The Ky Gy Shinsh

Have you ever wondered what happens to us when we die? What if you really HAD to know? When tragedy strikes the family of young Jobran Winter, he is forced to confront these questions directly. Undertaking a feverish "Quest," he explores various branches of Christianity; Judaism; Islam; Hinduism; Buddhism; Sikhism, as well as the religions of China and Japan. His search encompasses the New Age, Reincarnation, Spiritism and Psychical Research. Attending channeling sessions and sances, investigating haunted houses and Near-Death Experiences, he examines spiritual traditions ranging from Swedenborg to Scientology, from Jodo Shinshu to the Jehovah's Witnesses. Finally, the Quest brings him into direct contact with Hospice work; physical disability; child abandonment; abortion; suicide; euthanasia, and even cold-blooded murder. Encounter the doctrines of Purgatory & Predestination, Universalism & Annihilationism, as you journey in a novel that will make you reexamine your ideas about religion, skepticism, love, death and LIFE.

The medieval period of Japanese religious history is commonly known as one in which there was a radical transformation of the religious culture. This book suggests an alternate approach to understanding the dynamics of that transformation. One main topic of analysis focuses on what Buddhism - its practices and doctrines, its traditions and institutions - meant for medieval Japanese peoples themselves. This is achieved by using the notions of discourse and ideology and juxtaposing various topics on shared linguistic practices and discursive worlds of medieval Japanese Buddhism. Collating contributions from outstanding scholars in the field of Buddhist Studies, the editors have created an important work that builds on preliminary work on rethinking the importance and meaning of Kamakura Buddhism published recently in English, and adds greatly to the debate.

Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism gives a new perspective on contemporary Japanese Zen Buddhism. Ideas, ritual practices, temples and interactions between the clergy, the laity and the institution are investigated as living representations of a unique and yet common Japanese religion.

Every serious student of Japanese needs a reliable and user-friendly dictionary in their collection. Tuttle Concise Japanese Dictionary, now with 30% more content, is a completely updated dictionary designed for students and business people who are living in Japan and using the Japanese language on a daily basis. Its greatest advantage is that it contains recent idiomatic expressions which have become popular in the past several years and which are not found in other competing dictionaries. The dictionary has been fully updated with the addition of recent vocabulary relating to computers, mobile phones, social media and the Internet. Other special features that set this dictionary apart include: Over 25,000 words and expressions including idioms and slang. User-friendly layout with main entries in color. Complete Japanese-English and English-Japanese sections. Romanized forms and the Japanese script are given for all Japanese words. A guide to pronunciation helps the user to pronounce Japanese words correctly. Different senses of each word are distinguished by multiple definitions.

Contains essays by many of the most important twentieth century Japanese philosophers, offering challenging and illumination insights into the nature of Reality as understood by the school of Zen.

Representing work by some of the leading scholars in the field, the chapters in this handbook survey the transformation and innovation of religious traditions and practices in contemporary Japan.

Is there a Buddhist discourse on sex? In this innovative study, Bernard Faure reveals Buddhism's paradoxical attitudes toward sexuality. His remarkably broad range covers the entire geography of this religion, and its long evolution from the time of its founder, Xvkyamuni, to the premodern age. The author's anthropological approach uncovers the inherent discrepancies between the normative teachings of Buddhism and what its followers practice. Framing his discussion on some of the most prominent Western thinkers of sexuality--Georges Bataille and Michel Foucault--Faure draws from different reservoirs of writings, such as the orthodox and heterodox "doctrines" of Buddhism, and its monastic codes. Virtually untapped mythological as well as legal sources are also used. The dialectics inherent in Mahvyvna Buddhism, in particular in the Tantric and Chan/Zen traditions, seemed to allow for greater laxity and even encouraged breaking of taboos. Faure also offers a history of Buddhist monastic life, which has been buffeted by anticlerical attitudes, and by attempts to regulate sexual behavior from both within and beyond the monastery. In two chapters devoted to Buddhist homosexuality, he examines the way in which this sexual behavior was simultaneously condemned and idealized in medieval Japan. This book will appeal especially to those interested in the cultural history of Buddhism and in premodern Japanese culture. But the story of how one of the world's oldest religions has faced one of life's greatest problems makes fascinating reading for all.

Essential reading for students of Japanese society, An Introduction to Japanese Society now enters its third edition. Here, internationally renowned scholar, Yoshio Sugimoto, writes a sophisticated, yet highly readable and lucid text, using both English and Japanese sources to update and expand upon his original narrative. The book challenges the traditional notion that Japan comprises a uniform culture, and draws attention to its subcultural diversity and class competition. Covering all aspects of Japanese society, it includes chapters on class, geographical and generational variation, work, education, gender, minorities, popular culture and the establishment. This new edition features sections on: Japan's cultural capitalism; the decline of the conventional Japanese management model; the rise of the 'socially divided society' thesis; changes of government; the spread of manga, animation and Japan's popular culture overseas; and the expansion of civil society in Japan.