RT Article
T1 Magical Medicine?: Japanese Buddhist Medical Knowledge and Ritual Instruction for Healing the Physical Body
JF Japanese religions
VO 37
IS 1/2
SP 63
OP 92
A1 Triplett, Katja 1968-
LA English
YR 2012
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1751897583
AB This  article  surveys  textual  sources  that  pertain  to  ‘medicine’  as  a  set  of  ideas  produced  and  maintained  as  a  social  and  cultural  system  of  knowledge  in  early  and  medieval  Japanese  Buddhism.  Terminological  problems  faced  in  working  on  this material such as ‘religious’ or ‘magical healing’ as opposed to ‘secular, scientifi c and  evidence-based  medicine,’  are  assessed.  Th   e  sources  under  investigation  in  this  article treat both ritual and medical knowledge in a combined way: Japanese medical works  that  are  usually  thought  to  be  secular  such  as  the  court  physician’s  Ishinpōactually quote numerous Buddhist sources. Buddhist monastics and powerful lay patrons  actively  engaged  in  obtaining  medico-religious  knowledge  as  shown  in  the  case of the materia medica compiled by the Shingon monk Ken’i in the 12th century. In addition to aristocratic members of the elite, semi-ordained “miracle working” healers  seem  to  have  had  a  signifi  cant  impact  on  the  production  of  knowledge  as  well.  Th   e  article  concludes  with  a  reconsideration  of  basic  categories  derived  from  the  “Western”  intellectual  tradition  and  suggests  focusing  more  on  the  syncretistic  and pluralistic nature of the Japanese healing system as encountered in the primary sources.
K1 Japanese Buddhism
K1 Medicine
K1 Ritual
K1 Ishinpō
K1 Daigo-ji
K1 Knowledge