A Storied Sage

Canon and Creation in the Making of a Japanese Buddha

By: Micah L. Auerback

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Hardcover | 7 December 2016 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.36 x 1.62 x 0.27

Hardcover

$118.75

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This study traces the modern transformation of Japanese Buddhist concepts across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, specifically the notion of the historical Buddha--i.e., the prince of ancient Indian descent who abandoned his wealth and power to become an "awakened" being. Since Buddhism arrived in Japan in the sixth century, the historical figure of the Buddha has repeatedly disappeared from view and returned, always in different forms and to different ends. Micah Auerback offers the first account of the changing fortunes of the Japanese Buddha, following the course of early modern and modern producers and consumers of both "high" and "low" culture, who found novel uses for the Buddha's story outside the confines of the Buddhist establishment. Auerback challenges the still-prevalent concept that Buddhism had grown ossified and irrelevant during Japan's early modernity, and complicates the image of Japanese Buddhism as a "sui generis" tradition within the Asian Buddhist world. Auerback also links the later Buddhist tradition in Japan to its roots on the Continent, and argues for the relevance of attention to narrative and the historical imagination in the study of Buddhist Asia more broadly conceived. And, Auerback engages the question of secularization by examining the "after life" of the Buddha in the hagiographic literature, demonstrating that the late Japanese Buddha did not, as is widely thought, fade into a ghost of its former self, but rather underwent a complete transformation and reincarnation. The book thus joins the larger discussion of secularization in modernity beyond Buddhism, Japanese religions, and the Asian continent.

Industry Reviews

"The point where this study blossoms with voluminous detail is when developments in historiography made biographies of the Buddha controversial in the early modern era. . . . Auerback's coverage of these debates is exceedingly thorough."
-- "Journal of Japanese Studies"
"Auerback brings to the foreground a topic that Buddhist monastics and scholars alike have neglected and provides a compelling explanation for the contemporary Japanese interest in the historical Buddha at a time when institutional Buddhism appears to be dying. Eminently readable, A Storied Sage will become standard fare among specialists of the early modern and modern period and provides wonderful historical scaffolding for work being done on religion and Japanese popular culture."--Helen Baroni, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
"The life of the Buddha, which has served as the master narrative for most Buddhist traditions, has often been eclipsed in Japan by more celebrated celestial Buddhas and bodhisattvas. In taking on this crucial, yet underanalyzed, topic, Auerback has produced an entirely original history of Japanese Buddhism. Insightful, sophisticated, and nuanced, A Storied Sage represents a major contribution to the field. This book is exemplary."--D. Max Moerman, Barnard College, Columbia University

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