Organizer: Karen L. Brock, Washington University
Chair: Elizabeth Horton Sharf, University of Michigan
Discussant: Jacqueline Stone, Princeton University
In premodern Japan, sacred images of Buddhist deities, local gods, and even mere mortals were treated as living presences, capable of establishing lasting bonds between priests, their followers, lay supporters, and the institutions they inhabited. Yet despite the ubiquity of image worship, scholars of Japanese religion generally make only cursory mention of the subject. Images are dichotomized as elite symbols of Buddhist ideals, or as objects of popular devotion. By contrast, art historians often treat images strictly as inanimate objects, through a focus on material, style, iconography or provenance. In both cases, too little has been written about how images actually functioned in their ritual or institutional settings.
This interdisciplinary panel explores the pivotal role of image-making and image worship in premodern Japan. Sharf examines scholarly misrepresentation of images in Buddhism, arguing for the recognition of image worship as mainstream, rather than marginal practice. The remaining three papers present case studies involving images of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Brock illuminates the role of paintings of Kasuga Daimyojin in sanctifying Myoe and in ensuring his temple’s survival. Groner discusses a group of diverse images created for private, monastic, or public worship, all commissioned by Eison. Dobbins examines the function of portraits of Shinran in the life of the sect he founded. These images, having long outlived their makers and even their original settings, nonetheless continue to embody the collective memories of their institutions by preserving the legacies of these three eminent priests.
The Rhetoric of Idolatry and the Study of Buddhist Icons
Robert Sharf, University of Michigan
Buddhist images played a crucial role in the dissemination of Buddhism throughout East Asia, and the veneration of sacred icons has constituted the single most conspicuous form of Buddhist practice, both monastic and lay, throughout history. Then how is it that introductory textbooks on Asian religion in general, and Buddhism in particular, devote almost no space to the subject?
This paper will look at the factors that have contributed to the misrepresentation and/or systematic exclusion of Buddhist image veneration in Western scholarship. I will focus on a number of issues, including the Judeo-Christian legacy, which holds "idolatry" to be a sign of ignorance, superstition, and retarded cultural development. Twentieth-century Western scholars found themselves fighting the view, promulgated by nineteenth-century anthropologists and Christian missionaries, that Buddhism was an idolatrous creed. To defend against this charge, scholars joined together with Asian Buddhist apologists in insisting that "true Buddhism" did not countenance idolatry, and that Buddhist images are actually mere signs or representations. Yet Asian Buddhists, irrespective of their social class or monastic vocation, have treated images as if they were indeed alive, albeit in a special way.
The notion of "idolatry," predicated on a supposedly trans-cultural and ahistorical distinction between the animate and inanimate, is itself the source of much of the confusion. This paper focuses on the rhetoric of idolatry and the manner in which it continues to affect scholarly approaches to the nature and function of Buddhist images.
Kasuga Daimyojin and the Sanctification of Myoe
Karen L. Brock, Washington University
Several tale versions of the encounter between Myoe Shonin (1173–1232) and Kasuga Daimyojin have been translated into English. In response to Kasuga’s oracles, Myoe himself created a unique painted "reflection" (yozo) of the deity as a tangible keepsake of their meeting, a fact that is not generally known, much less studied. Myoe’s original is lost, but nine copies of this painting, dating from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries, survive at Myoe’s temple, Kozanji. Details concerning the making of the image, Myoe’s intentions for its use, rites commemorating the Kasuga oracles, the paintings’ installation in Kasuga shrines at Kozanji, and a long history of elite response to the images, may all be found in documents belonging to the Kozanji archive. These constitute a hitherto untapped resource for studying kami-worship within Buddhist institutions, and not just for thirteenth-century Japan.
This paper shows how Myoe’s representation of Kasuga initially drew inspiration from his own Buddhist practices at the time of the oracles. For Myoe, Kasuga became a guardian both of his person and of the Kozanji community, but he kept the details of the oracles secret during his lifetime. After his death his close followers resurrected both the tale and this image of a kami as the centerpiece of their strategy to sanctify Myoe and to ensure Kozanji’s survival.
Portraits of the Founder in Shin Buddhism
James C. Dobbins, Oberlin College
This paper analyzes the significance and function of religious portraits of Shinran (1173–1263), the founder of the Shin School of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan. The central thesis is that in Shin temples of the premodern period these portraits were treated not simply as representations of a great Buddhist master, but as revered entities in their own right. Specifically, they functioned, first, as embodiments of the sacred—i.e., manifestations or extensions of Amida Buddha; second, as commemorative and ritual substitutes of Shinran after his death; and third, as symbols of religious lineage in the transmission of Pure Land teachings. Previous scholarship has examined such uses of religious portraits in the Zen schools, but not so much in the Pure Land schools. This paper identifies parallels to Zen in the uses of portraits in the Shin School, as well as Shin’s own distinctive features. It also proposes ritual and conceptual similarities between portraits of Shinran and the core icon of Pure Land Buddhism, images of Amida Buddha.
Icons in Eison’s Revival of Monastic Discipline
Paul Groner, University of Virginia
Eison (1201–1290) is famous for re-establishing the Vinaya School (Risshu). As a result, his biography usually appears among those monks known for adherence to the Buddhist precepts. However, when we consult his autobiography to consider a fuller picture of his "good works," new aspects of Eison’s activities come to light. Commissioning, dedicating, and performing rituals for Buddhist icons played a major role in his activities. Many of the icons he commissioned survive as "masterpieces" of Japanese Buddhist sculpture.
This paper considers four icons commissioned by Eison for different contexts. Eison employed an image of Aizen Myoo, sometimes called the King of lust, for his own private worship. Although Aizen was sometimes invoked to help men obtain the object of their lust, Eison used Aizen to conquer lust.
The second icon was created for Eison’s community. A Sakyamuni Buddha copied from the imported Chinese image at Seiryoji, it was commissioned and dedicated during rites involving numerous people. Copies of this image were later placed in many of the temples associated with Eison’s Saidaiji. Thus, a Seiryoji Sakyamuni icon served as the "fundamental deity" for Eison’s revival of the Vinaya.
The third icon, Manjusri, was used for a specific ritual during which people made offerings to the poor. Eison used it in his efforts to help the "outcastes."
Finally, the fourth image, that of Eison himself, was commissioned late in Eison’s life to serve as the central focus for rites after his death.