The Fluid Pantheon by Bernard Faure - 9780824839338

The Fluid PantheonGods of Medieval Japan Volume 1\nAuthor(s): Bernard Faure\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: University of Hawai'i Press, United States\nImprint: University of Hawai'i Press\nISBN-13: 9780824839338, 978-0824839338\nSynopsis\nWritten by one of the leading scholars of Japanese religion, The Fluid Pantheon is the first installment of a multivolume project that promises to be a milestone in our understanding of the mythico-ritual system of esoteric Buddhismspecifically the nature and roles of deities in the religious world of medieval Japan and beyond. Bernard Faure introduces readers to medieval Japanese religiosity and shows the centrality of the gods in religious discourse and ritual; in doing so he moves away from the usual textual, historical, and sociological approaches that constitute the method of current religious studies. The approach considers the gods (including buddhas and demons) as meaningful and powerful interlocutors and not merely as cyphers for social gro.