scholarly journals Putting a Face on the Pathogen and Its Nemesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-213
Author(s):  
Katja Triplett
Keyword(s):  
Epidemic Disease ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Esoteric Buddhism ◽  
Medieval Japan ◽  
Yin Yang

Abstract In medieval Japan, so-called “four boundary demarcation rituals” were believed to turn invisible epidemic disease-bringing “demons” into visible beings. Making the demons visible, at least to the ritual experts involved, was a way of controlling them. The demons had a dual nature in that they harmed humans but could also become powerful protectors against disease and other calamities. This essay introduces the elaborate ritual culture of yin-yang divination, esoteric Buddhism, and kami worship in Japan, all of which involve “demonic” and protective deities. It explores images of two epidemic demons that serve humans as guardians and protectors against epidemic disease: Tenkeisei 天刑星, the Star of Heavenly Punishment, and Gozutennō 牛頭天王, the Bull-Headed Divine King. Tenkeisei ultimately merged with Gozutennō, who is also conflated with the deity Susanoo 素戔嗚.

scholarly journals “Deviant Teachings”: The Tachikawa Lineage as a Moving Concept in Japanese Buddhism

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaétan Rappo
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Sexual Practices ◽  
Textual Study ◽  
Esoteric Buddhism ◽  
Japanese Buddhism ◽  
Medieval Japan

In modern studies of esoteric Buddhism in medieval Japan, the so-called Tachikawa lineage has played a central role in defining heretical or heterodox practice. Founded in the early twelfth century, this minor and local lineage of the Shingon school underwent a series of transformations, eventually becoming a model for all heresies in Japan. In medieval Japan, the term “Tachikawa” was irredeemably associated with explicit sexual practices, especially in the writings of the Mt. Kōya monk Yūkai and his successors. These polemical critiques of Tachikawa as a deviant lineage and teaching developed into a tradition of textual study that sought to establish an orthodoxy in the Shingon school. This critique was later applied beyond the Shingon sectarian context to instances of heresy in the Jōdo Shin school and, eventually, Christianity. This heresiological process gradually resulted in a multilayered, “moving concept” of Japanese heresy, which came to fruition during the nineteenth century with the introduction of the Western ideas of religion and heresy.

scholarly journals Nenbutsu Orthodoxies in Medieval Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron P. Proffitt
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Esoteric Buddhism ◽  
Japanese Buddhism ◽  
Medieval Japan ◽  
Buddhist Doctrine

New approaches to Buddhist doctrine and practice flourished within and across diverse lineages and sub-lineages in early medieval Japan. The early-modern and modern sectarianization of Japanese Buddhism, however, has tended to obscure the complex ways that the very idea of orthodoxy functioned in this fluid medieval environment. In this article, I explore attempts to account for the diversity of views regarding] nenbutsu orthodoxy in trea- tises composed by scholars monks affiliated with Mt. Kōya and Mt. Hiei. In particular, this article contextualizes how these monks constructed the idea of an esoteric nenbutsu by drawing upon earlier taxonomies developed in the Tendai school as well as the East Asian esoteric Buddhist corpus. Ultimately, this study concludes that the esoteric nenbutsu was not the provenance of a particular school or sect, but rather served as a polemical construct designed to subsume the diversity of approaches to nenbutsu praxis as monks in diverse lineages competed with one another to define esoteric Buddhism in the early medieval context.

scholarly journals The Doctrinal Origins of Embryology in the Shingon School

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiko Kameyama
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Buddhist Monk ◽  
Esoteric Buddhism ◽  
Medieval Japan ◽  
Six Elements

In this article, I discuss the significance of embryological knowledge, such as the red and white drops and the five developmental stages of the embryo, in medieval Shingon esoteric Buddhism. Specifically, I examine the writings of Kakuban, an eminent Shingon Buddhist monk in early medieval Japan, and point out that, according to Kakuban, embryological knowledge was connected with the six elements, which were fundamental to Shingon conceptions of ontology. In other words, by constructing embryological theories, medieval Shingon monks such as Kakuban attempted to make a correlation between abstract and distant cosmologies and the life and death realities of their daily lives.

The dual nature of obesity in metabolic programming: quantity versus quality of adipose tissue

2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (18) ◽  
pp. 2447-2451
Author(s):  
Anissa Viveiros ◽  
Gavin Y. Oudit
Keyword(s):  
Adipose Tissue ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Maternal Obesity ◽  
Metabolic Programming ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Prevalence Of Obesity ◽  
Adipose Tissue Volume ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Metabolically Healthy

Abstract The global prevalence of obesity has been rising at an alarming rate, accompanied by an increase in both childhood and maternal obesity. The concept of metabolic programming is highly topical, and in this context, describes a predisposition of offspring of obese mothers to the development of obesity independent of environmental factors. Research published in this issue of Clinical Science conducted by Litzenburger and colleagues (Clin. Sci. (Lond.) (2020) 134, 921–939) have identified sex-dependent differences in metabolic programming and identify putative signaling pathways involved in the differential phenotype of adipose tissue between males and females. Delineating the distinction between metabolically healthy and unhealthy obesity is a topic of emerging interest, and the precise nature of adipocytes are key to pathogenesis, independent of adipose tissue volume.

ANALYSIS OF THE BIPHASIC ACTION OF GROWTH HORMONE IN VITRO ON THE RAT DIAPHRAGM

1968 ◽  
Vol 57 (3_Suppl) ◽  
pp. S19-S35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Å. Hjalmarson
Keyword(s):  
Growth Hormone ◽  
Actinomycin D ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Bovine Growth Hormone ◽  
Rat Diaphragm ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Hypophysectomized Rats ◽  
D 20

ABSTRACT In vitro addition of bovine growth hormone (GH) to intact hemidiaphragms from hypophysectomized rats has previously been found to produce both an early stimulatory effect lasting for 2—3 hours and a subsequent late inhibitory effect during which the muscle is insensitive to further addition of GH (Hjalmarson 1968). These effects on the accumulation rate of α-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) and D-xylose have been further studied. In presence of actinomycin D (20 μg/ml) or puromycin (100 μg/ml) the duration of the stimulatory effect of GH (25 μg/ml) was prolonged to last for at least 4—5 hours and the late inhibitory effect was prevented. Similar results were obtained when glucose-free incubation medium was used. Preincubation of the diaphragm at different glucose concentrations (0—5 mg/ml) for 3 hours did not change the GH sensitivity. Addition of insulin at start of incubation could not prevent GH from inducing its late inhibitory effect, while dexamethasone seemed to potentiate this effect of GH. Furthermore, adrenaline was found to decrease the uptake of AIB-14C and D-xylose-14C in the diaphragm, but not to change the sensitivity of the muscle to GH. Preincubation of the diaphragm for 3 hours with puromycin in a concentration of 200 μg/ml markedly decreased the subsequent basal uptake of both AIB-14C and D-xylose-14C, in the presence of puromycin, and abolished the stimulatory effect of GH on the accumulation of AIB-14C. However, the effect of GH on the accumulation of D-xylose-14C was unchanged. The present observations are discussed and evaluated in relation to various mechanisms of GH action proposed to explain the dual nature of the hormone.

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