Many package tours to Japan include a tea ceremony. Sometimes these short versions of a traditional tea ceremony––otemae or cha no yu ––take place in the tea room
In Japanese temples or along the sides of roads, small stone statues of the Buddhist deity Jizo are a common sight. According to Japanese Buddhist
Buddhism’s remarkable receptiveness has enabled it to evolve into a tradition of great diversity. Through pragmatic absorption and negotiation rather than conquest or imposition, Buddhism
In Japan during the Edo period (1600–1868), many people traveled on foot between the military capital, Edo (modern Tokyo), and the ancient imperial capital, Kyoto.
As my husband Jason and I prepared to welcome Adelaide into our lives nearly ten months ago, I thought about the kind of home we
The Buddhist deity Kshitigarbha, or “He who encompasses the Earth,” has a powerful and ubiquitous presence in Japan, where figures of him depicted as a
In the temple Kozan-ji in Kyoto is a 750-year-old collection of scrolls that is designated a National Treasure. The third scroll, the Illustrated Scroll on the
The so-called sectarianism of Buddhism in Japan has enabled Pure Land Buddhism to develop as a quasi-independent tradition within Buddhism. One of the central figures
“Return to Amida, Return to Amida, So even dewdrops fall,” wrote the Soto Zen hermit Ryokan (1756–1831) famously, and throughout his life he exhorted those
Since the Meiji restoration in the 19th century, Buddhism in Japan has seen the development of a third category of practitioner in addition to the
Furu ike yakawazu tobikomumizu no oto The old ponda frog jumps inkerplunk Matsuo Basho’s (1644–94) haiku—that mind-altering frog vanishing into an ancient pond—has become so
In the main hall of an elegant Pure Land Buddhist temple called Joruri-ji near the city of Nara in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, a row of
