JJRS > Volume 41 Issue 1 Ōjōden, the Hokke genki, and Mountain Practices of Devotees of the Sutra

Kikuchi Hiroki

Download PDF

This article is an investigation of historical sources such as the Hokke genki that reveal the practices and thought of medieval Japanese Buddhists. The textual history of this genre of biographies and its sources are described. A comparison with Ōjōden is particularly useful. The article then analyzes a number of biographies, many of them of recluses in the mountains, and focuses on the relationship between practitioners and lay believers. Finally, the doctrinal aspects of practices are examined and a progression from a mix of esoteric-exoteric thought to a focus on the Lotus Sutra is suggested.