Tendai

Saichō 最澄［七六六・七六七―八二二］is famous for being the first person in Japan to accept the Tendai school of thought. However, before  Saichō became active, the foundation for the spread of the Tendai teachings had already been laid by Ganjin 鑑真［六八八―七六三］ and his students. This paper examines the missionary activities of Ganjin and his students in propagating the Tendai teachings and the influence of these activities on  Saichō.

This small book gives a general and basic guide to the many facets of Japanese Tendai Buddhism. Due to its short length it does not cover all of Tendai Buddhism, and some explanations may be missing detail. However I hope it serves as an introduction to the beginner of both Buddhism in general, and Tendai Buddhism.

The Global Repositioning of Japanese Religions: An Integrated Approach explores how Japanese religions respond to the relativizing effects of globalization, thereby repositioning themselves as global players. Organized around concrete case studies focusing on the engagement of Japanese Buddhism, Shinto, and several new religious movements in areas such as ecology, inter-religious dialogue, and politics, this book shows that the globalization of Japanese religions cannot be explained simply in terms of worldwide institutional expansion. Rather, it is a complex phenomenon conditioned by a set of pervasive factors: changes in consciousness, the perception of affinities and resonances at the systemic and cultural levels, processes of decontextualization, and a wide range of power issues including the re-enactment of cultural chauvinism.
The author investigates these dynamics systematically with attention to broader theoretical questions, cross-cultural similarities, the definition of religion and the perils of ethnocentrism, in order to develop his Global Repositioning model, which constitutes an integrated approach to the study of Japanese religions under globalization.
An empirically-grounded and theoretically-informed study of the effects of global trends on local religions, this book will appeal to scholars and students with interests in globalization, religious studies, Japanese studies, Hawaii, sociology, anthropology, and ecology.

TABLE  OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1 Approaching Religion under Globalization
2 Religious Others at the Door: Inclusivism and Pluralism as Forms of Global Repositioning
3 Glocal Environmentalism: Unpacking the Greening of Religion in Japan
4 Meditation à la Carte: Glocal Change in Hawaiian Jōdo Shinshū
5 Global Repositionings: Risshō Kōseikai, Japan, and the World at Large
6 Towards an Integrated Approach: The Global Repositioning Model
Conclusion
Bibliography
Glossary
Index

The Bodhisattva of Prolongation of Life, Fugen Enmei Bosatsu 普賢延命菩薩 (S. Samantabhadrāyu or Vajrāmoghasamayasattva) appears to be a popular deity in Japanese esoteric Buddhist schools, the Shingon 真言 and the Tendai 天台. There are some representations (mostly kakemono 掛物 and statues) surviving in Japanese temples and museums, even outside Japan. There seems to be many versions of the iconographical canon, given in the Fugen Enmei Dharani sutra 普賢延命陀羅尼經, translated by Amoghavajra in the middle of the 8th century. In my study, I focus on the problems of the definition of a particular iconography, since in depicting Buddhist deities artists usually followed one single canon. In the case of this bodhisattva, however, there is the problem of having two, or even three, slightly differing representational forms. During my research I had to abandon my first idea that the difference between these iconographical forms derives from the different traditions of the Shingon and the Tendai schools. Furthermore, there are the problems of the number of arms, the elephant heads and the appearance of the Shitennō 四天王 in some of the images, and the question of what they symbolize. By careful examinations of Heian 平安 and Kamakura鎌倉 period texts, written by Japanese Shingon and Tendai monks, the Fugen Enmei Dharani sutra and the ritual books of these two schools, I outline the major problems that originate mostly in the confusion of texts, the different explanations of the monks, and make an attempt to offer some clarification of these problems.

Saichō最澄 is one of Japan's leading Buddhists and is renowned as the founder of the Tendai sect天台宗 of Buddhism. He is also an indispensable figure in the history of Buddhism in Japan, having founded the parent body of the Tendai sect, from which Buddhist patriarchs of the Kamakura period鎌倉時代 (1185-1333) often emerged.
　However, although there is a vast accumulation of research on  Saichō, these studies are not necessarily based on  Saichō's life, but rather on images of  Saichō that have been cut out according to the interests of individual researchers.
　In light of this, the author has set the concept of "national defense,"護国 which is assumed to have been an underlying theme in  Saichō's life, as a key word in order to reconstruct  Saichō's life as a history of ideology.
　In the consultation for the doctoral dissertation, it was pointed out that there is a lack of explanation of  Saichō's definition of "national defense," and that the author was critical of the methodology used to understand  Saichō from the perspective of the purpose of "national defense. We have received comments from the audience. I will leave these issues for the future, but for now, I would like to present the author's results here.


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