The Buddhist Virtues of Raging Lust and Crass Materialism in Contemporary Japan

Thomas, Jolyon Baraka

doi:10.1080/17432200.2015.1103476

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Moving beyond prescriptive ideas of agency prevalent in Western feminism, scholars in the West have been following Saba 7. Jolyon Thomas's important work is a welcome corrective to this trend (Thomas 2016). rowe: female buddhist priests | 79…”

Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charting Known Territory: Female Buddhist Priests

Rowe¹

2017

JJRS

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This article explores issues of temple succession (seshū), soteriology, and priestly identity through the experiences of three Buddhist women to demonstrate that female priests' experience eludes either/or contrasts between submission to male authority or feminist resistance to patriarchy and to argue for an assessment of women priests' agency on its own terms. Two of these women serve as abbots of temples, while one works as a deputy abbot (fuku jūshoku). They represent temple-and non-temple born (zaike), urban and rural temples, and different regions of the country. They have also each taken different paths to their current roles: one through marriage, and the other two through an unexpected death in the family. Relying on the voices of these priests, this article considers ways in which women navigate the basic pathways of priesthood: how they "choose" to be priests, how they are trained, and how they situate themselves in regard to institutional, doctrinal, and societal expectations. As such, this article also engages the ongoing concern of scholars and activists with politicized, normative approaches to agency in gender studies in non-Western contexts. Eschewing an assessment of what each of these priests offers in the way of resistance, this article instead considers how women priests' experiences allow us to redefine contemporary temple Buddhism.keywords: female Buddhist priests-gender-non-eminent monks-discourses of decline-seshū-temple succession-Nichiren-Shinshū-Jōdo-temple Buddhism Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 44/1: 75-101

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Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charting Known Territory: Female Buddhist Priests

Rowe¹

2017

JJRS

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“…The sign also features a QR code that is linked to a website when scanned by a mobile phone. The website, once opened, gives a brief introduction and explanation of each deity enshrined in the temple (Thomas 2015). During the interview with the head priest of the shrine Nakazato Nichikou on August 29, 2017, he said that initially he was a little wary about putting up the sign, but he tried omikuji (fortune telling paper strips) to see what the future beholds, and when dai-kichi 大吉 (great blessing) came out, he eventually made up his mind to install the sign.…”

Section: Kyara In Ryōhōjimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the maid café event, the visitors and temple parishioners were hosted by black and white maid costume wearing girls. The maids also played several games and sold numerous things-from food to trinkets-adorned with the moe-patterned image of Benzaiten and the other deities enshrined in the temple in the pop-up stalls inside the temple precincts (Porcu 2014;Thomas 2015).…”

Section: Kyara In Ryōhōjimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Kyara in Japanese Religious Spaces

Saikia¹

2021

Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies

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Mascots in Japan are called kyara. They are utilised by almost all organisations, institutions, and administrative divisions and are accepted, embraced, and consumed by people of all walks of life, making them immensely popular. Although constituting an element of Japanese popular culture, they are also embedded in certain religious spaces in Japan, making them an interesting topic of research. This article will examine the reason behind the embeddedness of kyara in certain religious spaces in Japan and their impact on the practice of religion in those spaces.

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“…On the issue of modernity vs post-modernity, Anthony Giddens also objects to the advent of post-modernity in our current era and proposes an alternative view of "radicalised modernity"(Giddens 1990: 45-53, 149-150). 4 A recent example isThomas (2015), which proposes that everything has remained structurally unchanged in the Buddhist ways of propagating the teaching (see, for example, pp. 487, 496), without, however, considering the conditions of advanced modernity and globalization in which temples have been operating.…”

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confidence: 99%

Religion, Second Modernity and Individualization in Japan

Porcu

2018

J. Religion Japan

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Drawing on the theory of second modernity and individualization postulated by Ulrich Beck and his colleagues, Japanese sociologists have noted that a radical shift in Japan’s societal structure and modes has occurred since the mid-1990s, when institutions that had so far maintained a stable social order and integrated society started to collapse (Suzuki et al. 2010). In this context, religion too has no longer been able to provide stability and support to individuals, and its role in public life has been reduced. One of the most cited consequences has been the lack of trust in religious institutions that has led individuals to sever their ties with them. This has affected religious organizations dependent on traditional family ties, in particular Buddhist temples. Against this backdrop, this paper reflects on how some recent outreach activities carried out by religious institutions in contemporary Japan are the result of a crucial transformation of their configurations and structure rather than a representation of the same old patterns in new clothes. To this end, the paper focuses on the attempts made by the resident priest of an urban temple to come to terms with conditions proper to second modernity, where uncertainties and “risks” have replaced stability and security, and categories such as the family and religion have been destabilized.

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The Buddhist Virtues of Raging Lust and Crass Materialism in Contemporary Japan

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Charting Known Territory: Female Buddhist Priests

Charting Known Territory: Female Buddhist Priests

Kyara in Japanese Religious Spaces

Religion, Second Modernity and Individualization in Japan

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