Religious Studies

In this thesis, I explore epistemology and the ethics associated with sacred knowledge among Blackfoot traditionalists of southwestern Alberta and northwestern Montana. It is based on eight years of intermittent ethnographic fieldwork that I have conducted with a community on the Blood Indian Reserve in Alberta. The Blackfoot understand knowledge to be acquired through direct experience in the context of developing and constantly renewing reciprocal relationships with humans and non-humans alike— including animals and natural phenomena ranging from stones to mountains and stars. I pay particular attention to dreaming as a way of knowing wherein humans can build reciprocal relationships with natural and ancestral spirits. Since knowledge is generated through reciprocal exchanges, it is subject to the ethical conventions that define exchange relationships. The generation and transmission of knowledge is contingent upon the unique dynamic of each relationship and can change over time. For traditionalists, following the ethics of sacred knowledge is thought to empower people and communities; however, breaching them is thought to lead to misfortune, illness, and death. I suggest that a breach of ethics can cause persons harm through the nocebo effect.

Rituals have played a vital role in the wake of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters that struck northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011 (subsequently referred to as “3.11”). Rituals have enabled survivors to differentiate social order from the immediate chaos of disaster, to mourn, to overcome grief, and to exorcise the spirits of the disaster dead. Yet, much remains to be learned about the transformative potential of ritual after 3.11. The significance of pilgrimage, for instance, which is a prominent aspect of religious practice in Japan, has received minimal attention. In this article, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Dewa Sanzan, a sacred mountain range in Yamagata Prefecture, to discuss mountain pilgrimage for post-disaster memorialization. I argue that the event of 3.11 expanded the ontological meaning of the summit of Gassan 月山 (Mount Moon), thought to be an axis between the world of the living and that of the ancestral dead. Pilgrimage to the peak of Gassan has become a path of remembrance and overcoming, a formula for posthumous care, and an act of hope in post-disaster Japan.

According to the preliminary investigation, there are 54 Avalokiteśvara statues with precise dates of the Tang Dynasty in the Longmen Grottoes, and the Avalokiteśvara statues without dates are more than 140. By combining the historical documents and inscriptions, the author tries to record and analyze the statues with precise dates specifically in this thesis, summarize the characteristics and the evolutive rule of the images, then understand the belief conditions of the Pure Land and Avalokiteśvara in the Longmen and Luoyang regions during the Tang Dynasty.

Uniquely referenced in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus appeals to the scriptural authority of Hosea 6:6 in response to the Pharisees' criticisms on two occasions. In both controversial situations, the teachers of the Law question Jesus and his disciples' observance of the Jewish table fellowship rules (Matt 9:9-13) and of the Sabbatical laws (Matt 12:1-8). Various opinions have divided scholars about the interpretation of Hosea 6:6, but even more so regarding Jesus' attitude towards the Law in those passages. Although most recent scholarship unanimously agrees on rejecting the hypothesis of Jesus' intention to abrogate the Jewish legal system, debates continue to arise about his understanding of the precedence of חסד over the sacred temple institution. Because Jesus and the Pharisees share the same scriptures and traditions, our present discussion aims to trace the Jewish interpretation of Hosea 6:6 from the prophet's time to Jesus' first century audience, attempting to provide a literary context for their conflictual standpoints. With the careful study of (1) different translations and variants of the Hosea verse (MT, LXX, Targum Jonathan), and (2) rabbinic Midrash of Hosea 6:6 (ʾAbot R. Nat 4), we will demonstrate that Jesus' midrash employs pre-rabbinic interpretive traditions, and his conclusions, rather than focused on christological purposes, surprisingly align with later rabbinic thought.

This survey translates the major references and descriptions of Nepal in Classical Chinese sources, both secular sources and Buddhist texts. The Chinese often provides eyewitness accounts of medieval Nepal. The Indian literature preserved in Chinese likewise provides Indian perceptions of Nepal that are otherwise not found in extant Sanskrit works.