In its role as a scriptural charter, vinaya has justified widely dissimilar approaches to religious life as Buddhist orders in different times and places have interpreted it in contradictory ways. In the resulting tension between scripture and practice, certain kinds of ceremonial issues (such as those involving lineage, seniority, initiation, purification, repentance, visualization, vows, ordination) acquire profound social, psychological, doctrinal, and soteriological significance in Buddhism. Going Forth focuses on these issues over a wide sweep of history--from early fifth-century China to modern Japan--to provide readers with a rich overview of the intersection of doctrinal, ritual, and institutional concerns in the development of East Asian Buddhist practices.
Despite the crucial importance of vinaya, especially for understanding Buddhism in East Asia, very little scholarship in Western languages exists on this fascinating topic. The essays presented here, written by senior scholars in the field, go beyond the timeworn method of relying on prescriptive accounts in the scriptures to describe what imaginary Buddhists must have done (or do). Rather, they address how actual people responded to local social and cultural imperatives by reading scripture in innovative ways to give new life to tradition. They place real people, practices, and institutions at the center of each account, revealing both diversity and unity, continuity and transformation, in Buddhist customs. The result is a well-integrated, accessible work--relevant for Buddhist studies, but with wider implications for anyone interested in East Asian cultural heritage.
Going Forth: Visions of Buddhist Vinaya, William Bodiford, University of Hawai'i Press, Hardcover, 2005, 317 Pages, $48.00
William Bodiford is associate professor of religion at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Contents: Going Forth : Visions of Buddhist Vinaya |
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Preface, William M. Bodiford |
ix |
1. |
Visionary Repentance and Visionary Ordination in the Brahma
Net Sutra Nobuyoshi Yamabe |
17 |
2. |
The Precious Scroll of the Liang Emperor:
Buddhist and Daoist Repentance to Save the
Dead, David W. Chappell 40 |
40 |
3. |
Daoxuan's Vision of Jetavana: The Ordination Platform Movement
in Medieval Chinese Buddhism, John R. McRae
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68 |
4. |
Buddhist Precepts in a Lawless World: Some
Comments on the Linhuai Ordination Scandal, T.H. Barrett |
101 |
5. |
From the Chinese Vinaya Tradition to Chan Regulations:
Continuity and Adaptation, Yifa |
124 |
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Vinaya Monasteries, Public Abbacies, and State
Control of Buddhism under the Song
(960-1279), Morten Schlter |
136 |
7.
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Popular Religion and Pure Land in Song-Dynasty
Tiantai Bodhisattva Precept Ordination Ceremonies, Daniel A. Getz |
161 |
8. |
Bodhidharma's Precepts in Japan, William M. Bodiford |
185 |
9. |
Tradition and Innovation: Eison's Self-Ordinations
and the Establishment of New Orders of Buddhist Practitioners, Paul Groner |
210 |
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Precepts in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism: The Jodoshu,
James C. Dobbins |
236 |
11. |
The Debate over Meat Eating in Japanese Buddhism,
Richard M. Jaffe |
255 |
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Bibliography |
277 |
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Contributors |
305 |
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Index |
307 |
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