The tradition of venerating the Lotus Sūtrain 11th century Japan according to Hokke genki: Miracles and miracle workers

Abstract

The Lotus Sūtra tradition in Japanese Buddhist thought includes not only scholarly works of monks, but also works in less strict genres, including the collection of didactic tales Dainihonkoku Hokke-kyō genki (Hokke genki, mid-11th century). The article discusses the following questions: what exactly is understood by a miracle in this text, what features are attributed to miracle workers and their miraculous assistants, how do a person’s own efforts and the action of “other-power”, tariki (be it the power of the sutra itself or the miraculous properties of its characters) relate to each other. According to the author of the article, in the Hokke genki the main sign of a miracle is the coincidence between specific events in the Japanese community and the predictions of the sūtra. Miracles do not depend on the status of the character in the community or even on his righteousness. There may be no miracle in the story in the ordinary sense of the word; all that is important for the narrative is that people and other living beings here and now fulfill what the sutra says. The extreme case of devotion to the sūtra — self-immolation for its sake — remains in the Lotus Sūtra tradition, and is hardly discussed outside it; the version of this tradition reflected in the Hokke genki hardly anticipates the exclusive adherence to the sutra in the Hokke tradition of the 13th century.