– William James (1842-1910)

For Americans of the late 20th-century, much of Japanese religion may seem strange. Because of historical peculiarities in our own cultural heritage (the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and other Modern developments), most Americans tend to think of religion as an individual matter–individual choice, individual belief, individual experience. Most non-Western religions, including Japanese religion, seldom stress the individual in such ways, and rarely regard the individual as the starting point of religious realities. Moreover, Japanese religion, like other non-Western religions, seldom assumes that the basis of religion is an individual's "belief" (i.e., intellectual assent to certain propositions, like "God exists"). Rather, like most traditional religions, Japanese religion has generally been a cultural reality, in which all members of the culture participate naturally and unreflectively. In Japan–traditional and modern–being religious is generally a matter of being Japanese, and the task of students of Japanese religion is generally one of learning to understand how Japanese people understand the religious dimensions of their cultural identity.

This course will explore the many strands of religion in Japan, from earliest times to the present. We will examine the evolution of certain "basic" Japanese beliefs (such as the belief in the divinity of the emperor), learning how such beliefs sprang from specific historical realities and were reaffirmed through the centuries for specific cultural and political reasons. In the same way, we will study the arrival and domestication of Buddhism, an alien tradition that was imported to Japan from continental Asia during the 6th century. We will see that, for the Japanese, the appeal of Buddhism–like the appeal of Confucianism, a Chinese tradition–was often more its capacity for providing new cultural contributions than its capacity for rendering life more meaningful for individuals–a relatively modern development.

We will also seek to combat Westerners' common misunderstandings about Japanese religions. We will analyze, for instance, why Westerners who seek alternatives to their own religions never try to practice Shintô–Japan's indigenous religious tradition–or such consequential forms of Japanese Buddhism as Pure Land, the dominant tradition of Buddhism among both Japanese and Japanese-Americans. We will also give attention to common Western misconceptions about Zen Buddhism.

Course Objectives:

1. To illumine the hermeneutic issues involved in understanding religion across cultures. Prof. Mark MacWilliams of St. Lawrence University calls this process "gaining cross-cultural religious literacy."

2. To introduce basic elements of the religious traditions of Japan.

3. To sample some of the cultural riches of Japan by reading important selections from classic Japanese religious literature and more modern materials.

4. To demonstrate the diverse factors that affect human life by observing the influence of historic, geographic, and economic factors on the nature and evolution of Japanese beliefs and practices.

5. To illustrate that religious traditions evolve, and that such evolution can be understood by reference to historical, intellectual, cultural and existential phenomena.

6. To stimulate meaningful comparison, and contrast, of Japanese traditions with those more familar to students from their own cultural heritage. As Prof. Mark MacWilliams says, this means: "To learn more about religion and about one's self. Max Müller, a famous historian of religions, once said, "One who knows one religion knows none." The same can be said about human life. One who knows only one culture or one way of living knows none. To know ourselves--who we are, who we could be--means we must know others. And to know others means we must study that which informs and guides their sense of self, society, and world. To study what people believe is ultimately real, good, beautiful, true, and the way they put this into practice is to study religion."

This syllabus is simply a general plan for the course. Changes and variations, as announced to the class by the instructor, may be necessary at times. All academic work must meet the standards contained in the document titled A Culture of Honesty. All students are responsible for informing themselves about those standards before performing any academic work.

You are welcome to chat with the instructor after class, during office hours, or at other arranged times. The time before class, however, is not a good time for any discussion.

The classroom is not a lunchroom: please do your snacking and enjoyment of beverages before you come to class or after you leave. It is also not a phonebooth, so please make sure that any phones that you bring into the building are turned off. In sum, it is your responsibility to show respect for others by refraining from activity that might distract others or interfere with the learning process. Failure to do so will affect your course grade.

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1. Course Reader (Available at Bel-Jean’s, Downtown)

2. Textbooks (Available at local bookstores)

Required (Needed for most readings):

& Byron Earhart, Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity (4^th ed.)

& Byron Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience (2^nd ed.)

& Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Enlightenment: Origins and Meaning

Recommended (Needed for some readings):

& Daigan and Alicia Matsunaga, Foundations of Japanese Buddhism (2 vols.)

& Giei Satô, et al., Unsui: A Diary of Zen Monastic Life

Most of the required readings will be found in the Reader and in the "required" textbooks. A certain number of required readings, however, will be found in the three "recommended" books. Thus it is expected that you will acquire the first three, and that many of you will also have the latter three. In addition, other assigned readings will be made available (1) on reserve, in hard-copy or as "e-texts" (accessible from any computer); (2) on the instructor's webpage; and/or (3) as handouts.

At the end of the course, borderline grades are usually rounded up, but in all such cases, the instructor may take into account all elements of your performance, such as the regularity of your attendance, consistency of your performance, and constructiveness of your class participation. Graduate students will write a research paper on an approved topic, in lieu of the final exam.

NOTE: The course Reader also includes:

Following the advice provided there will help you write good papers in this and other courses. Papers that do not reflect attention to that advice are unlikely to receive very high grades. You are also urged to see:

1. "Writing the Religion Paper":

2. UGA Writing Center, "Writing Resources":

As the Writing Center says (http://www.english.uga.edu/writingcenter/about/contact.html): "Please, by all means, feel free to contact us if we can help you in any way….Whatever your needs, we are eager to help."

However, like many other good sites, this one has its limitations. First, it is now quite outdated. Secondly, it has never provided all the material that even your instructor would like it to provide. And thirdly, it was not constructed, in the first instance, to serve as a pedagogical tool. Even such a website tries to fulfill different functions for different people: some are intended as professional connections for other scholars, others are designed to appeal to the general public. The latter may be more colorful or amusing, but are not necessarily more reliable or more informative. Remember to think critically about what you are seeing: many sites have an unexpressed agenda, just like movies and TV shows, and some may be well-intentioned but insubstantial and/or unsound. So beware attempting to use the internet as an educational tool – particularly in regard to non-Western religions – without expert guidance. Remember that all a person has to do to create, for example, a website on Zen is to set up the website: he or she does not really have to know much, or anything, about Zen! And for psychological and/or economic reasons, some people construct such sites just to get attention, or to get a reputation that they have not bothered to earn through hard work or proven expertise. Newcomers can easily mistake such a site for a reliable resource. See the instructive guide to "Evaluating Websites" from a committee of the American Library Association at

With a very few exceptions, responsible scholars do not put their actual research on the web. Few professors’ webpages, for instance, even provide full bibliographic data telling you what they have published. And only a handful post unpublished research findings, or provide full-text reprints of any of their publications, the way that your instructor and a few others do on their own webpages. So despite the immense amount of stuff that you can find on the internet, it is unreliable as an educational resource.

Solid and reliable studies of Japanese religion, and other non-Western traditions, generally appear only in your university LIBRARY, within the pages of scholarly books and journals. Such publications–unlike internet websites–undergo a careful peer-review process, by which today’s knowledgeable authorities confirm the substance and value of good scholarship and screen out shoddy material. So do not attempt to "do research" on the web! Your instructor will recommend particular websites that are useful and dependable. But unless instructed otherwise, you should plan to do all of your research in your university library, informed by your instructor and guided by trained reference librarians.

Handout: "On the Academic Study of Religion in American Colleges and Universities"

[For a fuller discussion of the issues, see Kirkland, "Defining Religion":

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 1-3 (through ¶2), 163-4

& Earhart, Japanese Religion: 214-17, 1-8, 14-17, 66-78, 137-40, 217-28

[Kitagawa, On Understanding Japanese Religion: 286-96: "Some Reflections on Foreign Scholars'

Understanding of Japanese Culture and Shintô"]

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 9-13, 19-25, 34-38, 212-17 [206-212]

[Kitagawa, On Understanding Japanese Religion: 139-73]

Reserve: Kitagawa, On Understanding Japanese Religion: 62-68 (On the Nihongi and Kojiki)

[Kitagawa, On Understanding Japanese Religion: 258-62, 43-58]

Reader: Kirkland, "The Sun and the Throne: The Origins of the Royal Descent Myth in Ancient Japan"

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 13-19

[Matsumae, "Japanese Religion: Mythic Themes," in Encyclopedia of Religion 7: 545-52]

& Earhart, Japanese Religion: 41-42

& Robinson/Johnson, The Buddhist Religion (5th ed.): as assigned (On the Western Study of

Buddhism, the Indian Roots of Buddhism, and the Introduction of Buddhism into China)

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 54-60 (Extracts from the Lotus Sûtra)

& Matsunaga, vol. 1: 5-8; & Earhart, Japanese Religion: 42-48, 50-51

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 47-49, 234-36

& Matsunaga, vol. 1: 109-15, 133-37

& Earhart, Japanese Religion: 52-62

(NB: Earhart and Kitagawa both refer to Saichô as "Dengyô Daishi")

[Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 83-85]

[Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History: 53-62 ]

Reserve: Hakeda, Kûkai: 61-64, 76-80 [64-76, 93-100]

[Kitagawa, On Understanding Japanese Religion: 182-202]

& Earhart, Japanese Religion: 94-96, 115-125; & Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 60-65

& Matsunaga, Vol. 1: [250-57] 129-33, 224-225, 238-41; & Matsunaga, Vol. 2: 294-95, 300-307

Reserve: Varley, A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: 1, 7-22, 25-27, 39-41

The Origins of Pure Land Buddhism

Reserve: Andrews, The Teachings Essential for Rebirth: 1-6 [20-29]

[Matsunaga, Vol. 2: 35-57]

& Earhart, Japanese Religion: 98-104

Reserve: Andrews, The Teachings Essential for Rebirth: 31-41 [51-67, 107-20]

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 88-91 [Matsunaga, Vol. 2: 58-72]

Reserve: Taitetsu Unno, "The Nature of Religious Experience in Shin Buddhism," 252-68

Dobbins, Letters of the Nun Eshinni: Images of Pure Land Buddhism in Medieval Japan, Preface:

[Reserve: Dobbins, "Women's Birth in Pure Land: ...the Letters of Eshinni"]

[Bloom, Shinran's Gospel of Pure Grace: vii-ix, 27-51, 58-68, 77-88]

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 91-97, 275-78

& Dumoulin: 25-34 [35-72]; [Kraft, Zen: Tradition and Transition: 125-39, 105-24]

& Dumoulin: 77-82; [Kraft, Zen: Tradition and Transition: 140-56]

& Matsunaga, Vol. 2: 204-8, 211-215, 218-19 [233-55]; Dumoulin: 88-124

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 99-102

Living Real Zen: Life in the Zen Monastery

Reserve: Kraft, Zen: Tradition and Transition: 157-77 [13-87]

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 76-80 (On Soto Zen Nuns in Modern Japan)

& Satô, Unsui: 1-99

& Dumoulin, Zen Enlightenment: 82-84; & Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 230-33, 176-79

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 141-44, 162-63 [144-50] (On Christianity in Japan)

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 104-9, 115 middle ¶ (On "Neo-Confucianism" in Japan)

[Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History: 131-67]

& Earhart, Japanese Religion: 154-57, 161-76, 189-92

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 236-42 [38-42] 43-44

[Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History: 199-225, 248-61]

& Earhart, Japanese Religion: 168-82, 188-89

& Earhart, Religion in the Japanese Experience: 268-74 [283-90]

Kitagawa, "Pilgrimage to the Sacred Mountain" (handout)

Reserve: Miyake, "Mountain Austerities in Shugendô" (extracts, to be assigned)