Paper short abstract:

This paper explores a neglected theme, excrement in medieval Japanese Buddhist texts. Canonical texts, illustrated scrolls and setsuwa tales all illustrate how bodily excretions were not merely material phenomena, but carried the weight of diverse symbolic significations within Buddhist discourse.

Paper long abstract:

It is only in the modern age that we have come to be so alienated from our bodily functions that we have consigned to invisibility one of the most fundamental of bodily processes - shit. In the medieval and early modern world, defecating was not a private matter for it often took place outdoors and in the company of others; the malodours of excreta were familiar and all pervasive; shit was a living presence, an active agent that played a central role in the cycle of decay and regeneration. A vast distance separates us from our forebears with regard to our relationship to fecal matter. This is reflected in academic writing where the subject of shit, like sex and the body in an earlier period, has for the most part been neglected, and seen as too childish, frivolous or disgusting to merit serious scholarly engagement. This paper seeks to overcome this implicit taboo and to take seriously the presence of excremental themes in medieval Japanese Buddhist texts by exploring their diverse significations in these narratives.

It argues that shit carries heterogenous meanings: in texts such as Genshin's Ōjōyōshū, shit is a powerful site for the production of aversion and disgust and becomes one of the dominant metaphors for the impurity of the body. In the Illustrated Scrolls of Hungry Ghosts (Gaki zōshi), it represents suffering and serves as a reminder of the karmic consequences of evil deeds; the gaki's suffering also performs a positive role in that it arouses the compassion of the Buddha and of humans who offer prayers and rituals on their behalf. Compassionate deeds directed towards those whose suffering is embodied in their association with shit, in turn becomes the ground for the salvation of gaki, animals and humans alike. As the many stories about eccentric monks suggest, shitting in inappropriate situations can, on occasion, be mobilised in Buddhist tales to graphically demonstrate the value of non-attachment, achieved through a disregard for worldly concerns and conventions. Far from being simply material phenomena, bodily excretions were part of the symbolic order, and in Buddhist discourse, endowed with significance.