The Weaving of Mantra

Auteur

Ryûichi Abé

Texte du rabat

The great Buddhist priest Kûkai (774-835) is credited with the introduction and establishment of tantric -- or esoteric -- Buddhism in early ninth-century Japan. In The Weaving of Mantra, Ryûichi Abé examines this important religious figure -- neglected in modern academic literature -- and his profound influence on Japanese culture. Offering a radically new approach to the study of early religious history -- combining historical research, discourse analysis, literary criticism, and semiology -- Abé contends that the importance of Kûkai's transmission of esoteric Buddhism to Japan lay not in the foundation of a new sect but in his creation of a general theory of language grounded in the ritual speech of mantra.

The Weaving of Mantra embeds Kûkai within the fabric of political and social life in ninth-century Japan and explains how esoteric Buddhism played a crucial role in many societal changes in Japan -- from the growth of monasteries into major feudal powers to the formation of the native phonetic alphabet, kana. As Abé illustrates, Kûkai's writings and the new type of discourse they spawned also marked Japan's transition from the ancient order to the medieval world, replacing Confucianism as the ideology of the state.

Abé begins by placing Kûkai's life in the historical context of medieval Japan and the Ritsuryo state, then explores his interaction with the Nara Buddhist intelligentsia, which was seminal to the introduction of esoteric Buddhism. The author discusses Kûkai's magnum opus, Ten Abiding Stages on the Secret Mandalas ( Himitsu mandara jujushinron) and introduces a number of Japanese and Chinese primary-source texts previously unknown by Western-language scholars. Instead of tracing Kûkai's thought through literal readings, The Weaving of Mantra explores the rhetorical strategies Kûkai employed in his works, shedding valuable light on what his texts meant to his readers and what his goals were in creating a discourse that ultimately transformed Japanese culture.

Résumé
Examines the Buddhist priest Kukai's influence on Japanese culture. This book contends that the importance of Kukai's transmission of esoteric Buddhism to Japan lay in his creation of a general theory of language grounded in the ritual speech of mantra. It explores the rhetorical strategies Kukai employed in his works.

Contenu

Acknowledgments xi Interaction of Kukai with the Nara Clergy xvIllustrations xixIntroduction 11. Kukai and (Very) Early Heian Society: A Prolegomenon - 19 Buddhism and the Ritsuryo State - 24 Kukai and His Alliance with the Nara Clergy - 41Part I Origins, Traces, Nonorigin - 67 2. Kukai's Dissent: Of Mendicancy and Fiction - 69 Kukai's Youth: Confucian Learning vis-a-vis Buddhist Practice - 71 The State, Ubasoku, and Popular Buddhism - 76 Lacuna of Esotericism: The Sangho shikki as a Self-Portrait - 83 Apologetics or Apologia: The Fictivity of the Roko shikki - 96 The Dilemma of Kukai's Fiction and Mikkyo - 1053. Journey to China: Outside Ritsuryo Discourse - 113 Foreign Language Studies and Esoteric Buddhism - 114 Master Hui-kuo and the Study of Esoteric Rituals - 120 Mantra and Abhiseka, the Genealogical Technologies - 127 Abhiseka as a General Theory of Enlightenment - 1414. (No) Traces of Esoteric Buddhism: Dharani and the Nara Buddhist Literature - 151 The Zomitsu/Junmitsu Scheme and Its Limitations - 152 (In)visibility of Esotericism in the Nara Buddhist Culture - 154 Dharani Exoteric and Esoteric Functions - 159 Esoteric Dharani in the Nara Ritual Space - 176 Discourse, Taxonomy and Kukai's Bibliography - 176Part II Cartography -185 5. Category and History: Constructing the Esoteric - 187 "Shinghon School" as an Ambivalence in Kukai's Writings - 189 Tokuitsu and Kukai: The Delineation of Mikkyo, the Esoteric - 204 Proof of Dharma Kaya's Preaching of the Dharma - 213 Troping the Lineage: The Construction of the Esoteric Nagarjuna - 2206. The Discourse of Complementarity Constructing the Esoteric II - 237 On the Ritual of the Golden Light Sutra - 238 The Exoteric and the Esoteric Reading of Prajna Patamita - 247 From Dharani to Mantra: A Paradigm Shift - 260Part III Writing and Polity - 275 7. Semiology of the Dharma; or the Somaticity of the Text - 275 Of Voice, Letter, and Reality - 278 Syntax of the World-Text - 281 On the Science of Writing - 288 Mantra as Textile Production - 293 Letters, Life Breath and the Cosmic Palace - 3008. Of Mantra and Palace: Textualizing the Emperor, Calamity and the Cosmos - 305 Rectification of Names: The Ritsuryo State - 310 Ritsuryo Buddhism and the Discourse of Calamities - 315 Refiguration of the Emperor: A Reinterpretation of Kukai's 10 Abiding Stages - 323 Mantra and the New Science of Calamities - 334 The Mishuho and the Ritual Reconstruction of the Imperial Palace - 3449. Genealogy of Mantra and Kukai's Legacy - 359 The Emperor's Coronation Abhiseka (sokui kanjo) - 367 Groth of Extra-ritsuryo Esoteric Monastaries - 371 Landscape of the Mediaeval Shinghon School - 376 Institution of the Dharma Emperor - 379 Conclusion: Kukai and Writing - Toward the Kukai of Extra-Sectarian History - 385Post-Script - 399 Problems of the Category of Heian Buddhism - 399 Kukai and the Limitation of Kuroda's Kenmitsu Theory - 416 Glossary - 429 Abbreviations - 449 Notes - 451 Selected Bibliography - 541 Index - 579