Women living Zen : Japanese Sōtō Buddhist nuns

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Bibliographic Information

Women living Zen : Japanese Sōtō Buddhist nuns

Paula Kane Robinson Arai

Oxford University Press, 2012

  • : pbk

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Note

Originally published: 1999

"First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 2012"--T.p. verso

Bibliography: p. 213-226

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

"A long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns' importance.... This very readable book is ideal for classroom use."-Religious Studies Review "Arai's sensitive first-hand account is at times emotional, but the reflexive recollections that derive from her personal experiences and interactions with the nuns are insightful and well documented....the book is valuable in providing us with a different mode of appreciation in order to understand the position of women living in [an]other religious and cultural context."-Japanese Journal of Religious Studies "This is an anthropological study, carried out with love, care, and attention to detail...By the end of the journey, readers will find themselves moved, their humanity reassured and refreshed."-Journal of Asian Studies In this study, based on both historical evidence and ethnographic data, Paula Arai shows that nuns were central agents in the foundation of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century. They were active participants in the Soto Zen sect, and have continued to contribute to the advancement of the sect to the present day. Drawing on her fieldwork among Soto nuns, Arai demonstrates that the lives of many of these women embody classical Buddhist ideals. They have chosen to lead a strictly disciplined monastic life instead of pursuing careers or leading an unconstrained contemporary secular lifestyle. In this, and other respects, they can be shown to stand in stark contrast to their male counterparts.

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Transliteration Guide
  • Prologue
  • One: Introduction
  • Scholarly Contexts
  • Theoretical Considerations
  • Methodological Considerations
  • Two: Historical Background
  • Pioneering Monastics
  • Dogen and Women
  • Tokugawa Encroachments
  • Meiji Reclamations
  • Three: Twentieth-Century Leadership
  • First Generation: Rapid Ascent Through Education
  • Second Generation: Stategists of Egalitarianism
  • Third Generation: Zen Master of a New Tradition
  • Four: The Monastic Practices of Zen Nuns
  • Nuns' Vision of Monastic Life
  • Daily Life in a Monastery of Zen Nuns
  • Divisions within the Monastery
  • Ceremonial Rituals and Activities
  • Educational Curriculum and Degrees
  • The Aesthetics of Discipline
  • Five: Motivations, Commitments, and Self-Perceptions
  • Changing Life Patterns of Twentieth-Century Zen
  • Buddhist Practice: Meaning and Action
  • Nuns' Views on Monastic Life
  • Six: Conclusion: Innovators for the Sake of Tradition
  • Preservers and Creators of Buddhist Tradition
  • Bearers and Transmitters of Traditional Japanese Culture
  • Notes
  • Appendix A: Questionnaire
  • Appendix B: Glossary of Japanese Terms
  • Bibliography
  • Index

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