From Outcasts to Emperors: Shingon Ritsu and the Mañjusri Cult in Medieval Japan

David Quinter

ISBN 10: 9004293396 / ISBN 13: 9789004293397

Published by Brill, NL, 2015

About this Item

In From Outcasts to Emperors, David Quinter illuminates the Shingon Ritsu movement founded by the charismatic monk Eison (1201-90) at Saidaiji in Nara, Japan. The book's focus on Eison and his disciples' involvement in the cult of Mañjusri Bodhisattva reveals their innovative synthesis of Shingon esotericism, Buddhist discipline (Ritsu; Sk. vinaya), icon and temple construction, and social welfare activities as the cult embraced a spectrum of supporters, from outcasts to warrior and imperial rulers. In so doing, the book redresses typical portrayals of "Kamakura Buddhism" that cast Eison and other Nara Buddhist leaders merely as conservative reformers, rather than creative innovators, amid the dynamic religious and social changes of medieval Japan.

Seller Inventory # LU-9789004293397

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From Outcasts to Emperors: Shingon Ritsu and the Mañjusri Cult in Medieval Japan
• Publisher: Brill, NL
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004293396
• ISBN 13: 9789004293397
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 17.15W x 2.54H x 24.77D centimeters 17.15 centimeters width by 2.54 centimeters height by 24.77 centimeters depth
• Weight: 679 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In From Outcasts to Emperors, David Quinter illuminates the Shingon Ritsu movement founded by the charismatic monk Eison (1201–90) at Saidaiji in Nara, Japan. The book’s focus on Eison and his disciples’ involvement in the cult of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva reveals their innovative synthesis of Shingon esotericism, Buddhist discipline (Ritsu; Sk. vinaya), icon and temple construction, and social welfare activities as the cult embraced a spectrum of supporters, from outcasts to warrior and imperial rulers. In so doing, the book redresses typical portrayals of “Kamakura Buddhism” that cast Eison and other Nara Buddhist leaders merely as conservative reformers, rather than creative innovators, amid the dynamic religious and social changes of medieval Japan.

About the Author

David Quinter, Ph.D. (2006), Stanford University, is Assistant Professor of East Asian Religions at the University of Alberta. He has published eight articles on Buddhism, including “Localizing Strategies: Eison and the Shōtoku Taishi Cult,” Monumenta Nipponica 69/2 (2014).