Abstract
This study focuses on the involvement of Buddhist monks in the court intrigues in China and Japan during the VI and VIII centuries. By the VI century Buddhism in China, due to the patronage of the authority, actually gained a status of the state religion. From the moment of it’s inception, Buddhism focused on the higher layers of Chinese society: the government and the imperial court. However, the proximity of the Buddhist clergy to the court facilitated the participation of monks and nuns in court intrigues, and, as a result, in the VII and VIII centuries, there were several uprisings in China involving Buddhist monks. In Japan, from the VI to VIII centuries, under the patronage of emperors and influential aristocratic families, the Buddhist Sangha also had strengthened its economic position and political influence. On the one hand, Japanese emperors encouraged the dissemination in the country of the new religion; on the other hand, Buddhist priests began to intervene into state policy, trying to take a leading position. These contradictions led to conflict between the monks Genbō and Dōkyō and the court aristocracy in the mid of VIII century.
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Notes
- 1.
Berger (1973: 54–55).
- 2.
Berger (1973: 128–129).
- 3.
McMullin (1984: 7–15).
- 4.
Collins (1998: 272–275).
- 5.
Collins (1998: 272–275).
- 6.
McMullin (1984: 16).
- 7.
Gorbunova (2008: 27).
- 8.
Gorbunova (2008: 13).
- 9.
Gorbunova (2008: 28).
- 10.
Gorbunova (2008: 29–31).
- 11.
Zürcher (2007: 74–75).
- 12.
Zürcher (2007: 74–75).
- 13.
Zürcher (2007: 96–97).
- 14.
Zürcher (2007: 108–109).
- 15.
Discussions on the status of Buddhist monks (1987: 47–71).
- 16.
Zürcher (2007: 109–110).
- 17.
Zürcher (2007: 150).
- 18.
Zürcher (2007: 151).
- 19.
Zürcher (2007: 151).
- 20.
Zürcher (2007: 151).
- 21.
Zürcher (2007: 181–183).
- 22.
Zürcher (2007: 211).
- 23.
Georgieva (2000: 217).
- 24.
Georgieva (2000: 218).
- 25.
Georgieva (2000: 219).
- 26.
Nihon shōki (1973: 111).
- 27.
Nihon shōki (1973: 250).
- 28.
“Taihō ritsuryō” (1989: 66).
- 29.
“Taihō ritsuryō” (1989: 67).
- 30.
Zürcher (2007: 254–262).
- 31.
Taihō ritsuryō (1989: 70–73).
- 32.
Taihō ritsuryō (1989: 72).
- 33.
Augustine (2005: 50).
- 34.
Taihō ritsuryō (1989: 70).
- 35.
Zürcher (2007: 254–262).
- 36.
Ignatovitch (1981: 140).
- 37.
Shōku Nihongi (1973: 334).
- 38.
Shōku Nihongi (1973: 334).
- 39.
Taihō ritsuryō (1989: 71–106).
- 40.
Augustine (2005: 49).
- 41.
Bingenheimer (2001: 111).
- 42.
Bingenheimer (2001: 111).
- 43.
Ambros (2015: 49–50).
- 44.
Bowring (2005: 78).
- 45.
Groner (2002: 261).
- 46.
Ignatovitch (1981: 140–141).
- 47.
“Norito. Semmyō” (1991: 277–278).
- 48.
Shōku Nihongi (1973: 306).
- 49.
Shōku Nihongi (1973: 402).
- 50.
Alexandrova (2008: 83–90).
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Lepekhova, E. (2022). The Involvement of Buddhist Monks in the Court Intrigues in China and Japan During the Fourth to the Eighth Centuries. In: Kõiv, M., Läänemets, M., Droß-Krüpe, K., Fink, S. (eds) Crisis in Early Religion. Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies in Universal and Cultural History. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-36989-7_4
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