Ritualized writing: Buddhist practice and scriptural cultures in ancient Japan
BD Lowe - Ritualized Writing, 2017 - degruyter.com
BD Lowe
Ritualized Writing, 2017•degruyter.comRitualized Writing takes readers into the fascinating world of Japanese Buddhist manuscript
cultures. Using archival sources that have received scant attention in English, primarily
documents from an eighth-century Japanese scriptorium and colophons from sutra
manuscripts, Bryan D. Lowe uncovers the ways in which the transcription of Buddhist
scripture was a highly ritualized endeavor. He takes a ground-level approach by
emphasizing the activities and beliefs of a wide range of individuals, including scribes …
cultures. Using archival sources that have received scant attention in English, primarily
documents from an eighth-century Japanese scriptorium and colophons from sutra
manuscripts, Bryan D. Lowe uncovers the ways in which the transcription of Buddhist
scripture was a highly ritualized endeavor. He takes a ground-level approach by
emphasizing the activities and beliefs of a wide range of individuals, including scribes …
Ritualized Writing takes readers into the fascinating world of Japanese Buddhist manuscript cultures. Using archival sources that have received scant attention in English, primarily documents from an eighth-century Japanese scriptorium and colophons from sutra manuscripts, Bryan D. Lowe uncovers the ways in which the transcription of Buddhist scripture was a highly ritualized endeavor. He takes a ground-level approach by emphasizing the activities and beliefs of a wide range of individuals, including scribes, provincial patrons, and royals, to reassess the meaning of scripture and reevaluate scholarly narratives of Japanese Buddhist history.
Copying scripture is a central Buddhist practice and one that thrived in East Asia. Despite this, there are no other books dedicated to the topic. This work demonstrates that patrons and scribes treated sutras differently from other modes of writing. Scribes purified their bodies prior to transcription. Patrons held dedicatory ceremonies on days of abstinence, when prayers were pronounced and sutras were recited. Transcribing sutras helped scribes and patrons alike realize this-and other-worldly ambitions and cultivate themselves in accord with Buddhist norms. Sutra copying thus functioned as a form of ritualized writing, a strategic practice that set apart scripture as uniquely efficacious and venerable.
De Gruyter