Japanese Buddhism: What You Didn’t Know that You Didn’t Know
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In this talk, Dr. Robert Sharf will explore the complex history of Japanese Buddhism, from its introduction during the Asuka (538–794) and Nara (710-794) periods to the present day. The focus will be on the distinguishing features of Japanese Buddhism, including its sectarian character, the pervasive influence of tantra and esoteric ritual, and the assimilation of Shinto and kami worship.
This three-hour study group will cover the Six Nara Schools, the emergence of Shingon and Tendai Buddhism during the Heian period (794–1185), and the stunning success of the revolutionary one-practice movements during the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Finally, we will turn to the transformation of Buddhist institutions under the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603–1867), the suppression of Buddhism following the Meiji Restoration, the demise of clerical celibacy, and the role that New Buddhism and Zen played in shaping global Buddhist thought.
There will be a one-hour lunch break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Dr. Robert Sharf is the D. H. Chen Distinguished Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as Chair of Berkeley's Numata Center for Buddhist Studies. He works primarily on medieval Chinese Buddhism but has also published in the areas of Japanese Buddhism, Buddhist art and archaeology, Buddhist modernism, Buddhist philosophy, and methodological issues in the study of religions. He is the author of Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise (2005); co-author of What Can't Be Said: Contradiction and Paradox in East Asian Thought (2021) and How to Lose Yourself: An Ancient Guide to Letting Go (2025); as well as the editor of Living Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context (2002).
Caption: Bodhidharma (Daruma), 1800-1900, by Nakahara Nantenbo (Japanese, 1839–1925). Ink on paper. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Museum purchase, 1994.29. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
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