Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Shin Buddhism and Gender

Shin Buddhism and Gender In the two main branches of Jōdo Shinshū (or Shin Buddhism), the Ōtani-ha and the Honganji-ha, a movement toward gender equality emerged in the 1980s. This movement and its development have brought about internal discussions on discrimination against women and an increasing awareness of gender issues, as well as concrete reforms of institutional laws. In the Ōtani-ha, a ruling that explicitly excluded women from becoming temple chief priests ( jūshoku ) led to protests and petitions by the association of chief priests’ wives and resulted in the establishment of the “Women’s Association to Consider Gender Discrimination in the Ōtani-ha.” Although the Honganji-ha has formally accepted female chief priests since 1946, the definition of the role of the bōmori (lit. temple guardian) as the temple chief priest’s wife suggested hierarchical gender roles, which also stimulated demands for reforms. This article shows the forms of gender discrimination which have been the focus of debates and discussions. Here, I present the reforms and changes that have been achieved over the past few decades and examine the reasons and influences that were instrumental during this process. In this context, I analyze the arguments used by both the reform-oriented and the conservative sides of the issue, and I also explore the relationship of this gender discrimination discourse to earlier Shin Buddhist social developments, such as internal reform movements and efforts to combat discrimination against burakumin . http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Religion in Japan Brill

Shin Buddhism and Gender

Heidegger, Simone
Journal of Religion in Japan , Volume 4 (2-3): 133 – Jan 1, 2015
Download PDF
51 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/shin-buddhism-and-gender-T7pMnTj8Uy

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
ISSN
2211-8330
eISSN
2211-8349
DOI
10.1163/22118349-00402004
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In the two main branches of Jōdo Shinshū (or Shin Buddhism), the Ōtani-ha and the Honganji-ha, a movement toward gender equality emerged in the 1980s. This movement and its development have brought about internal discussions on discrimination against women and an increasing awareness of gender issues, as well as concrete reforms of institutional laws. In the Ōtani-ha, a ruling that explicitly excluded women from becoming temple chief priests ( jūshoku ) led to protests and petitions by the association of chief priests’ wives and resulted in the establishment of the “Women’s Association to Consider Gender Discrimination in the Ōtani-ha.” Although the Honganji-ha has formally accepted female chief priests since 1946, the definition of the role of the bōmori (lit. temple guardian) as the temple chief priest’s wife suggested hierarchical gender roles, which also stimulated demands for reforms. This article shows the forms of gender discrimination which have been the focus of debates and discussions. Here, I present the reforms and changes that have been achieved over the past few decades and examine the reasons and influences that were instrumental during this process. In this context, I analyze the arguments used by both the reform-oriented and the conservative sides of the issue, and I also explore the relationship of this gender discrimination discourse to earlier Shin Buddhist social developments, such as internal reform movements and efforts to combat discrimination against burakumin .

Journal

Journal of Religion in Japan – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2015

Keywords: gender; women; Jōdo Shinshū; Shin Buddhism; discrimination; ethics

There are no references for this article.