Shaking dance in the stormy valley: tendai discourse on kami-buddha relations in fourteenth century mount hiei

Park, Yeon Joo

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/95455 Copy

Description

Title

Shaking dance in the stormy valley: tendai discourse on kami-buddha relations in fourteenth century mount hiei

Author(s)

Park, Yeon Joo

Issue Date

2016-09-21

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ruppert, Brian

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Ruppert, Brian

Committee Member(s)

• Mayer, Alexander L.
• Oyler, Elizabeth A
• Toby, Ronald P.

Department of Study

E. Asian Languages & Cultures

Discipline

East Asian Languages and Cultures

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Medieval Japanese Kami-Buddha amalgamation
• honji suijaku
• Tendai chroniclers
• Keiran shūyōshū
• serpent symbols
• nonduality
• original enlightenment
• Taimitsu consciousness discourse

Abstract

This dissertation explores medieval Japanese discourse on the amalgamation of kami and buddhas, particularly as represented in Keiran shūyōshū, a fourteenth century encyclopedic Japanese Tendai text, which presents the highest knowledge of medieval Taimitsu scholasticism on Mt. Hiei. Focusing on the inner logic of the “origin-trace” structure central to the Kami-Buddha combinatory discourse, this study investigates the rationale of nonduality between buddhas and kami or the origin and manifested traces. Examining representations of kami as manifestations of buddhas and the complex web of their relationships in Keiran, this study elucidates that the origin-trace scheme is indispensable from medieval Taimitsu teachings—in particular, the esoteric idea of copenetration and mutual identity, as well as the doctrine of original enlightenment and its associated rituals and practices. Examination of these interrelated issues culminates by centering on Keiran’s discussion of kami’s manifestation in the form of the snake and its association with the sixth consciousness, through which the main discussions of this study—kami as manifestations, kami’s manifestations, and nonduality of the origin and trace, are integrated into the problem of our mind cultivation toward enlightenment. Throughout this study, I pay attention to several allegories associated with the notion of nonduality in Keiran, which include the allegory of the shaking dance mentioned in the title of this dissertation, as well as various analogies connected to the form of the snake. At the end of this study, the main features of thie symbolic complex of nonduality are analyzed as being correlated in their subtle yet ultimate signification of our innate capacity to attain enlightenment, which should be sought after and sustained with our persistently dedicated practices.

Graduation Semester

2016-12

Type of Resource

text

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016 Yeon Joo Park

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