orld to enter the stream in the hope of Nirvana, took
on the new meaning o f reentering the w orld nfo r the bene
f i t o f a ll beings," thus giving a positive missionary impulse
to Buddhism. (3) Because the religious base sh ifte d from
the "com m unity o f fa ith 11 to the concrete geographical
regions o f the Buddhist-inspired state, demarcated by its
"boundaries (slma), Buddhism had to come to terms w ith
the customs, in stitu tio n s , legends, and beliefs, as w e ll as
w ith the indigenous gods and s p irits o f the lo c a litie s which
it,c la im e d . (4) Such a "s p a tia liz a tio n o f Buddhist religion
(Sasana) on earth coincided w ith cosmic "sp a tia l" specula
tio n about m u ltip le Buddha-lands, thus fostering the deve
lopment o f cosmologies as a so te riolo g ica l fram ew ork. (5)
The excessive royal fa vo r and support o f monastic in s titu
tions had some negative results. Says Rahula,

A llu re d by the high status and com forts granted to the


[m onastic order] by the emperor, undesirable and
c o rru p tin g elements entered the order, thereby
disturbing its u nity and peace (Rahula 1956, p. 12).

(6) Schismatic tendencies had already threatened the


Buddhist community e a rlie r. A fte r the time o f A oka, they
became more accentuated because o f the combined e ffe c t
o f in te rn a l and e xternal forces. As a re su lt, Buddhism s p lit
in to the Hinayana (or Theravada) and Mahayana tra d itio n s
A fte r A oka's tim e, the missionary enterprise o f
uddhisjn established secondary centers o f Buddhist expan
sion: Sri Lanka fo r the southern expansion o f the Hinayana
(Theravada) tra d itio n ; China fo r the East Asian expansion
o f the Mahayana tra d itio n ; and la te r T ib e t fo r the expan
sion o f the T a n tric tra d itio n in to the Mongolian steppe.
M eanwhile, the p o litic a l development o f northw est India
from the th ird century B.C. to the th ird century A.D.
brought from w ith o u t non-Indian c u ltu ra l and religious

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Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

influences. In the Mahayana tra d itio n , these stim ulated


c re a tiv ity in Buddhist a rt and the emergence o f new s o te ri-
ologies based on m ultiple Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Just as
the southern Buddhist expansion follow ed the overseas
route into southeast Asia, Mahayana expansion follow ed
the overland trade route, the "S ilk Road," and eventually
reached the border o f China.

CHINESE UDDHISM -A NEW PARADIGM


P rio r to the penetration o f Buddhism into China in the firs t
century A.D., the Han empire (206 .C .-A .D . 220) had been
engaged in a ctive tra nscontinental trade w ith Europe and
had extended its p o litic a l influence to some o f the oasis
kingdoms along the Silk Road. F re d erick Teggart, who has
examined the relationship between Rome and China in the
years 58 B.C. to A.D. 107, points out tha t "o f the fo rty
occasions on which outbreaks [o f w ar] took place in
Europe, twenty-seven were traceable to the policy, or
change o f policy, o f the Han government'1 (Teggart 1939,
p. v ii). The Silk Road provided an avenue not only fo r
com m ercial t r a f fic but also fo r Persian, Greek, Indian, and
Chinese c u ltu ra l and religious contacts. I t was from
Buddhist communities in the C e n tra l Asian oasis kingdoms
th a t Buddhism was introduced in to northw est China,
From the beginning, i t was apparent th a t Buddhism in
China could not fo llo w the A oka paradigm, which was
based on ( 1 ) a "Buddhist king," the de fa cto earthly p o li
tic a l co un terpa rt o f the Buddha; (2) a comprehensive
national m o ra lity1' inspired by Dharma; and (3) a "Buddhist
sta te " as an idealized and expanded image o f the Buddhist
community. Among the three, the most im portant fo r
Chinese Buddhists was the notion o f the kingship. This
notion had to be heavily modified in lig h t o f the indigenous
Chinese understanding o f the emperor. The designation
"em peror,n or Huang-ti, was o rig in a lly chosen by the fir s t
emperor of the dynasty preceding the Han, the C h'in, in
the th ird century B.C. Combining two terms which referred
to d iv in ity and m ythical heroes respectively, i t was based

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P aradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

on the notion o f the Mandate o f Heaven (Vien-m ing). Only


by the Mandate o f Heaven is the ru le rusually re fe rre d to
as the nSon o f Heaven11entrusted w ith governing "a ll under
Heaven,11 including re sp on sib ility fo r the "destiny o f the
sta te " (Kuo-yun). The importance which Chinese Buddhists
attached to the p ro te ctio n and patronage o f th e ir religion
by the ru le r is exem plified by the legend they created
about the dream o f the Emperor Ming (A.D. 58-75). In his
dream, Ming saw a radiant fig u re who was id e n tifie d as the
Buddha. As a result, he dispatched an envoy to India to
bring back monks, Buddha statues, and Buddhist scriptures
to China. According to Tsukamoto:

This tale o f the Emperor's dream appears to have o rig i


nated about A.D. 200. It was invented and propagated
by Buddhists fo r the purpose o f spreading th e ir religion
in a c u ltu ra l atmosphere in which the strength o f tra d i
tio n a l ideas was very great. By pretending th a t
Buddhism was received a t the center o f government by
command o f the Emperor, they sought to invest th e ir
re lig io n w ith an a u th o rity th a t the people o f China
could not easily deny (Tsukamoto 1956, p , 184).

Throughout Chinese h istory, Buddhism had easier access


to the throne when Confucian or Taoist influence in the
c o u rt was not strong. One such period was the time when
"barbarian" dynasties ruled North China between the fou rth
and the m id-sixth centuries. A rth u r W right calls our a tte n
tion to the s im ila rity between Caesaro-papism and the rela
tionship th a t developed between northern Buddhism and the
monarchy. The reigning emperor o f the Northern Wei dy
nasty, fo r example, was regarded as a Buddha incarnate
whereas southern Buddhism Mhad been content to make of
the p o litic a lly feeble emperors great lay patrons (maA)9-
danapat) and w ielders o f kingly power fo r the good o f the
fa ith in the manner o f the Indian C a k ra v a rtin -ra ja ,1' We
m ight note, however, th a t southern Buddhism, too, called
Emperor Wu o f the Liang dynasty (r, 502-49) Huang-ti

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Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

p'u-sa (Emperor odhisattva ) Chiu-shih p'u-sa (Savior


odhisattva ) and P'u-sa t f ie n -tzu (odhisattva Son o f
Heaven) (W right 1959 p. 51),1 A fte r the re u n ifica tio n of
northern and southern China by the Sui dynasty in 581, the
f ir s t Sui emperor W e n -timade this revealing statem ent:

W ith the armed m ight of a C a kra va rtin king, We spread


the ideals o f the u ltim a te ly enlightened one. W ith a
hundred v ic to rie s in a hundred battles, We promote the
p ra c tic e o f the ten Buddhist virtues. Therefore We
regard the weapons of war as having become like the
o ffe rin g s of incense and flo w e rs presented to Buddha,
and the fields o f this w orld as becoming fo re ve r iden
tic a l w ith the Buddha-land (Quoted in W right 1959,
p. 67).

The Dowager Empress Wu (r. 684-705) o f the T'ang dynasty


claimed equally pretentious honors by allow ing herself to
be styled M a itre ya or K uan-yin (E lio t 1954, p. 261).
Despite such serious e ffo rts on the p a rt o f Chinese
Buddhism to curry the favo r o f the throne, and despite the
w illingness o f ce rtain monarchs to accept Buddhist honors,
in the long run the influence o f Buddhism could not a lte r
the tra d itio n a l Chinese notion o f the sovereign as the HSon
o f Heaven11 as th a t notion was defined and authenticated in
Confucian terms.

The Buddhist impact on Chinese moral norms and the


Chinese state was equally in sig n ifica n t. Two centuries p rio r
to the e ntry o f Buddhism, China had made a tra n sitio n from

1 . Wr i ght 1959 p , 62. Chen 1964, p. 152, c ite s the legend th a t in 454,
"a stone fig u re o f the Buddha in the likeness o f the em peror was
set up" in th e N o rth e rn Wei c a p ita l, and th a t " i t was found to
have b la ck spots on the fa c e and fe e t, corresponding e x a c tly to
sim ila r m arks on th e em peror's fa ce and fe e t. This rem a rkab le
co in cid e n ce re c a lle d an e a rlie r s ta te m e n t by F a -ku o th a t the
em peror was th e pre se n t-d a y T a th a g a ta and th e populace became
even m ore im pressed."
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Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

feudalism to an im perial state supported by a highly devel


oped bureaucracy. Side by side w ith this development in
the p o litic a l sphere, the Confucian tra d itio n abandoned its
ancient ethos, which had re fle c te d the m e n ta lity o f the
feudal age, and developed in to an urbane e cle ctic system
re fe rre d to as "Han C onfucianism ," a system Mth a t became
the organizing power behind the sch o la r-o ffic ia ls and gave
fu ll expression to th e ir interests, ideas, and ideals" (Balazs
1964, p. 7). W ith the de fa c to canonization o f the Five
Classics, which provided the basics fo r the tra in in g o f the
s c h o la r-o ffic ia ls , moral norms fo r Chinese society came to
be d icta te d by the Confucian system. To be sure, this
system had incorporated ce rtain features from other
schools o f thought, e.g., Taoism, Legalism, and the Y in -
Yang School. Historians remind us th a t there were times
when C onfucian influence in the ce n tra l government waned
and the vacuum was fille d tem porarily by Taoist or
Buddhist influences. But through it a ll, the ru lin g class
remained solidly Confucian in outlook. N either Buddhism
nor Taoism was able to dislodge Confucian dominance in
s ta te c ra ft and had lit t le to add to Confucian virtues
exa ctly suited to a hierarchically-o rg an ize d im perial state:
"respect, h u m ility, d o c ility , obedience, submission, and
subordination to elders and b e tte rs11 (Balazs 1964, p. 7).
R ather, Buddhists attem pted to translate th e ir moral p rin
ciples in to a Confucian moral fram ework (Nakamura 5:3-4
pp. 156-171; Ch'en 1973, pp. 14-64).

A lthough Chinese Buddhism was thus excluded from


p a rtic ip a tin g m eaningfully in p o litic a l leadership and from
c o n trib u tin g p ositive ly to the moral norms o f society, it
exerted s ig n ific a n t influence on Chinese c u ltu ra l life . When
Buddhism reached China, it was no longer a simple religion
o f mendicants and humble lay follo w ers. It brought w ith it
a v a rie ty o f Indian Buddhist c u ltu ra l forms, which had been
fu rth e r enriched by Graeco-Persian influences in the oasis
kingdoms o f C e n tral Asia, R. Grosset tells us th a t:

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Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

The A urel Stein Mission . . . found in Rawak, in the


region o f Khotan, around various stupas going back to
the fir s t centuries o f our era, purely Graeco-Buddhist
re lie fs , and in Niya, on a site abandoned about the end
o f the th ird century A.D intaglios of Roman workman
ship, as w e ll as coins from the Kuchan dynasty th a t
reigned between A.D. 30 and 244 over Afghanistan and
Punjab. In M iran, . . . south o f Lop-Nor, A urel Stein
has discovered th ird century Buddhist mural paintings
o f purely Graeco-Roman workmanship, (Grousset 1959,
p. 139).

When the Chinese were in itia lly exposed to Buddhism,


i t is not surprising th a t they were more impressed by the
elegant Buddhist a rt and a rc h ite c tu re , the c o lo rfu l pag
eantry o f ritu a ls , the elaborate ceremonial vestments and
ornaments, than by lo fty doctrines which they could not
comprehend because of lin g u is tic and c u ltu ra l barriers. For
the evangelizing purposes of the Buddhist missionaries:

the Buddhist imagery, w ith its expressive represen


tatio n s, w hether it had to do w ith the human life of
the Buddha Sakyamuni, w ith its moving episodes, or
w ith the paradise of the coming Buddhist 'messiahs1 and
saviors 1 M a itre ya , A valokitS vara or A m itabha, was as
e ffe c tiv e as any preaching . . . moved by these pious
considerations, the Buddhist missionaries borrowed th e ir
imagery from every source, especially as some came
from the valley o f Kabul and Punjab, w ith th e ir
Gandharan 'S aint-S ulpice,1 w hile others stemmed from
the 'sem inaries1 o f Kashgaria where the most curious
amalgam o f images from every source was being devel
oped, and in addition these la st preachers were simple
Chinese neophytes who n atu ra lly introduced into
Buddhism the whole tra d itio n o f the popular religious
images of Taoism (Grousset 1959, p. 156).

Buddhist missionaries, eager to communicate the

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Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

contents o f the fa ith , began tra nslatin g scriptures and


commentaries in to Chinese, the language destined to
become the religious language o f Buddhists in East Asia.
The early translators, both foreign missionaries whose
understanding o f Chinese was lim ite d and th e ir Chinese
co lla bo ra tors who knew lit t le Sanskrit or P ali, appropriated
many terms and concepts from the Taoist tra d itio n to
express Buddhist meanings. Buddhists and Taoists also found
each oth e r congenial a e sth etica lly. Their influences upon
each other in a rt, lite ra tu re , and poetry g re a tly enriched
the Chinese c u ltu ra l tra d itio n .

Even so b rie f an overview as I have attem pted makes


cle a r th a t a new paradigm fo r Buddhism emerged in China,
replacing the A okan paradigm o f Indian B u d d h is m .(1)
Chinese Buddhism clung to the A oka-inspired image of the
Buddhist king, but at the same time it had to adjust its e lf
to the C onfucian-oriented Chinese notion o f the Emperor
as "Son of Heaven M onastic orders sought royal favor
and in turn were controlled by the throne. (2) In China,
Buddhism assumed a humbler role than its counterpart in
South and Southeast Asia in reference to moral norms and
the in s titu tio n o f the state. It did not replace but merely
supplemented the dominant Confucian moral norm and the
C onfucian-oriented bureaucracy. (3) Chinese Buddhism
accepted the monastic and lay paths as religious options
ra the r than as graded so te rio lo g ica l levels . A unique
Chinese tra d itio n of G entry Buddhism developed fo llo w in g
the model of V im alakTrti. In the words o f A rth u r W right,
V im alakTrti

was not a naked ascetic but a rich and pow erful a risto
c ra t, a b rillia n t ta lke r, a respected householder and
fa th e r, a man who denied him self no luxury or pleasure
yet possessed so pure and disciplined a personality tha t
he changed a ll whom he met fo r the b e tte r (W right
1959 p. 52).

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Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

(5) In the main, Chinese Buddhism was preoccupied w ith the


meaning o f human existence in the phenomenal w orld. This
preoccupation, as W in g -tsit Chan succinctly suggested,

co ntribu ted to the s h ift in outlook from o th e r


worldliness to this-w orldliness, in objective from in d ivi
dual salvation to universal salvation, in philosophy from
extrem e doctrines to synthesis, in methods of freedom
from religious discipline and philosophical understanding
to pietism and p ra c tic a l insight, and in a u th o rity from
the clergy to the layman him self (Chan 1957-1958
p. 115).

(6) In spite of occasional new input from Indian Buddhism,


and in spite o f the sincere e ffo r t o f Chinese pilgrim s to
secure a uthentic and u p-to -d a te Buddhist doctrines and
pra ctices in the land o f th e ir origin, Chinese Buddhism fo r
the most p a rt generated its own dynamics. These dynamics
derived from the Chinese experience of try in g to find
Buddhist meaning in Chinese cu ltu re and society and from
its give-and-take relationship w ith C onfucian, Taoist, and
other tra d itio n s . C h a ra c te ris tic a lly , Chinese Buddhism
found religious resources not only in Chinese translations
o f sutras and commentaries but also in Chinese Buddhists'
re fle c tio n s , commentaries, and d o ctrin a l form ulations. (7)
Not only did Chinese Buddhism develop its own a rt and
c u ltu re ; it made a great co ntrib u tio n to the to ta l c u ltu ra l
life o f China. (8) China became the secondary center of
diffu sio n fo r the Mahayana tra d itio n , extending its re li
gious and c u ltu ra l influence beyond its borders.

E A R LY JAPANESE RELIGION
Very lit t le o f the religious situation in Japan p rio r to the
in tro d u ctio n o f Chinese c iv iliz a tio n and Buddhism can be
reconstructed w ith c e rta in ty . Our conjectures are based
p rim a rily on the scattered references to Japan in Chinese
and Korean sources and on ca re fu lly scrutinized myths,

126 Japanese J o u rn a l o f R e lig io u s Studies 11/2-3 1984


P aradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

legends, lores, and customs o f the archaic and early


Japanese as recorded in such eighth-century documents as
the K o jik i, the Nihongi, the Fudoki, and the o ffic ia l antho
logy o f poems called the Man-yoshu.
By the term "Japanese R eligion'1 I re fe r to the
unnamed, unorganized and unsystematized clu ste r o f
re lig io -m a g ica l views, beliefs, and practices o f early Japan.
U nlike Buddhism and Confucianism , which claimed "u n i
versal" v a lid ity fo r Dharma and the Tao respectively, early
Japanese religion was derived from the "p a rtic u la r11 experi
ence o f the Japanese archipelago. Opinions vary g re atly as
to how fa r back Japanfs prehistory can be traced, but most
scholars agree th a t its e arlie st phase goes back to 3000 to
4500 years before our era. More im p o rta ntly, Japan!s pre
history lasted u n til around the m id -th ird century A.D., th a t
islong a fte r the establishment o f a great c iv iliz a tio n in
China. As fa r as we can ascertain, various e th n ic -c u ltu ra l
groups had d rifte d into the Japanese islands from northern
and southern parts of the A s ia tic continent as w e ll as from
South Sea areas during the p re histo ric period, and they had
a ttained a degree o f self-consciousness as one people,
developing a common language (proto-Japanese), before the
beginning o f the h isto ric period.
A lthough the Japanese islands were isolated from the
A s ia tic co ntin e nt, some Koreans sporadically migrated to
Japan, crossing the s tra it shortly before and a fte r the
beginning o f our era, a trend which continued throughout
the early h is to ric period. E vidently there were a number of
trib a l states in Japan, mostly in the western island o f
Kyushu, and some o f them paid trib u te to the Han co urt in
China during the firs t, second, and th ird centuries A.D. We
learn from Chinese records th a t there was a female
shamanistic ru le r, Himiko or Pimiko, whose prerogative as
the head o f the state o f Yam atai was duly acknowledged
by the Chinese court.

In talkin g about early Japanese religion from around

Japanese Journal o f Religious Studies 11/2-3 1984 127


Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

the turn of the fo u rth century A.D. we are on surer


ground. A t th a t time, the Vamato co urt began to consoli
date its power in the present Nara p re fe ctu re by forming
w hat amounted to a confederation o f pow erful u ji (clan)
groups. The Vamato rulers paid trib u te to China, and in
re tu rn they received the kingly t it le from the Chinese
c o u rt. W ithin Japan, they claimed to be descendants of the
Sun d eity (kami). They continued to so lid ify th e ir influence
over other u ji (clan) ch ie fta in s and assumed the preroga
tives o f co nfe rring co u rt title s granting sacred seed a t
spring fe stiva ls, and establishing sacred sites and regulating
ritu a ls fo r the kami. S ig n ifica n tly, th e ir kingly a c tiv itie s ,
which were simultaneously p o litic a l and m agico-religious,
were usually d icta te d by the precarious w ill of the kam i
transm itted to them through dreams and divinations.
The Vamato court was not idle in extending its in flu
ence to Korea. I t gained a foothold on the southern tip of
the peninsula during the fo u rth century A.D. Japanese
forces fought side-by-side w ith the army o f one o f the
Korean kingdoms, Paekche, against the armies of the riv a l
kingdoms, S illa and Koguryo. Through such co nta ctsan
increasing number of Korean artisans, a rtis ts , scholars, and
technicians came to se ttle in Japan, and it was through
Korea th a t Chinese c iv iliz a tio n and Buddhism were in tro
duced in to Japan. Sometime during the sixth century the
term nShinto" was coined, to re fe r to the h ith e rto unnamed
and unsystematized native m agico-religious tra d itio n , in
c o n tra d is tin c tio n to Confucian and Buddhist tra d itio n s. It
was assumed th a t the myths, symbols, and cu lts of
Vam ato's ruling house were to be accepted as the paradigm
of Shinto, but actually the court-sponsored Shinto could not
incorporate a ll the features of early Japanese re lig io n . In
fa c t, many such features remained outside the framework
of o ffic ia l Shinto. They have usually been placed in the
category o f "fo lk re lig io n .11 A t any ra te , there is good
reason to re ta in the designation ,!Japanese re lig io n " to
re fe r to the subsequent development of re lig io n in Japanese
history, even though its e a rlie r paradigm was destined to

128 Japanese Jo urna l o f R eligious Studies 1 1 /2-3 1984


Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

expand by the infusion of Confucian, Taoist, V ing-yang7


and Buddhist influences*

As I have stated repeatedly elsewhere, one o f the basic


features o f the early Japanese religious universe was its
u nita ry m eaning-structure, a stru ctu re which a ffirm ed the
b e lie f th a t the natural w orld is the o rig in al world.
/Xccording to this paradigm, the to ta l cosmosincluding
physical elements such as fire , w a ter, wood, and stone, as
w e ll as animals and ce le stia l bodiesis permeated by
sacred, or kami, nature (See K itagaw a 1980, pp. 27-42). In
such a w o rld -vie w , there were no rig id lines demarcating
various a c tiv itie s such as re lig io n commerce, arts, and
re cre a tion . It is not surprising, the re fo re, th a t human
beings and kami o f m u ltiple forms were believed to consti
tu te a single community.
The term kami refers to a ll beings and things, both
good and e vil, which are awesome and w orthy of reverence.
A ccording to the Nihongi, "th e re were numerous [kam i]
which shone w ith a lustre like th a t o f fire flie s , and evil
[kam i] which buzzed lik e flie s. There were also trees and
herbs a ll of which could speak" (Aston 1972, bk. 2, p. 64).
M oreover, when a mountain, fo r example, was called kami,
th a t implied th a t the mountain was the sacred re a lity
its e lf, not a symbol o f it. Human beings were also regarded
as kami, although la te r accounts tend to reserve this status
p rim a rily fo r monarchs and a risto cra ts. When Buddhism was
introduced, the Buddha was understood as a foreign kami.
In the course o f time, the early Japanese recognized many
types of kami, such as those o f geographical regions, of
social groups, and those who were believed to control
people!s health, fortune, and longevity- The early Japanese
also took fo r granted the existence o f tama and mono
(souls and sp irits), which were often interfused w ith the
notion o f kami. I t was believed th a t mono (usually s p irits of
the fox, the snake, and the badger) were capable o f posses
sing men and women as the ksmi did. Spoken words were

Japanese Jo u rn a l o f R eligio us Studies 11/2-3 1984 129


Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

also believed to have souls (koto-darna), which became an


im portant m o tif in the development o f ritu a lize d Shinto
prayer (norito).
To the early Japanese, what we now re fe r to as re li
gion was a m atter of the "ritu a liz a tio n " of various aspects
of life . Early Japanese religion had no fixed litu rg ie s u n til
it came in to co nta ct w ith Chinese and Buddhist ritu a l
forms, but most rite s had three basic features. The firs t
was the p ra ctice of dem arcating sacred space fo r the kami,
usually marked by a sacred rope hung w ith paper strips.
Second was the emphasis on p u rific a tio n . Third was a
v a rie ty of a c tiv itie s called m atsuri, o fte n translated as
"cerem ony" or "fe s tiv a l." These were rite s of thanksgiving,
p e titio n , paying homage, and presenting o ffe rin g s of rice
wine and food to the kami, follow ed by jo y fu l celebrations.
The meaning underlying m atsuri is "to be w ith " or "to
attend to the needs o f" the kami, the ancestral soul, or a
person of higher status. A related notion is p o litic a l admin
istra tio n (m atsuri-goto). The Yamato rulers were expected
to attend to the needs of th e ir solar ancestress, who
communicated her w ill to them for p ra c tic a l implementa
tio n . This p rinciple of the interrelatedness of m atsuri and
m atsuri-goto was la te r a rticu la te d in terms of the u n ity of
religion and national adm inistration (K itagaw a 1979
pp. 30-37).
Early Japanese religion was closely related to the
s tru c tu re of the primary social u n it, the precursor of what
la te r came to be called the u ji, a te rrito ria lly -b a s e d cluster
of fam ilies which shared the same tu te la ry kami and kinship
ties. The u ji was the social, economic, p o litic a l, and
religious u n it. It was held together by its c h ie fta in , whose
a u th o rity over the land and the people was derived from
his c u ltic prerogatives and economic c o n tro l. With the
ascendency of the Yamato ruling house as the supreme u ji,
ch ie fta in s of other great u ji groups were given co u rt title s
and various ranks. The growing prestige of the ru lin g house
was re fle cte d in the expansion of its pantheon and mytho
lo g ical tra d itio n . Both pantheon and tra d itio n gained

130 Japanese Jo u rn a l of R eligious S tudies 11/2-3 1984


Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

acceptance among subordinate u ji groups, thus fostering


both the tra nsition of Japan from the confederation of
semi-autonomous u ji groups to a kingdom and a trend
tow ard u nifying the h ith e rto fragm ented c u ltic , mytho
lo g ical, and religious tra d itio n of early Japan. The actual
impetus fo r the new paradigm o f Japanese religion,
however, came w ith the in tro du ctio n of Chinese c iv iliz a tio n
and Buddhism during the f if t h and sixth centuries A.D.

PARADIGM CHANGE IN JAPANESE RELIGION


As stated e a rlie r, Chinese c iv iliz a tio n and Buddhism pene
tra te d Japan not d ire c tly from China but through Korea,
which since the second century B.C. had been a cu ltu ra l
s a te llite o f China. Although this is not the occasion to
tra ce the relationship between Korea and Japan, we might
mention in passing th a t there were close c u ltu ra l a ffin itie s
between southern Korea and Kyushu in the prehistoric
period. The same type of dolmens have been unearthed in
both places, and the veneration o f sacred mountains and
sacred rocks was shared by ancient Koreans and Japanese
(K i-young Y i 1975, pp. 3-59. Professor T !aek-kyu Kim, a
Korean historian, is persuaded th a t

. . . t he foundation o f the Japanese religion p rio r to


the in tro du ctio n of Buddhism has many such aspects as
can be construed as the colonized and developed
features of our own [meaning Korea], and the number
of [kam i] revealed in ancient Japanese records, the ir
m ythology, a ttrib u te s o f those female priests who
appear in th e ir ancient legend, status o f women as
revealed in th e ir royal lineage, relations between men
and women and so fo rth closely resemble those of
S hilla [S illa ]. Besides, the ancient immigrants from the
Korean Peninsula to the Japanese islands exerted a
great influence on the religious lives o f the Japanese
as exem plified by festiva ls, funeral services, prayers
fo r ra in fa lls , e tc., and i t is easy to surmise th a t the
various features of our religion based on a p o lyth e istic

Japanese Jo u rn a l oi R eligio us Studies 11/2-3 198 131


Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

foundation were transplanted into the re lig io n o f the


Japanese (Kim 1975, p. 35).

During the fir s t and second centuries A.D., there was a


prosperous colony o f Chinese "g e ntry in the area around
the present North Korean c ity o f P'yong-yang, which was
an essential staging-post fo r the trib u ta ry envoys o f south
Korean and Kyushu trib a l states en route to the Chinese
c a p ita l" (G ardiner 1969, p* 20). " It also seems possible,1'
according to Dr, G ardiner, "th a t some of the Pyon-han kuo
[trib a l states o f Pyon-han, Benkan in Japanese, in southern
K orea] acknowledged the overlordship o f the Japanese
Queen Himiko in the m id -th ird century A.D." (G ardiner
1969, p. 48). W ith the decline o f Chinese influence over the
Korean peninsula in the fo u rth century, three Korean king
domsKoguryo, Silla, and Paekcheestablished th e ir
respective domains and staged a series o f fie rc e c o n flic ts
th a t lasted fo r three centuries. In this struggle, Paekche
sought Japan's m ilita ry assistance, and the Yamato rulers
gave it. L a te r, Japan established co n ta ct w ith Silla.
From the fo u rth century onward, Japans close co nta ct
w ith Korea brought a number o f Korean immigrants to
Japan. The e a rlie r group o f immigrants included prominent
Koreans o f Chinese descent, who came to be known in
Japan as the in flu e n tia l fam ilies o f Hata, Aya, and Fumi,
During the sixth and seventh centuries, immigrants from
Koguryo and Silla as w e ll as those from Paekche settled in
Japan. They and th e ir descendants, the naturalized c it i
zens, taught Japanese the Chinese scrip t, Confucian lit e r
ary classics, astronomy, medicine, and various techno
logies, a ll of which g re a tly enriched Japanese c u ltu ra l life .
I t was a re vo lutio n ary experience fo r the Japanese, who
had no w ritte n language o f th e ir own, to learn to read and
w rite Chinese scrip t; and the d iffic u lty was compounded by
the fa c t th a t the medium o f in stru ction was Korean, the
language o f im m igrant teachers. Even through such hazar
dous procedures, new ly-im ported knowledge quickly had a
g reat im pact on Japan* For example, the Japanese in te lli

132 Japanese Jou rn a l o f R elig io u s Studies 11/2-3 1984


Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

gentsia learned from the Y in-Y ang school not only fasci
nating cosmological theories but also the underlying
p rin cip le th a t the human mind could know the stru ctu re and
dynamics o f the mysterious universe* They also learned th a t
unlike the Japanese w o rld -view , which was derived from
th e ir "p a rtic u la r" experience, there was the "universal" law
o f Tao th a t underlies Confucian ethics, p o litic a l theory,
and legal and educational in stitu tio n s.
The paradigm o f the e a rlie r Japanese religious
universe, the sim p listic unitary m eaning-structure, in e vi
tably underwent changes.

In addition to Chinese c iv iliz a tio n , Buddhism, too, was


transm itted to Japan through Korea. I do not need to
recount the w ell-know n events o f the controversy tha t
follow ed the o ffic ia l presentation of the Buddhist image to
the Yamato c o u rt from the king o f Paekche in the sixth
century A.D. We should note, however, th a t due to th e ir
a ffirm a tio n th a t everything is p o te n tia lly a m anifestation
o f kami (sacred power), the early Japanese never developed
representations o f kami in anthropomorphic form . Thus the
sym bolization of the sacred or uddhahood in a human-like
image was a new re ve latio n , which had far-re a chin g e ffe cts
on the Japanese a ttitu d e tow ard sacral re a lity * Moreover,
those c o u rt m inisters who argued against accepting the
statue o f the foreign kami (the Buddha) presented th e ir
case from the perspective o f the e a rlie r "p a rtic u la r"
Japanese religious universe, w hile the ch ie fta in o f the
pow erful and pro-Buddhist Soga u ji was a ttra c te d by the
Buddhist claim o f its "universal" v a lid ity . A t any rate,
Buddhism was in itia lly sponsored by the Soga c h ie fta in as
the "re lig io n of u ji11 and not as the religion of the Yamato
co urt.
It was P rince Shotoku, the regent under his aunt,
Empress Suikoaround the turn of the seventh century, who
sensed the necessity and d e sira b ility of a paradigm change
in Japanese religioru He "p a rtic u la riz e d " the two universal

Japanese Jo u rn a l o f R e lig io u s Studies 11/2-3 1984 133


Joseph M. K IT A G A W A

principles, the Tao o f Conf icianism and the Dharma of


Buddhism, so as to strengthen the foundation o f the
h ie ra rc h ic a lly -c e n tra lize d national community under the
sacred monarchy. Himself a devout Buddhist tutored by
eminent Korean Buddhist masters, Shotoku held a grandiose
vision inspired in part by K ing Anoka's trip le schema on
tw o levels-Buddha, Dharma, and Samgha on the sp iritu a l
level, and the sacred kingship, moral norm fo r society, and
re lig io -p o litic a l state on the em pirical le ve land in part by
the example of Emperor Wen Ti (r. 581-60^) o f the Sui
dynasty, who united China by dom esticating Buddhism,
Confucianism, and, to a lesser degree, Taoism, as arms of
the sem i-divine emperor (K itagaw a 197 pp. 209-226).
Sh5toku's untim ely death was follow ed by a series of
bloody power struggles in the co u rt. However, his vision
was implemented substantially by Emperor Temmu (r.
672-696), the real a rc h ite c t of the so-called RitsuryS
(Im perial Rescript) state. The R itsury5 state attem pted to
re o rie n t Shinto, C onfucian, Buddhist, and Taoist tra dition s
to cooperate under the a u th o rity o f the sovereign, who
claimed the prerogative to "re ig n 11 and to "ru le 11 the nation
on the basis of the myth tha t the imperial house possessed
a solar ancestry. A ccordingly, the sovereign was now
regarded as the "m anifest kami" whose divine w ill was
communicated by a series of "im p erial re scrip ts," This type
of "im m anental theocracy,1 became the new paradigm of
Japanese religion.
In order to s o lid ify such a new synthesis of religion,
society, p o lity , and cu ltu re , the government reorganized
the co urt s tru c tu re (M ille r 197and ordered the compila
tion o f tw o m yth o-histo rica l works, the K o jik i and the
Nihongi. The government also kept records of local surveys
or topologies (the FudokD and made the nNew Com pilation
of the R egister of Fam ilies'1 (Shinsen-shojiroku). Moreover,
the penal codes (jdtsu) and the c iv il statu tes (ryo), modelled
a fte r the Chinese legal system, were issued in the name of
the throne. The fa c t tha t the Department o f K a m i-A ffa irs
(Jin g i-ka n ) was placed side by side w ith the G reat Council

13^ Japanese Jo u rn a l o f R e lig io u s Studies 11/2-3 198


Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

o f State (Dc(pkan) accorded prestige to Shinto while


keeping i t under the rig id co n tro l o f the government
bureaucracy. The government also controlled the Buddhist
c le ric s through the !lLaw Governing Monks and Nuns11
(55niry3).
The objective o f the R itsuryo synthesis was not to
create a Chinese-style nlitu rg ic a l community*1 w ith its
sovereign as the m ediator between Heaven, E arth, and Man,
but to make the e n tire Japanese nation a "so te rio lo g ica l
com m unity 11 as i t were, w ith the emperor fun ctio ning simul
taneously as the ch ie f priest, the sacred king, and the
liv in g kami. A ccording ly, the Im perial co u rt now became
the e a rth ly co u n te rp a rt of the heavenly co u rt o f the Sun
d e ity . The stylize d co u rt ritu a ls , as prescribed in the
E ngi-shiki (In stitu te s or Proceedings of the Engi E ra)the
most elaborate embodiment of the R itsuryo paradigmwere
meant to perpetuate the e arthly replica o f heavenly ritu a ls
as told in myths (K itagaw a 1981, pp. 217-232).
I t is an irony o f history th a t even before the R itsuryo
synthesis achieved its coherence, it had begun to erode due
to the changes in both the Japanese religious universe and
the s o c io -p o litic a l order. The la tte r change was exem plified
by the F u jiw a ra regency, the rule by re tire d monarchs, and
feudal regimes (ba/cufu). Nevertheless, the R itsu ryo ideal
has remained as the only viable paradigm o f Japanese re li
gion throughout Japanese h is to ry a t least, u n til the
modern period. And i t is o f great significance th a t the
M e iji regime, despite its w esternized modern trappings,
attem pted to re tu rn to the R itsuryo paradigm by means of
the emperor c u lt, a national m o ra lity, and a sacred national
community.

JAPANESE BUDDHISM AND ITS PARADIGM


The foregoing makes clear, I hope, th a t the development o f
the Buddhist tra d itio n in Japan was closely in tertw ine d
w ith the development o f Japanese re ligion. Some h isto rica l
fa c to rs can help us understand the ch a ra cte ristics o f
Japanese Buddhism.

Japanese Jo u rn a l o f R elig io u s Studies 11 /2 -3 1984 135


Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

F irs t, Buddhism was in itia lly understood in Japan to be


one of the components, along w ith the C onfucian, Taoist,
and Y in Yang schools, o f the superior CThinese c iv iliz a tio n .
A ll o f these modes o f b e lie f were accepted w ith o u t serious
resistance by the Japanese simply because, a t the time,
Japan did not possess any organized in te lle c tu a l or re li
gious systems which could compete w ith the Chinese
tra d itio n s .
Second, fo llo w in g the Korean example, Japan accepted
Buddhism solely in its Chinese form and took lit t le in terest
in its Indian o rig in . Thus, unlike the Chinese Buddhists, who
had translated the Buddhist scriptures into th e ir own
language, the Japanese Buddhists made no e ffo rt to trans
la te the scriptures in to Japanese, a t least u n til our own
tim e (K itagaw a 1963, pp. 53-59). To com plicate m atters
fu rth e r, the early Buddhist teachers in Japan were mostly
Koreans who had only a lim ite d knowledge o f Japanese.
Thus only a small group o f the most g ifte d Japanese,
mostly descendants o f Korean emigres, could comprehend
the in te lle c tu a l content o f lo fty Buddhist doctrines and
philosophies during Buddhism*s in itia l period in Japan.
T hird, Buddhism was in itia lly accepted in Japan fo r
c u ltu ra l and p o litic a l reasons as much as fo r magico-
religious reasons, fir s t by the in flu e n tia l u ji groups and
la te r by the Im perial co u rt. Lavish temples were b u ilt,
elegant Buddhist statues were imported or created, a series
o f scriptures were copied, and c o lo rfu l ritu a ls were
perform ed mostly to gain mundane b en e fits but very few
e ffo rts were made to understand the subtleties o f doctrine .
F ourth, the sponsorship o f Buddhism sh ifte d from the
u ji groups to the Im perial co u rt, thanks to the e ffo rt o f the
pious Buddhist prince, Shotoku, who promoted Buddhism as
one foundation, a lb e it an im portant one, o f the "m u lti
value" p o lity explicated in his S eventeen-A rticle C onsti
tu tio n . Thus, Buddhism became a s ig n ific a n t religious, p o li
tic a l, and c u ltu ra l in s titu tio n fo r Japanese society. For
example, the famous tem ple, Tennoji, established by
Shotoku in the p o rt c ity o f modern-day Osaka, was an

136 Japanese Jo u rn a l o f R e lig io u s Studies 1 1 /2 -3 1984


Paradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

im p o rta nt center o f educational and philanthropic as w ell


as religious a c tiv itie s . As Anesaki states: nI t was there
th a t the embassies, missionaries, and immigrants were
adm itted and welcomed to the country, through the gate
way of Buddhist communion11 (Anesaki 1930 p. 58).
F ifth , w ith the consolidation o f Japanese religion,
society, and governmental s tru c tu re th a t follow ed the
establishm ent o f the R itsu ryo system, Buddhism received
generous support from the ce n tra l government. But it was
also rig id ly co ntro lle d by the c iv il auth oritie s, who acted
more as a R eligionspolizei than as a S chutzpatronat. Since
then, Buddhism has been expected to ensure the p ro te ctio n
o f the sovereign and the nation (Nakamura 1948, p, 221).

Chinese Buddhism had to be satisfied w ith a subor


dinate position because o f the dominant place occupied by
the Confucian and, to a lesser degree, by the Taoist tra d i
tions. In comparison, Japanese Buddhism overshadowed
indigenous Shinto and established its e lf as the dominant
Japanese religious tra d itio n _ o r at least as the "h a lf-cre e d "
o f Japan, to use A rth u r L lo y d s phrase. Japanese Buddhism
exerted tremendous influence a t various stages o f the
development o f Japanese re lig io n generally, and the indi
genous Shinto tra d itio n was not immune to Buddhist
influence. Even n o rito , the stylize d Shinto litu rg ic a l
prayers, were influenced by the form at o f Buddhist sutra
re c ita tio n (Tamura 1966, p. 21). S till, the development of
the c h a ra c te ris tic ethos o f Japanese Buddhism cannot be
understood w ith o u t taking in to account the impact o f basic
features o f Japanese re lig io n , such as the m ythological
legacy which authenticated the sacred monarchy and the
n atio n al community, the a ffirm a tio n o f the s a cra lity o f the
w orld o f nature, and the nebulous notion o f the sacred
(kami). Thus it is im portant to recognize the parallel
processes and the convergence o f development and
paradigm change in Japanese re lig io n and in Japanese
Buddhism.

Japanese J o u rn a l o f R e lig io u s Studies 11/2 -3 1984 137


Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

Space does not perm it us to analyze the various stages


of the transform ation of Japanese Buddhism (K itagaw a
1965, pp. 319-336), but I w ill d epict some of the basic and
enduring features of its paradigm.
F irs t, Japanese Buddhism is n a tio n a listic in character.
Its nationalism emerged from the combined influence of the
m y th o -h isto rica l legacy of Japanese religion and the
n a tio n a lis tic ethos o f Korean Buddhism, especially of the
Buddhism of S illa. Throughout its h istory, Japanese
Buddhism has trie d to maintain a d iffic u lt balance among
such m otifs as mundane benefits, individual and universal
salvation, and chingo-kokka (the "p ro te ctio n o f the nation")
(Nakamura 1948 pp. 91-1^0; Watanabe 1958 pp. 76-89).
Second, Japanese Buddhism is syn cre tistic, as epito
mized in the Shinto-Buddhist amalgam (Shin-Butsu shug^),
which lasted u n til the la te nineteenth century. Both of the
main Buddhist tra d itio n s established during the Heian
period, the Tendai and the Shingon schools, fostered
syncretism through prom oting S an n 5-ichi-jitsu-S hinto and
Ry5bu-S hint5, respectively. Both patronized a s t ill more
s y n c re tis tic c u lt, the Shugen-do or Order o f Mountain
Priesthood. Moreover, Japanese Buddhism appropriated
religious features of the Confucian and Japanese ancestor
cults.
Third, Japanese Buddhism inclines tow ard magical
b eliefs and practices. It re fle c ts a strange homology of the
archaic Japanese legacy, Korean shamanism, magico-
religious elements of the Indian and Chinese Buddhist tra d i
tion (especially its esoteric [M ikkyo ] elements), and the
all-pervasive influence of Onmyodo, the Japanese appropri
ation of the Y in-Y ang school (On magical tendencies, see
Watanabe 1958 pp. 89-102; on OnmySdo, see Murayama,
1981). When Buddhism was fir s t introduced in to Japan,
statues of the Buddha were believed to possess the power
to bring about w o rld ly benefits m agically. Buddhist clerics
were expected to re c ite sutras constantly and to o ffe r
magical incantations fo r a ll conceivable occasions. Hori
points out th a t even the Nembutsu, the p ra ctice o f re citin g

138 Japanese Jo u rn a l o f R eligious Studies 11/2-3 1984


P aradigm Change in Japanese Buddhism

the holy name of Amida, was used as a form o f magic (Hori


1968, pp. 83-139).
F ourth, Japanese Buddhism tends to depend on the
charism atic q ualities o f religious leaders as an e fficacious
so te rio lo g ic a l means o f adhering to h isto rica l Buddhist
disciplines. While the Vinaya was preserved in certain
o ffic ia lly recognized monastic centers, the history of
Japanese Buddhism is fu ll of charism atic figures who had
only tenuous connections w ith the o ffic ia l Buddhist h ie r
archy, e.g., p riva te monks (shido-so)y unordained priests
(ubasoku), and holy men ( h ijir i) . Even in the o ffic ia l
Buddhist circles, such sa in tly persons as Prince Shotoku,
G yogi, and K ukai have been in e ffe c t "d e ifie d ." The
influence o f charism atic leaders originated in the pre-
Buddhist Japanese religious tra d itio n , and was incorporated
in to Buddhist p ie ty. Buddhist and Shinto ideas thus
coalesced, says E lio t,

. . . and the t it le o f odhisattva was conferred on


departed emperors and statesmenon those, fo r
instance, who are described as Hachiman, the patron of
soldiers, and Tenjin, the [kam i] o f calligraphy, and even
on so recent a personage as [Tokugawa] Ieyasu (E lio t
1959, p. 183).

The veneration o f saintly figures such as Honen, Shinran,


and N ichiren became an im p o rta nt feature in the schools of
Kamakura Buddhism.
F ifth , Japanese Buddhism has a propensity fo r under
standing the meaning o f life and the w orld a esthetically
ra th e r than e th ic a lly or m etaphysically. This understanding
was undoubtedly grounded in the pre-Buddhist Japanese
emphasis on the a rtis tic and the poetic, but it was fu r
thered by the importance th a t the c u ltu ra l expression of
Buddhism held from the tim e o f the in tro du ctio n o f
Buddhism to Japan. The aesthetic tendency was re ite ra te d
by K uka i and subsequent Buddhist leaders.
Sixth, Japanese Buddhism a ffirm s the s a cra lity of the

Japanese J o u rn a l o f R e lig io u s Studies 1 1 /2-3 1984 139


Joseph M . K IT A G A W A

w orld o f nature. This fea tu re is probably the most basic to


the Japanese Buddhist understanding o f re a lity . It re fle c ts
a synthesis o f the pre-Japanese notion o f a cosmos per
meated by kami (sacred) nature w ith the Chinese Buddhist
emphasis on the phenomenal world as the locus o f soterio-
logy and the Taoist notion o f "naturalness" (tzu-Jan).
A ccording to Balazs, Taoist "naturalness11 had three related
m e a n in g s :( 1 ) "nature w ith o u t human in te rv e n tio n ,1' (2) "the
spontaneous lib e rty o f the in d ivid ua l,*' and (3) "the
'absolute1another name fo r Tao'1 (C ited in W right 1959
p. 29). W ith the a rtic u la tio n o f the sa cra lity o f the w orld o f
nature in terms o f Jinen-honi (7 a th a t3; things as they are,
spontaneity, w ith o u t cause) or hongaku (innate Buddha-
nature), Japanese Buddhism a t last became self-conscious
as the heir o f both h isto ric Buddhism and Japanese religion.

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