Organizer and Chair; Karen L. Brock, Washington University
Discussant: Jackie Stone, Princeton University
This interdisciplinary panel focuses on the activities of Risshu ("Vinaya Sect") in 13th century Japan. The phenomenon labeled "Kamakura Buddhism" has long been discussed in terms of "reform," "revival," or "renewal," with most of the scholarship devoted to the lives and thoughts of a select group of "founders" or "New Sects." More recently, the picture has been modified through reconsideration of "old Buddhism," particularly Hosso and Kegon teachings. With its focus on proper ordination, Risshu is often thought of as the most conservative of the old sects, utterly lacking in great thinkers, icons, or major temples. Indeed by the early l2th century, Toshodaiji and vinaya study had all but disappeared and ordination practice at Todaiji was under attack from the Tendai establishment on Mt. Hiei. How was the Vinaya able to survive in the face of massive changes in Japanese society and religion during the late 12th and early l3th centuries?
The four papers will show how Risshu practice both adapted to and even flourished in the social, artistic, and political worlds of the 13th century. Groner's paper examines the fundamental changes in ordination practice promulgated by Kakujo, Eison, and their followers. He will discuss these practices as a "radical critique" rather than a mere revival, of outdated norms. McCallum's paper focuses on the replication of an ancient orthodox icon, the Udayana Buddha image, within the context of Eison's thought and the establishment of Saidaiji lineage temples throughout Japan. Collcutt's paper discusses bakufu patronage of Risshu, in particular Eison and Ninsho, by examining it within the greater context of the bakufu's treatment of the several competing religious groups active in Kamakura. Lastly, Brock's paper views the painted "Life of Ganjin," based on the Risshu founder's 8th century biography, as a revisionist statement constructed by Ninsho to justify contemporary Risshu activities.
This panel thus collectively grapples with the social realities that shaped the activities of Eison, Ninsho, and their Risshu followers. "Religion," "art," and "politics" intertwine in all of our approaches to this long neglected topic.
Paul Groner, University of Virginia
The Vinaya (code of monastic discipline) often served as the focal point of movements to revive or reform Buddhism. However, it has also been used to hinder changes. Tensions between returning to earlier patterns and encouraging needed change emerge particularly during efforts to revive or establish new orders of monks and nuns. The status of monastic orders was sometimes called into question through historical circumstances such as war, the emergence of corrupt monastic leaders, or the desire of political figures to seize monastic property. In order to reestablish the orders, a correct ordination lineage had to be introduced usually from abroad.
Thirteenth century Japan provides a major exception to standard procedures for establishing new orders. After Kakujo (1193-1249), Eison (1201-1290) and two other monks performed a self ordination ritual in front of an image of the Buddha, they came to believe that they had received the precepts directly from the Buddha. They then proceeded to ordain their followers, thereby establishing new orders of monks and nuns. Members of older orders criticized them for going outside of established procedures of ordination and for performing rituals that threatened to undermine existing religious institutions.
The paper begins with a description of the events surrounding the re-establishment of the orders. An examination of the self-ordinations reveals that adherents of these movements were not merely conservative monks trying to revive Risshu traditions, but were mounting movements that were radical and critical of the existing forms of Japanese Buddhism.
Rationales used to justify the revival of the orders are next analyzed. The men and women who participated in these events were faced with the dilemma of answering criticisms based on Vinaya even as they attempted to revive and remain true to Vinaya traditions. Besides arguments based on Vinaya, dreams also played a major role in legitimizing departures from tradition. Dreams in fact sanctioned the self ordinations of several monks who led the revival of the order of nuns as well as the first ordinations of both monks and nuns.
Lastly, by investigating the subsequent history of these new orders, their significance for the relation between Japanese Buddhism and society can be evaluated. Were the orders open to any person who desired to lead a Buddhist life, as the Vinaya mandated? Or did these new orders support the social structure already present in medieval Japanese society?
Donald F. McCallum, University of California, Los Angeles
The sculptural portrait of Sakyamuni commissioned by King Udayana of ancient India inaugurated one of the most important replication traditions in Buddhist iconography. Legendary accounts explain that a sandalwood sculpture was carved directly from the physical appearance of the historical Buddha, thereby guaranteeing its authenticity. Further accounts describe how versions of the Udayana image of Sakyamuni were brought from India to China during the Six Dynasties and T'ang periods.
Contemporary ideas about the Udayana Buddha image are based primarily on a wooden sculpture now housed at Seiryoji in Kyoto. This famous icon was commissioned by the Japanese monk Chonen (938 1016) in 985 during his pilgrimage to Sung China. He then brought it back to Japan where it was eventually installed, in 1018, in a Shaka Hall at Seikaji, the precursor to Seiryoji. Chonen and his disciples did not have much success in fostering devotion to this icon, and little is heard about the image before the end of the twelfth century when an active following began to develop. Noted prelates such as Myoe (1173-1232) showed their devotion to the Seiryoji Shaka image, as it is known today, by having copies made for their temples. Nevertheless, the Udayana icon and its cult was still of relatively limited significance before its promotion by Eison (1201-1290) at mid century.
Eison, the founder of the Shingon Ritsu school based at Saidaiji, was deeply devoted to Sakyumuni, and he ordered a copy of the Seiryoji Shaka which was made in 1249. This icon-now the main devotional icon (honzon) of Saidaiji-was repeatedly copied over the following decades, thereby becoming itself a semi-independent prime object forming the basis for a distinct lineage of replications. This group of images, commonly referred to as the "Saidaiji lineage," has often been subjected to stylistic analysis. Less attention has been given to the manner in which Eison's copy can be related to his thought and practice. The present paper investigates the reasons for Eison's belief in this icon, as well as the role of these replications in Risshu and other temples throughout Japan. In particular, I will focus upon the broader significance of these rather austere wooden images of Shaka, a remarkable contrast to the more familiar and resplendent golden images of Amida from the same period.
Martin Collcutt, Princeton University
This paper examines the attitudes and policies adopted by the Kamakura bakufu and samurai administrators toward the religious currents flowing around and through the garrison town of Kamakura beginning in the mid 13th century. I will look for contrasts among the treatment of Rinzai Zen monks, Nichiren and his adherents, Ippen and his followers, the leaders of the Risshu revival movement and the adherents of the older Tendai and Shingon teachings.
I will focus especially on the activities of, and bakufu responses to, Eison and Ninsho the two monks responsible for spreading newly revised Risshu practices to eastern Japan. Why were they attracted to Kamakura? How were they received by the Hojo regents? Why did their treatment differ from that of priests of other schools of Buddhism? What did their activities mean for the popular diffusion of Buddhism in Eastern Japan? These are some of the questions addressed in this paper.
Karen L. Brock, Washington University, St. Louis
In 1298 the influential abbot of Gokurakuji in Kamakura, Ninsho (1219-1303), presented the Nara temple Toshodaiji with a painted version of Ganjin's 8th century biography. These five scroll paintings survive, their inscriptions providing the only details of Ninsho's gift. What was Ninsho's motivation or Toshodaiji's response? This paper investigates multiple contexts-both external and internal to the paintings-as a means to unpack the messages these scrolls might have carried to their contemporary viewers.
It is well known that Ganjin is credited with bringing proper ordination procedures to Japan in the middle of the 8th century. Less acknowledged is the inspirational role of his 8th century sculpted portrait and written biography in the 12th and 13th century "renewal" of Risshu, specifically revised practices of ordination and vow taking by the clergy and laity alike. Through the successive efforts of Jippan (d. 1140), Jokei (1155-1213), Eison (1201-90) and Ninsho (1219-1303), Ganjin was elevated to the status of Risshu patriarch, and his contributions were reexamined and redefined to validate the actions of these latter day followers
According to Risshu histories, as early as 1122 Jippan visited the deserted Toshodaiji and received the orthodox method of ordination directly from the statue of Ganjin. In 1202 Jokei began holding public meetings at Toshodaiji, in veneration of the three thousand relics of Sakyamuni brought to Japan by Ganjin. To Jokei and his followers, adherence to their monastic vows brought them closer to the purity of Buddhism as practiced by the historical Buddha. This new focus on Sakyamuni intensified the cult of relics, especially those brought by Ganjin, and promoted devotional images copied from the tenth century Chinese image of Sakyamuni at Seiryoji.
Eison and Ninsho emulated Ganjin's concern for society with their own social welfare activities among the sick and outcast hinin. Both advocated the taking of the "Vows of the Bodhisattva" by the laity, spreading this practice through their network of Saidaiji lineage temples. Ninsho merged veneration for Ganjin with his personal devotion to Manjusri in his editing of the painted life of Ganjin. Although closely based on Ganjin's eighth-century biography, Ninsho personally created an up-to-date image of Ganjin as Risshu patriarch, a view of Risshu's founder that seems to have diverged from that promulgated at Toshodaiji and Saidaiji.
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