Description
Book SynopsisA long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns'' importance.... This very readable book is ideal for classroom use.-Religious Studies ReviewArai''s sensitive first-hand account is at times emotional, but the reflexive recollections that derive from her personal experiences and interactions with the nuns are insightful and well documented....the book is valuable in providing us with a different mode of appreciation in order to understand the position of women living in [an]other religious and cultural context.--Japanese Journal of Religious StudiesThis is an anthropological study, carried out with love, care, and attention to detail...By the end of the journey, readers will find themselves moved, their humanity reassured and refreshed.--Journal of Asian StudiesIn this study, based on both historical evidence and ethnographic data, Paula Arai shows that nuns were central agents in the foundation of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century. They were act
Trade Review...a long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns' importance.... This very readable book is ideal for classroom use. * Religious Studies Review *
...a long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns' importance.... This very readable book is ideal for classroom use. * Religious Studies Review *
A long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns' importance . . . This very readable book is ideal for classroom use. * Religious Studies Review *
Arai's sensitive first-hand account is at times emotional, but the reflexive recollections that derive from her personal experiences and interactions with the nuns are insightful and well documented....the book is valuable in providing us with a different mode of appreciation in order to understand the position of women living in another religious and cultural context. * Japanese Journal of Religious Studies *
This is an anthropological study, carried out with love, care, and attention to detail...By the end of the journey, readers will find themselves moved, their humanity reassured and refreshed. * Journal of Asian Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Transliteration Guide ; Prologue ; One: Introduction ; Scholarly Contexts ; Theoretical Considerations ; Methodological Considerations ; Two: Historical Background ; Pioneering Monastics ; Dogen and Women ; Tokugawa Encroachments ; Meiji Reclamations ; Three: Twentieth-Century Leadership ; First Generation: Rapid Ascent Through Education ; Second Generation: Stategists of Egalitarianism ; Third Generation: Zen Master of a New Tradition ; Four: The Monastic Practices of Zen Nuns ; Nuns' Vision of Monastic Life ; Daily Life in a Monastery of Zen Nuns ; Divisions within the Monastery ; Ceremonial Rituals and Activities ; Educational Curriculum and Degrees ; The Aesthetics of Discipline ; Five: Motivations, Commitments, and Self-Perceptions ; Changing Life Patterns of Twentieth-Century Zen ; Buddhist Practice: Meaning and Action ; Nuns' Views on Monastic Life ; Six: Conclusion: Innovators for the Sake of Tradition ; Preservers and Creators of Buddhist Tradition ; Bearers and Transmitters of Traditional Japanese Culture ; Notes ; Appendix A: Questionnaire ; Appendix B: Glossary of Japanese Terms ; Bibliography ; Index
