Heian periodThe Heian period is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). 平安 means "peace" in Japanese. It is a period in Japanese history when the Chinese influences were in decline and the national culture matured. The Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature.
ShantidevaShantideva (Sanskrit: Śāntideva; ; ; Шантидэва гэгээн; Tịch Thiên) was an 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar at the mahavihara of Nalanda. He was an adherent of the Mādhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna. He is also considered to be one of the 84 mahasiddhas and is known as Bhusuku. The Zhansi Lun of the East Asian Mādhyamaka identifies two different individuals given the name "Shantideva": the founder of the Avaivartika Mahāyānika Sangha in 6th century CE (in Samataṭa, modern Bangladesh) and a later Shantideva who studied at Nalanda in the 8th century CE and appears to be the source of the Tibetan biographies.
SōtōSōtō Zen or the Sōtō school is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān Liánjiè. It emphasizes Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.
BodhisattvaIn Buddhism, a bodhisattva (ˌboʊdiːˈsʌtvə ; 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools, as well as modern Theravāda Buddhism, bodhisattva (Pāli: bodhisatta) refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
DharaniDharanis (IAST: ), also known as Parittas, are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the Buddhist devotee, they constitute a major part of historic Buddhist literature. Many of these chants are in Sanskrit and Pali, written in scripts such as Siddhaṃ as well as transliterated into Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Sinhala, Thai and other regional scripts.
VairocanaVairocana (also Mahāvairocana, वैरोचन) is a cosmic buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like the Avatamsaka Sutra, as the dharmakāya of the historical Gautama Buddha. In East Asian Buddhism (Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese Buddhism), Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of śūnyatā. In the conception of the 5 Jinas of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the centre and is considered a Primordial Buddha.
AvalokiteśvaraIn Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (Sanskrit: अवलोकितेश्वर, IPA: ˌʌvəloʊkɪˈteɪʃvərə), also known as Avalokitasvara, is a bodhisattva who contains the compassion of all Buddhas and is the principal attendant of Amitabha Buddha on the right. He has 108 avatars, the most notable of which is Padmapāṇi (the lotus bearer). He is variably depicted, described, and portrayed as either male or female in different cultures. Guanyin is one of the female depictions of Avalokiteśvara usually seen in East Asia.
UpayaUpaya (Sanskrit: उपाय, , expedient means, pedagogy) is a term used in Buddhism to refer to an aspect of guidance along the Buddhist paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary action "is driven by an incomplete reasoning" about its direction. Upaya is often used with kaushalya (कौशल्य, "cleverness"), upaya-kaushalya meaning "skill in means". Upaya-kaushalya is a concept emphasizing that practitioners may use their own specific methods or techniques that fit the situation in order to gain enlightenment.
Chinese Buddhist canonThe Chinese Buddhist canon refers to a specific collection of Chinese language Buddhist literature that is deemed canonical in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese Buddhism. The traditional term for the canon is "Great Storage of Scriptures" (). The Chinese Buddhist canon includes Āgama, Vinaya and Abhidharma texts from Early Buddhist schools, as well as the Mahāyāna sūtras and scriptures from Esoteric Buddhism. The Taishō Daizōkyō is the standard modern edition as systematized by Japanese scholars, published in Japan from 1924 to 1929.
Religion in JapanReligion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 80% of the populace follow Shinto rituals to some degree, worshiping ancestors and spirits at domestic altars and public shrines. An almost equally high number is reported as Buddhist. Syncretic combinations of both, known generally as , are common; they represented Japan's dominant religion before the rise of State Shinto in the 19th century.
