Abstract:
This project contributes to recent
scholarship in the study of Buddhism that strives to challenge established notions about the
relationships between different religious traditions in medieval Japan. In particular, this
project examines the relationship between mikkyo 密教 (secret teaching) and Pure Land
Buddhism. By interpolating frameworks provided by James Dobbins and Aaron Proffitt, this
project proposes that the True Pure Land ritual image of the komyo honzon is perhaps better
understood under the conceptual rubric of “mikkyo Pure Land,” a construct I develop
following the methodological frameworks proposed by James Dobbins and Aaron Proffitt. To do
so, I compare the komyo honzon with the Taima Mandara, raigo image, and Ajikan to analyze
their visual and ritual relationships. Such an approach allows me to supplement textual
analyses that have attempted to reconceptualize the nature of interaction between Buddhist
ideas and practices circulating in the medieval period.
