Spiritual rank in Japan
In premodern Japan, religious officials were given a clerical rank analogous to court ranks by the government. The dignitaries were not selected by the religious communities, but by the state ("religion" in Japan was always subordinate to and subordinate to secular rule).
Buddhism
Dignities (i.e. functions) of the Buddhist hierarchy were referred to as sōkan . Ranks for the control of the Sangha in the Sōgō-sei system ( 僧 綱 ab) were introduced for the first time from 624. In China, such offices existed since the 4th century.
The award was regulated since the Nara period in the legal text Soni-ryō, part of the Yōrō-ritsuryō ( 養老 律令 ). Beginning with the government of Emperor Temmu (? 673-86), every ordination that was tied to certain requirements had to be carried out by its own authority, the Gembaryō ("Foreign Office"), a special authority within the Ritsuryō administrative system, the Jibushō (" Civil administration for nobles ") assigned - which took over the function of hōzu ( 法 頭 ) - be approved. This agency also appointed control officers for each province.
The top ( 僧 正 sōjō , "episcopal") of the spiritual ranks were:
- Daisōjō, created 745, corresponding to a secular Dainagon ; initially endowed with a benefice of 100 kō land. (The first owner was Gyōgi , followed in 760 by Rōben .)
- Sōjō ( equal to Chūnagon ; ch .: seng-cheng )
- Gonsōjō ( equal to Sangi )
These positions were often only bestowed on persons with a correspondingly high birth (i.e. mostly later sons of noble families who entered the clergy).
These names are still used today by various schools for their colonels.
Among them there was the Sōzu office ( 僧 都 , ch. Seng-tu ) from 623 . 673 a more detailed structure was created:
- Daisōzu ("Grand Vicar")
- Gondaisōzu
- Shōsōzu
- Gonshōsōzu
The three upper classes were also grouped under the term sōgō .
The third category was the dignity of the risshi, divided into:
- Dairisshi
- Chūrisshi
- Gonrisshi
Among them existed:
- Sakan ("Secretaries")
- Chiji ("inspectors", later mostly term for the managing administrators of a Zen temple)
- Kō ("Registrars")
Furthermore, among priests (honorary) titles such as Oshō (for the head of the four main temples), Hōkyō ("Bridge of the Law"), Hōin ("Source of the Law"), Ajari, ( 阿闍梨 , = Acharya ) Daitoku ( 大 徳 ; "Great essence", "great virtue"), Zenshi ("master of contemplation" not limited to members of the Zen school) etc. Bettō later also referred to the heads of some particularly holy imperial temples.
During the reign of Emperor Junnin, five spiritual ranks were established for simple monks, all of which begin with the designation Dentō ... ( 傅 灯 ). The steps are from above: ... daihōshi , for example: "Dharma Grand Master of the transmission of the lamp"; ... hōshi, something like : "Dharma master ..."; ... man-i : 'upper tier'; ... jū-i 'lower rank'; ... nyū-i : 'novice' (= 沙彌 , shamon ). Fully ordained persons were equated with the corresponding levels of the sixth court rank.
The court handed over a permit ( doshō ), which was important in terms of criminal law and which had to be returned upon death. Self-ordained monks, those who lived in the clerical state without permission, were called jido ( 自 度 ), they made themselves liable to prosecution for tax evasion. With the emergence of the teachings spread by Saichō (from around 800) the strict control of the Sangha became obsolete.
The title Hō-ō was actually intended for resigned emperors who retired to a monastery, it is variously rendered as "Dharma emperor" or "a kind of pope". Ladies of the court who took vows were given the honorary title Mon'in in special cases .
Posthumously
Only posthumously awarded honorary titles were Daishi, Kokushi and Hōshi ( 法師 "Master of the Law;" ch. Fashi )
Shinto
The offices for Shinto priests have been awarded since 701 by the Jingikan (= Kamitsukasa ), which was organized as an authority outside the Ritsuryo administrative system - but parallel to it. Shrines were ranked according to their importance and proximity to the imperial family. At the head was the high priest of the Ise shrine , the others followed according to the rank of their shrines.
In 1873, an eight-class ranking was introduced for shrines, some of which were generously funded and whose heads were given titles accordingly.
Literature and Sources
- Nakamura Kyoko Motomochi (ex., Ed.); Miraculous stories from the Japanese Buddhist tradition - the Nihon Ryōiki of the monk Kyōkai. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1973. (Curzon, Richmond (UK) 1997, ISBN 0-7007-0449-3 , pp. 18-29: State Control of the Sangha and Popular Buddhist Movements )
- Martin Ramming (ed.); Japan manual. Berlin 1940, p. 551.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Shoku Nihongi XXIV
- ↑ Nakamura Kyoko Motomochi (1997), pp. 18-29.
- ↑ 山口 敦 史; 日本 霊 異 記 の 「自 度」 に つ い て - ‹私 度 僧 の 文学〉 を 考 え る . In: 日本 文学 論 集, 16 号, (平 ４ 年 3 月)
- ^ Nihon Ryōiki ( Memento of November 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) III, 14