I present the ninth in my series on Heian-era Japan. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, just click here for an overview of the Heian era.
This is part three of a mini-series on Buddhism during the Heian era. For a general overview of Buddhism, see this entry. For a discussion of the two major sects popular during the period, see this entry.
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Last week, I discussed Shingon and Tendai Buddhism, both major sects that received aristocratic and even some imperial patronage. The Heian era was no different than any age in history--most people in Heian society were on the bottom of the socio-economic period. The pomp and circumstance of some aspects of the Shingon and Tendai sects was directed more toward aristocrats than the poor, ignorant masses. While the old ways of Shinto influenced all levels of society, the Heian era also saw the spread of a type of Buddhism that would in later centuries gain mass appeal in all levels of society: Amidism, Pure Land Buddhism.
Pure Land beliefs descended from the various Pure Land traditions that originated in the second century in India and were later transmitted to Japan via China. In a broad sense, the Pure Land traditions focus on the the bodhisattva Amida Buddha. Amida is the Buddha of Everlasting Light and Comprehensive Love. While the perception of the exact nature and historicity of Amida Buddha vary by sect, he's often suggested to be a previous incarnation of Siddharta. In this original incarnation, Amida refused to accept enlightenment unless he could ensure eternal happiness in the Pure Land, a sort of heavenly celestial realm and, ultimately, enlightenment for all sentient beings. This concept is usually referred to as the "Original Vow". Depending on the interpretation of the sect or individual tradition, there are multiple Pure Lands.
The intercession of Amida provided a sort of general hope of enlightenment for everyone. Calling upon him by name repeatedly (the nembutsu) with sincere faith using "Namu Amida Butsu" would allow the a person to be reborn into the Pure Land after death. What's notable is though meditation and other Buddhist practices were part of the Pure Land tradition, and later more formalized Pure Land sects, in a sense the Pure Land tradition was, on some level, offering believers a bypass for the more complicated rituals, methods, and paths to enlightenment present in the more aristocratic traditions.
The Pure Land, it should be noted, is not the same thing as achieving enlightenment. True enlightenment would be the ultimate release for the soul, an escape from the cycle of rebirth. Once in the Pure Land (in the Heian era it was often thought of as the Western Paradise), the perfection of the realm was supposed to help facilitate true enlightenment. Many Amidists, however, effectively ended up more interested in being reborn into a heavenly realm than the ostensible Buddhist goal of release.
While there wasn't a true formal Pure Land sect in the Heian period, the ideas gained currency, particularly with the help of Genshin (942-1017), originally a Tendai scholar. In 985, he wrote Ōjōyōshū (The Essentials of Salvation or the The Essentials of Birth in the Pure Land), a three-volume treatise on Amidist ideas. Interesting enough, Genshin emphasized visual meditation rather than the nembutsu but the latter would gain more general popularity, perhaps because of the relative ease of chanting.
Ōjōyōshū, besides spending a large amount of time describing the glories of the Pure Land, also put a lot of emphasis on Hell realms. The descriptions were even potent enough to influence conceptions of horror throughout the centuries and, arguably, still do. Genshin would pen many other works promoting Amidist ideas. Key to his conception underlying Pure Land ideas was that Heian society had fallen into corruption. He argued that not only had society become corrupt, but in fact the world had entered a fundamental age of decline.
With its promise of universal salvation and implicit critique of the structure of society (and thus implicit critique of the wealthy and powerful), the Amidist ideals gained considerable currency among the masses, though more than a few aristocrats fell under the sway of the Pure Land.
Although formal Pure Land sects woudn't really be crystallize until after the Heian era, Amidist ideas had firmly penetrated the consciousness of Heian society as can be seen in period diaries and period fiction such as references in The Tale of Genji.
Showing posts with label buddhism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buddhism. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Age of Tranquility and Peace: Heian Japan #8: Secret Teachings and Art as Enlightenment: Shingon and Tendai Buddhism
Sorry for the delay. My internet went down last night (been a continuing problem in recent months).
I present the eighth in my series on Heian-era Japan. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, just click here for an overview of the Heian era.
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This is the second of a three-part series on Buddhism during the Heian period. You may want to start with the first post here if you don't know anything at all about Buddhism. Today, I'm going to tackle the two major sects of the Heian era, Tendai and Shingon, and next week I'll finish up this initial exploration of Buddhism during the Heian era by discussing the beginnings of Amidist Buddhism, which wasn't necessarily a fully realized sect at the time but still had important implications for the changing nature of Buddhism in Japan. Although these three were not the only forms of Buddhism around during the period, they were forms with the most significant contemporary influence.
As discussed last week, Buddhism is tremendously diverse in the local observation of the religion. The Buddha taught an arguably difficult, but fundamentally simple path. As Buddhism spread from India to China and then from China to Japan over the centuries, that simplicity was often left in the past.
Both Heian-era Tendai and Shingon contained strong elements of Esoteric Buddhism. It'd take a whole other article to probe the intricacies of Esoteric Buddhism, but briefly speaking, Esoteric Buddhism involves secret teachings passed from masters to students and reliance on formalized ritual as opposed to more direct meditation and thought.
Heian Tendai descended from of an earlier form of Chinese Buddhism, Tiantai. Incidentally, though forms of Shingon and Tendai still exist in Japan, this article will be confined only to the state of the sects during the Heian era.
The Tendai sect was started by a monk, Saichō, after his return from China on a Buddhist-study mission in 805. He had previously established a temple on Mount Hiei, a mountain to the northeast of Heian-kyo in 788. Right away, one can see the advantage granted by proximity to the capital in terms of influence. With the move of the capital at the start of the Heian era and the accompanying distance to established Buddhist temples, the influence of these other Buddhist institutions suffered.
Indeed, it quickly became associated with the patronage of the imperial court. They also earned patronage from the Fujiwara clan. Although Tendai did not have an exclusive lock on aristocratic or Fujiwara support, their heavy influence made them almost the de facto form of state Buddhism.
The sect gained wealth and power that many felt corrupted them, leading to later attempts at reform both internally and via breakaway sects. Besides spiritual and political power, they even had military power in the form of the sōhei, warrior monks that would, particularly in later centuries, be considered a serious enough military threat that they attracted the negative attention of Japanese warlords.
Heian Tendai directed worship toward various individual Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Indeed, many times when someone is referring in English to various Japanese Buddhist "deities", they often are referring to a Buddha/Bodhisattva rather than something that is a god controlling an actual sphere of existence. That being said, the rather open and syncretic nature of Tendai allowed the sect to accommodate Shinto kami by identifying these native spirits and deities with Buddhas or Bodhisattvas.
On a more practical level, the Tendai proponents formulated doctrines that taught that detachment from the world did not mean avoiding things prized by the Heian aristocracy such as poetry and art. They were just considered part of the world and meditation upon artistic works could aid in enlightenment.
Heian Tendai placed a lot of emphasis on mantras (chants and phrases) and mudras (symbolic gestures) as a way of placing an adherent closer to enlightenment. Some of these elements were particularly associated with the more esoteric aspects of the sect, and the idea of a Tendai initiate having to work his way up toward enlightenment and ritual tools is well-attested in historical literature. I should note, however, that Tendai wasn't a completely esoteric sect. That is to say, they did not limit transmission only to "secret" paths. This aided in accessibility to lay people, such as influential aristocrats, but it wasn't as open as Amidist Pure Land Buddhism, which I'll discuss next week.
The sect, overall, was tolerant of different sects and even internal disputes. Obviously, if a religion can find a way to absorb entire native pantheons into its metaphysics, a couple of minor doctrinal disputes isn't necessary going to lead to schism. That being said, it's not that Tendai was without conflict in the Heian era (and certainly not later), but this conflict tended to focus more on questions of fundamental sect organization or challenges that appeared to potential put the entire sect's position at risk. So, basically, more political challenges rather than theological challenges.
Shingon Buddhism was as syncretic as Tendai and also managed to neatly absorb a lot of Shinto kami. Shingon descended from Esoteric Buddhist sects that arose centuries earlier in India and then firmly established themselves in China. Interestingly, a monk, Kūkai, founded Shingon in 806 following an 804 trip to China to study Buddhism. So, we have the two major sects of Heian Buddhism being founded within a year of each other.
Though Shingon was transmitted from China, just as with Tendai, it had a much more Indian character than the other sect. It placed emphasis on such elements as mandalas (ritual paintings) that contained ritual writing that often referenced assimilated forms of Hindu deities. The mudras used in Shingon had a much clearer relationship to certain elements from various Hindu sects. A popular Shingon ritual, Goma, a spiritual cleansing ritual involving feeding a fire, chanting, and drumming was influenced by Hindu tradition.
Shingon placed a slightly stronger emphasis on secret teaching from teacher to student, particularly for its most important doctrines. Although Tendai was not without secrecy, Shingon was often so secretive that it wasn't until the 20th century that many pieces of Shingon material began to circulate.
Tendai may have had no issues with art and literature, but Shingon took broad acceptance to a much higher level. They put a particular emphasis on art music and literature. The Shingon argued that, in some cases, the true nature of their teachings was so esoteric that it could only truly conveyed through pure artistic expression. The Shingon were so associated with the arts that many credited Kūkai with developing the Japanese syllabic kana systems that freed from the Japanese from pure Chinese characters (even if the aristocracy, particularly the males, still held Chinese writing in high regard). Unfortunately for the Shingon and their founder, the present historic linguistic evidence point away from that.
This love of art was paired with a heavy emphasis on impressive ceremonies and rituals. These often dramatic and impressive religious events did a lot to endear them to the spectacle-loving Heian aristocracy. Though they never did achieve the power and influence of the Tendai during the Heian period, they still earned patronage from powerful aristocrats including the Fujiwara clan.
Though one could spend weeks (if not years) talking about these two sects, the above overview should be enough to at least understand their general place in the context of the Heian era. As noted above, both of these sects were particularly popular with the aristocrats. Next week, I'll spend some time discussing a more populist, as it were, form of Buddhism, Amidism.
I present the eighth in my series on Heian-era Japan. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, just click here for an overview of the Heian era.
-----
This is the second of a three-part series on Buddhism during the Heian period. You may want to start with the first post here if you don't know anything at all about Buddhism. Today, I'm going to tackle the two major sects of the Heian era, Tendai and Shingon, and next week I'll finish up this initial exploration of Buddhism during the Heian era by discussing the beginnings of Amidist Buddhism, which wasn't necessarily a fully realized sect at the time but still had important implications for the changing nature of Buddhism in Japan. Although these three were not the only forms of Buddhism around during the period, they were forms with the most significant contemporary influence.
As discussed last week, Buddhism is tremendously diverse in the local observation of the religion. The Buddha taught an arguably difficult, but fundamentally simple path. As Buddhism spread from India to China and then from China to Japan over the centuries, that simplicity was often left in the past.
Both Heian-era Tendai and Shingon contained strong elements of Esoteric Buddhism. It'd take a whole other article to probe the intricacies of Esoteric Buddhism, but briefly speaking, Esoteric Buddhism involves secret teachings passed from masters to students and reliance on formalized ritual as opposed to more direct meditation and thought.
Heian Tendai descended from of an earlier form of Chinese Buddhism, Tiantai. Incidentally, though forms of Shingon and Tendai still exist in Japan, this article will be confined only to the state of the sects during the Heian era.
The Tendai sect was started by a monk, Saichō, after his return from China on a Buddhist-study mission in 805. He had previously established a temple on Mount Hiei, a mountain to the northeast of Heian-kyo in 788. Right away, one can see the advantage granted by proximity to the capital in terms of influence. With the move of the capital at the start of the Heian era and the accompanying distance to established Buddhist temples, the influence of these other Buddhist institutions suffered.
Indeed, it quickly became associated with the patronage of the imperial court. They also earned patronage from the Fujiwara clan. Although Tendai did not have an exclusive lock on aristocratic or Fujiwara support, their heavy influence made them almost the de facto form of state Buddhism.
The sect gained wealth and power that many felt corrupted them, leading to later attempts at reform both internally and via breakaway sects. Besides spiritual and political power, they even had military power in the form of the sōhei, warrior monks that would, particularly in later centuries, be considered a serious enough military threat that they attracted the negative attention of Japanese warlords.
Heian Tendai directed worship toward various individual Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Indeed, many times when someone is referring in English to various Japanese Buddhist "deities", they often are referring to a Buddha/Bodhisattva rather than something that is a god controlling an actual sphere of existence. That being said, the rather open and syncretic nature of Tendai allowed the sect to accommodate Shinto kami by identifying these native spirits and deities with Buddhas or Bodhisattvas.
On a more practical level, the Tendai proponents formulated doctrines that taught that detachment from the world did not mean avoiding things prized by the Heian aristocracy such as poetry and art. They were just considered part of the world and meditation upon artistic works could aid in enlightenment.
Heian Tendai placed a lot of emphasis on mantras (chants and phrases) and mudras (symbolic gestures) as a way of placing an adherent closer to enlightenment. Some of these elements were particularly associated with the more esoteric aspects of the sect, and the idea of a Tendai initiate having to work his way up toward enlightenment and ritual tools is well-attested in historical literature. I should note, however, that Tendai wasn't a completely esoteric sect. That is to say, they did not limit transmission only to "secret" paths. This aided in accessibility to lay people, such as influential aristocrats, but it wasn't as open as Amidist Pure Land Buddhism, which I'll discuss next week.
The sect, overall, was tolerant of different sects and even internal disputes. Obviously, if a religion can find a way to absorb entire native pantheons into its metaphysics, a couple of minor doctrinal disputes isn't necessary going to lead to schism. That being said, it's not that Tendai was without conflict in the Heian era (and certainly not later), but this conflict tended to focus more on questions of fundamental sect organization or challenges that appeared to potential put the entire sect's position at risk. So, basically, more political challenges rather than theological challenges.
Shingon Buddhism was as syncretic as Tendai and also managed to neatly absorb a lot of Shinto kami. Shingon descended from Esoteric Buddhist sects that arose centuries earlier in India and then firmly established themselves in China. Interestingly, a monk, Kūkai, founded Shingon in 806 following an 804 trip to China to study Buddhism. So, we have the two major sects of Heian Buddhism being founded within a year of each other.
Though Shingon was transmitted from China, just as with Tendai, it had a much more Indian character than the other sect. It placed emphasis on such elements as mandalas (ritual paintings) that contained ritual writing that often referenced assimilated forms of Hindu deities. The mudras used in Shingon had a much clearer relationship to certain elements from various Hindu sects. A popular Shingon ritual, Goma, a spiritual cleansing ritual involving feeding a fire, chanting, and drumming was influenced by Hindu tradition.
Shingon placed a slightly stronger emphasis on secret teaching from teacher to student, particularly for its most important doctrines. Although Tendai was not without secrecy, Shingon was often so secretive that it wasn't until the 20th century that many pieces of Shingon material began to circulate.
Tendai may have had no issues with art and literature, but Shingon took broad acceptance to a much higher level. They put a particular emphasis on art music and literature. The Shingon argued that, in some cases, the true nature of their teachings was so esoteric that it could only truly conveyed through pure artistic expression. The Shingon were so associated with the arts that many credited Kūkai with developing the Japanese syllabic kana systems that freed from the Japanese from pure Chinese characters (even if the aristocracy, particularly the males, still held Chinese writing in high regard). Unfortunately for the Shingon and their founder, the present historic linguistic evidence point away from that.
This love of art was paired with a heavy emphasis on impressive ceremonies and rituals. These often dramatic and impressive religious events did a lot to endear them to the spectacle-loving Heian aristocracy. Though they never did achieve the power and influence of the Tendai during the Heian period, they still earned patronage from powerful aristocrats including the Fujiwara clan.
Though one could spend weeks (if not years) talking about these two sects, the above overview should be enough to at least understand their general place in the context of the Heian era. As noted above, both of these sects were particularly popular with the aristocrats. Next week, I'll spend some time discussing a more populist, as it were, form of Buddhism, Amidism.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The Age of Tranquility and Peace, Heian Japan #7: An Overview of Buddhism, The Middle Way
I present the seventh in my series on Heian-era Japan. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, just click here for an overview of the Heian era.
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Last week, I offered a very cursory overview of Shinto, the native religion of the Japanese people. Though Shinto played a huge role in Japanese culture during the Heian period, Buddhism was just as important. If you'll recall from an earlier post, it was some concern over the political power of Buddhist temples that partially motivated the move of the capital that marked the start of the Heian era.
Given the incredible complexity and diversity of Buddhism over Asia, this will be, like the Shinto overview, a very basic overview. Today, I'm going to give a basic overview of Buddhism in general and then next two weeks I'll explore some of the permutations of Buddhism that defined the religion in Heian-era Japan. In future posts, I'll delve deeper into some of these aspects as relevant and cover some of the political aspects as well. For ease, I'll use some of the more common (read: often Sanskrit, a language of ancient India) words for some of these terms, as I tend to suspect many people have at least heard them versus their Japanese counterparts. The conceptual ideas are more important than the specific terminology here anyway.
As Buddhism spread from India all about Asia and eventually to Japan, it mixed with various existing folk traditions and concepts. In some cases, this means two people might be Buddhist but have apparently opposing metaphysical positions. So, I hope what you take away from this first Buddhist entry is more just the general concepts underlying Buddhist thought, which, at the minimum, give a general enough context to understand the basics of the religion. Next week and the following week, we'll attend to more fine detail as it applies to the main Japanese schools of Buddhism during the Heian era. It's also important to note that back in Heian Japan, many people didn't exactly spend a lot of time considering the fine metaphysics of their religion (even the educated), so the general ethical ideals motivating people's people are perhaps more important than a fine understand of the metaphysics.
First, some basic background. The Buddhist religion was founded by Siddhartha Gautama. He was born in what is now part of Nepal. Though he is often referred to as the Buddha, the word itself just really means enlightened and/or awakened one. Historians aren't totally sure of when he lived (there's competing sources), but it's approximately somewhere around the between the 6th-4th century BC. There's differing historical opinions on who he actually was (and various biographies vary), but the evidence does suggest the son of a man of great political importance, a prince.
Now, there's a lot of differing miracles and the like that have been attributed to the Buddha, but we're going to skip past a lot of that to focus basically on the core tenets of the Buddhist message in a painfully simplistic (i.e., blog-sized manner). One can make argument the original core Buddhist message was a reformist message, of sorts, against certain strains of the dominant regional Hindu beliefs. It was not, however, some sort of direct reaction by the Buddha against those religious beliefs (indeed, there is some overlap). So, don't think of the Buddha as the Martin Luther of South Asia.
The traditional biographies inform us that the Buddha became weary with his lifestyle of ease, power, and luxury. He traveled about and witnessing poverty, death, and suffering he was previously shielded from and the reality that death came for all, he decided to become an ascetic and travel about in search of enlightenment, particularly by studying with various religious teachers in India.
At the time, the ascetic tradition was a strong part of the dominant Hindu religious tradition (which we really don't need to understand for Heian-stuff, so I'll be not be writing about that). The summary version of all of this is that the Buddha realized that extreme asceticism would not lead him to enlightenment. After 49 days of meditation under a type of fig tree now called the Sacred Fig (even the Latin name is Ficus religiosa), he achieves enlightenment (the tree also is commonly referred to, among other names, as a Bodhi Tree--an enlightenment tree). He accepted that the path to enlightenment was to follow The Middle Way, path that involved avoiding extremes of both self-indulgence and its opposite, as embodied in the extreme forms of asceticism.
The general concepts of Buddhism are supported by the belief in karma. In the most simplistic definition, Buddhist karma is collective actions and thoughts people perform throughout their life. These actions bring about spiritual effects or consequences in that they affect the cycle of rebirth. Positive karma moves one closer to true enlightenment and freedom from the endless cycle of rebirth. This rebirth can mean many things, but this is not a literal reincarnation of the exact same entity. Things get complicated depending on how one wants to define soul and what not, but it's important to note that basically there is a continuity of sorts.
Arguably, in fundamental Buddhist truth, there's no true independence of being from existence or the universe itself. Part of the unease that comes with the cycle of rebirth comes from the spiritual denying of that truth and the fixation on individual existence. A common analogy is to think of individual entities are like a wave in the ocean. It has an independent existence of sorts but is not truly different than the ocean.
When that sort of thing is considered, karma sets up a situation that, in a sense, modulates the factors of reality leading to the arising of a new entity (kind of like the wind blowing on the ocean or the tug of the moon). Depending on the the type of Buddhism the range of possible incarnation might be anything to animals to what would be commonly considered supernatural beings or gods. There's even certain types of Buddhism that posit that incarnation is really about the becoming of being that comes from changing experiences and deny particular concern about supernatural concerns.
What does that freedom entail? Well, that may vary based on the type of Buddhism. Some forms basically postulate things that are basically just heaven-like concepts somewhat familiar in concept to many Westerners but others have the entity becoming one with the universe a sort of fundamental satisfaction that comes with becoming part of the true whole (or at least recognizing one is part of the true whole).
So how do obtain this freedom? Well, one must first understand the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. Now there are a lot subtleties lost in translations of these concepts and my rather cursory take on them here, but taking that into account these are (this wording is my own, there are many variations on this wording):
1) Existence is suffering: This isn't about is some simplistic idea that life is pain, but rather that a sort of spiritual unease lies at the center of common existence. An unease keeping one's life and from achieving true enlightenment.
2) The suffering is caused by desire: Specifically, desire and attachment for the things of the world
3) This suffering will only stop when the desire is quenched.
4) A freedom from the suffering can be attained by those who follow the Eight-Fold Path:
1) Right View
2) Right Intention
3) Right Speech
4) Right Action
5) Right Livelihood
6) Right Effort
7) Right Mindfulness
8) Right Concentration
Again, we'll speed along as to not spend the next ten years writing blog entries, but one key thing to take away from the above is that the idea is a holistic transformation of a person. It's not a matter of just doing the right thing but rather doing the right thing for the right reason because it's natural and not calculated. In the end, a person should follow the Eight-Fold Path naturally. Though Buddhism, particularly in Japan, does share some concern with defilement with Shinto, there's arguably a stronger emphasis on mental purity and purity of intention (hence a heavy focus on meditation). Obviously, this can all start getting tremendously complicated given the self-interest inherent in people in general. Various different types of Buddhism have different ways to handle this issue.
The Heian-era Japanese schools of thought are basically subsets of Mahayana Buddhism. Without delving too deep into the the metaphysics (as this is already going to be a three-part series of long entries), this is a universalist-type of Buddhism generally concerned with the enlightenment of mankind and not just personal enlightenment. Another important aspect are bodhisattvas. In the Mahayanan tradition, in simplistic terms, these are people who have are capable of achieving total enlightenment but hold back to aid others in reaching enlightenment. Depending on the version of Buddhism, these may be merely spiritually-advanced people or even beings who are effectively almost gods.
Next week, I'll continue with Part II of this series where we'll talk about the history and metaphysics underlying some of the major Heian-era Buddhist schools of thought and finish up the following week. Given all the discussion of a lack of attachment that I've mentioned above, certain aspects of Heian court culture in particular might seem to run counter to those Buddhist ideals. Well, just as with the practice of Christianity in Europe, some of this came from many people just not living up to the high standards of religion and some from certain particularly Japanese aspects of Buddhism. I'll try to touch on those in my breakdown of the specific Japanese schools of Buddhism.
-----
Last week, I offered a very cursory overview of Shinto, the native religion of the Japanese people. Though Shinto played a huge role in Japanese culture during the Heian period, Buddhism was just as important. If you'll recall from an earlier post, it was some concern over the political power of Buddhist temples that partially motivated the move of the capital that marked the start of the Heian era.
Given the incredible complexity and diversity of Buddhism over Asia, this will be, like the Shinto overview, a very basic overview. Today, I'm going to give a basic overview of Buddhism in general and then next two weeks I'll explore some of the permutations of Buddhism that defined the religion in Heian-era Japan. In future posts, I'll delve deeper into some of these aspects as relevant and cover some of the political aspects as well. For ease, I'll use some of the more common (read: often Sanskrit, a language of ancient India) words for some of these terms, as I tend to suspect many people have at least heard them versus their Japanese counterparts. The conceptual ideas are more important than the specific terminology here anyway.
As Buddhism spread from India all about Asia and eventually to Japan, it mixed with various existing folk traditions and concepts. In some cases, this means two people might be Buddhist but have apparently opposing metaphysical positions. So, I hope what you take away from this first Buddhist entry is more just the general concepts underlying Buddhist thought, which, at the minimum, give a general enough context to understand the basics of the religion. Next week and the following week, we'll attend to more fine detail as it applies to the main Japanese schools of Buddhism during the Heian era. It's also important to note that back in Heian Japan, many people didn't exactly spend a lot of time considering the fine metaphysics of their religion (even the educated), so the general ethical ideals motivating people's people are perhaps more important than a fine understand of the metaphysics.
First, some basic background. The Buddhist religion was founded by Siddhartha Gautama. He was born in what is now part of Nepal. Though he is often referred to as the Buddha, the word itself just really means enlightened and/or awakened one. Historians aren't totally sure of when he lived (there's competing sources), but it's approximately somewhere around the between the 6th-4th century BC. There's differing historical opinions on who he actually was (and various biographies vary), but the evidence does suggest the son of a man of great political importance, a prince.
Now, there's a lot of differing miracles and the like that have been attributed to the Buddha, but we're going to skip past a lot of that to focus basically on the core tenets of the Buddhist message in a painfully simplistic (i.e., blog-sized manner). One can make argument the original core Buddhist message was a reformist message, of sorts, against certain strains of the dominant regional Hindu beliefs. It was not, however, some sort of direct reaction by the Buddha against those religious beliefs (indeed, there is some overlap). So, don't think of the Buddha as the Martin Luther of South Asia.
The traditional biographies inform us that the Buddha became weary with his lifestyle of ease, power, and luxury. He traveled about and witnessing poverty, death, and suffering he was previously shielded from and the reality that death came for all, he decided to become an ascetic and travel about in search of enlightenment, particularly by studying with various religious teachers in India.
At the time, the ascetic tradition was a strong part of the dominant Hindu religious tradition (which we really don't need to understand for Heian-stuff, so I'll be not be writing about that). The summary version of all of this is that the Buddha realized that extreme asceticism would not lead him to enlightenment. After 49 days of meditation under a type of fig tree now called the Sacred Fig (even the Latin name is Ficus religiosa), he achieves enlightenment (the tree also is commonly referred to, among other names, as a Bodhi Tree--an enlightenment tree). He accepted that the path to enlightenment was to follow The Middle Way, path that involved avoiding extremes of both self-indulgence and its opposite, as embodied in the extreme forms of asceticism.
The general concepts of Buddhism are supported by the belief in karma. In the most simplistic definition, Buddhist karma is collective actions and thoughts people perform throughout their life. These actions bring about spiritual effects or consequences in that they affect the cycle of rebirth. Positive karma moves one closer to true enlightenment and freedom from the endless cycle of rebirth. This rebirth can mean many things, but this is not a literal reincarnation of the exact same entity. Things get complicated depending on how one wants to define soul and what not, but it's important to note that basically there is a continuity of sorts.
Arguably, in fundamental Buddhist truth, there's no true independence of being from existence or the universe itself. Part of the unease that comes with the cycle of rebirth comes from the spiritual denying of that truth and the fixation on individual existence. A common analogy is to think of individual entities are like a wave in the ocean. It has an independent existence of sorts but is not truly different than the ocean.
When that sort of thing is considered, karma sets up a situation that, in a sense, modulates the factors of reality leading to the arising of a new entity (kind of like the wind blowing on the ocean or the tug of the moon). Depending on the the type of Buddhism the range of possible incarnation might be anything to animals to what would be commonly considered supernatural beings or gods. There's even certain types of Buddhism that posit that incarnation is really about the becoming of being that comes from changing experiences and deny particular concern about supernatural concerns.
What does that freedom entail? Well, that may vary based on the type of Buddhism. Some forms basically postulate things that are basically just heaven-like concepts somewhat familiar in concept to many Westerners but others have the entity becoming one with the universe a sort of fundamental satisfaction that comes with becoming part of the true whole (or at least recognizing one is part of the true whole).
So how do obtain this freedom? Well, one must first understand the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. Now there are a lot subtleties lost in translations of these concepts and my rather cursory take on them here, but taking that into account these are (this wording is my own, there are many variations on this wording):
1) Existence is suffering: This isn't about is some simplistic idea that life is pain, but rather that a sort of spiritual unease lies at the center of common existence. An unease keeping one's life and from achieving true enlightenment.
2) The suffering is caused by desire: Specifically, desire and attachment for the things of the world
3) This suffering will only stop when the desire is quenched.
4) A freedom from the suffering can be attained by those who follow the Eight-Fold Path:
1) Right View
2) Right Intention
3) Right Speech
4) Right Action
5) Right Livelihood
6) Right Effort
7) Right Mindfulness
8) Right Concentration
Again, we'll speed along as to not spend the next ten years writing blog entries, but one key thing to take away from the above is that the idea is a holistic transformation of a person. It's not a matter of just doing the right thing but rather doing the right thing for the right reason because it's natural and not calculated. In the end, a person should follow the Eight-Fold Path naturally. Though Buddhism, particularly in Japan, does share some concern with defilement with Shinto, there's arguably a stronger emphasis on mental purity and purity of intention (hence a heavy focus on meditation). Obviously, this can all start getting tremendously complicated given the self-interest inherent in people in general. Various different types of Buddhism have different ways to handle this issue.
The Heian-era Japanese schools of thought are basically subsets of Mahayana Buddhism. Without delving too deep into the the metaphysics (as this is already going to be a three-part series of long entries), this is a universalist-type of Buddhism generally concerned with the enlightenment of mankind and not just personal enlightenment. Another important aspect are bodhisattvas. In the Mahayanan tradition, in simplistic terms, these are people who have are capable of achieving total enlightenment but hold back to aid others in reaching enlightenment. Depending on the version of Buddhism, these may be merely spiritually-advanced people or even beings who are effectively almost gods.
Next week, I'll continue with Part II of this series where we'll talk about the history and metaphysics underlying some of the major Heian-era Buddhist schools of thought and finish up the following week. Given all the discussion of a lack of attachment that I've mentioned above, certain aspects of Heian court culture in particular might seem to run counter to those Buddhist ideals. Well, just as with the practice of Christianity in Europe, some of this came from many people just not living up to the high standards of religion and some from certain particularly Japanese aspects of Buddhism. I'll try to touch on those in my breakdown of the specific Japanese schools of Buddhism.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The Age of Tranquility and Peace, Heian Japan #6: Shinto, the Way of the Gods
I present the sixth in my series on Heian-era Japan. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, just click here for an overview of the Heian era.
One can't begin to understand a culture without understanding their religious and spiritual systems. I've been somewhat remiss as I have referenced Heian religion several times but have yet to take the time to talk about it much. Of course, religion, spirituality, and metaphysics is a complex topic, so like all these blog entries, I shall only be briefly skimming the surface.
The important thing to keep in mind about Heian-era Japan, and for that matter Japan for most of its history, is that its religious culture has been defined by an incredible amount of syncretism. Though they had the occasional bout of resistance to outside ideas and religious conflict, overall the people of the islands of Japan have had little lasting issue with integrating elements of different imported and native belief systems into something they did not find internally inconsistent.
During the Heian era, the culture was defined by a mix of the homegrown Shinto belief system and Buddhism imported from China. As the imperial family claimed descent from Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess, and many important families were involved in Shinto rites and/or temples, there was never a strong effort to push aside the beliefs, particularly as Shinto and the imported forms of Buddhism didn't demand much in the way of religious exclusivity from the common adherent.
Today I want to focus on Shinto (lit. The Way of the Gods or Spirits). It's important to note that Shinto, in contrast to Buddhism, can't be traced back to a single prophet or teacher. Instead, it is the accumulation of supernatural and spiritual beliefs that mostly originated, based on archaeological evidence, as least as far back as the late Jomon period (roughly 2000 BC to about 300-400 BC). It's unclear how much of Shinto beliefs developed independently versus being the result of influence by people emigrating to Japan from other parts of East Asia. In the centuries of the following Yayoi period, many elements of Shinto belief became somewhat more formalized. The imperial family, incidentally, claims descent to this period.
There were various iterations in Shinto belief between the Jomon and Heian eras. As this is a blog series about the Heian era, and not earlier Japanese history, we'll skip those and talk about the form Shinto had comfortably settled into during our period of interest.
Actually, we'll cheat and take a slight step back to the Nara period (710-794 AD). During this period, two vary important works were written: the Kojiki (712) and the Nihon Shoki (720). The Kojiki was mostly a book of myths and legends. The Nihon Shoki, although it includes some mythological material, was written more as a more dedicated history work. These works are relevant because they described (and more importantly recorded on paper) various extant myths, legends, and spiritual practices. At the time, Shinto was not thought of some sort of unified method of religious practice, but instead just the sum total of the collected beliefs of the people in those classical and pre-classical Japanese. The word Shinto itself was used in the Nihon Shoki to contrast it with the imported Buddhism. It wasn't until about the 12th-century that it came to be associated with somewhat more formalized, yet still accepting of syncretism, religious doctrines. So, in that sense, for a good chunk of Japanese history, Shinto was just whatever they believed in and certainly wasn't perceived as some sort of formalized religion. Shinto was just the way of the world, not special revelation.
Given that Shinto was just a way of understanding the world around them, the classical Japanese had little trouble, in general, taking up Buddhism at the same time. This is not to say, however, that no one ever had metaphysical struggles nor rejected, on some level, syncretism. Such issues are attested to in period fiction, period diaries, and other primary source historical material. That being said there was no wide-scale displacement of Shinto by Buddhism like there was with many other religions of the world as they spread into areas with extant folk religions. The two forms of belief both infused themselves into the spiritual DNA of Japan and to this today there are huge numbers of who follow both Shinto and Buddhist practices in Japan.
A key aspect of Shinto thought is a lack of separation in the spirit world and the human world. The fundamental root of Shinto is reverence and worship of kami. This is a very nebulous term. Sometimes it's translated into English as spirits and sometimes as gods. In a sense, it's both. Kami can be the inherent quality of certain things in nature. Kami also can be what Westerners would typically describe as some sort of animistic spirits. Some kami are also closer to what would typically be referred to as gods. Even these beings, however, are not quite the omnipotent and semi-omnipotent gods that defines say, the various Abrahamic faiths.
You could have a kami that dwells within a tree or a kami that literally was the tree. You could have a kami that is the a human who after death becomes the embodiment of the godlike embodiment of a concept (i.e., Tenjin-sama, kami of scholarship) or you could have a kami like Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto. This goddess was married to another kami and roughly speaking was the embodiment of merriment and revelry. A famous myth relates how when the sun goddess Amaterasu retreated to a cave after her storm god brother attacked her temples and servitors darkness fell over the world. Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto performed a comical dance that caused other kami to laugh. A curious Amaterasu ended up emerging from the cave to see the source of the entertainment, and others nearby blocked the cave, thus keeping the sun goddess outside and returning light to the world.
The basis of the worship of various kami were (and are) shrines throughout Japan both larger complexes and smaller more personal shrines in places like homes or in places like roads or the forest. Some of these shines are rather grand and scope (such as those associated with Tenjin-sama) and therefore would attract attention from many people, and some may be focused on some extremely local kami and might only be of interest to a particular village. Again, the important thing, metaphysically, is that these kami are not separate from the rest of the world even if, on occasion, they are insubstantial or physically intangible. They do not dwell in a separate spiritual plane or Heaven whether they are a goddess of merriment of the spirit of a river.
Another bedrock concept in Shinto is purity. In Shinto belief humans are born pure and become impure through physical, spiritual, and moral corruption. Many forms of Shinto rituals are based on purification. As I'm running long, I'll just keep in simple and note wicked behavior is an easy form of corruption under Shinto belief. Disease is one thing associated with physical corruption. There are a variety of forms of spiritual corruption, but one major constant is death and dying. The presence of death or the handling of the dead was often considered a major form of corruption. Certain jobs, such as being an undertaker or tanner, were considering incredibly spiritually corrupting and assigned to low-caste outcasts. Arguably, this contributed to the formation of the burakumin social caste that in many way lingers even in modern Japan.
Like many topics I've covered, Shinto could be an entire blog series by itself, so I'll stop here and just reinforce the twin themes of kami and purity. I shall be revisiting certain aspects of Shinto in the future in more detail as well.
Next week, I'll briefly survey Japanese Buddhism. All the same caveats will apply.
-----
One can't begin to understand a culture without understanding their religious and spiritual systems. I've been somewhat remiss as I have referenced Heian religion several times but have yet to take the time to talk about it much. Of course, religion, spirituality, and metaphysics is a complex topic, so like all these blog entries, I shall only be briefly skimming the surface.
The important thing to keep in mind about Heian-era Japan, and for that matter Japan for most of its history, is that its religious culture has been defined by an incredible amount of syncretism. Though they had the occasional bout of resistance to outside ideas and religious conflict, overall the people of the islands of Japan have had little lasting issue with integrating elements of different imported and native belief systems into something they did not find internally inconsistent.
During the Heian era, the culture was defined by a mix of the homegrown Shinto belief system and Buddhism imported from China. As the imperial family claimed descent from Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess, and many important families were involved in Shinto rites and/or temples, there was never a strong effort to push aside the beliefs, particularly as Shinto and the imported forms of Buddhism didn't demand much in the way of religious exclusivity from the common adherent.
Today I want to focus on Shinto (lit. The Way of the Gods or Spirits). It's important to note that Shinto, in contrast to Buddhism, can't be traced back to a single prophet or teacher. Instead, it is the accumulation of supernatural and spiritual beliefs that mostly originated, based on archaeological evidence, as least as far back as the late Jomon period (roughly 2000 BC to about 300-400 BC). It's unclear how much of Shinto beliefs developed independently versus being the result of influence by people emigrating to Japan from other parts of East Asia. In the centuries of the following Yayoi period, many elements of Shinto belief became somewhat more formalized. The imperial family, incidentally, claims descent to this period.
There were various iterations in Shinto belief between the Jomon and Heian eras. As this is a blog series about the Heian era, and not earlier Japanese history, we'll skip those and talk about the form Shinto had comfortably settled into during our period of interest.
Actually, we'll cheat and take a slight step back to the Nara period (710-794 AD). During this period, two vary important works were written: the Kojiki (712) and the Nihon Shoki (720). The Kojiki was mostly a book of myths and legends. The Nihon Shoki, although it includes some mythological material, was written more as a more dedicated history work. These works are relevant because they described (and more importantly recorded on paper) various extant myths, legends, and spiritual practices. At the time, Shinto was not thought of some sort of unified method of religious practice, but instead just the sum total of the collected beliefs of the people in those classical and pre-classical Japanese. The word Shinto itself was used in the Nihon Shoki to contrast it with the imported Buddhism. It wasn't until about the 12th-century that it came to be associated with somewhat more formalized, yet still accepting of syncretism, religious doctrines. So, in that sense, for a good chunk of Japanese history, Shinto was just whatever they believed in and certainly wasn't perceived as some sort of formalized religion. Shinto was just the way of the world, not special revelation.
Given that Shinto was just a way of understanding the world around them, the classical Japanese had little trouble, in general, taking up Buddhism at the same time. This is not to say, however, that no one ever had metaphysical struggles nor rejected, on some level, syncretism. Such issues are attested to in period fiction, period diaries, and other primary source historical material. That being said there was no wide-scale displacement of Shinto by Buddhism like there was with many other religions of the world as they spread into areas with extant folk religions. The two forms of belief both infused themselves into the spiritual DNA of Japan and to this today there are huge numbers of who follow both Shinto and Buddhist practices in Japan.
A key aspect of Shinto thought is a lack of separation in the spirit world and the human world. The fundamental root of Shinto is reverence and worship of kami. This is a very nebulous term. Sometimes it's translated into English as spirits and sometimes as gods. In a sense, it's both. Kami can be the inherent quality of certain things in nature. Kami also can be what Westerners would typically describe as some sort of animistic spirits. Some kami are also closer to what would typically be referred to as gods. Even these beings, however, are not quite the omnipotent and semi-omnipotent gods that defines say, the various Abrahamic faiths.
You could have a kami that dwells within a tree or a kami that literally was the tree. You could have a kami that is the a human who after death becomes the embodiment of the godlike embodiment of a concept (i.e., Tenjin-sama, kami of scholarship) or you could have a kami like Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto. This goddess was married to another kami and roughly speaking was the embodiment of merriment and revelry. A famous myth relates how when the sun goddess Amaterasu retreated to a cave after her storm god brother attacked her temples and servitors darkness fell over the world. Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto performed a comical dance that caused other kami to laugh. A curious Amaterasu ended up emerging from the cave to see the source of the entertainment, and others nearby blocked the cave, thus keeping the sun goddess outside and returning light to the world.
The basis of the worship of various kami were (and are) shrines throughout Japan both larger complexes and smaller more personal shrines in places like homes or in places like roads or the forest. Some of these shines are rather grand and scope (such as those associated with Tenjin-sama) and therefore would attract attention from many people, and some may be focused on some extremely local kami and might only be of interest to a particular village. Again, the important thing, metaphysically, is that these kami are not separate from the rest of the world even if, on occasion, they are insubstantial or physically intangible. They do not dwell in a separate spiritual plane or Heaven whether they are a goddess of merriment of the spirit of a river.
Another bedrock concept in Shinto is purity. In Shinto belief humans are born pure and become impure through physical, spiritual, and moral corruption. Many forms of Shinto rituals are based on purification. As I'm running long, I'll just keep in simple and note wicked behavior is an easy form of corruption under Shinto belief. Disease is one thing associated with physical corruption. There are a variety of forms of spiritual corruption, but one major constant is death and dying. The presence of death or the handling of the dead was often considered a major form of corruption. Certain jobs, such as being an undertaker or tanner, were considering incredibly spiritually corrupting and assigned to low-caste outcasts. Arguably, this contributed to the formation of the burakumin social caste that in many way lingers even in modern Japan.
Like many topics I've covered, Shinto could be an entire blog series by itself, so I'll stop here and just reinforce the twin themes of kami and purity. I shall be revisiting certain aspects of Shinto in the future in more detail as well.
Next week, I'll briefly survey Japanese Buddhism. All the same caveats will apply.
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Age of Tranquility and Peace, Heian Japan #3: The Fujiwara and the Poisoned Chrysanthemum, Fujiwara control of the emperor
I'm running a little late this week, but today, I present the third in my series on Heian-era Japan. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, just click here for a brief overview of the Heian era.
----
Despite the presence of a monarch who claims descent from a sun goddess, Amaterasu, much of Japanese history has been defined by emperors rather lacking in absolute power and the concordant ability to rule unchecked. Today, the current Japanese emperor spends much of his time involved in religious ritual and ceremonial procedures rather than phoning the prime minister to tell him how to run things. The evolution of the modern role of the emperor is outside the scope of this series, but we'll instead discuss the rise and fall of the emperor during the Heian period.
The Heian era began with the 50th Japanese emperor, Kanmu, moving the capital to Heian-kyo (present day Kyoto) in 794. This came only thirteen years after a previous capital move. It isn't that the emperor just liked to move, though. Instead, the second move, in particular, was reportedly motivated by political considerations. Buddhist temples and local aristocrats had become too influential, effectively limiting the emperor's power. By moving the capital, the emperor was attempting to refocus political power into the central government lead by him.
The government of Heian-kyo was a bureaucratic beast consisting of a governing council, many departments and many officials. Due to the complexity of both the governmental structure and the socio-political factors that went into becoming an official, we'll set that aside for now other than to note it was influenced by Tang-era Chinese government, and many elements that defined the Heian-era Japanese government were codified during the preceding Nara and Asuka periods (710-794 and 538-710, respectively).
The emperor sat onto his government. The mere existence of a bureaucracy already limited a lot of the emperor's power early on by limiting his ability to get things done easily and directly. Certain religious considerations also kept down a lot of the kind of pure terror that might keep certain people in line. Violence was considered to cause spiritual pollution, which, in turn, required purification. So, he couldn't exactly drag people into the palace to have their heads cut off and stuck on pikes to terrify his enemies. One may laugh at my extreme example, but it's striking how many rulers in many lands (including Japan at different points in its history) basically preserved their power through monopolizing that sort of callous violence.
His daily routine was heavily influenced by religious ritual (particularly Shinto ritual) and so matters of spiritual purity were particularly important to the emperor. In fact, the emperor being so busy with daily rituals, both secular or otherwise, also limited his direct political influence. He simply didn't have time to micromanage the affairs of the government.
Emperor Kanmu's efforts to reorganize the government and capital to tighten central power were also undermined by the machinations of the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara were a powerful aristocratic family that had been previously involved in disrupting the attempt of another powerful clan, the Soga, to consolidate control over the imperial government in the 7th century. By the time of the Heian era, Fujiwara were in many positions in the government. Many Fujiwara princesses had intermarried with the Imperial line since the Nara period.
By the 9th century, with their power on the rise and many of their enemies politically neutralized, the Fujiwara made a more bold bid for de facto control. If the sitting emperor produced a male child with a Fujiwara wife or consort, the Fujiwara lobbied hard to ensure that child would be named successor. In the interim, the child would spend a lot of time around his clan. They would also appoint a formal adviser. If underage when the assuming the Imperial Throne, the adviser would become a type of reagent called a sesshō, and, as a result, the elder Fujiwara would have general control of the government. Such was the case with the first Fujiwara regent, Yoshifusa, who became the regent for the Emperor Seiwa (850-881, reign: 858-876). Though the Fujiwara couldn't always keep complete control of the government, they would exhibit considerable influence to the 11th century.
Another way the emperor's true power was taken, regardless of whether he was of partially Fujiwara blood or not was because of the Japanese institution of retired emperors. As I noted above, the emperor had to spend a lot of time on rituals, protocol, and other assorted official activities. An emperor, however, could choose to retire. As I'll explain more of in a bit, these retired emperors later ended up a power center themselves that competed with the sitting emperor.
The Fujiwara also exploited the earlier version of this system by encouraging emperors to retire young (usually in their thirties or forties) so that the next boy emperor could rise. So, even if a half-Fujiwara emperor started thinking seriously about limiting the ability of the clan (and why would he, if his own mother was a Fujiwara), he may soon have ended up finding himself pushed aside, so a newer, more pliable candidate could take the job. It is important to note that the Fujiwara were everywhere in the government, so the amount of social and political pressure they could bring to bear was tremendous, even on the emperor.
The Fujiwara's fortunes finally startd to reverse in 1068. The Emperor Go-Sanjō (1034-1073) had the particular misfortune (from the Fujiwara point of view) of not being born to a Fujiwara. There had been others since the Fujiwara squeezed their fingers around the throne, but he was the first in a hundred years. He also initiated several legal and political reforms to to curtail the influence of the Fujiwara. His son, the Emperor Shirakawa further eroded the control of the Fujiwara in an unusual way. He retired early as I discussed earlier, but went so far as to set up an alternative court in 1087 with officials and advisers. He became a so-called "cloistered emperor". This cloistered emperor system would seriously undermine the effective power of the sitting emperor, both weakening the emperor himself and the Fujiwara indirectly who had spent centuries developing their power around the control of the emperor.
With the close of the 12th century would come the Genpei War. That war saw the power of the emperor all but totally obliterated as the shoguns, military dictators, took firm control of Japan for centuries. Although the position of emperor was never eliminated, it lost almost all political power, either direct or indirect as the bureaucratic system, and the officials that populated it, became less important than the military might of the samurai. The cloistered emperors would linger for a few centuries, but their power had also been seriously curtailed.
There's a certain irony accompanying the cloistered system. I didn't go into detail above, but when these emperors retired, the standard practice was to go live in a Buddhist temple and take on Buddhist holy orders. So, the Emperor Kanmu had initiated the Heian era by moving the capital partially to escape the political influence of Buddhist temples on the government, but by the end of the era, retired emperors living as Buddhist holy men had tremendous influence.
 |
| The Imperial Seal of Japan, a 16-petal chrysanthemum, hence why the sitting empire is sometimes referred to as sitting on the Chrysanthemum Throne |
The Heian era began with the 50th Japanese emperor, Kanmu, moving the capital to Heian-kyo (present day Kyoto) in 794. This came only thirteen years after a previous capital move. It isn't that the emperor just liked to move, though. Instead, the second move, in particular, was reportedly motivated by political considerations. Buddhist temples and local aristocrats had become too influential, effectively limiting the emperor's power. By moving the capital, the emperor was attempting to refocus political power into the central government lead by him.
 |
| Emperor Kanmu (737-806) |
The emperor sat onto his government. The mere existence of a bureaucracy already limited a lot of the emperor's power early on by limiting his ability to get things done easily and directly. Certain religious considerations also kept down a lot of the kind of pure terror that might keep certain people in line. Violence was considered to cause spiritual pollution, which, in turn, required purification. So, he couldn't exactly drag people into the palace to have their heads cut off and stuck on pikes to terrify his enemies. One may laugh at my extreme example, but it's striking how many rulers in many lands (including Japan at different points in its history) basically preserved their power through monopolizing that sort of callous violence.
His daily routine was heavily influenced by religious ritual (particularly Shinto ritual) and so matters of spiritual purity were particularly important to the emperor. In fact, the emperor being so busy with daily rituals, both secular or otherwise, also limited his direct political influence. He simply didn't have time to micromanage the affairs of the government.
Emperor Kanmu's efforts to reorganize the government and capital to tighten central power were also undermined by the machinations of the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara were a powerful aristocratic family that had been previously involved in disrupting the attempt of another powerful clan, the Soga, to consolidate control over the imperial government in the 7th century. By the time of the Heian era, Fujiwara were in many positions in the government. Many Fujiwara princesses had intermarried with the Imperial line since the Nara period.
By the 9th century, with their power on the rise and many of their enemies politically neutralized, the Fujiwara made a more bold bid for de facto control. If the sitting emperor produced a male child with a Fujiwara wife or consort, the Fujiwara lobbied hard to ensure that child would be named successor. In the interim, the child would spend a lot of time around his clan. They would also appoint a formal adviser. If underage when the assuming the Imperial Throne, the adviser would become a type of reagent called a sesshō, and, as a result, the elder Fujiwara would have general control of the government. Such was the case with the first Fujiwara regent, Yoshifusa, who became the regent for the Emperor Seiwa (850-881, reign: 858-876). Though the Fujiwara couldn't always keep complete control of the government, they would exhibit considerable influence to the 11th century.
Another way the emperor's true power was taken, regardless of whether he was of partially Fujiwara blood or not was because of the Japanese institution of retired emperors. As I noted above, the emperor had to spend a lot of time on rituals, protocol, and other assorted official activities. An emperor, however, could choose to retire. As I'll explain more of in a bit, these retired emperors later ended up a power center themselves that competed with the sitting emperor.
The Fujiwara also exploited the earlier version of this system by encouraging emperors to retire young (usually in their thirties or forties) so that the next boy emperor could rise. So, even if a half-Fujiwara emperor started thinking seriously about limiting the ability of the clan (and why would he, if his own mother was a Fujiwara), he may soon have ended up finding himself pushed aside, so a newer, more pliable candidate could take the job. It is important to note that the Fujiwara were everywhere in the government, so the amount of social and political pressure they could bring to bear was tremendous, even on the emperor.
The Fujiwara's fortunes finally startd to reverse in 1068. The Emperor Go-Sanjō (1034-1073) had the particular misfortune (from the Fujiwara point of view) of not being born to a Fujiwara. There had been others since the Fujiwara squeezed their fingers around the throne, but he was the first in a hundred years. He also initiated several legal and political reforms to to curtail the influence of the Fujiwara. His son, the Emperor Shirakawa further eroded the control of the Fujiwara in an unusual way. He retired early as I discussed earlier, but went so far as to set up an alternative court in 1087 with officials and advisers. He became a so-called "cloistered emperor". This cloistered emperor system would seriously undermine the effective power of the sitting emperor, both weakening the emperor himself and the Fujiwara indirectly who had spent centuries developing their power around the control of the emperor.
With the close of the 12th century would come the Genpei War. That war saw the power of the emperor all but totally obliterated as the shoguns, military dictators, took firm control of Japan for centuries. Although the position of emperor was never eliminated, it lost almost all political power, either direct or indirect as the bureaucratic system, and the officials that populated it, became less important than the military might of the samurai. The cloistered emperors would linger for a few centuries, but their power had also been seriously curtailed.
There's a certain irony accompanying the cloistered system. I didn't go into detail above, but when these emperors retired, the standard practice was to go live in a Buddhist temple and take on Buddhist holy orders. So, the Emperor Kanmu had initiated the Heian era by moving the capital partially to escape the political influence of Buddhist temples on the government, but by the end of the era, retired emperors living as Buddhist holy men had tremendous influence.
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