The Discipline of Writing Scribes and Purity in Eighth-Century Japan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14680443 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bryan D Lowe (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2012-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0304-1042 |
| Publisher | Nanzan University (PUBLISHER • JP) |
| DOI | 10.18874/jjrs.39.2.2012.201-239 |
| OpenAlex | W324560918 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 3 |
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 century. This article argues that upholding purity was deeply connected to notions of ritual efficacy but also enabled pious lay scribes to train for monastic careers. The evidence is used to reassess historiographical debates on Nara Buddhism with particular attention to the well-known "theory of state Buddhism" (kokka Bukkyō ron)
Art · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2021 (8) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |