Religions in Japan

Religions of Japan

Format

5 short answer questions (1 points each): 5 points

For the short answer questions you will define terms taken from a list below in 3-5 sentences. The definition should also include some context for the term. For example, a definition of Kannon would refer to the bodhisattva’s popularity in Tendai Buddhism and/or the Lotus Sutra.

1 essay question: 10 points

The essay question will ask you to draw connections between materials covered in class through Friday, March 1. I will give you three possible prompts and you will choose between two of them on the actual exam. The essay should be between 2-3 handwritten pages (8.5”x11” with no line markings).

Total: 15 points

 

Grading

Short answers, worth 1 point each, will be graded on how accurate and complete the definition is. If the definition is partially correct or partially complete, you will receive .5 point.

The essay will be graded on the following criteria:

accuracy (using terms correctly, identifying the correct time period for different phenomena) – 3 points

completeness (including all 3 examples required in the prompt, and making sure the examples come from different traditions and time periods) – 3 points

analysis (choosing apt points of comparison, drawing connections between materials beyond what has been presented in the readings and lectures) – 4 points

 

Essay Prompts

  1. Explain different positions on morality you see in Kamakura- and Muromachi-era Buddhism. How do these positions relate to what you see in earlier periods of Japanese religious history? Use at least 3 specific examples, 1 of which must be from pre-Kamakura Japan.

 

  1. Compare Kamakura- and Muromachi-period Buddhism to Heian-period Buddhism, and make sure to identify both similarities and differences. You should analyze at least 3 specific points of comparison.

 

  1. Explain the ways in which Japanese indigenous religion (i.e. “Shinto”) has interacted with Buddhism from the Asuka period through the Kamakura or Muromachi period. Address both the tension and the syncretism that have developed between these traditions. You should give at least 3 different examples, and each should come from a different time period (e.g. 1 from the Asuka period, 1 from the Heian period, and 1 from the Kamakura period).

 

 

 

 

Short Answer Terms

 

kami

kofun

miko and saniwa

tama

Izumo

Ohonamuchi

Yamato

Amaterasu

Izanagi and Izanami

honji suijaku

Four Noble Truths

Mahayana Buddhism

bodhisattva

Kannon

Prince Shotoku

Confucianism

filial piety

Tendai

Saicho

Lotus Sutra

emptiness

suchness (tathata; shinnyo)

buddha-nature

skill-in-means (skillful means)

original enlightenment (hongaku)

Shingon

Kukai

nyonin kekkai

Diamond- and Womb-Realm mandalas

three secrets

meditation on the syllable “A”

Dainichi

Tachikawa

antinomianism

Eison

Pure Land (Jodo-shu)

True Pure Land (Jodo shinshu)

Genshin

nembutsu

Honen

Shinran

Ippen

Nichiren

daimoku

Zen

Rinzai

Eisai

Soto

Dogen

koan

Ikkyu

saigu

Ise

Ryobu Shinto

En no Gyoja

Shugendo

 

 

 

 

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