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.
