The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

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Vert
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The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by Vert »

Checking the 2017 membership number of a few Buddhist temple orders i came upon a surprising membership growth for the Hossō school(East Asian Yogachara). Not only it is by far the biggest Nara Buddhist school but in some aspects it equals some post-Nara schools.
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Anyone has some more information on how the Hossō school recuperated it's influence?
yokosukasailorboy
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Re: The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by yokosukasailorboy »

Vert wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:24 pm Checking the 2017 membership number of a few Buddhist temple orders i came upon a surprising membership growth for the Hossō school(East Asian Yogachara). Not only it is by far the biggest Nara Buddhist school but in some aspects it equals some post-Nara schools.

Screenshot_20220618-163505.png

Screenshot_20220618-163505~2.png

Anyone has some more information on how the Hossō school recuperated it's influence?
Of course, I have no specific knowledge as to the reasons for this. However, as I know, membership in a temple or a particular sect/school of Buddhism in Japan dates back to a time when people were required to register their family with a particular sect/temple for legal/political reasons, one can look into the history of Japan for the reasons for this. Most people/families are members of a particular school or temple because their family has been a member for generations.

I can't imagine that the reason is because people are suddenly flocking to a particular school of Nara Buddhism or that there is a sudden revival in Nara Buddhism after centuries of the dominance of Tendai and its offshoots, that the Hossō-shū is suddenly an active denomination gaining many new converts, as I know, most of the "schools" of Nara Buddhism are now simply businesses that maintain their temples in Nara as historic sites collecting entrance fees from tourists, and not philosophical schools of Buddhism that actively study the historical teachings of their particular school.
ItsRaining
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Re: The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by ItsRaining »

Why does Kegon have so many teachers in comparison to the it’s size?
yokosukasailorboy
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Re: The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by yokosukasailorboy »

ItsRaining wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 4:20 am Why does Kegon have so many teachers in comparison to the it’s size?
Probably due to the number of temples of Kegon-shū, "teachers" refers to priests (aka museum curators/funeral conductors) and there is perhaps no correlation to the number of registered members or families associated with the school. And probably the number of registered members has no correlation with how many of those individuals are active or participating members of the said school (indeed, to what extent that one could say that people "actively participate" in terms of Buddhist practice in any of the Nara schools is questionable to me, other than funerals or certain rituals.) I think that it would be incorrect for those in the west to assume that these numbers have much to do with actual participation or even interest in Buddhist teachings in highly secularized Japan, and temple/sect membership is, once again, mostly something that a family has been part of for generations as a part of tradition and not due to any doctrinal allegiance, of course there are exceptions to this but I think that this is generally the case.

The study, doctrinal defense, and promotion of the various sects of Japanese Buddhism seems to have been adopted by and most zealously conducted by westerners, it would seem, and the average Japanese person, at least from my experiences living in Japan, has no dog in this fight and don't seem to be much interested, or at the very least don't seem enthusiastic about discussing it, if it is relevant to them.
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Dhammanando
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Re: The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by Dhammanando »

Vert wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:24 pm Checking the 2017 membership number of a few Buddhist temple orders i came upon a surprising membership growth for the Hossō school(East Asian Yogachara).
I suspect the chart-maker has been careless in copying the figures. It doesn't seem credible, for example, that the Kegon-shu and Ritsu-shu would both have 39,163 members.

As for the Hosso-shu...

Oberlin Steinilber's Buddhist Sects of Japan (pub. 1938) gives a figure of "1,000 perpetual subscribers and more than 10,000 occasional subscribers who also practise Shintoism."

William Bunce's Religions in Japan (1967) gives 57,042.

The Europa Survey of the Far East and Australasia (1970) gives 43,499.

The increase between 1938 and 1967 might be plausibly attributed to birthrate, and the decrease between 1967 and 1970 to secularisation.

But to what could we attribute a supposed twelvefold membership increase between 1970 and 2017? Most plausibly, I think, to some sleep-deprived Japanese clerk accidentally inserting an extra digit.
Matylda
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Re: The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by Matylda »

Vert wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:24 pm Checking the 2017 membership number of a few Buddhist temple orders i came upon a surprising membership growth for the Hossō school(East Asian Yogachara). Not only it is by far the biggest Nara Buddhist school but in some aspects it equals some post-Nara schools.

Screenshot_20220618-163505.png

Screenshot_20220618-163505~2.png

Anyone has some more information on how the Hossō school recuperated it's influence?
Well I would not be surprised if numbers are correct.
Hosso-shu might be popular for 2 reasons.
1. In every bigger bookstore one may easily find books on 唯識 YUISHIKI teachings, written by leading hosso teachers. They also appear on tv and radio.
2. Nara is a very special place in Japan where people are very aware of their ancient history, they do identify with it, and are proud of it with many families counting high number of generations in the straight, unbroken line , often cultivating same profession for ages. Moreover it is rahter densely populated area of Kinki region with close neighberhood of Osaka, Kobe, Sakai and not so far from Kyoto.

But I think that the best place to ask about thsese datas is ZEN NIHON BUKKYO KAI http://www.jbf.ne.jp/ and send them @/Q to http://www.jbf.ne.jp/contact

Otherwise one may contact 2 main hosso temples, both well known and famous

Kofukuji - https://www.kohfukuji.com/
or
Yakushiji - https://yakushiji.or.jp/

I guess someone is able to answer in English at any above places


Kegon is not so popular in Japan with exception of their main temple.
Ritsu-shu is completely down on the list of popularity, much below kegon.
Vert
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Re: The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by Vert »

yokosukasailorboy wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 3:29 am
Vert wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:24 pm Checking the 2017 membership number of a few Buddhist temple orders i came upon a surprising membership growth for the Hossō school(East Asian Yogachara). Not only it is by far the biggest Nara Buddhist school but in some aspects it equals some post-Nara schools.

Screenshot_20220618-163505.png

Screenshot_20220618-163505~2.png

Anyone has some more information on how the Hossō school recuperated it's influence?
Of course, I have no specific knowledge as to the reasons for this. However, as I know, membership in a temple or a particular sect/school of Buddhism in Japan dates back to a time when people were required to register their family with a particular sect/temple for legal/political reasons, one can look into the history of Japan for the reasons for this. Most people/families are members of a particular school or temple because their family has been a member for generations.

I can't imagine that the reason is because people are suddenly flocking to a particular school of Nara Buddhism or that there is a sudden revival in Nara Buddhism after centuries of the dominance of Tendai and its offshoots, that the Hossō-shū is suddenly an active denomination gaining many new converts, as I know, most of the "schools" of Nara Buddhism are now simply businesses that maintain their temples in Nara as historic sites collecting entrance fees from tourists, and not philosophical schools of Buddhism that actively study the historical teachings of their particular school.
While i don't disagree with you that Hossō is a long way from it's glory days, it still attracts people all over the world that are interested in studying Yogachara. For example:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20 ... na/015000c

It also requires all monks to take an exam on Yogachara history and philosophy it they wish to remain monks after a certain period of time as the article above mentions.

Recently as well their current leader has written a book about Yogachara history and pratice urging people to follow it:
https://wisdomexperience.org/content-au ... wa-shunei/
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/ ... 0861715893

And as said by someone above, Hossō priests often go on TV or do lectures on Buddhist philosophy and ideas.
Last edited by Vert on Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Javierfv1212
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Re: The surprising revival of Hossō in modern Japan

Post by Javierfv1212 »

Does any one know of what the current status of Hossō school theory is? Particularly, do they still defend the icchantika theory?
It is quite impossible to find the Buddha anywhere other than in one's own mind.
A person who is ignorant of this may seek externally,
but how is it possible to find oneself through seeking anywhere other than in oneself?
Someone who seeks their own nature externally is like a fool who, giving a performance in the middle of a crowd, forgets who he is and then seeks everywhere else to find himself.
— Padmasambhava

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