Japan
Japan. The earliest official account of
Buddhism in Japan states that it arrived at the imperial court in 552 (or 538 according to some authorities), when a delegation from the kingdom of Paekche on the Korean peninsula brought a
Buddha image and some scriptures as gifts for the emperor. It is likely, however, that Buddhism was already known in Japan through other non-official channels. After this initial contact, the court had to decide whether allowing the practice and study of this new religion would anger the local deities or
kami, whose protection the imperial family needed in consolidating their rule over the newly centralized kingdom. During this earliest period, Buddhist texts and clergy came to Japan along with a wave of Chinese cultural imports that also included writing, political thought, urban planning, and other innovative ideas. It seems clear that the court and aristocrats understood Buddhism as a variant of their native religion, and used it primarily as a way to cure illnesses and gain supernatural support for their political and military efforts. Prince
Shōtoku (572–621), who ruled Japan as regent after the
death of his father, is credited with being among the first to see Buddhist teachings as distinct from the native cults. He is thought to have composed commentaries to several scriptures, and he fostered a programme of rapid temple construction.
Scholars generally divide the subsequent history of Japanese Buddhism into periods defined by the location of the capital city. The Nara (710–94), Heian (794–1185), and Kamakura (1185–1392) periods are the most important, since these are the periods in which the main schools of Buddhism were established and took shape.
The Nara Period
During the
Nara period, Buddhist activity went in two primary directions: the clergy were busy trying to understand the doctrines found in newly imported texts, and the government put Buddhist rituals and organizations to work for the welfare of the state. As to the first of these tasks, the so-called ‘
Six Schools of
Nara Buddhism’ comprised groups of clergy who concentrated on the texts and thought of six different Chinese schools. Almost all of the scholar-monks who engaged in these studies lived in the capital under government auspices and were housed in the main temple there, the
Tōji. Outside of this government-sponsored establishment, a few self-ordained practitioners left society and lived in the mountains performing austeries and magical services for ordinary citizens. In addition to the scholarly activity in the capital, the primary activity of clergy was to perform rituals on behalf of a paid clientele that came almost entirely from the imperial family and the aristocracy.
The Heian Period
This saw a movement of Buddhism away from government centres and out among the people, although this movement fell far short of a full-scale popularization of the religion. During this time both
Saichō (767–822) and
Kūkai (774–835) journeyed to
China to deepen their knowledge of Buddhism. Saichō went to Mt. T'ien-t'ai to study
T'ien-t'ai doctrines, but while waiting for a ship to take him home, he encountered a
monk who practised esoteric rituals. After a short period of training and the conferral of the proper initiation, he returned to Japan and settled on Mt.
Hiei, where he established the
Tendai school to be a successor to the Chinese T'ien-t'ai school. However, because the real patronage came from the performance of esoteric rituals (see
esoteric Buddhism), he divided this new school's focus between the exoteric doctrines of T'ien-t'ai and esoteric ritual performance. In addition, he made a crucial move to establish the Tendai school independently from the government-controlled monastic establishment in Nara when he asked for permission to ordain his own
monks on Mt. Hiei using only the
Mahāyāna precepts of the
Brahmajāla Sūtra (Jap.,
Bonmōkyō). Permission was granted after his death, and the Tendai school was thus freed from the necessity of submitting its monks to the
Ritsu school in the capital for
ordination. Meanwhile, Kūkai went to China exclusively to receive training in esoteric texts and rituals, and the
Shingon school that he established on Mt.
Kōya upon his return concentrated solely on esoteric Buddhism, and for a time outshone the Tendai school in patronage and popularity.
The relationship between Buddhism and its assembly of
Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas, and the
Shintō pantheon, continued to concern many in Japan, and during the Heian period the theory known as
honji-suijaku, or ‘original nature and provisional manifestation’, came to dominate. According to this theory, the local kami of Shintō were manifestations of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that appeared in Japan to teach the people and protect the nation. Thus, for example, the Sun goddess Amaterasu was in fact a local manifestation of the great Sun Buddha
Vairocana. In this way, both religions could be accommodated in a single institution that incorporated both Buddhist and Shintō personnel and practices (known as the jingūji, or ‘shrine-temple’).
The Kamakura Period
By the opening years of the Kamakura period the Tendai school was the largest and most powerful of the eight schools in existence at that time, and its broad focus on both doctrinal and esoteric study and practice, as well as its laxity, corruption, and militance (as seen in its infamous ‘monk-soldiers’, or
sōhei), made it the breeding ground for subsequent reform movements and schools. Out of the Tendai matrix, the following figures emerged to establish new schools under the following broad categories: (1)
Pure Land:
Hōnen (1133–1212) founded the
Jōdo Shū;
Shinran (1173–1262) the
Jōdo Shinshū; and
Ippen (1239–89) the Jishū. (2) Zen:
Eisai (or Yōsai, 1141–1215) founded the
Rinzai school, which took its lineage of Dharma-transmission from the Chinese
Lin-chi school; and
Dōgen (1200–53) the
Sōtō school, derived from the Chinese
Ts'ao-tung lineage. (3)
Nichiren (1222–82) founded the
Nichiren school, which proclaimed the superiority of the
Lotus Sūtra (
Myōhō renge kyō) over all other scriptures and recommended the constant repetition and praise of its title as the sole means of salvation. In addition to the formal establishment of these schools and their institutions, the tradition of mountain
asceticism continued under the name
shugendō, or ‘the way of experiential cultivation’. Drawn primarily from the ranks of Tendai and Shingon esoteric clergy, practitioners lived in the mountains and practised by fasting, repentance, esoteric rituals, and long, arduous journeys through the mountains that covered as much as 50 miles in a single day.
Ashikaga and Tokugawa Periods (1392–1868)
By the end of the Kamakura period, Buddhism was a significant presence at all levels of Japanese society. At times, this was a source of concern for the feudal government. In the 15th century, Jōdo Shinshū adherents formed popular leagues called
ikkō ikki, which rose up in rebellion against local aristocratic rule in Kaga and in 1488 took control of the province themselves. In 1571 the shōgun Oda Nobunaga, distrustful of the enormous landholdings and secular power of Buddhist monasteries, attacked and razed the
Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei, dispersing its sōhei once and for all, and he suppressed many other Buddhist establishments. On the other hand, the pervasive presence of Buddhist institutions could be a source of strength for the government. For instance, after the ban on Christianity in 1612 and the subsequent expulsion of Christian missionaries, the government required all citizens to register with local Buddhist temples beginning in 1640, effectively co-opting these institutions as a census bureau. Buddhism's close cooperation with and support by the government in this way led to an inevitable decline, although a few notable figures stand out as exemplars:
Takuan Sōhō (1573–1645),
Bankei Eitaku (1622–93), and
Hakuin Zenji (1685–1768) in the
zen school, and
Rennyo (1415–99) and Shimaji Mokurai (1838–1911) of the Pure Land school, to name a few. However, as the Tokugawa period drew to a close in the early 19th century, the real locus of religious vitality was in
Confucianism and various intellectual and spiritual renewal movements within Shintō. In addition, the first appearance of the so-called ‘New Religions’ such as Tenrikyō offered real competition for the loyalty of the peasants and the middle classes.
The Meiji and Modern Periods
When the Meiji emperor succeeded in restoring real political and executive power to the imperial family in 1868, one of his first acts was to abrogate the honji-suijaku understanding of the relationship between Buddhism and Shintō, and declared the two put asunder in a move called shimbutsu bunri, or ‘separation of kami and Buddhas’. Buddhism itself came under persecution during the first decade or so of the Meiji period, but the attack galvanized Buddhists into action, and they successfully demanded recognition and toleration under the new constitution. At the same time, Buddhist chaplains who accompanied Japanese troops on military adventures in China,
Korea, Taiwan, and
south-east Asia, as well as missionaries who travelled to
America and
Europe to participate in the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions and to settle abroad, gave Japanese Buddhism an international presence. While all schools of Japanese Buddhism came to Hawaii and the American mainland with the large numbers of immigrants at that period, Zen had the most success in making an impression on Euro-American culture. The westward expansion of Japanese Buddhism accelerated after the Second World War. At the same time, social changes taking place in modern Japan have fostered the development of many Buddhist-derived ‘New Religions’, most of which sprang from offshoots of the Nichiren school and its devotion to the
Lotus Sūtra. Prominent among these are the
Nichiren Shōshū and its lay branch, the
Sōka Gakkai (which broke away from its parent organization in 1992), and
Risshō Kōseikai. Today, Japanese Buddhism is a combination of the old and the new: even the most ancient of the Nara schools continues to coexist alongside the newest of the ‘New Religions’. The Sōtō and Jōdo Shinshū schools are the largest of the traditional schools, and Buddhism remains completely integrated as a vital part of Japanese life and culture.
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Geological position and origin of augen gneisses from the Policka Unit, eastern Bohemian Massif
Magazine article from: Journal of Geosciences; 4/1/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...migmatitic augen gneisses were affected by...geothermobarometry, augen gneiss, Policka Unit Received...plagioclase forms augen in gneiss of the diorite or...2009). Dark grey gneisses with oval feldspar...the Policka augen gneiss merits discussion...geochemistry of augen gneisses make ...
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Relations between granitoid magmatism and migmatization: U-Pb geochronological evidence from the Western Gneiss Complex, Norway
Magazine article from: Journal of the Geological Society; 11/1/2003; ; 700+ words
; ...1987). The Western Gneiss Complex is dominated...compositions. Mafic gneisses, amphibolitcs, ultramafic...ages indicate that the gneisses formed between 1750 and...forming time period. Gneisses from the northern parts of the Western Gneiss Complex range in age...
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Proposal for a terrane-based nomenclature for the Lewisian Gneiss Complex of NW Scotland
Magazine article from: Journal of the Geological Society; 1/1/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...Historically, the Lewisian Gneiss Complex of NW Scotland has...numerous other high-grade gneiss complexes (e.g. Park...Initially, the basement gneisses were called the 'Fundamental Gneiss' by Murchison, followed by...
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Two Types of "Augen Gneisses" in the Snieznik Metamorphic Unit, West Sudetes, Poland
Magazine article from: Geolines; 1/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...subdivided into Snieznik and Gierattw gneisses (see Don et al. 1990). The first...rodding to flattened, augen (ortho)gneisses, while the second ones are diversified...grained and compositionally banded (para)gneisses to embrechnites, biotite-rich and...
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REE Accessory Minerals in the Gneiss and Granulite Clasts from the Silesian Unit (Western Outer Carpathians, SE Poland) as Indicators of Metamorphic Processes
Magazine article from: Geolines; 1/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...secondary monazite-(Ce) was stated in gneiss clast (sample B-2) from Bukowiec...crystals. Monazite-(Ce) from gneisses contains 3.24 wt.% of ThO2 and...partially mantles monazite was noticed in gneiss (sample B-1) from Bukowiec. Zircon...
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Retrograde metamorphism in a regional shear zone and related chemical changes: The Kaplice Unit of muscovite-biotite gneisses in the Moldanubian Zone of southern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Magazine article from: Journal of the Czech Geological Society; 1/1/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...with element abundances in gneisses of the adjacent Monotonous...depleted in comparison to biotite gneisses of both the Monotonous and...reactions in calc-silicate gneiss interbands resulted in replacement...Introduction Muscovite-biotite gneisses carrying substantial amounts...
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U-Pb geochronology of the Fort Augustus granite gneiss: Constraints on the timing of neoproterozoic and palaeozoic tectonothermal events in the NW highlands of Scotland
Magazine article from: Journal of the Geological Society; 1/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; Abstract: The West Highland granite gneiss suite in Inverness-shire, Scotland, represents...member of the suite, the Fort Augustus granite gneiss, indicates that the granitic protolith to the gneiss was intruded at 870 30 Ma. This is indistinguishable...
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The Problem of Garnet Composition in Eclogite-Bearing Gneisses from the Snieznik Metamorphic Complex (Western Sudetes)
Magazine article from: Geolines; 1/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...meters long, lensoidal bodies inside gneisses. Mostly they are surrounded by two...clinozoisite and sphene, also present in the gneisses, were interpreted as the products of...observed in the ultra-high pressure gneisses from the classical UHP terrane: Dabie...
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Rb-Sr and U-Pb geochronology of migmatitic gneisses from the Gory Sowie (West Sudetes, Poland): The importance of mid-late Devonian metamorphism
Magazine article from: Journal of the Geological Society; 11/1/1998; ; 700+ words
; ...Poland consists of a gneiss-migmatite complex with...granulites. Migmatitic gneisses underwent a complex polyphase...amphibolite-facies gneisses (Zelazniewicz 1985...metamorphism of the dominant gneiss sequences was long believed...occurrences of migmatitic gneisses previously interpreted...
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Geochemistry and petrology of high-pressure kyanite-garnet-albite-K-feldspar felsic gneisses and granulites from the Kutná Hora Complex, Bohemian Massif
Magazine article from: Journal of Geosciences; 4/1/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...bearing albitic felsic gneisses with high-pressure...garnet-muscovite gneiss derived from garnetiferous...garnet-muscovite felsic gneiss contains locally garnet...dumortierite occur in migmatitic gneisses of the Maln Unit, while...common in the felsic gneiss (M^sub 3^). Textural...
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Gneiss
Book article from: World of Earth Science
...those rich in iron . Calcareous gneiss contains calcite (CaCO 3...sand and clay . Calcareous gneisses with large fractions of calcite...metamorphosed limestones). Hornblende gneiss contains a large fraction of...its quartz and feldspar. The gneisses can be alternatively categorized...
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high-grade gneiss terrain
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to the Earth
...terrain ‘High-grade gneiss terrain’ is the...x2019;. High-grade gneiss terrains are characterized...granodiorites and tonalites. Gneisses of sedimentary and volcanic...once thought that high-grade gneiss terrains represented a fundamentally...
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gneiss
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
...schist. The light bands of gneiss are generally composed...form the dark bands. Gneisses result from the metamorphism...Precambrian regions. Gneiss is found in New England...and the Rocky Mts. Some gneisses are used as facing stone...
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mantled gneiss dome
Book article from: A Dictionary of Earth Sciences
mantled gneiss dome A dome of granitic migmatites and gneisses surrounded by a ‘mantle’ of metasediments which characteristically...density inversion in which dense rocks overlie a less dense, granite — gneiss core.
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augen-gneiss
Book article from: A Dictionary of Earth Sciences
augen-gneiss A medium- to coarse-grained, banded, regional metamorphic...mineral phases constituting the rock. The best-developed augen-gneisses are formed by high-grade metamorphism of aluminous sediments. See also GNEISS .
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