How to Perform Innate Awakening:
The Consecration Rituals of Medieval Japanese Tantric Lineages

Speaker:  Lucia Dolce
Wednesday, February 12th, 18:00 JST

 
The ritual history of Japanese Tantric Buddhism, even during its purported medieval golden age, remains inadequately understood. Advanced consecration rituals, in particular, have been little studied, despite their crucial role in establishing the identity and legitimacy of Tantric practitioners. This talk examines one such ritual, known in contemporary documents as yugi kanjō, through an analysis of Taimitsu (Tendai Tantric Buddhist) sources. This consecration encapsulates the Tantric approach to ultimate realization through distinctive practices of body marking and self-consecration. While the ritual has frequently been characterized as heterodox, an expansive reading of Taimitsu sources suggest continuity with established continental practices, underscoring the necessity of reconceptualizing Japanese Tantric Buddhist history within a broader trans-regional framework.

Lucia Dolce is Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhism at SOAS, University of London, and Chair of the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions. Her research explores discursive and ritual practices of religion in Japan combining archival survey, philosophical analysis and fieldwork. She currently is a visiting research fellow at Nichibunken to complete a project that maps out the medieval Tantric discourse on ritual body.

This hybrid lecture will be held on site and via Zoom.

Registration required in advance from https://forms.gle/Rd888uws3J4Wmsph7

Zoom Meeting ID:854 6708 4761

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85467084761

Venue: EFEO Kyoto, 29 Kitashirakawa Betto-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8276
You can find the place on Google Maps with the words 'EFEO Kyoto'.

Language: English

École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO)
Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Co-hosted by Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University

 kyoto lectures