Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism

Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism

Edited by: Jacqueline I. Stone and Mariko Namba Walter

University of Hawaii Press | 2008

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824862152

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For more than a thousand years, Buddhism has dominated Japanese death rituals and concepts of the afterlife. The nine essays in this volume, ranging chronologically from the tenth century to the present, bring to light both continuity and change in death practices over time. They also explore the interrelated issues of how Buddhist death rites have addressed individual concerns about the afterlife while also filling social and institutional needs and how Buddhist death-related practices have assimilated and refigured elements from other traditions, bringing together disparate, even conflicting, ideas about the dead, their postmortem fate, and what constitutes normative Buddhist practice.

The idea that death, ritually managed, can mediate an escape from deluded rebirth is treated in the first two essays. Sarah Horton traces the development in Heian Japan (794–1185) of images depicting the Buddha Amida descending to welcome devotees at the moment of death, while Jacqueline Stone analyzes the crucial role of monks who attended the dying as religious guides. Even while stressing themes of impermanence and non-attachment, Buddhist death rites worked to encourage the maintenance of emotional bonds with the deceased and, in so doing, helped structure the social world of the living. This theme is explored in the next four essays. Brian Ruppert examines the roles of relic worship in strengthening family lineage and political power; Mark Blum investigates the controversial issue of religious suicide to rejoin one’s teacher in the Pure Land; and Hank Glassman analyzes how late medieval rites for women who died in pregnancy and childbirth both reflected and helped shape changing gender norms.

The rise of standardized funerals in Japan’s early modern period forms the subject of the chapter by Duncan Williams, who shows how the Soto Zen sect took the lead in establishing itself in rural communities by incorporating local religious culture into its death rites. The final three chapters deal with contemporary funerary and mortuary practices and the controversies surrounding them. Mariko Walter uncovers a "deep structure" informing Japanese Buddhist funerals across sectarian lines—a structure whose meaning, she argues, persists despite competition from a thriving secular funeral industry. Stephen Covell examines debates over the practice of conferring posthumous Buddhist names on the deceased and the threat posed to traditional Buddhist temples by changing ideas about funerals and the afterlife. Finally, George Tanabe shows how contemporary Buddhist sectarian intellectuals attempt to resolve conflicts between normative doctrine and on-the-ground funerary practice, and concludes that human affection for the deceased will always win out over the demands of orthodoxy.

Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism constitutes a major step toward understanding how Buddhism in Japan has forged and retained its hold on death-related thought and practice, providing one of the most detailed and comprehensive accounts of the topic to date.

Contributors: Mark L. Blum, Stephen G. Covell, Hank Glassman, Sarah Johanna Horton, Brian O. Ruppert, Jacqueline I. Stone, George J. Tanabe, Jr., Mariko Namba Walter, Duncan Ryuken Williams.

Author information

StoneJacqueline I.:

Jacqueline I. Stone is professor of religion at Princeton University.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Free access PDF PDF	ix
Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
1. Mukaekō Practice for the Deathbed Sarah Johanna Horton Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	27
2. With the Help of ‘‘Good Friends’’ Deathbed Ritual Practices in Early Medieval Japan Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	61
3. Beyond Death and the Afterlife Considering Relic Veneration in Medieval Japan Brian O. Ruppert Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	102
4. Collective Suicide at the Funeral of Jitsunyo Mimesis or Solidarity? Mark L. Blum Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	137
5. At the Crossroads of Birth and Death The Blood Pool Hell and Postmortem Fetal Extraction Hank Glassman Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	175
6. Funerary Zen Sōtō Zen Death Management in Tokugawa Japan Duncan Ryūken Williams Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	207
7. The Structure of Japanese Buddhist Funerals Mariko Namba Walter Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	247
8. The Price of Naming the Dead Posthumous Precept Names and Critiques of Contemporary Japanese Buddhism Stephen G. Covell Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	293
9. The Orthodox Heresy of Buddhist Funerals George J. Tanabe Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	325
Glossary of Chinese and Japanese Characters Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	349
Contributors Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	363
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	365

Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism

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