Mysteries of Speech and Breath: Dohan's (1179-1252) Himitsu nenbutsu sho and Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism.
dc.contributor.author | Proffitt, Aaron P. | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2015-05-14T16:26:50Z | |
dc.date.available | NO_RESTRICTION | en_US |
dc.date.available | 2015-05-14T16:26:50Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2015 | en_US |
dc.date.submitted | 2015 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/111511 | |
dc.description.abstract | Through my analysis and translation of Dohan’s (1179-1252) Himitsu nenbutsu sho (Compendium on the Secret Contemplation of Buddha), I have investigated the broader Japanese and East Asian Buddhist context for “Esoteric” (aka, Tantra, Vajrayana, etc.) approaches to rebirth in the “Pure Land” paradise of the Buddha Amitabha, and opened up new avenues for academic inquiry into ritualized speech acts as technologies for negotiating the perceived gulf between enlightened Buddhas and ordinary beings, as well as Buddhist theories of religious diversity, death, and rebirth. In Part I (Chapters I-III), I synthesize traditional and contemporary Chinese, Japanese, and English language scholarship on the history of Esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism, and read across a diverse range of premodern Chinese and Japanese ritual and doctrinal texts in order to demonstrate that throughout East Asian Buddhist history, Pure Land Buddhism and Esoteric Buddhism functioned not simply as two discrete or exclusive “kinds” of Buddhism, but rather as mutually informative dimensions of a diverse Mahayana ritual and devotional environment. In Part II (Chapters IV-VI), I investigate Dohan’s contemporary and local context, focusing in particular upon the Koyasan mountain monastic complex where Dohan became one of the most significant scholar-monks of the medieval Shingon tradition, and demonstrate that the nenbutsu (the ritual chanting of the name of the Buddha Amitabha, “Namu Amida Butsu”) was fundamental to the religious lives of the elite monastics and peripatetic ascetics that made up the heterogeneous groups on Koyasan. In Part III, I present my annotated translation of the first fascicle of Dohan’s Himitsu nenbutsu sho. In the first fascicle of this text, Dohan lays out his vision of the diversity of Pure Land practice, wherein exoteric “dualist” (this world and the Pure Land are separate) and esoteric “non-dualist” (this world and the Pure Land are one) conceptions of the nature of salvation are allowed to stand together in an exo/esoteric dialogic tension, without necessarily being resolved. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.subject | Pure Land Buddhism, Esoteric Buddhism, Medieval Japanese Buddhism | en_US |
dc.subject | Tantra, Pure Land, Vajrayana, Amitabha, mantra, nenbutsu, Dohan | en_US |
dc.subject | Kukai, Shinran, Shingon, Jodo Shinshu, Koyasan, Kamakura | en_US |
dc.title | Mysteries of Speech and Breath: Dohan's (1179-1252) Himitsu nenbutsu sho and Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism. | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreename | PhD | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreediscipline | Asian Languages and Cultures | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreegrantor | University of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Auerback, Micah L. | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Carr, Kevin Gray | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Brose, Benjamin | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Payne, Richard Karl | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | East Asian Languages and Cultures | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Religious Studies | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Humanities | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111511/1/proffitt_1.pdf | |
dc.owningcollname | Dissertations and Theses (Ph.D. and Master's) |
Files in this item
Remediation of Harmful Language
The University of Michigan Library aims to describe library materials in a way that respects the people and communities who create, use, and are represented in our collections. Report harmful or offensive language in catalog records, finding aids, or elsewhere in our collections anonymously through our metadata feedback form. More information at Remediation of Harmful Language.
Accessibility
If you are unable to use this file in its current format, please select the Contact Us link and we can modify it to make it more accessible to you.