Buddhism Section and Japanese Religions Group

Theme: Funerals, Death Rituals and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism

Sarah Horton, University of Colorado, Boulder
Mukaeko: Practice for the Deathbed

Deathbed rituals performed in the hope of rebirth in Amida Buddha's Pure Land became popular in eleventh-century Japan. In this paper, I argue that an important but overlooked reason for this was a ritual called mukaeko4, a dramatic enactment of the scene of Amida and his attendants greeting the dying person and escorting him to the Pure Land. The earliest known mention of mukaeko4 occurs in a 1017 biography of Genshin (942-1017). Later texts state that Genshin began mukaeko4, and that participants included monk and lay, rich and poor, high and lowly. Such documents further tell how the ritual moved off Mt. Hiei into Kyoto and beyond. Mukaeko4 were rehearsals for death, but the atmosphere was one of joy: those dressed as bodhisattvas sang and danced. Observing the raigo4 scene in everyday life relieved the inevitable fear surrounding death, replacing it with joyful expectation.

Jacqueline I. Stone, Princeton University
With the Help of "Good Friends": Deathbed Ritual Practices in Early Medieval Japan

Early medieval Japanese historical and literary sources reflect a deep concern, especially in aristocratic and monastic circles, with dying a ritually correct death. Life's last moment was seen as a liminal juncture when even the most sinful, by being mindful of the Buddha and chanting his name, might erase their past offenses and achieve birth in the Pure Land. This paper examines specific forms of deathbed practice recommended in texts of ritual instruction compiled during the latter Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura (1185-1333) periods. In particular, it analyzes the emerging role of the chishiki or zenchishiki ("good friend"), who presides over the deathbed scene and encourages the dying person's contemplations. The chishiki's connection to larger forms of religious organization; controversies surrounding his role; and factors leading to the eventual routinization of medieval deathbed practices are also addressed.

Brian D. Ruppert, University of Illinois, Urbana
Death and the Damned Emperor: The Tale of Nichizo4's Journey to the Afterlife As Mimetic Representation of Medieval Japanese Society

This study examines the development of stories concerning the esoteric monk Nichizo4 (also called Do4ken; 905-85), who is remembered in literature and Buddhist tradition as a holy man who traveled to heavens and hells. After "dying," Nichizo4 traveled to heaven where he received an amulet; in hell he realized that the calamities in Japanese society were due to the exile of the aristocrat Sugawara no Michizane (845-903). The former emperor Daigo, who had supported Michizane's enemies through exiling him to Kyushu, had now died and was suffering in hell; when Nichizo4 arrived there, Daigo pleaded with him to tell the current chancellor to construct myriad reliquaries on his behalf. Nichizo4 returned to life and told his story after thirteen days in the other world. I argue that the story offers a narrative example of exchange, and emphasize the centrality of Buddhist mortuary practice as its ultimate source of resolution.

Duncan Williams, Trinity College
Sudden Salvation and Gradual Care of the Dead: So4to4 Zen and the Blood Pool Hell Sutra

This paper examines the disjunction between the immediate salvation at the time of the funeral with the need to manage and care for the dead over a lengthy period of time through a series of memorial services called the Thirteen Buddha Rites (ju4san butsuji). The basic assumption with ancestral memorial services was that the deceased, despite having received the So4to4 Zen funeral, had fallen into hell because of the weight of their previously accumulated karma. Especially in the case of women, with the spread of the belief in the Blood Pool Hell Sutra during the mid-Edo period at So4to4 Zen temples, a belief that all women would drop into the hell realms developed. This paper suggests that the ability of So4to4 Zen priests to simultaneously maintain the ideas of immediate salvation at the funeral and gradual care of the dead through memorial services was a key function in the sect's growth.

Mariko Namba Walter, University of New England
The Structure of the Japanese Buddhist Funeral

This paper examines the patterns and differences in the funeral procedures of various Japanese Buddhist schools, i.e., Tendai, Zen, Pure Land, Shingon, and Nichiren Buddhism . The funeral procedures were set by the founders of various Buddhist schools in Japan at different times in the history of Japanese Buddhism from the ninth to the thirteenth century. The comparison of the funerary rituals of different schools of modern Japan reflects the historical process of changes and challenges to Buddhist schools over many hundreds of years. The study also indicates the influences of non-Buddhist elements, such as Confucianism and other Chinese beliefs, as well the Japanese own indigenous beliefs regarding death and spirits. My question in this paper is to find out if there is a single pattern/structure of the Japanese Buddhist funeral despite the sectarian differences and conflicts in Japan.