Talk:Sōhei

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Contents 1 Monks error 2 Monk Warriors? 3 Later on? 4 No "monks" in Jodo Shinshu

[edit] Monks error

Fixed the bottom paragraph, where it says it draws inspiration from warrior monks of Nepal/Tibet. This is incorrect, since Tibetan monks practice "Tibetan Buddhism," and are peaceful/they have no warrior monks. However, the Sohei would've drawn inspiration from the Shaolin monks of eastern China. The Shaolin monks practice Zen Buddhism, the same sect a the Sohei. Also, at the time of Buddhism being passed on to Japan, China had already the lost Tibet/Nepal regions. Thus, Zen Buddhism of the Shaolin monks would be the correct and appropriate backgroud. Intranetusa 23:13, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for cleaning that up. Certainly, most representations of warrior monks in popular culture are based on Shaolin examples, or something related. This does not, however, have anything to do with whether or not China controlled Tibet/Nepal at the time of Buddhism's expansion to Japan, nor does it have anything to do with Zen. Rather, it simply has to do with which types of Buddhist monks (by sect and by country) are most commonly seen in Western pop culture, right? LordAmeth 12:23, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Yamabushi and Sohei do not appear to be exact synonyms. See for example this page:

Others were warrior priests (Sohei) and ascetic mountain priest (Yamabushi). It is important to know deference between them. Yamabushi were a member of religious sect Shugendo (mix of Buddhism and Shinto). They were practicing Chinese mystical and magical methods, long pilgrimage in mountain, sitting under waterfalls etc. to be enlightened. Because of their dress to easy hidden weapons, ninja often used to be disguised as Yamabushi. Sohei were others, formatting a private army to protect the Buddhist centre in Nara and Kyoto.

--Iustinus 06:46, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Okay, this is true. Now that I've gone and actually done the research and written the Sohei article, I see that the armies of Mount Hiei are not the same as the IkkoIkki, which are not the same as the Yamabushi. However, it appears, in the page history, that there is nothing in the Yamabushi page except a redirect here. If you desire to write a page on it, go right ahead. And feel free to undo the redirect...

LordAmeth 13:32, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Actually I ended up here posting this comment precisely because someone put the redirect in. I've been monitoring the yamabushi page because I was hoping someone else would write the article (I know nothing about this subject). --Iustinus 05:38, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I'll see what I can do... I'll post at least a very basic stub of an article, and come back to it later... LordAmeth 15:16, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

That's a lot more than a basic stub. Thanks a lot! --Iustinus 16:02, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Monk Warriors?

Oh god, do they use mending? (69.239.240.139 02:03, 4 August 2007 (UTC))

What? LordAmeth 13:20, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Nvm, interesting article :D. (69.239.62.51 05:11, 6 August 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Later on?

What happened to the warrior monks during the Edo era, after the country was unified obviously there was less demand for their skills, but on the other hand many fought on the winning side, so what happened with all of them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.52.215.67 (talk) 03:29, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] No "monks" in Jodo Shinshu

This article repeatedly refers to Jodo Shinshu followers of the Ikko-Ikki movement as monks, but in fact there are no monks in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. There are (in English) priests, but they neither take the ancient Vinaya precepts, nor the Bodhisattva Precepts of Shingon and Tendai Buddhism. All Jodo Shinshu Buddhists are lay followers, with Rennyo being no exception. The more general "priest" term is more appropriate, but also the vast majority of the Ikko-Ikki were peasants, not priests so that needs to be clarified.

Even the term "sohei" is improper when referring to the Ikko-Ikki followers, and is never used in Japanese literature to describe the movements followers; only the warrior-monastics of the Tendai and Shingon sects in the Kyoto area.

This needs to be fixed, but not necessarily removed. The sohei of Mt. Hiei did do battle with the Ikko-Ikki, so that is a pretty noteworthy struggle between two religious sects.

Thanks! Ph0kin (talk) 06:41, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm. Good point. Please make whatever changes you feel necessary - simply changing the word "monks" to something more appropriate when referring to the Ikko adherents may be good enough. LordAmeth (talk) 11:26, 23 December 2007 (UTC)