| Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism Subjects: Buddhist priests -- Marriage -- Japan; Buddhist priests -- Family relationships -- Japan; Marriage -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism; Buddhism -- Japan -- History -- 1868–1945; Buddhism comes in many forms, but in Japan it stands apart from all the rest in one most striking way--the monks get married. In Neither Monk nor Layman, the most comprehensive study of this topic in any language, Richard Jaffe addresses the emergence of an openly married clergy as a momentous change in the history of modern Japanese Buddhism. He demonstrates, in clear and engaging prose, that this shift was not an easy one for Japanese Buddhists. Yet the transformation that began in the early Meiji period (1868-1912)--when monks were ordered by government authorities to marry, to have children, and to eat meat--today extends to all the country's Buddhist denominations. |