The History of Japanese Buddhism in Konjaku monogatari-shū. Part I: School Founders and Temple Builders

Abstract

Konjaku monogatari-shū, compiled in Japan in 1120s, is a compendium of setsuwa tales where historicism is not less important than Buddhist basis of each story and of the whole text. In the text the Buddhist worldview can be seen
through the geographical and temporal perspectives, and all the three are inseparably joined together. Occurences of ancient times are located in India, those happened a long time ago but not so long since, take place in China, and stories
of the epoch closer to the lifetime of the compilers are located in Japan. The narrative of Konjaku shows how strong the bonds between our actions and their consequences are. The tales present the life in our samsara world as full of suffering and show to the readers the possible way to the salvation. The view of the historian here is also important because it helps people to look at the disordered mess of the events as at some lined progression. The first part of the article contains analysis of the tales of the volume 11 of Konjaku. It is shown, how the compilers, guided by the principles outlined above bring together the tales making the whole structured and unified text. Volume 11 comprises stories related to
the beginning of the Buddhist tradition in Japan. The first tale here, about Shōtoku-taishi, can be seen as the model for all the rest of the tales. Eminent monks, founders of various Buddhist lineages in Japan (tales from 1 to 12) acquaint
Japan with Buddhist world. They make ties simultaneously geographical (going to China), temporal (with the lifetime of Buddha Shakyamuni) and substantial (teach the Buddhdharma). The investigation of the tales 13‒38 of the volume, about the foundation of the most known temples of Japan, shows that they are elaborated in the same paradigm. The translation of tale 11‒15, about the construction of Gangōji temple, closes the first part of the article.e.