History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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Mapping Tantra
Unacknowledged contributors
The choice of topics misses the heart of tantra
Good overview...
Forgets to focus on the central idea of tantra

Tantra in Practice

Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691057788

Book Description

As David White explains in the Introduction to Tantra in Practice, Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe, in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China, India, Japan, Nepal, and Tibet, ranging from the seventh century to the present day, and representing the full range of Tantric experience--Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and even Islamic. Each text has been chosen and translated, often for the first time, by an international expert in the field who also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers alike will find the book rich and informative.

The book includes plays, transcribed interviews, poetry, parodies, inscriptions, instructional texts, scriptures, philosophical conjectures, dreams, and astronomical speculations, each text illustrating one of the diverse traditions and practices of Tantra. Thus, the nineteenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems, a series of songs, warns against the illusion of appearance by referring to bees, yogurt, and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense, making offerings to scriptures, and chanting incantations. In a transcribed conversation, a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly explains how he serves the black Goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils, wine, or rice; a seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a king's faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An introduction accompanies each text, identifying its period and genre, discussing the history and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty.

The first book to bring together texts from the entire range of Tantric phenomena, Tantra in Practice continues the Princeton Readings in Religions series. The breadth of work included, geographic areas spanned, and expert scholarship highlighting each piece serve to expand our understanding of what it means to practice Tantra.

Customer Reviews:

Mapping Tantra .......2006-12-04

D.G. White, author of the excellent yogic study and adventure story, "The Alchemical Body," here presents an edited compilation of articles about authentic Tantra traditions taken from the length & breadth of Indian-influenced Asia. Countries & cultures include: India (obviously), China, Tibet/Nepal and Japan, with articles on Hindu, Buddhist, Jain (Jain? yes, Jain), Islamic (!) and Shinto tantric traditions. Before this volume, who would have guessed at the sheer geographical pervasiveness of Tantric traditions? Topics vary from architecture to ethnography to poetry. The quality of the contributions is uniformly very good--well-written and well-organized--and most chapters include a translation, in whole or part, of an important or obscure tantra. The strongest point is that the authors are scholars, not practitioners, with the associated advantage is that, at last (and at least) the reader can avoid the fluff, hype and BS that pervades the field of so-called "Tantra." Reading this volume will go a long ways toward removing our conditioned ignorance, delusion and gullibility about "sacred sex" and "sacred orgasms," the phallacy of worshipping the linga/yoni of your current hot-sex partner as a god/dess, and the like. The jewels herein are too numerous to recount, but some of my favorites include Hudson's chapter, "Tantric Rites in Antal's Poetry," which rather lovingly introduces the poetry of Antal, a kind of Tamil Mirabai. Kudos to numerous authors for emphasizing the relationship between bhakti and tantra. The down side is that the authors are scholars, not practitioners, with the concomitant lack of experiential understanding about what actual tantric practices consisted of, and of what "cosmological homology," as a body of psychospiritual praxis rooted in various yogic practices, actually means in lived experience. (But, as White says in his Introduction, practice without theory is like a map without a legend.) That said, this volume does not suffer from the epidemic of post-modern sophistry--that is, you won't find here pretty words cleverly arranged to signify that Tantra was mere artwork or political posturing by miscreants (this disorder characterizes much of the sociological/literary-critic studies on Tantra). In short, what this volume sets out to do, it does very well. Still, to grasp actual tantric practice, you'll have to look elsewhere. But I am afraid that my guru forbade me to indicate where....

Unacknowledged contributors.......2004-06-03

The correct title of the book should read Tantra in Practice (Princeton Readings in Religions) by David Gordon White (Editor), Beavis and Butthead.

The choice of topics misses the heart of tantra.......2004-05-30

I would not recommend this book since the choice of topics enfogs the subject rather than illuminating it. This collection does indeed have some excellent contributions from leading scholars, but it is the whole package that is disappointing. I was also disappointed with White's own contributions.

Good overview..........2001-08-30

World-class scholars ANDRE PADOUX, PAUL E. MULLER-ORTEGA, DOUGLAS R. BROOKS and many others come together to write about Buddhist Tantra, Hindu Tantra, Jain Tantra, and Tantra and Islam in South Asia; //the countries covered are China, India, Japan, Nepal and Tibet.//
The topics discussed include:
--GURUS AND ADEPTS including "The Tantric Guru" by Andre Padoux, one of the best Kashmir Shaivism scholars in the world.
--KINGS AND PRIESTS
--DEVOTEES AND DEITIES
--TRADITIONS IN TRANSITIONS AND CONFLICTS
--TANTRIC PATHS including "The Ocean of the Heart: Selections from the Kularnava Tantra" by Douglas R. Brooks, one of the only brilliant scholars in the world to know Tantra "from the inside".
--RITES AND TECHNIQUES --YOGA AND MEDITATION
including "On the Seal of Shambhu: A Poem by Abhinavagupta" by Paul E. Muller-Ortega, the leading authority on Abhinavagupta, one of the 3 best scholars of Kashmir Shaivism with Alexis Sanderson and Andre Padoux.
//Any Indology student has to have read this book.

Forgets to focus on the central idea of tantra.......2001-05-02

This book has many excellent articles. Yet, it forgets to focus on the central idea of tantra which is the connections between the outer and inner cosmologies. The contributions thus get lost in the details, unable to find the grammar that would unlock the esoteric language of the medieval tantra texts.

Making Pilgrimages: Meaning And Practice in Shikoku

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The Long and Winding Road

Making Pilgrimages: Meaning And Practice in Shikoku
Ian Reader
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824829077

Book Description

This study involves a fourteen-hundred-kilometer-long pilgrimage around Japan's fourth largest island, Shikoku. In traveling the circuit of the eighty-eight Buddhist temples that make up the route, pilgrims make their journey together with Kôbô Daishi (774-835), the holy miracle-working figure who is at the heart of the pilgrimage.

Once seen as a marginal practice, recent media portrayal of the pilgrimage as a symbol of Japanese cultural heritage has greatly increased the number of participants, both Japanese and foreign. In this absorbing look at the nature of the pilgrimage, Ian Reader examines contemporary practices and beliefs in the context of historical development, taking into account theoretical considerations of pilgrimage as a mode of activity and revealing how pilgrimages such as Shikoku may change in nature over the centuries.

This rich ethnographic work covers a wide range of pilgrimage activity and behavior, drawing on accounts of pilgrims traveling by traditional means on foot as well as those taking advantage of the new package bus tours, and exploring the pilgrimage's role in the everyday lives of participants and the people of Shikoku alike. It discusses the various ways in which the pilgrimage is made and the forces that have shaped it in the past and in the present, including history and legend, the island's landscape and residents, the narratives and actions of the pilgrims and the priests who run the temples, regional authorities, and commercial tour operators and bus companies.

In studying the Shikoku pilgrimage from anthropological, historical, and sociological perspectives, Reader shows in vivid detail the ambivalence and complexity of pilgrimage as a phenomenon that is simultaneously local, national, and international and both marginal and integral to the lives of its participants. Critically astute yet highly accessible, Making Pilgrimages will be welcomed by those with an interest in anthropology, religious studies, and Japanese studies, and will be essential for anyone contemplating making the pilgrimage themselves.

Customer Reviews:

The Long and Winding Road.......2006-06-04

Well, years and years of hard work, research, and fieldwork have gone into the making of this excellent study, and it certainly shows. "Making Pilgrimages" is scholarly in the best sense of the term; it is meticulous, careful, critically astute and finely nuanced, containing serious theoretical implications for our understandings of Japanese religiosity and the practice of pilgrimages in general while at the same time grounded in the particularities of this specific pilgrimage route and obviously inspired by a long-time fascination with it--all of this has been framed into a clear, appealing narrative full of big ideas, little insights and wonderfully understated flashes of humor. And here as usual Ian Reader never misses the forest for the trees nor the trees for the forest, but gets the balance just right.

The book has a sort of tripartite structure overall. The first three chapters discuss in general terms the specifics of the 88 Temple Pilgrimage route: What are its basic elements and common characteristics? Who does it and why? How does the geography of Shikoku (the natural AND human environment) shape the pilgrimage? What are the legends surrounding it, and what are the multiple understandings of its significance? Questions like these are explored first. The middle two chapters take a historical approach, tracing the Shikoku pilgrimage's development from its shadowy origins until the present day. Lots and lots of cool, fascinating details here.

Finally the last three chapters are the most personal in tone, as Ian Reader shares with us the fruit of his many years of fieldwork, first as a walking pilgrim on the route and second as a pilgrim on a chartered bus tour. One really gets a concrete feel for the dynamics of these two most common methods of performing the pilgrimage here (others include taxi, bike, and even helicopter (!)). In the last chapter he takes on aspects of this subject most anthropologists of religion ignore, like the aftereffects of the pilgrimage experience on those who have finished it as well as the phenomenon of those who never finish--who in one way or another remain seriously engaged with the pilgrimage on a lifelong basis.

A nice feature of this book too are the many photographs, which gives one a vivid image of what the pilgrimage looks like. There are lots of helpful glossaries, indexes, and appendices in the back too, including a very helpful list of the 88 Temples, the kanji (Chinese characters) for their names, the main image of worship, and the sect to which the temple belongs--interestingly enough, the pilgrimage is dedicated to the great monk Kukai/Kobo Daishi, the founder of the Shingon sect, but the temples themselves are not necessarily limited to this one sect.

In general, I can recommend this fine book both to the scholar and the general reader, and both to those whose interest is focused on Japan and to those who are more concerned with understanding the earthwide human practice of religious pilgrimage as a whole. And for sure anyone who's into Japanese religion and Buddhism should absolutely not do without it.

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Behind the scenes at a Shinto Shrine
Truly understanding Shinto
Good source for information on Shinto practice
The human side of Shinto
Nostalgia

A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine
John K. Nelson
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0295975008

Customer Reviews:

Behind the scenes at a Shinto Shrine.......2007-06-24

I would recommend "A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine", by John K. Nelson, to anyone with an interest in Shinto and Japanese Culture. The book provides a detailed look at Shinto rituals at Suwa Jinja in Nagasaki, Japan. My favorite chapters were about the purification of a plot of land for a construction company, the great purification ceremony, and ringing in the New Year. The chapters about women at the shrine and how younger Japanese relate to the shrine were also really interesting from a cultural perspective.

"A Year in the Life" contains a wealth of knowledge of interest to the scholar. The book is however, easy to read - as if you were listening to a friend telling a story. A glossary of Japanese terms, end notes, maps of the shrine, and pictures broaden the reader's context and add depth to the narrative.

I really appreciated how the book was arranged in five sections. The first section gives the reader an introduction to the history of the shrine, the kami that the shrine is dedicated to, and the people who make the shrine work. The following four sections, one per season, tell the story of the major rituals at the shrine over the course of year.

Each chapter usually begins with a description of the shrine on the day of the ceremony, which allows the reader to understand how they might have felt had they arrived at the shrine for the ritual. This reminded me of my own experiences visiting a shrine in Japan. The description also set the mood for the author's descriptions of the rituals that follow.

Truly understanding Shinto.......2007-03-15

"A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine" is the best book on Shinto that I have ever read, and that is really saying something as I have read a lot of books on Shinto. It is the first book I have seen that puts things in layman's terms while not dumbing down a fairly complicated system of beliefs and cultural practices.

Instead of attempting to interpret the mysteries and cosmology of the inscrutable religion, author John Nelson puts you in the shoes of Shinto practitioners, from the highest ranking priest to the novices, to the casual visitors who drop by. He takes you behind the scenes, showing you what the day-to-day life is of a Shinto priest, what they believe and what they do. The shrine he introduces, Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki, is a fairly major one, with a full calendar of events and rituals.

On top of all this Nelson frames Shinto in its cultural context. It is not simply a religion, something to be believed in and practiced, but it is a sort of societal glue for Japan, something that connects the present to the past and provides a contextual framework that all Japanese people can recognize. It is difficult to understand this element of Shinto, because the very concept of religion is different.

One of the most fascinating sections of this book is the chapter called "I shouldn't be telling you this but..." where he allows several Shinto priests to express their private opinions under the protection of anonymity. It is exactly this kind of human touch that has been missing from all previous books. Shinto is a religion of human beings, and without this necessary voice it loses all context.

Good source for information on Shinto practice.......2006-08-21

I recently finished reading this book in preparation for a trip I'm taking to Japan in the fall, I will be studying at University for year. I had read a couple of other books about Shinto and found them useful but what I really wanted to read was a book on Shinto practice so when I visit a Shinto Shrine I will have a more complex understanding of what is going on. In a way, this book goes beyond just understanding a Shinto practice it also covers details on things like how to finance a Shrine and how to sit so your legs fall asleep less often etc. I should clarify that this book isn't a travel guide but a well written ethnography, one that primarily focuses on one medium-large Shinto Shrine. In general the book doesn't get to detailed or too hard to read. The author spends some time with theory's and interpretations but mostly focuses on observation. Some of my favorite parts of the book are the interviews with the Guji, he had an interesting life story and some good comparative religion thoughts. Some of the younger priests also have some interesting input, some times complaints. The chapter about a woman Shinto Priest was another highlight. I believe this book would be great for undergraduates, I'm an undergrad in Religious Studies and Philosophy, or for anyone interested in Shinto practice.

The human side of Shinto.......2006-07-10

For someone interested in the "human" side of Shinto religion, Nelson's book is a fascinating study of a religion little understood by most westerners. Its best to skip the introductory chapters, which are a bit pedantic and dry, and start with the actual description of shrine activities. Nelson is most interesting when talking about the priests and their relationship with Shinto, their "parishioners" and each other. Ultimately, it is this sort of writing that convinces the reader that Shinto is not a bunch of exotic rituals, but has a very real meaning and value in its followers lives. Written in 1996, Nelson poses a number of questions about Shinto's future throughout the book. It would be interesting if a second edition of the book was published updating the reader on the present activities of the shrine and its priests.

Nostalgia.......2004-07-14

It has been years, but I still remember Doc Nelson quite well, as one of the best professors I have ever had. He was capable of educating you without feeling like you were being schooled, if you know what I mean. In his book, it is much the same as in his classes. He provides such powerful imagery to invoke the spirit of the Suwa Shrine that it feels like you are there. And given that I lived in Nagasaki and have been there on several occasions, it feels to me that I have returned. You can experience through his first-person narrative the depth of ritual and see as well how it permeates into the life of the average Japanese person, who may not even realize it.

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Japan In A Nutshell: Volume 1 (One)

Manufacturer: Yamagata Printing Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000E7RPZW

Product Description

Japan In A Nutshell:Volume 1: Religion Culture Popular Practices Customs and Habits of Japam

Christianity in Early Modern Japan: Kirishitan Belief and Practice (Brill's Japanese Studies Library)

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Christianity in Early Modern Japan: Kirishitan Belief and Practice (Brill's Japanese Studies Library)
Ikuo Higashibaba
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9004122907

Marketing the Menacing Fetus in Japan (Twentieth-century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power)

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Highly Recommended!

Marketing the Menacing Fetus in Japan (Twentieth-century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power)
Helen Hardacre
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520216547

Book Description

Helen Hardacre provides new insights into the spiritual and cultural dimensions of abortion debates around the world in this careful examination of mizuko kuyo--a Japanese religious ritual for aborted fetuses. Popularized during the 1970s, when religious entrepreneurs published frightening accounts of fetal wrath and spirit attacks, mizuko kuyo offers ritual atonement for women who, sometimes decades previously, chose to have abortions. As she explores the complex issues that surround this practice, Hardacre takes into account the history of Japanese attitudes toward abortion, the development of abortion rituals, the marketing of religion, and the nature of power relations in intercourse, contraception, and abortion.
Although abortion in Japan is accepted and legal and was commonly used as birth control in the early postwar period, entrepreneurs used images from fetal photography to mount a surprisingly successful tabloid campaign to promote mizuko kuyo. Enthusiastically adopted by some religionists as an economic strategy, it was soundly rejected by others on doctrinal, humanistic, and feminist grounds.
In four field studies in different parts of the country, Helen Hardacre observed contemporary examples of mizuko kuyo as it is practiced in Buddhism, Shinto, and the new religions. She also analyzed historical texts and contemporary personal accounts of abortion by women and their male partners and conducted interviews with practitioners to explore how a commercialized ritual form like mizuko kuyo can be marketed through popular culture and manipulated by the same forces at work in the selling of any commodity. Her conclusions reflect upon the deep current of misogyny and sexism running through these rites and through feto-centric discourse in general.

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended!.......2007-06-05

Anyone interested in family planning in Japan should read this book! Not only does it do a fantastic job of explaining the Japanese mindset regarding abortion (since abortion rates in Japan are extremely high from an American point of view), but it is also an in-depth look at the new anti-abortion movement in Japan which has become a multi-million dollar industry in Japan that survives by creating and then feeding off of post-abortion guilt. This is a great academic read, but it is also interesting from a cultural perspective.

The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan (Japan Library Classics)

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Organized, interesting, enjoyable research resource

The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan (Japan Library Classics)
Carmen Blacker
Manufacturer: RoutledgeCurzon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1873410859

Book Description

This title available in eBook format. Click here for more information.

Visit our eBookstore at: www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk.

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Organized, interesting, enjoyable research resource.......2005-02-20

Blacker is a master at organizing and communicating difficult, multi-leveled symbolic language and meaning. She provides an elementary discussion of shamanism that rivals Eliade's in lucidity and clarity. She then continues to provide a detailed discussion of the mediumistic and ascetic avenues of Japanese shamanism providing emphasis on ancient female shamans' initiation, practices, symbols, places and associations. Her respect, love and admiration for her subject and experience are evident making the book a fascinating and enjoyable research resource.

The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan

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Reality Check for Soto Buddhism

The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan
Duncan Ryuken Williams
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691119287

Book Description

Popular understanding of Zen Buddhism typically involves a stereotyped image of isolated individuals in meditation, contemplating nothingness. This book presents the "other side of Zen," by examining the movement's explosive growth during the Tokugawa period (1600-1867) in Japan and by shedding light on the broader Japanese religious landscape during the era. Using newly-discovered manuscripts, Duncan Ryuken Williams argues that the success of Soto Zen was due neither to what is most often associated with the sect, Zen meditation, nor to the teachings of its medieval founder Dogen, but rather to the social benefits it conveyed.

Zen Buddhism promised followers many tangible and attractive rewards, including the bestowal of such perquisites as healing, rain-making, and fire protection, as well as "funerary Zen" rites that assured salvation in the next world. Zen temples also provided for the orderly registration of the entire Japanese populace, as ordered by the Tokugawa government, which led to stable parish membership.

Williams investigates both the sect's distinctive religious and ritual practices and its nonsectarian participation in broader currents of Japanese life. While much previous work on the subject has consisted of passages on great medieval Zen masters and their thoughts strung together and then published as "the history of Zen," Williams' work is based on care ul examination of archival sources including temple logbooks, prayer and funerary manuals, death registries, miracle tales of popular Buddhist deities, secret initiation papers, villagers' diaries, and fund-raising donor lists.

Customer Reviews:

Reality Check for Soto Buddhism.......2006-02-28

This book was a fine example of scholarship in many ways, especially in the way it brings Soto Zen Buddhism down to earth and helps fill in the gaps in our knowledge of Tokugawa Period Buddhism (usually ignored as "decadent"--an ahistorical slur that sheds no light on the issues). In some ways it reminded me of the fine work Gregory Schopen has done with Indian Buddhism, or with what Bernard Faure might achieve if he would learn to write and stop dropping names of French Postmodernists.

Sometimes the author gets a bit too dismissive of the "great Zen masters" style of history. Granted he's trying to make a point and balance the distorted emphasis on the latter, still I don't think one needs to disparage other styles and approaches to do so.

I highly recommend this book to anyone going to Japan who is interested in Buddhism, especially Zen. Years ago when I went to Japan I had already avidly read some stuff about Dogen (the founder of Soto Zen) and was really excited that there were several Soto Zen Temples near where I lived. Of course I was immediately thrown for a loop because what was going on at these temples was like 1% related to what I had read. If I had read this book beforehand, I would have had a much better idea what to expect and been able to make more of the experience.

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An indispensable guide to the religions of Japan

Religions of Japan in Practice

Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Shintoism | Earth-Based Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Confucianism | Other Eastern Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Other Eastern Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Religion & Spirituality | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0691057893

Book Description

This anthology reflects a range of Japanese religions in their complex, sometimes conflicting, diversity. In the tradition of the Princeton Readings in Religions series, the collection presents documents (legends and miracle tales, hagiographies, ritual prayers and ceremonies, sermons, reform treatises, doctrinal tracts, historical and ethnographic writings), most of which have been translated for the first time here, that serve to illuminate the mosaic of Japanese religions in practice.

George Tanabe provides a lucid introduction to the "patterned confusion" of Japan's religious practices. He has ordered the anthology's forty-five readings under the categories of "Ethical Practices," "Ritual Practices," and "Institutional Practices," moving beyond the traditional classifications of chronology, religious traditions (Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.), and sects, and illuminating the actual orientation of people who engage in religious practices. Within the anthology's three broad categories, subdivisions address the topics of social values, clerical and lay precepts, gods, spirits, rituals of realization, faith, court and emperor, sectarian founders, wizards, and heroes, orthopraxis and orthodoxy, and special places. Dating from the eighth through the twentieth centuries, the documents are revealed to be open to various and evolving interpretations, their meanings dependent not only on how they are placed in context but also on how individual researchers read them. Each text is preceded by an introductory explanation of the text's essence, written by its translator. Instructors and students will find these explications useful starting points for their encounters with the varied worlds of practice within which the texts interact with readers and changing contexts.

Religions of Japan in Practice is a compendium of relationships between great minds and ordinary people, abstruse theories and mundane acts, natural and supernatural powers, altruism and self-interest, disappointment and hope, quiescence and war. It is an indispensable sourcebook for scholars, students, and general readers seeking engagement with the fertile "ordered disorder" of religious practice in Japan.

Customer Reviews:

An indispensable guide to the religions of Japan.......2004-04-10

Anyone seeking greater insight into the many and varied religions of Japan, and how they are practiced in actual daily life could not do better than "Religions of Japan in Practice." This book differs from most other texts on the subject by presenting translations of various religious documents, pamphlets, advertisements and religious stories rather than interpretations.

While the religious stories translated can be found in many sources, specifically the many Buddhist doctrines and such, nowhere else have I discovered a translation of the tourist's pamphlet of Yasukuni Shrine, the controversial Shinto shrine celebrating the honored "war heroes" of World War II, or the children's pamphlet describing the "Miraculous Tales of the Hasedera Kannon." It is these small touches that make this book so incredible.

The organization of "Religions in Japan in Practice" is also wonderful, focusing on the various aspects of religion in daily life rather than the differences between shinto and Buddhism's various sects. However, there are cross indexes of organization by chronology and religious tradition if needed.

The book is scholarly in nature, and would not be a valuable book for anyone seeking insights into their spirituality or to open their third eye. However, anyone with an interest in or making a serious study of the religions of Japan needs "Religions of Japan in Practice."

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