Contemporary Buddhism in Japan & Asia

Japanese Buddhism and Social Suffering

Course Plan

This is last year’s 2024 syllabus. New syllabus will premier by April 8th

Unit 1: Understanding Japanese Society through a Buddhist Lens June 4

June 4:  Buddhist Social Analysis & The Present Crisis in Japanese Society, The Disconnected Society 無縁社会

Homework for 6/5 makeup class:

Show & Tell with Japanese Buddhism: bring to class 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.

Makeup Class #1: June 5th, 6th period, 18:10-17:40

A Brief History of Japanese Buddhism & The Civilizational Culture of Buddhism meets Japan’s particular cultural identity

  • 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? We will also examine Japanese Buddhism’s attempts to adapt to the modern nation state, both in grappling with western liberalism and socialism as well as “archaic” Shinto-Confucian nationalism.
  • Presentation: A Brief History of Japanese Buddhism (PDF) Click here for the audio lecture that goes with the PDF & The Civilizational Culture of Buddhism meets Japan’s particular cultural identity in Ways of Thinking about Religion and Culture (PDF)
  • Show & Tell with Japanese Buddhism: bring to class 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.

Homework for 6/11:

Recommended Reading:

Unit 2: From “Funeral Buddhism” to End-of-Life Care & Suicide Prevention June 11 & 18 

June 11: 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.
  • Special in class guest speaker: Rev. Yoshiharu Tomatsu (Lecturer at the International University of Health and Welfare in Narita and co-author of Buddhist Care for the Dying and Bereaved). Rev. Tomatsu is also the former Secretary General of the All Japan Buddhist Federation and the World Fellowship of Buddhists, Keio graduate, Harvard M.Div. We will engage in a discussion on the Present Crisis in Japanese Buddhism and the potentials to transform Funeral Buddhism through End-of-Life Care. 
  • Content: Dying and Grieving in Contemporary Buddhism & End-of-Life Care at the Kosei Vihara Hospice (PDF) Click here for entire audio lecture to go with PDF
  • Reflection: Matrix of Buddhist Problems in Japan

Homework for 6/18:

  • Recommended Reading: Journey Through Dukkha on the suicide prevention priests OR Rewriting Culture: The Suicide Prevention Priests of Japan, chapter 2 in the new book Engaged Buddhism in Japan Volume II: A New Socially Engaged Buddhism in 21st Century Japan, From Intimate Care to Social Ethics available in class

June 15 (Saturday) Suicide Prevention Field Trip (15:00-17:30): Visit Rev. Soin Fujio at his temple in Yokosuka, south of Kamakura (about 1.5 hours from Hiyoshi) to study Zen meditation and learn about suicide prevention and mental health. Limited to 20 people

June 18: Journey through Dukkha: The Practice of the 4 Noble Truths by the Suicide Prevention Priests of Japan

  • 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. 
  • Video: 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
  • Group Work: Discussion on The Departure
  • Presentation: The Problem of Suicide in Japan and Buddhist Priests Confronting the Situation(PDF) Click here for audio lecture that goes with PDF
  • Content: From Disconnection (mu-en) to Interconnection (yu-en) Part I: Connecting Suicide Prevention & Community Decline with Structural Violence and Economic Development. From a Disconnected Society to an Interconnected One: Depopulation, Suicide, and Isolated Death by Rev. Shunei Hakamata

Homework for 6/25:

  • Recommended Reading: Rebuilding Human Bonds amidst Japan’s Disconnected Society: A Buddhist Path through Rural Decline, Migrant Laborers, Poverty & Homelessness OR Chapter 4 “Rebuilding Karmic Bonds” in Engaged Buddhism in Japan, Volume II
  • Recommended Reading: Shift the Power: Building a Buddhist Temple Community as a Mechanism for Environmental and Social Change OR Chapter 5 “Aspiring for Enlightened Development” in Engaged Buddhism in Japan, Volume II

June 22: Eco-Temples & Community Development Field Trip (16:00-18:30) with Rev. Hidehito Okochi, Keio graduate and abbot of two eco-temples in Edogawa-ku & Bunkyo-ku. Meet at Funabori Station on the Toei Shinjuku Line at 13:15. Unlimited

Unit 3: The Costs of Economic Development in Rural & Urban Communities & Buddhist Kaihotsu 開発 Development June 25

June 25 Class 1: Rural Decline, Migrant Laborers, Poverty & Homelessness

  • 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.
  • Content: From Disconnection (mu-en) to Interconnection (yu-en) Part II: The Exploitation of Nuclear Reactor Workers
  • Video: The Nuclear Ginza 26 mins. During the video takes notes using the Iceberg of Dukkha from the Buddhist Social Analysis model.
  • Content: From Disconnection (mu-en) to Interconnection (yu-en) Part III: Homelessness & the The Activities of the Hitosaji Association (PDF) click here for audio lecture of all three parts
  • Video: NHK Documentary on the Hitosaji Association
  • Content: Buddhist Engagement with the Nuclear Crisis

Class 2:  Nuclear Energy & the Eco-Temple

  • Class Issue: 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. This unit reviews their response and then looks at the inspiring work of Rev. Hidehito Okochi to build a participatory, democratic, and ecological society in Japan and abroad. 
  • Buddhist Engagement with the Nuclear Crisis and Rev. Okochi’s Eco-Temple Activities (PDF) click here for audio lecture 
  • Small group student work: break into your issue based study groups and develop a complete analysis of the Iceberg of Dukkha for your issue

Homework for 7/2:

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

June 27 (Thursday) Homeless “Patrol” Field Trip with the Hitosaji Association in Asakusa (15:00-21:30). Meet at the Mita campus courtyard 15:00. Limited to 10 people.

July 2:

  • 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. 
  • Video: Zen and War During the video takes notes using the Iceberg of Dukkha from the Buddhist Social Analysis model
  • Discussion & Lecture 1: War Responsibility and Social Discrimination: The Problem of Moral Authority in Modern Japanese Buddhism
  • Discussion & Lecture 2: Lotus Sutra Social Activism in Contemporary Japan (PDF) click here for audio lecture plus videos of previous peace demonstrations with Nipponzan Myohoji (Note: the PDF is slightly more up to date)

Homework for 7/9:

Unit 5: A Buddhist Vision for Japan

July 9: 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 Note: The PDF at the beginning is more up to date
  • 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).

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.
  • Presentation: 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
  • Conclusion: A Commentary on the Heart Sutra, the “Perfection of Wisdom” (Prajna Paramita) 

Makeup Class #2: July 9th, 6th period, 18:10-17:40

  • Preparation for Final Oral Interviews