Paper short abstract:

This paper proposes an analysis of the doctrinal contents of those kana hōgo written in the medieval period but published in the early modern era. Piercing such texts' apparent simplicity helps us to better trace how particular doctrines of the past spread through Edo-period Japanese society.

Paper long abstract:

The doctrines of the various branches of the Rinzai school have yet to be defined with full clarity. A number of their characteristics can, however, be identified in those main currents observable throughout the course of the school's history. Within this course, the medieval period in particular—namely, from the school's introduction to Japan up to the beginning of the Edo period—saw Japanese Zen undergo a series of evolutions that produced in it a wide variety of doctrinal positions. In contrast, after the beginning of the Edo period, with the decline of the political and cultural influence of the Rinzai branch, this broad doctrinal variety would begin to progressively decrease, even as a new power balance was sought within a new religious landscape.

The publication of texts within the kana hōgo (vernacular sermon) genre also begin in the Edo period. Notably, perhaps because Japanese Zen did not produce other concrete treatises on its doctrines, these kana hōgo became the main route by which Japanese people gained access to the teachings of this school. Many kana hōgo were, moreover, texts originally composed during the medieval period, and by that very token contained therein doctrinal conceptions born of an era quite different from that in which they saw publication.

In this paper, we will propose an analysis of the doctrinal content of some kana hōgo, not only to understand properly the purpose of the texts themselves, but also, by keeping in mind the gap between their production and their publication, to think about the way such texts were received during the Edo period.

Of course, kana hōgo were intended simply to explicate the teachings of Zen—or the teachings of the Buddha as a whole—not to promote any such-and-such sub-branch. They do not deal, in explicit terms, with particular doctrines internal to the Rinzai school. As a result, in order to probe beyond this surface simplicity, we will need to examine their contents in the light of other materials from the medieval period of Japanese Zen.