Customer Reviews

Myoe the Dreamkeeper: Fantasy and Knowledge in Early Kamakura Buddhism (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Myoe Shonin (1173-1232)was a monk of the "old" Kegon shool of Buddhism just as the "new" movements of Pure Land, Zen, and Nichiren were taking shape. The "old" schools of Buddhism -- Tendai, Shingon, and the Six Nara Schools -- tended to be Inclusive, following the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, that Gautama provided a variety of religious methods to satisfy the needs of the variety of human needs. The "new" schools, except for Rinzai Zen, tended to be Exclusive (i.e., they each saw their own beliefs as the One-and-Only-True-Way), an attitude not unknown in the West.

Eventually, the "new" schools pevailed, and today they dominate our understanding of Japanese Buddhism. But Myoe felt that although something might be gained by the new movements, something of great importance was being compromised. Tanabe introduces us to this concern on the first page of his preface:

". . .in calling him [Myoe] a dreamkeeper I have chosen to emphasize a particular aspect, one that is most important not only for an understanding this man, but of what I will argue to be THE CENTRAL CHARACTERISTIC OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM AS WELL. . . (p. 9). Buddhism in Asia is a treasure trove of images, particularly of visions produced by fantasy, the primary faculty involved in that most important of Buddhist practices, meditation. The resulting words, if words result, describe worlds separated from hearing and seeing, in which beings can live forever, perfect in wisdom."

I first read this book shortly after it was published in 1992 and was greatly impressed. But either I was unaware of the "Customer Review," or I was too distracted by my work to write one. A decade and a half later, chance and circumstances sent me back to Myoe.

The reader should be warned that that this book is not always easy going, although it rewards the extra effort with surprising insights, many likely to be relevant to questions asked by followers of Western religions. Here are a few related works that may help to move things along:

The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture

Paintings of the Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra (Translations from the Asian Classics)

Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma: The Lotus Sutra (Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies)