Relevant Articles (Katherine)

Here are links to two articles online that I found very helpful in researching my paper:

Women’s Image and Place in Japanese Buddhism, by Haruko Okano

A History of Women in Japanese Buddhism, by Toshie Kurihara

Misogyny in Japanese Buddhism (Katherine)

Misogyny in Japanese Buddhism

Many Japanese today see Buddhism not as a source of enlightenment, but as a conservative institution of discrimination.  Women especially have reason to reject Japanese Buddhism because of a long history of misogynic beliefs, practices, and participation in the oppression of women for the last thousand-plus years.  Some Buddhist women, like Noriko Kawahashi, believe that Japanese Buddhism is at heart a religion of equality and can be saved through feminist reinterpretation of doctrine and banning of discriminatory practices; others say it is inherently misogynic in nature and therefore beyond salvation.

What I think neither of these groups of women have considered is this: how much of the misogynic beliefs and practices in Japanese Buddhism are Buddhist, and how much are Japanese? If there is one thing we have learned this semester, it’s that the Buddhism practiced in Japan is highly unique from all other brands of Buddhism in many different ways, just as Japanese culture is unique not just in the world, but in Asia.  So it stands to reason that the discrimination evident in Japanese Buddhism does not just come from Buddhist doctrine, but may also originate in Japanese society.  The purpose of my paper is to examine how much of four chosen areas of discrimination come from Buddhist doctrine and how much from pre-existing Japanese culture.

The first topic I will discuss is the disenfranchisement of nuns, whom began as the leaders of Buddhism in Japan but were slowly marginalized thanks to government policies.  The second is an investigation into the idea of blood impurity which, though already inherent in Japanese culture, was exploited by Buddhist doctrine to subjugate women to a variety of discriminatory practices.  Another topic is how Buddhism robbed women of their agency through doctrine about women’s place in society and their salvation.  Closely related to these is the subject of women’s inability to attain buddhahood due to their inherent sinfulness and to doctrine which contradicts the policy of Mahayana Buddhism that all people are salvable.

The Four Noble Truths: Japan’s Untouchables (Michelle)

Gautama, the Enlightened One

There are four stages to enlightenment, collectively called the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. There is suffering, suffering has an origin, suffering can cease, and there is a path out of suffering. This essay will use Buddhism’s fundamental doctrine to review the suffering of the Burakumin, Japan’s largest marginalized social group.

Burakumin and Women’s Differences in Reforms: Reject or Reclaim Buddhist Teachings (Nicolette)

Soto Zen Buddhist nun

Burakumin family

Abstract:

Burakumin and women in Buddhism are both seen as inferior, invisible groups burdened by history’s social discrimination and patriarchal attitude.  They share similar causes of discrimination and both seek reform to change their distorted or unrecognized identities.  However, the two groups differ in approaches to reform.  I challenge that understanding and interpreting the original teachings of traditional Buddhism is essential but also harmful in reforms to restore an egalitarian Buddhism and reclaim the identities of the socially discriminated.  The key to ending discrimination is not necessarily the approach or justification that teachings are misinterpreted, but those factors are significant in promoting the goals of the Burakumin and women in Buddhism.

pop culture?

References

pictures-
nun: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1075/702818064_4c2ea80899_o.jpg
Burakumin: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/319571765_2bbc7fe718_m.jpg
t-shirt: http://rlv.zcache.com/burakumin_sky_tshirt-p235206605387894984t58s_125.jpg

Alldritt, Leslie D. “The Burakumin: The Complicity of Japanese Buddhism in Oppression and an Opportunity for Liberation.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics 7 (2000). Journal of Buddhist Ethics. <http://www.buddhistethics.org/7/alldritt001.html>.

Arai, Paula Kane Robinson. Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.

Bodiford, William. “Zen and the Art of Religious Prejudice: Efforts to Reform a Tradition of Social Discrimination.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 23 (1996): 1-27.

Gordon, June A. Japan’s Outcaste Youth: Education for Liberation. Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2008.

Kawahashi, Noriko. “Feminist Buddhism as Praxis: Women in Traditional Buddhism.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 30 (2003): 291-313.

McLauchlan, Alastair. Prejudice and Discrimination in Japan – The Buraku Issue. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen P, 2003.

Stone, Jacqueline I. “Gender.” Ed. Paul L. Swanson and Clark Chilson. Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions. Honolulu: University of Hawaii P, 2006. 47-50.

Williams, Duncan Ryuken. The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen Buddhism
in Tokugawa Japan. Ed. Stephen F. Teiser. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2005.

Women roles in Japanese Buddhism (by Chang)

1. Historical relationship of women and Japanese Buddhism

First Japanese nun called Zenshin-ni (善信尼) in 624 CE.