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Rating: 
Summary: Invaluable for Nichiren Buddhists
Review: Dr. Stone has provided an invaluable window into the current state of Japanese scholarship around the issues of orignal enlightenment teachings (hongaku shiso) and its role in the formation of Kamakuran Buddhism and Nichiren Buddhism in particular. I believe that she quite successfully brings out the complexities of this teaching and shows that it does not necessarily lead to antinomian conclusions and that it was not summarily rejected by the founders of Kamakuran Buddhism including Nichiren. The chapter on Nichiren in this book could also stand alone as an excellent guide to Nichiren's teachings and practice. She shows that there is much more to Nichiren Buddhism than vainly repeating the Sino-Japanese title of the Lotus Sutra in order to gain worldly benefits. She really brings out the depth and profundity of Nichiren Buddhism. This book, however, is not an apologetic for Nichiren Buddhism or even for original enlightenment teachings. Dr. Stone maintains a very objective and impartial stance throughout the book (which could be disturbing to those for whom this religion and these issues are literally a matter of life and death). She provides both the pros and the cons of the issues that she addresses. She is not so much providing a new theory about Nichiren Buddhism or original enlightenment so much as she is attempting to show that original enlightenment and its impact on Japanese Buddhism needs to be reevaluated and that the issues are far from black-and-white. I would highly recommend this book to serious scholars of Japanese Buddhism and to those who want to delve more deeply into the current state of scholarship in Japan surounding Nichiren Buddhism. This is not, however, a book for those who want simple answers to simple questions, or who want a primer on Nichiren Buddhism. For those hard core Nichiren Buddhists and scholars who want to find out the real truth about Nichiren Buddhism and the development of the Nichiren tradition, this book is worth every penny of its rather steep price tag. Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Ryuei Michael McCormick
Rating:
Summary: New Insight on Medieval Tendai and Kamakura Buddhism
Review: Is Enlightenment something that we acquire? Or are we really Enlightened already and just have to realize that? Is Enlightenment something that will take us uncounted ages to achieve? Or can we achieve Enlightenment in this life and in this body? Such were some of the key issues of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Some of the most popular conclusions, that we are Enlightened already, i.e. are Originally Enlightened, and that we can achieve Enlightenment in this life and in this body, remain both popular and controversial even today. Jacqueline Stone takes us into the little known world of the Tendai temples and hermitages on Mt. Hiei, the stately mountain above Kyoto, where much of the doctrine of Original Enlightenment thought was developed -- and whence it spread to the famous founders of Kamakura Buddhism, including Honen and Nichiren. Stone gives us a panorama of what was going on, what we known about it (not enough), and the long history of what happened and the debates that continue down to the present, debates that involve scholars, sectarian apologists, and the religious practice of many people, not just in Japan, but around the world. A fundamental book for one of the great, and still growing, religious traditions in the world.
Rating:
Summary: New Insight on Medieval Tendai and Kamakura Buddhism
Review: Is Enlightenment something that we acquire? Or are we really Enlightened already and just have to realize that? Is Enlightenment something that will take us uncounted ages to achieve? Or can we achieve Enlightenment in this life and in this body? Such were some of the key issues of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Some of the most popular conclusions, that we are Enlightened already, i.e. are Originally Enlightened, and that we can achieve Enlightenment in this life and in this body, remain both popular and controversial even today. Jacqueline Stone takes us into the little known world of the Tendai temples and hermitages on Mt. Hiei, the stately mountain above Kyoto, where much of the doctrine of Original Enlightenment thought was developed -- and whence it spread to the famous founders of Kamakura Buddhism, including Honen and Nichiren. Stone gives us a panorama of what was going on, what we known about it (not enough), and the long history of what happened and the debates that continue down to the present, debates that involve scholars, sectarian apologists, and the religious practice of many people, not just in Japan, but around the world. A fundamental book for one of the great, and still growing, religious traditions in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Major insights into Tendai Buddhism
Review: Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism by Jacqueline Ilyse Stone (Studies in East Asian Buddhism, No. 12: University of Hawaii Press) Being recognized as a major study in Buddhist studies and recognized as one of the best religious studies books of 2000, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism represents some important historical and conceptual clarifications of perennial themes in Mahayana Buddhism.
From flyleaf: Original enlightenment thought (hongaku shiso) dominated Buddhist intellectual circles throughout Japan's medieval period. Enlightenment, this discourse claims, is neither a goal to be achieved nor a potential to be realized but the true status of all things. Every animate and inanimate object manifests the primordially enlightened Buddha just as it is. Seen in its true aspect, every activity of daily life?eating, sleeping, even one's deluded thinking?is the Buddha's conduct. Emerging from within the powerful Tendai school, ideas of original enlightenment were appropriated by a number of Buddhist traditions and influenced nascent theories about the kami (local deities) as well as medieval aesthetics and the literary and performing arts.
Scholars and commentators have long recognized the historical importance of original enlightenment thought but differ heatedly over how it is to be understood. Some tout it as the pinnacle of the Buddhist philosophy of absolute nondualism. Others claim to find in it the paradigmatic expression of a timeless Japanese spirituality. According to other readings, it represents a dangerous antinomianism that undermined observance of moral precepts, precipitated a decline in Buddhist scholarship, and denied the need for religious discipline. Still others denounce it as an authoritarian ideology that, by sacralizing the given order, has in effect legitimized hierarchy and discriminative social practices. Often the acceptance or rejection of original enlightenment thought is seen as the fault line along which traditional Buddhist institutions are to be differentiated from the new Buddhist movements (Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren) that arose during Japan's medieval period.
Jacqueline Stone's groundbreaking study moves beyond the treatment of the original enlightenment doctrine as abstract philosophy to explore its historical dimension. Drawing on a wealth of medieval primary sources and modern Japanese scholarship, it places this discourse in its ritual, institutional, and social contexts, illuminating its importance to the maintenance of traditions of lineage and the secret transmission of knowledge that characterized medieval Japanese elite culture. It sheds new light on interpretive strategies employed in premodern Japanese Buddhist texts, an area that hitherto has received little attention. Through these and other lines of investigation, Stone problematizes entrenched notions of "corruption" in the medieval Buddhist establishment. Using the examples of Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism and their interactions throughout the medieval period, she calls into question both overly facile distinctions between "old" and "new" Buddhism and the long?standing scholarly assumptions that have perpetuated them. This study marks a significant contribution to ongoing debates over definitions of Buddhism in the Kamakura era (1185-1333) , long regarded as a formative period in Japanese religion and culture. Stone argues that "original enlightenment thought" represents a substantial rethinking of Buddhist enlightenment that cuts across the distinction between "old" and "new" institutions and was particularly characteristic of the medieval period.
Rating:
Summary: Major insights into Tendai Buddhism
Review: Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism by Jacqueline Ilyse Stone (Studies in East Asian Buddhism, No. 12: University of Hawaii Press) Being recognized as a major study in Buddhist studies and recognized as one of the best religious studies books of 2000, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism represents some important historical and conceptual clarifications of perennial themes in Mahayana Buddhism.
From flyleaf: Original enlightenment thought (hongaku shiso) dominated Buddhist intellectual circles throughout Japan's medieval period. Enlightenment, this discourse claims, is neither a goal to be achieved nor a potential to be realized but the true status of all things. Every animate and inanimate object manifests the primordially enlightened Buddha just as it is. Seen in its true aspect, every activity of daily life?eating, sleeping, even one's deluded thinking?is the Buddha's conduct. Emerging from within the powerful Tendai school, ideas of original enlightenment were appropriated by a number of Buddhist traditions and influenced nascent theories about the kami (local deities) as well as medieval aesthetics and the literary and performing arts.
Scholars and commentators have long recognized the historical importance of original enlightenment thought but differ heatedly over how it is to be understood. Some tout it as the pinnacle of the Buddhist philosophy of absolute nondualism. Others claim to find in it the paradigmatic expression of a timeless Japanese spirituality. According to other readings, it represents a dangerous antinomianism that undermined observance of moral precepts, precipitated a decline in Buddhist scholarship, and denied the need for religious discipline. Still others denounce it as an authoritarian ideology that, by sacralizing the given order, has in effect legitimized hierarchy and discriminative social practices. Often the acceptance or rejection of original enlightenment thought is seen as the fault line along which traditional Buddhist institutions are to be differentiated from the new Buddhist movements (Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren) that arose during Japan's medieval period.
Jacqueline Stone's groundbreaking study moves beyond the treatment of the original enlightenment doctrine as abstract philosophy to explore its historical dimension. Drawing on a wealth of medieval primary sources and modern Japanese scholarship, it places this discourse in its ritual, institutional, and social contexts, illuminating its importance to the maintenance of traditions of lineage and the secret transmission of knowledge that characterized medieval Japanese elite culture. It sheds new light on interpretive strategies employed in premodern Japanese Buddhist texts, an area that hitherto has received little attention. Through these and other lines of investigation, Stone problematizes entrenched notions of "corruption" in the medieval Buddhist establishment. Using the examples of Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism and their interactions throughout the medieval period, she calls into question both overly facile distinctions between "old" and "new" Buddhism and the long?standing scholarly assumptions that have perpetuated them. This study marks a significant contribution to ongoing debates over definitions of Buddhism in the Kamakura era (1185-1333) , long regarded as a formative period in Japanese religion and culture. Stone argues that "original enlightenment thought" represents a substantial rethinking of Buddhist enlightenment that cuts across the distinction between "old" and "new" institutions and was particularly characteristic of the medieval period.
Rating:
Summary: A Benefit for Eggheads (like me)
Review: This book was pretty weighty - real live scholarly work, rather than simple sectarian gloss. I particularly enjoyed the way Professor Stone placed the religious leaders of the time into their proper historical context and showed the way the traditions cross-pollenated with each other. The part on Nichiren was most informative, and gave an objective perspective on the events which occurred after Nichiren's death. Cool pictures of lots of mandalas, too.
Rating:
Summary: A Benefit for Eggheads (like me)
Review: This book was pretty weighty - real live scholarly work, rather than simple sectarian gloss. I particularly enjoyed the way Professor Stone placed the religious leaders of the time into their proper historical context and showed the way the traditions cross-pollenated with each other. The part on Nichiren was most informative, and gave an objective perspective on the events which occurred after Nichiren's death. Cool pictures of lots of mandalas, too.
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