Honji Suijaku

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HONJI SUIJAKU

The term honji suijaku (literally, "the original ground and its traces") refers to a particular interpretation of the interaction between Buddhism and Japanese local cults. The term was used in medieval Japan to mean that Indian and Buddhist divinities constituted the "original ground" (honji) of their Japanese manifestations as local kami, defined as "traces" (suijaku).

See also:Shintō (Honji Suijaku) and Buddhism

Bibliography

Teeuwen, Mark, and Rambelli, Fabio, eds. Buddhas and Kami in Japan: Honji Suijaku as a Combinatory Paradigm. London and New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003.

Fabio Rambelli