Citation

Brotons A. Revue de la Histoire des Religions 2019; 236(1): 41-63.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019)

DOI

10.4000/rhr.9386

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this article, we will discuss the question of self-cremation by monks in Japan, a phenomenon that was similar to that found in China in some respects but also quite different. The Japanese state began trying to modernize its administration and its mode of governance in the middle of the seventh century, and some laws were issued prohibiting Buddhist monks from using ire for self-immolation. However, there is no source to show that Japan experienced a wave of suicides similar to that of China in the ifth and sixth centuries. It was not until the second half of the Heian period (794-1185) that we can observe a phenomenon of urbanization and of the spectacularization of these suicides by ire, which became an important phenomenon of social and religious life, frequently associated with the feast of the Dead, uranbon EB2, on the ifteenth day of the seventh month. © 2019 Presses Universitaires de France, Departement des Revues. All rights reserved.

Language: fr