Kofukuji and the Vimalakirti Assembly

[Mikaël Bauer, Prof]

Dear colleagues,

I am glad to announce my new publication: Kofukuji and the Vimalakirti Assembly.

It is not yet on Amazon in North America, but will be in a few days. You can also find it through the publisher:

https://www.projektverlag.de/K%C5%8Dfukuji-and-the-Vimalak%C4%ABrti-Assembly

For many centuries, the Buddhist temple Kōfukuji, located in the 8th-century capital of Heijō-kyō, functioned as one of the major monastic institutions of Japanese Buddhism. Within its walls, many colourful rituals were conducted for its main patrons, the Fujiwara family, and the court. These ritual events consisted of fierce doctrinal debates (rongi) that could lead its monastic participants to higher institutional positions. This study examines the highest and most illustrious of these rituals, the Vimalakīrti Assembly (Yuima’e), and its connection with a lesser ritual, the Jion Assembly (Jion’e), to analyze the symbiotic relation between temple and court in the premodern period. An analysis of the doctrinal, social and institutional background of the ritual’s main actors will show how the temple’s internal structure was closely intertwined with the court nobility.

Best wishes,

Mikael

Mikael Bauer

Director of the School of Religious Studies

Associate Professor of Japanese Religions (Buddhism), School of Religious Studies

Associate Member Department of East Asian Studies

Treasurer, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (CSSR)

Trésorier, Société Canadienne pour l'Étude de la Religion (SCÉR)

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Recent Publications:

Bauer, Mikael. “The sacralization of Sovereignty.” In: Matthew D. McMullen and Jolyon Baraka Thomas  ed. The New Tanzan Guide to Japanese Religions. Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, 2024. 

Bauer, Mikael. “In the Sovereign's Presence. Fujiwara no Nakamaro and the Creation of the History of the Fujiwara House.” In: Steffen Döll and Martin Lehnert ed.  Interactions between Religious and Political Authority: Case Studies from Japan and China, Past and Present.  

ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, BEITRÄGE ZUR KULTUR- UND

GEISTESGESCHICHTE ASIENS, nr. 111, 2024.