About the speaker

Richard K. Payne, Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, 1985. His research area is tantric Buddhist ritual, particularly the tantric fire ritual (homa). After a thirty year career of teaching and administration at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, he retired in 2023, and is now Professor Emeritus. He continues as a member of the Steering Committee of the Society for Tantric Studies. With Prof. Georgios T. Halkias, he is Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Buddhism. He established the Pure Land Buddhist Studies Series, University of Hawai‘i Press; and the Contemporary Issues in Buddhist Studies Series, Institute of Buddhist Studies.

Abstract

This lecture series examines three aspects of Buddhist practice in Japan, looking at how those connect to broader Buddhist traditions. The three dimensions are pilgrimage, ritual and thought. The first lecture discusses the pilgrimage route that encircles the island of Shikoku. Tradition associates this route of 88 stations with Kūkai (空海, 774–835), the founder of the Shingon (真言) tradition in Japan. The route is complexly layered with religious significance dating from before Kūkai, and connecting to the wider history of Buddhism in Japan. The second examines the tantric fire ritual (goma, 護摩). This connects tantric Buddhism with the ancient Vedic ritual tradition, and is found throughout the tantric world. The third considers the idea of “awakening in this lifetime” (soku shin jobutsu, 即身成仏). This tantric teaching is found in various forms across the Buddhisms of Japan.

Organizer: HKU Centre of Buddhist Studies

Sponsor: MaMa Charitable Foundation