sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

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Phyllobius
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sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

Post by Phyllobius »

Hello,

To further my research on japanese buddhism I need to understand what does "sravakayana" ans "pratyekabuddhayana" was meaning for a japanese monks of yore. I assume it revolved around the vinaya, abidharma and dependent origination but i fail in getting a more precise sketch.

Any pointer aynone?

Thanks in advance.
GDPR_Anonymized001
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Re: sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

Post by GDPR_Anonymized001 »

Phyllobius wrote:Hello,

To further my research on japanese buddhism I need to understand what does "sravakayana" ans "pratyekabuddhayana" was meaning for a japanese monks of yore. I assume it revolved around the vinaya, abidharma and dependent origination but i fail in getting a more precise sketch.

Any pointer aynone?

Thanks in advance.
Dear Phyllobius,

I've not read anything that gives me the impression the Japanese monks of the past had a different understanding of these two terms than any other tradition. Typically, they're understood to mean:

Sravakayana or the vehicle of the listeners (hearers) which brings to mind the contemporary adherents of the Shakyamuni and is implied to refer to those who achieve enlightenment through hearing the teaching of the buddha. I've also read that it is another way of referring to the theravadan tradition by the developing Mahayana tradition.

Pratyekabuddhayana is the vehicle of the solitary awakened one, or perhaps meaning those who set out on the path to attain their own awakening.

These terms are typically used as a way of explaining the different three paths, the third being the bodhisattvayana. Often times the meaning of these terms is really related to context, it may be helpful if you share where you are reading these? Then we can probably find a clearer explanation for the terms meaning.

Hope this is somewhat helpful.
Caodemarte
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Re: sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

Post by Caodemarte »

Just an addendum to the useful answer above. It is not a reference to the Theravada tradion, as I believe these terms existed well before Theravada began to appear.

The Japanese of yore would not know much, if anything, of Theravada. BTW, there is the amazing story of the samurai in the early modern era who explored Thailand under the misapprehension he was in India since he saw so many Buddhist temples. He never discovered that he had not found Buddha's homeland.
crazy-man
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Re: sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

Post by crazy-man »

Theravada in prewar Japan
Before the Meiji period there was little understanding of Theravada Buddhism in Japan, even among scholars. It is sometimes suggested that two of the Six Schools of Nara were
Theravadin, but actually these schools were non-Theravadin Chinese approaches to Buddhism which happened to use the Pali Abhidhamma and Vinaya texts. 1
During the medieval period, Theravada was often misunderstood as simply a “wrong dharma” and one of the twelve vows of Yakushi Nyorai was to lead all “Hinayanists” to Mahayana. 2
The Tipitaka was not published in Japan until 1669, centuries after the formative Kamakura period. This publication was done by True Pure Land priests. 3

1 Alicia and Daigan Matsunaga. Foundation of Japanese Buddhism. Los Angeles/Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1974. v. 1, p. 28, on the origin of Kusha Shū: “The Sarvāstivada school...separated from the Sthaviravāda [proto-Theravada] tradition.” v. 1, p. 49, on Ritsu Shū: a “Chinese sect”
2 Yakushi Kyou (薬師経), vow 4 of the Twelve Vows
3 Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. p
avery.morrow.name/studies/theravada-in-japan.pdf

Theravada in Japan
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/t ... dhism.html
Phyllobius
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Re: sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

Post by Phyllobius »

Dears misters,

Thank you for your answers. The pdf is really interesting.

As a side note, it seems to me that intersectarian barriers in japanese buddhism are often taken by scholars as something far too absolute. I gather from what I read that there were 2 schools in Nara time centered around vinaya and abidharma, and that this knowledge was shared by proponent of others "flavors" of Bukkyo.

It draws a very fluid and organic landscape of people sharing doctrines and rituals to accomodate their needs and intuitions. Quite interresting. I wonder if in these post-tokugawa and showa times the relations between schools came back to such a fluidity.

Please bear my bad english.
crazy-man
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Re: sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

Post by crazy-man »

theravada schools in China and Japan:
Abhidharma school 毘曇宗 (Skt; Chin P’i-t’an-tsung; Jpn Bidon-shu) http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.co ... rma_school
Satyasiddhi School (Chengshizong 成實宗) http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.co ... 5%AE%97%29
Precepts school 律宗 (Chin Ly-tsung; Jpn Risshu) http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.co ... pts_school
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Queequeg
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Re: sravakayana et pratyekabuddhayana in ancient japan

Post by Queequeg »

Sravakayana - Enlightenment through the teaching on Four Noble Truths
Pratyekabuddhayana - Enlightenment through the teaching on dependent origination.

I believe these descriptions are based on the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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