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dc.contributor.advisorAbé, Ryūichien_US
dc.contributor.advisorMcCormick, Melissaen_US
dc.contributor.advisorRobson, Jamesen_US
dc.contributor.advisorKamens, Edwarden_US
dc.contributor.authorBushelle, Ethan Daviden_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-07-17T18:15:39Z
dash.embargo.terms2017-05-01en_US
dc.date.created2015-05en_US
dc.date.issued2015-05-19en_US
dc.date.submitted2015en_US
dc.identifier.citationBushelle, Ethan David. 2015. The Joy of the Dharma: Esoteric Buddhism and the Early Medieval Transformation of Japanese Literature. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467509
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation explores the nexus between Buddhism and literature in Japan’s early medieval period. Specifically, it elucidates the process by which forms of court literature such as Chinese-language verse (kanshi), Japanese poetry (waka), and romance tales (monogatari) were incorporated into Buddhist rites and liturgies from the tenth through twelfth centuries and attempts to show how this process supported and was supported by Esoteric Buddhist discourse. I call special attention to a discourse on ritual performance that understands the chanting of a mantra, hymn, or poem as an act of giving the joy of the Dharma (hōraku) to the kami and buddhas. By attending to this discourse and the rituals through which it was articulated, this dissertation sheds light on the doctrinal reasons why and the practical paths by which even literary genres that were considered to be “worldly” such as nature poetry, love poetry, and romance tales were reconceived as vehicles for offering the joy of the Buddha’s teachings. The three body chapters examine a variety of rites and liturgies intended for a lay audience—often called “Dharma assemblies” (hōe) in Japanese-language scholarship—and endeavor to demonstrate how they contributed to key transformations in Japanese literature. Chapter 1 investigates the liturgy of the lecture assembly (kō-e) at Shinto shrines and elucidates how it shaped the formation of a key genre of medieval Japanese poetry called “Dharma joy” waka (hōraku waka). Chapter 2 analyzes repentance rites dedicated to Fugen (Sk. Samantabhadra) bodhisattva and considers their impact on the invention of Buddhist love poetry. Finally, Chapter 3 looks at sutra-offering ceremonies and clarifies their role in the consecration of the exemplary Heian-period romance tale, The Tale of Genji, and the imagination of its author, Murasaki Shikibu. In addition to situating a particular transformation of court literature in its ritual context, each chapter also locates a given example of ritual in its discursive locus. I show that at the center of this locus lies a system of Esoteric Buddhist doctrine and ritual concerned with demonstrating the identity of the esoteric teachings (mikkyō) with those of the Lotus Sūtra. Terming this system “Lotus-Esoteric discourse,” I show how it provided the epistemic framework for the practice of using a mantra, hymn, or poem as a medium for giving the joy of the Dharma to others, rather than receiving it for oneself (jiju hōraku), as was stressed in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism of the late ancient period. In short, through its attention to Lotus-Esoteric discourse on Dharma joy, this study offers a corrective to an over-emphasis on the liturgical formula of “wild words and fanciful phrases” (kyōgen kigo), which has been the focus of many previous studies on the relationship between Buddhism and medieval Japanese literature, and clarifies the concrete discursive strategies and ritual practices by which Buddhism in early medieval Japan consecrated new liturgical uses for three representative genres of court literature—kanshi verse, waka poetry, and monogatari tales. In this way, it endeavors to show how Buddhist discourse on Dharma joy—in both its doctrinal and ritual dimensions—may constitute a new paradigm for understanding the early medieval transformation of Japanese literature.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipEast Asian Languages and Civilizationsen_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dash.licenseLAAen_US
dc.subjectReligion, Generalen_US
dc.subjectLiterature, Asianen_US
dc.subjectReligion, History ofen_US
dc.titleThe Joy of the Dharma: Esoteric Buddhism and the Early Medieval Transformation of Japanese Literatureen_US
dc.typeThesis or Dissertationen_US
dash.depositing.authorBushelle, Ethan Daviden_US
dc.date.available2017-05-01T07:31:26Z
thesis.degree.date2015en_US
thesis.degree.grantorGraduate School of Arts & Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
dc.type.materialtexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentEast Asian Languages and Civilizationsen_US
dash.identifier.vireohttp://etds.lib.harvard.edu/gsas/admin/view/518en_US
dc.description.keywordsBuddhism; Japanese Literature; Esoteric Buddhism; Japanese Religion; Poetry; Narrative; Ritual; Liturgy; Waka; Monogatari; Discourse Analysis; Apparatusen_US
dash.author.emailethan.bushelle@gmail.comen_US
dash.identifier.drsurn-3:HUL.DRS.OBJECT:25165091en_US
dash.contributor.affiliatedBushelle, Ethan David


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