{"id":1248,"date":"2022-07-14T10:11:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T01:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/?post_type=research&p=1248"},"modified":"2022-12-15T10:24:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T01:24:25","slug":"the-buddha-hojoki-and-the-future-of-impermanence-research","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/research\/1248\/","title":{"rendered":"The Buddha, H\u014dj\u014dki<\/i>, and the Future of \u201cImpermanence\u201d Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2021, I launched a team research project on \u201cSolid \u2018Impermanence\u2019\/Fragile \u2018Impermanence\u2019: The Transmogrification of the Classics and Future Prospects.\u201d Scholars from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, East Asia, and other regions are taking part. Just as I was looking to develop this international, comparative perspective on impermanence, I was also commissioned to contribute to a special issue on \u201cMedieval Literature in East Asia\u201d for Japanese Literature<\/em>, a Japanese journal. My contribution was an essay entitled \u201cShakyamuni\u2019s Renunciation of the World and the Birth of R\u0101hula<\/em>: On Fukansai Habian and Theravada Buddhism\u201d (Shaka no shukke to Ragora tanj\u014d: Fukansai Habian to Nanden Bukky\u014d o megutte, Nihon bungaku<\/em>, June 2021), and examines the understanding of Buddhism held by Christians who came to Japan from India via South East Asia in the sixteenth century. The essay features a photograph of a wall-painting of the Buddha\u2019s renunciation of the world, which I took in 2016 in Chiang Mai, Thailand (see photo 1). Portions of the essay also appeared in my recently-published book, Koten no naka no chiky\u016bgi<\/em><\/a> (The Globe in the Classics; NTT Publishing Co., 2022).<\/p>\r\n

\"\u8352\u6728\u5148\u751f\uff08\u30bf\u30a4\u306e\u753b\u50cf\uff09\"

Photo 1. The Chiang Mai mural. The Buddha renounces the world, abandoning his wife and children. See this author\u2019s article and book for further details.<\/p><\/div>\r\n

Just before I published my article, Nana Sat\u014d-Rosberg of SOAS (University of London) proposed an on-line academic symposium involving SOAS, Nankai University and Nichibunken, and there I made a presentation on the same theme (4 June 2021). My most important \u201ctake-away\u201d from that event\u2015thanks to Professor Sat\u014d-Rosberg\u2015was an understanding of Covid-19 as a \u201csyndemic,\u201d a concept which refers to a \u201cdisease-complex.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

This concept inspired the Narrative Literary Society conference on \u201cGodai saiyaku no shindemikku: H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em> no jidai \u201d(The Five Great Disasters Syndemic: The Age of H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em>), which will be held in conjunction with the \u201cImpermanence\u201d Team Research Project at Waseda University on 17 September 2022. Three \u201cImpermanence\u201d project members will participate as panelists, and present their arguments before conference delegates. H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em> is a mediation on \u201cfragile \u2018impermanence\u2019.\u201d In the H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em>, Kamono Ch\u014dmei narrates the five great disasters\u2015conflagrations, dust devils, capital rebuilding, starvation and epidemics, and earthquakes\u2015that occurred in the first half of his life (1177\u20131185). Not least among these was the earthquake that destroyed the capital in an instant: \u201cNeither temple halls nor towers are exempt. Some will crumble; and others will collapse\u201d (see photo 2). With the Genpei Wars as a backdrop, the H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em> is a historical work that takes syndemics, or \u201cdisaster complexes,\u201d as its central theme. The H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em> exerted a profound influence on the image of what I call Japan\u2019s \u201cfragile\u201d impermanence. On a personal level, too, I am currently writing a book about the H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em> that involves a thorough rethink of a series of newspaper articles I published a while ago, so I continue to spend my days in the company of this masterpiece.<\/p>\r\n

\"\u8352\u6728\u5148\u751f\u753b\u50cf\uff08\u300e\u65b9\u4e08\u8a18\u4e4b\u6284\u300f\uff09\"

Photo 2. The Great Genryaku Earthquake, as described in H\u014dj\u014dki no sh\u014d<\/em>. National Diet Library Digital Collection.<\/p><\/div>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

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