Shingon Esoteric Buddhism and Amida Images in Japan

Esoteric Buddhism TITLE iii

Fabio Rambelli Lecture 6 The Status of the Mind in

Mind is an extremely complex and important subject in Buddhism in general and in esoteric Buddhism in particular. It is partly due to the fact that Buddhism envisions liberation as based on the acquisition of a special wisdom, that is, a different cognitive approach toward reality. Such new cognitive approach is called in the Japanese tradition satori or kakugo, usually rendered in English as “...

Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan: Buddhism, Anti-christianity, and the Danka System

Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan is a very important book providing a detailed explanation of a vital part of early modern Japanese Buddhism that goes a long way to putting in perspective how the religious tradition functions in the contemporary world. To put in context the contributions of the book, it can be noted that visitors to Japan who are curious about the role of Buddhism in re...

1 Fabio Rambelli

So far we have discussed the first two types of the esoteric practices on signs (gomitsu), i.e., the recitation and memorization of mantric formulae and the study and writing of shittan graphs. These two kinds of practices, based on the manipulation of the phonetic and graphic signifiers of esoteric signs, are already endowed with salvational power; however, they also are the introduction to th...

Buddhism Architecture in Northwestern Iran

Architecture is not only a complex including materials and methods to provide a shelter for human beings, but also it is an expression of the society, which created that. Its form will be the reflection of values and religious orientation besides social maturity of the related society and its structure will narrate the nature, power and different dimensions of mythical and psychological aspects...