Ilustrácia šintó-buddhistického synkretizmu na príklade maľby božstiev Kasuga a Sumijoši

Abstract

The paper deals with the honji suijaku theory of Shintō–Buddhist syncretism illustrated upon the example of a painting of two Shintō deities, Kasuga and Sumiyoshi. The painting was summoned by a monk of the Buddhist Kegon school named Myōe Shōnin, who had had two revelatory encounters with the Kasuga deity. It had been Myōe’s lifelong endeavour to venture to mainland China and thereafter to India in order to visit places where the historical Buddha Shākyamuni had preached his original teachings. However, Myōe had a revelation of the Kasuga deity, in which it had urged him not to undertake the journey. This even was so significant in Myōe’s life that he had had the deity depicted and kept the painting as a keepsake of their memorable meeting, turning the painting into an object of worship, honzon. This paper comes forth with the question of how it was possible for a Buddhist monk to have a Shintō deity painting revered as the main object of worship in a Buddhist temple. By means of tracing the intentions and circumstations behind Myōe’s activities, it considers one particular example of the Shintō–Buddhist syncretism, a characteristic feature of medieval Japanese religion.