Bryan D Lowe
Biographic Data
| ID | 1447259 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bryan D Lowe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bryan D |
| FAMILY NAME | Lowe |
| SIGNATURE | LOWE B D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Vanderbilt University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
An Ignored Archive, Accidental Archives, andSacred Trash: Japan’s Shōsōin in the Comparative Middle Ages
What is a Replica: Reflections From Shōsōin the Show: Bryan Lowe and Akiko Walley in Conversation With Kit Brooks
Reflections on Esoteric Hegemony in Medieval Japan and the Modern Academy
This review essay examines four recent titles that deal with esoteric Buddhism in medieval Japan: Kamakura Bukkyō: Mikkyō no shiten kara (Daizō Shuppan, 2023); Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan: Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts (De Gruyter, 2022); Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2023); and Esoteric Zen: Zen and the Tantric Teachings in Premodern Japan (Brill, 2023). They al…
Roads, State, and Religion in Japanese Antiquity
This is a story of the possibilities created by connection but also of the inherent fragility of movement within a network. It uses a case study of roads in ancient Japan (defined as late seventh through early ninth centuries) to show how networks not only amplify interaction but also isolation. This article explores the religious implications of road construction, both how a newly connected society enabled the rapid diffusion of a religious trad…
Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan
Transcribing scripture (sutras) represents one of the most central devotional practices in the Buddhist world. Sutra copying functioned as a form of ritualized writing, a practice strategically set apart from more mundane forms through a set of practices and beliefs. This book highlights sutra transcription throughout Asia, but focuses primarily on seventh- through ninth-century Japan, where the practice is particularly well-documented. It shows …
Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan
Ritualized Writing takes readers into the fascinating world of Japanese Buddhist manuscript cultures. Using archival sources that have received scant attention in English, primarily documents from an eighth-century Japanese scriptorium and colophons from sutra manuscripts, Bryan D. Lowe uncovers the ways in which the transcription of Buddhist scripture was a highly ritualized endeavor. He takes a ground-level approach by emphasizing the activitie…
From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions
"From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions." Material Religion, 12(4), pp. 522–523
Contingent and Contested: Preliminary Remarks on Buddhist Catalogs and Canons in Early Japan
This article explores the notion of the Buddhist canon in seventh-and eighthcentury Japan. It relies on scriptorium documents, temple records, and manuscripts of catalogs to argue that there was no single Buddhist canon in ancient Japan; each was created at a particular moment in a unique configuration to respond to the needs of the patron and the monastic community. For this reason, Buddhist canons in the Japanese case are best understood in the…
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures in Premodern Japan
Recent discoveries and scholarship on Japanese Buddhist manuscripts have illuminated new areas of research and raised previously unexplored questions in Buddhist studies and East Asian religions. This article introduces some of the recent finds and approaches to these materials. It focuses on three sets of sources: scriptorium documents from an imperial treasure house known as the Shōsōin, canonical manuscripts (issaikyō) based on texts translate…
The Discipline of Writing Scribes and Purity in Eighth-Century Japan
This article focuses on ritualized scribal practices in eighth-century Japan. It uses colophons, scriptorium documents, and narrative tales to explore how sutra copyists upheld vegetarian diets, performed ablutions, wore ritual garments, and avoided contact with pollutants stemming from death and illness. Such practices, often described in terms of purity, spread widely on the Asian continent in the seventh century and reached Japan by the eighth…
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures in Premodern Japan
Recent discoveries and scholarship on Japanese Buddhist manuscripts have illuminated new areas of research and raised previously unexplored questions in Buddhist studies and East Asian religions. This article introduces some of the recent finds and approaches to these materials. It focuses on three sets of sources: scriptorium documents from an imperial treasure house known as the Shōsōin, canonical manuscripts (issaikyō) based on texts translate…
Roads, State, and Religion in Japanese Antiquity
This is a story of the possibilities created by connection but also of the inherent fragility of movement within a network. It uses a case study of roads in ancient Japan (defined as late seventh through early ninth centuries) to show how networks not only amplify interaction but also isolation. This article explores the religious implications of road construction, both how a newly connected society enabled the rapid diffusion of a religious trad…
The Discipline of Writing Scribes and Purity in Eighth-Century Japan
This article focuses on ritualized scribal practices in eighth-century Japan. It uses colophons, scriptorium documents, and narrative tales to explore how sutra copyists upheld vegetarian diets, performed ablutions, wore ritual garments, and avoided contact with pollutants stemming from death and illness. Such practices, often described in terms of purity, spread widely on the Asian continent in the seventh century and reached Japan by the eighth…
Contingent and Contested: Preliminary Remarks on Buddhist Catalogs and Canons in Early Japan
This article explores the notion of the Buddhist canon in seventh-and eighthcentury Japan. It relies on scriptorium documents, temple records, and manuscripts of catalogs to argue that there was no single Buddhist canon in ancient Japan; each was created at a particular moment in a unique configuration to respond to the needs of the patron and the monastic community. For this reason, Buddhist canons in the Japanese case are best understood in the…
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures in Premodern Japan
Recent discoveries and scholarship on Japanese Buddhist manuscripts have illuminated new areas of research and raised previously unexplored questions in Buddhist studies and East Asian religions. This article introduces some of the recent finds and approaches to these materials. It focuses on three sets of sources: scriptorium documents from an imperial treasure house known as the Shōsōin, canonical manuscripts (issaikyō) based on texts translate…
From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions
"From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions." Material Religion, 12(4), pp. 522–523
Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan
Transcribing scripture (sutras) represents one of the most central devotional practices in the Buddhist world. Sutra copying functioned as a form of ritualized writing, a practice strategically set apart from more mundane forms through a set of practices and beliefs. This book highlights sutra transcription throughout Asia, but focuses primarily on seventh- through ninth-century Japan, where the practice is particularly well-documented. It shows …
Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan
Ritualized Writing takes readers into the fascinating world of Japanese Buddhist manuscript cultures. Using archival sources that have received scant attention in English, primarily documents from an eighth-century Japanese scriptorium and colophons from sutra manuscripts, Bryan D. Lowe uncovers the ways in which the transcription of Buddhist scripture was a highly ritualized endeavor. He takes a ground-level approach by emphasizing the activitie…
Roads, State, and Religion in Japanese Antiquity
This is a story of the possibilities created by connection but also of the inherent fragility of movement within a network. It uses a case study of roads in ancient Japan (defined as late seventh through early ninth centuries) to show how networks not only amplify interaction but also isolation. This article explores the religious implications of road construction, both how a newly connected society enabled the rapid diffusion of a religious trad…
Reflections on Esoteric Hegemony in Medieval Japan and the Modern Academy
This review essay examines four recent titles that deal with esoteric Buddhism in medieval Japan: Kamakura Bukkyō: Mikkyō no shiten kara (Daizō Shuppan, 2023); Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan: Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts (De Gruyter, 2022); Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2023); and Esoteric Zen: Zen and the Tantric Teachings in Premodern Japan (Brill, 2023). They al…
An Ignored Archive, Accidental Archives, andSacred Trash: Japan’s Shōsōin in the Comparative Middle Ages
What is a Replica: Reflections From Shōsōin the Show: Bryan Lowe and Akiko Walley in Conversation With Kit Brooks
Japanese History and Culture (9 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (7 works) · History (7 works) · Art (5 works) · Buddhism (5 works) · Archaeology (3 works) · Literature (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Sociology (3 works) · Ancient history (2 works)