Buddhist Hagiography in Early Japan: Images of Compassion in the Gyoki Tradition (Routledge Studies in Asian Religion) - Softcover

Augustine, Jonathan Morris Morris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415646294 ISBN 13: 9780415646291

Publisher: Routledge, 2012

Synopsis

Hagiographies or idealized biographies which recount the lives of saints, bodhisattvas and other charismatic figures have been the meeting place for myth and experience. In medieval Europe, the 'lives of saints' were read during liturgical celebrations and the texts themselves were treated as sacred objects. In Japan, it was believed that those who read the biographies of lofty monks would acquire merit. Since hagiographies were written or compiled by 'believers', the line between fantasy and reality was often obscured. This study of the bodhisattva Gyoki - regarded as the monk who started the largest social welfare movement in Japan - illustrates how Japanese Buddhist hagiographers chose to regard a single monk's charitable activities as a miraculous achievement that shaped the course of Japanese history.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Morris Augustine is an Associate Professor of International Communication at the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan. Since 1973 he has spent most of his life in Asia with the exception of a decade at Princeton University where he obtained his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415646294
• ISBN 13: 9780415646291
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184