Exploring the Reception of Pure Land Conviction within The Tale of Genji

Sun Fuchen，Li Yihui

（1.School of Foreign Studies of Xi’an Jiaotong University，Xi’an Shaanxi 710049；2.School of Continuing Education of Xi’an International Studies University，Xi’an Shaanxi 710061）

The Tale of Genji is one of the earliest realistic fiction written between 1000to 1008by Murasaki Shikibu.Yasunari Kawabata，a famous Japanese writer，once rendered great credit that“Murasaki Shikibu”possessed a Japanese heart which could flow to the plantain.〔1〕A variety of research had read the relationship between The Tale of Genji and Buddhism，within which Sanjiao Yangyi，〔2〕interpreting the Yu Zhi Ten Post from the perspective of samantabhadra meditation sutra and three scriptures of pure land，considered that the story of the float was influenced by Scripture on Past and Present Causes and Effects.Besides，久保坚一〔3〕held that the life of Hikaru Genji coincided in various aspects with that of Buddha.Furthermore，the story conception of the chief chapters was inspires by Buddha Biography，and Yuzhi Shitie was in the same vein.西田祯元，〔4〕after investigating the relationship between The Tale of Genji and Lotus Sutra，pointed out that“light”and“smoke”referred respectively to“brightness”and“incense”.Moreover，he also mentioned that the transhuman traits of Hikaru Genji，displaying in identity，appearance，talent，disposition etc，were all the descriptions of Buddha and immortals which scattered in the Buddhist scripture.Chinese scholars，represented by Ye Weiqu，have probed into the Buddhism concerning The Tale of Genji.Ye Weiqu，after comparing the Buddhism in The Tale of Genji and A Dream of Red Mansions，believed that Murasaki Shikibu’s work introspected literature grounded on the“truth”of Shinto.Meanwhile，he indicated that the workimpregnated with Buddhismtook “convenience”as purport，so as to perceive the compassion of Buddhist and announce the sincerity of human.〔5〕

Ⅰ.The conviction of pure land in The Tale of Genji

In 803，the emperor approved Saicho as“the monk of Nichiren Buddhism school”to seek Dharma in Tang Dynasty.The Tale of Genji was engendered in the background of popular incipient pure land conviction，during which time the aristocratic society reached its heyday under the Fujiwara no Michinaga’s presidency.Tranquil as the upper class of nobility in Heiankyo seemed to be exceedingly gloomy：power struggle between noblemen，numerous paupers sleeping in the street，the epidemic disease，the rampant thieves，the decadent Kyoto.Therefore，the belief of Amitabha and longing for the bailout of the hereafter from pure land school prevailed among aristocrats.〔6〕Through The Tale of Genji，it is appreciable that noblemen’s craving about pure land in paradise is based on the general sense of impermanence concept in Buddhism like“sabbe sankhara anicca”and“failure of the winner”.

The disparity between the Pure Land teachings and original works of pure land religion was also created along with the wide acceptance of Pure Land belief.As Zhang Longmei pointed out：“suppose we evaluate works related to descriptions of the Buddhist faith，the thoughts of Buddhism in works will inevitably be lost when Buddhist thoughts are used.〔7〕

Ⅱ.The assimilation of pure land in The Tale of Genji

1.Three scriptures of pure land

In Amitabha Sutra，provided one hasbeen maintaining his reputation and practicing Buddhism wholeheartedly，he will see Amida Buddha and the gods.Concerned about his mother’s affection upon earth，Genji always prompted her to keep dedicated to Buddha.Later on，Fujitsubo queried “How can you anticipate a beatific afterlife when you hardly accumulate virtues in this life？”“You are supposed to trust the existence of the profound implication deep within Buddhism，and have faith in benefaction.〔8〕”responded in twenty fifth part of Aparimitayur-sutra.Besiedes，one requirement for entering pure land is to firmly believe in karma，which is reflected in Fujitsubo’s query.Nine Ranks was initially mentioned when Buddha talked to Ananda.And it was also depicted in a letter written by Mingshi Taoist to his wife in Newmeal.The letter indicated that now that I have made accomplishment rapidly，I would certainly ascend to the highest rank when I was inducted to far-off pure land.And at this moment，I just need to expect and welcome the Buddha.As is described in Amitayurbhavana-sutra，once one gets accepted to the highest rank，he would be welcomed and enlightened by the Buddha himself.The rank in pure land was evaluated according to personal practice，which is considered to be humanistic，for on one hand it eradicated such concept like one can harvest without planting and assured enthusiasm of devout gymnosophist such as Akashi.On the other hand，it didn’t exclude evils as sinful as Genji，they were all permitted to practice Buddhism.Therefore，Shikibu rendered massive religious solicitude to her characters，providing every single one of them with hope to pure land.

2.The Future Life Volumn of Genshin

When Hikaru Genji talked about Fujitsubo and yunjuyan，he stated “It is tough to seek out light in this filthy society which is worse day by day.”Future Life Volumn of Genshin had abundant influence on Japanese religion，literature and art，especially on pure land theory.Faranshangren initiated Japanese pure land theory after absorbing pure land dogma from Future Life Volumn.Thus，this Volumnwritten in 985was one of significant methods for Heian aristocracy to assimilate pure land dogma.

ōjōyōshūemphasized likewise only the pure land prays to Buddha can be easily operated in the corrupted world and the last dynasty，when publicizing the pure land famennian.The last phase Hikaru Genji said that refers to the middle and late Heian dynastyduring which feudal ruling class，immeasurably dissolute，scrambled for power and profitreflects the contradiction and declining trend of dynasty aristocratic society.As the Buddhist concept of impermanence that“The winner will decline”striking root in the hearts of the people，combined with the ten simple method fromōjōyōshūsuch as“abominate toward impure land as well as the desire for pure land”，and the desire for people to pursue eternal happiness became increasingly strong.Ohara Hito noted thatBuddhist Historiography from ancient to medieval researches along with the skeleton which expands from the decline of aristocracy to the consciousness of the mappōand the eschatology，then to the abominationtoward impure land as well as the desire for pure land.〔9〕Onceglorious Hikaru Genji was banished to Yakichiro Suma，laterhe felt deeply painful about redomption in spite of being appreciated by emperor again，deploring the last phase and impure land in Imperial Progres，breeding infinite disgust.Thus it can be said that Murasaki Shikibu established the pure land conviction of The Tale of Genji along with the skeleton based on Three Sutras of Pure Land andōjōyōshū.

Ⅲ.The reception of pure land aesthetics in The Tale of Genji

Momizinoga depicted the scene of previewing dance music.Especially，Hikaru Genji’s singing is extremely melodious and like the tweet of dudievins named Kalavinka in Buddha-land.All the people on the spot hearing Hikaru Genji’s singing feels it is exceedingly splendid and like the tweet of dudievins.Amitabha Sutra gave the description for dudievins that the manifestation of dudievinstweet contains indriya，five forces，saptabodby-avgani and ariyo atthavgiko maggo.The sentient beings considered the pure land to be tweet，which was acquainted with nembutsu，dhammk and sajghanusmrti.According to the perspective of西田祯元，Hikaru Genji is the embodiment of living goddess，and his vocalization possesses the same influencing effect of Kalavinka because his vocalization is fabuleux which made the emperor burst into tears for being moved，and the aristocracies and princes were in the same vein.Murasaki Shikibu achieved the transcendence of beauty when he searched weld of the two items.Ding Li，when referring to the paintings of Tang Dynasty in The Tale of Genji，indicated that in Broom Tree，the painting of Tang tended to paint the illusory items，such as Penglai Mountains，ferocious beast，monster fish and supernatural beings，〔10〕which were envisioned by the author.An illusory items were not required to strike heartstrings and take after the material objects.

From dudievins to the painting of Tang dynasty，Pingan aristocrat intended to sublimate the realistic beauty to Sukhavati and then go after the permanent MOMIX Botanica.In Bell cricket，Hikaru Genji held a consecration ceremony for the Buddha statue.The exquisite hang banner in front of Buddhist was tailored by Chinese brocade.Pingan aristocrat respected the culture of Tang Dynasty and preferred using exquisite exotic from Tang Dynasty.早田启子，on the basis of historiography，deemed that in Fujiwara Clan’s palmy days aristocracy，who built the statue of Amitabha and painting Future Life Painting and Guiding Painting，retained the intensive faith for Amitabha constructing Amitabha Hall.Moreover，the pure land conviction was interpreted as a kind of splendid aesthetics.Furthermore，Judging from the perspective of aesthetics，清水善三explained the popular faith of the church after the middle period of Pingan subsist intensively figurative and visual characters.〔11〕The script narration of this character gave expression to the Land of Utmost Happiness，Seven Fences，Seven traps，Seven row-trees.The bliss land has Seven Treasure Pool with Eight Merits Water brimming in it and the bottom paved with pure gold.The Four-order road is ornamented with Golden，silver，glass，lapis lazuli，red beads and agate.In addition，the combination of karamono and Mandala chart symbolized the aristocrats’s perfect uniformity between reality and ideas.On one hand，with the intent of reaching an achievement for realistic beauty ideal，people sublime the aesthetics of reality hiding in karamono and integrate the beauty into the paradise of the Holy Triad of the West.On the other hand，they，praying for the realization with visualization of Elysium，are in dire need of laying hands upon karamono，which indicates their endless longing for the Pure Land.with infiltration into the interpretation for the Genji Monogatari，we appreciate the tacit understanding combined by luxury magnificent Tang culture and gorgeous solemn Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.Furthermore，the tacit agreement confluences both reality and ideal.

To sum up，Murasaki Shikibu ’s creation of the Genji Monogatari absorbs the pure classical of Pure Land doctrine.Meanwhile，it presents a strong secular interests，which possessed the capacity for devout belief to the Pure Land.It is precisely the conjugation and gulf of the pure land belief in this book and the pure land Buddhism in reality that promotes Hikaru Genji，an image abounding with glamorous traits，to obtain improvement in a unity of opposites with the reality and ideal.By appreciating and learning through this work，we have also observed the method Japanese taking in Buddhist culture is not to utilize overall absorption，but to combine with the local culture and its own interests，which eventually establishes Japan typical mixed culture of Buddhism，as Ye Weiqu noted“It’s rather clear that the afterlife ideology contained in Japanese Buddhism is not complete.The Shinto，to some degree are in the same vein with Japanese Buddhism，attaches great importance to the perspective that the Gods as well as the Buddhas amounts to the existence of this life and Hades，and takes responsible for protecting countries and people of the town，together with the practical and political implications，it finally steps toward Buddha body way.

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