The Legacy of Indian Buddhism in Konjaku monogatari-shū

Abstract

Konjaku monogatari-shū (1120s) is the largest collection of setsuwa tales in Japanese literature. Among more than a thousand of his stories, 185 are devoted to India. For the most part, these are simple examples of retribution with happiness for good deeds and grief for evil, parables about the relativity of any differences (between the noble and the humble, the rich and the poor, the wise and the fool), cases
from the life of Buddha Shakyamuni, his disciples and followers, his opponents and those who lived before his arrival, but tried to study and preserve the teachings of the ancient buddhas. These stories are taken partly from sutras, partly from Chinese Buddhist encyclopedias, or from the writings of Chinese pilgrims who visited India; the plots are presented in Japanese and reflect the view of the Japanese scribes on what the Buddha's homeland should be like. In the narrative, the plot is often tailored to the task: to prove that the Japanese Buddhist community has not strayed too far from the ancient Indian prototype. The setsuwa genre itself does not imply consideration of complex philosophical issues, but the more interesting are the stories where excerpts from the books of the Buddhist canon (in Chinese translation) are quoted verbatim or translated close to the text. Also noteworthy are the stories of famous masters such as Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, and of the beginning of traditions that are especially significant for Japan: the worship of Buddha Amitabha, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and the Lotus Sutra.