Customer Reviews

Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism.

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Once upon a time a guy fresh out of college and seriously interested in Buddhism went to Japan; he visited local temples on a regular basis, and was increasingly confounded by the fact that it was usually a woman roughly the same age as the head monk who acted something like the temple's unofficial receptionist and public relations representative. Only slowly did it dawn on him that these women were the head monks' wives. Yeah, something odd had happened between the early Tokugawa period (where most of his Buddhism books cut off) and the present. Too bad he didn't have this excellent book by Richard Jaffe--the silly naif wouldn't have been quite so befuddled.

Indeed, "Neither Monk nor Layman" is a very important, ground-breaking study on a highly significant facet of modern Buddhism in Japan, a facet by the way that has influenced the development of American Buddhism in subtle ways. And Jaffe has done a first-rate job on this book; he combines the critical meticulous care of a historian and the knowledgeable, non-reductive sensitivity of a Buddhist Studies scholar. His writing is sharp and clear, his reasoning convincing, and his arguments compelling. He includes a wealth of fascinating detail but marshals all of this in advancing his narrative. The overall result is a remarkable scholarly achievement.

One of the things I liked best about the book though was Jaffe's eye for the complexity of the issues involved. The government's multiple reasons and motivations for decriminalizing clerical marriage are treated with great nuance and attention to larger patterns of Meiji Japanese nation-state formation, while the Buddhists are not relegated to being passive recipients of the government's policies as is often the case. Far from it, Buddhist interaction with the government is handled with finesse, and the range of Buddhist reactions to the decriminalization (staunch opposition, eager acceptance, and everything in between) is explored fully. In the process, we get a close look at the arguments and concerns of famous Buddhist monks of this time like Fukuda Gyokai and Shaku Unsho as well as lesser known but (Jaffe points out) highly influential figures like Otori Sesso and Kurama Takudo. The controversial Nichiren lay religious leader Tanaka Chigaku is also discussed extensively.

Basically, then, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism, Religious Studies, and/or Modern Japanese History. Anyone more generally interested in the vicissitudes of religious institutions in modernity should also find the book useful. And if you like this book as much as I do, you may also want to check out Stephen Covell's "Japanese Temple Buddhism: Worldliness in a Religion of Renunciation" (which discusses contemporary issues with temple wives and clerical marriage) or Bernard Faure's "The Red Thread" (which discusses the convoluted views of Buddhism on gender and sexuality more generally).