Contemporary Buddhism in Japan & Asia

Japanese Buddhism and Social Suffering: Fall 2021

Course Plan: Tuesday 3rd period (13:00-14:30)

Due to changes in the COVID-19 situation, the course will be offered face-to-face on Mita campus but with a hybrid format allowing students to also complete the course on-line.

Unit 1: Understanding Japanese Society through a Buddhist Lens 

October 5:  A Brief History of Japanese Buddhism & the civilizational culture of Buddhism meets Japan’s particular cultural identity

  • Introduction to Course: Read the Course Overview & Requirements & Final Project pages on this site
  • Class Issue: Around 500 BCE, Shakyamuni Buddha discovered a radical new way of understanding the meaning of life, which he taught to all genders and classes. His teachings known as Buddhism spread across India and all of Asia providing a “civilizational culture” of transcending racial and national boundaries under the idea that all sentient beings may attain enlightenment. Japan has a long history as an insular, island nation. How did Japan first take in this massive “civilizational culture” distilled through both Indian and Chinese thought, and how has it adapted it to its own particular cultural identity? 
  • Content: A Brief History of Japanese Buddhism (PDF) Click here for the audio lecture that goes with the PDF
  • Group Work: The Civilizational Culture of Buddhism meets Japan’s particular cultural identity in Ways of Thinking about Religion and Culture (PDF)

Homework for 10/12:

  • Reading: The Struggle of the Archaic and the Modern & the Foundations of Socially Engaged Buddhism in Pre-War Japan (will be given out in class)
  • Show & Tell with Japanese Buddhism: bring to class on October 12 anything you can find about Japanese Buddhism, like a talisman from a temple, a book you read, a Buddhist image, etc. You don’t have to be an expert about it. Just talk about your personal impressions of it.

October 12 & 19:  Buddhist Social Analysis & The Present Crisis in Japanese Society, The Disconnected Society 無縁社会

Homework due on 10/26, Unit 1 Report:

  • Reading: Liberalism, Civil Society, and Socially Engaged Buddhism in Post-War Japan (will be given out in class)
  • Unit 1 Report: Finish constructing an Iceberg of Dukkha on core Japan social issues and problems and write a 1 page analysis referring to the 3 areas of direct dukkha, structural dukkha, and cultural dukkha. See the tutorial on “How to make an Iceberg of Dukkha”

Unit 2: From “Funeral Buddhism” to End-of-Life Care & Suicide Prevention 

October 26: Reforming Funeral Buddhism through End-of-Life Care 

  • Class Issue: Japanese Buddhism today is facing a number of crises, most succinctly described in the term “Funeral Buddhism” (葬式仏教 soshiki bukkyo) which is a pejorative term criticizing monks and temples with only being concerned about doing funeral rituals for financial payment. Japanese Buddhist priests are well known for their presence after someone has died, but can they be there to support the terminally ill and their loved ones before death takes place? This class will look at how Japanese Buddhists are reviving their ancient roles and re-training themselves as compassionate guides for the dying and bereaved. We will begin to see how they are confronting the suffering of an aging society and providing support and guidance to realize the 3rd and 4th Noble Truths.
  • Guest Speaker: Rev. Yoshiharu Tomatsu (Secretary General of the All Japan Buddhist Federation and the World Fellowship of Buddhists, Keio graduate, Harvard M.Div.) will engage in a discussion on the Present Crisis in Japanese Buddhism and the potentials to transform Funeral Buddhism through End-of-Life Care.
  • Reflection: The Matrix of Problems in the Japanese Buddhist World
  • Content: Dying and Grieving in Contemporary Buddhism (Part I) & End-of-Life Care at the Kosei Vihara Hospice (Part II) (PDF) Click here for entire audio lecture to go with PDF

Homework for 11/2:

  • Reading: Reforming Funeral Buddhism through Compassionate End-of-Life Care in Contemporary Japan (will be given out in class)

November 2 & 9: Journey through Dukkha: The Practice of the 4 Noble Truths by the Suicide Prevention Priests of Japan

  • Preparation reading: read this latest feature from the Japan Times “Suicide in Japan: Seeking to part the dark clouds as pandemic threatens recent progress“
  • Class Issue: The two crises of Japanese Buddhism’s increasing marginalization in only taking care of the dead (soshiki bukkyo) & Japanese society’s pandemic of “disconnected death” (muen-shi) come together in the problem of suicide, which rapidly increased from the collapse of the economy in the late 1990s. Here and there, in local settings, individual Buddhist priests began to grapple with the 1st Noble Truth of suffering and encounter the suicidal who were desperate for a sympathetic person who would listen to them. By the early 2010s a non-sectarian movement of these priests was forming and today is the most powerful example of socially engaged Buddhism in Japan. 
  • In Class Video for 11/2: The Departure – a profile of the work of suicide prevention priest, Rev. Jotetsu Nemoto 90 mins. For on-line students, we will have a separate Zoom showing of this video at another time. During the video takes notes using the Iceberg of Dukka & the Diamond Pyramid of Nirvana from the Buddhist Social Analysis model
  • Content for 11/9: The Problem of Suicide in Japan & Buddhist Priests Confronting the Situation (PDF) Click here for audio lecture that goes with PDF
  • Review: the Four Noble Truths (II): The Diamond Pyramid of Nirvana
  • Group Work: Discussion on The Departure

Homework:

Unit 3: The Costs of Economic Development in Rural & Urban Communities & Buddhist Kaihotsu 開発 Development 

November 16/21: The Costs of Economic Development in Rural & Urban Communities

  • Class Issue: In this unit, we begin to tie together many of the structural and cultural causes of individual suffering in the Disconnected Society (mu-en shakai). From the emptying out of the traditional farming communities in the countryside and the mass relocation of people into the cities, we see some of the early roots of the Mu-en Shakai in the two-tiered labor system of the economy and the exploitation of blue-collar labor. The Mu-en Shakai perhaps reaches its zenith with the 3/11 Triple Disaster and ongoing nuclear problem in Fukushima. This incident has presented a serious challenge to Japanese Buddhists who since the end of WWII have tried to avoid entanglement in issues perceived as political and anything critical of national development policy. In this unit, students will have the opportunity to examine a wide range of issues and responses by contemporary Japanese Buddhists trying to build an alternative society.
  • Video: The Nuclear Ginza 26 mins. During the video takes notes using the Iceberg of Dukkha from the Buddhist Social Analysis model. For on-line students, this video may be viewed in your free time on-line.
  • Small group student work: Break into small groups to discuss the following issues from the video: 1) rural economics & development policy, 2) laborers, urban poverty, and homelessness, 3) discrimination & stigma among burakumin and victims of radiation, 4) environmental pollution & nuclear energy

Homework for 11/28 NOTE: No class at Mita campus on 11/30 & 12/7. These classes will be held online at 9:00 pm Tokyo time on 11/28 & 12/5

November 28:  Making a Buddhist Analysis of Development Issues

  • Small group student work: break into your issue based study groups and develop a complete analysis of the Iceberg of Dukkha for your issue
  • Whole group work: Students present their findings to the whole class

Homework for 12/5:

  • Prepare materials for next class on the Diamond of Nirvana for your issue. Refer to the Reading page of this website.

December 5: 開発 KAI-HOTSU: The Way to Holistic Buddhist Development

  • Small group student work: break into your issue based study groups and develop a complete analysis of the Diamond of Nirvana for your issue
  • Whole group work: Students present their findings to the whole class

Homework for 12/14, Unit 3 Report:

  • Do a full written report of your group work using (include iceberg and diamond charts) 1 page for Dukkha and 1 page for Nirvana.  

Unit 4: From Imperial-Way Buddhism 皇道仏教 to Prayers for Peace

January 16: War and Peace in Japanese Buddhism 

  • Class Issue: In this unit, we complete the journey from the individual to the collective or social by looking at the ultimate of political and national issues, war & peace. We first take a critical look into Japanese Buddhism’s support for militaristic nationalism from the Meiji Period to the end of WWII. We then look at its complicated development since that time with many Buddhist groups becoming active in “peace activities” yet very few facing the political issues that make the real foundations of peace. 
  • In Class Video: Zen and War We will watch during class Zoom time. During the video takes notes using the Iceberg of Dukka from the Buddhist Social Analysis model
  • Content: Lotus Sutra Social Activism in Contemporary Japan (PDF) click here for audio lecture plus videos of previous peace demonstrations with Nipponzan Myohoji

Homework:

Unit 5: A Buddhist Vision for Japan

January 23: From Social Dukkha to Social Nirvana

  • Class Issue: In this last unit, we will take a final, comprehensive view of the Iceberg of Dukkha in Japan and then look at the potentials of Buddhism to offer a future vision and path for Japanese society, specifically through the work of Prof. Jun Nishikawa, the late professor of development economics at Waseda University
  • Content: The Final Iceberg of Japanese Dukkha & the Potential of Japanese Socially Engaged Buddhism (PDF) click here for the audio lecture
  • Group Work: Review the various activities by Japanese socially engaged Buddhists to engage in holding actions, and build alternative structures and shifts in consciousness (culture).

January 23: Reviving the Spirit of Kamakura Buddhism for 21st Century Japan

  • Class Issue: In this last class, we will delve into the Zen, Pure Land, and Lotus Sutra teachings that form the core of the Kamakura Buddhist Reformation to examine their pitfalls and potentials for contemporary Japanese society.
  • Content: The Kamakura Axial Revolution: From Pure Land’s Elevation of the Common Person to Zen’s Actualized Enlightenment to Nichiren’s Liberation of the World

Homework for 1/30 Unit 5 Report:

  • Unit 5 Report: Review and then chart the various activities by Japanese engaged Buddhists to engage in 3rd and 4th Noble Truths of holding actions, alternative structures and shifts in consciousness (culture). Add some of your own recommendations and design your own Diamond Pyramid of Nirvana for Japan’s future (include a single diamond of nirvana chart) with just 1 page of written text