A fuzzy-furred gibbon seated on a rugged boulder reaches an arm out over a rushing river and tries to scoop up the reflection of the
Japanese artist Takashi Murakami has become renowned internationally for his colorful, smiling flowers, his anime-inspired paintings and sculptures that range in style from erotic to
The Wheel of Life and Death is a central concept and image in Buddhist understanding. Escaping the Wheel of Life and Death is a Buddhist
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
