Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren (1222–1282) was a Tendai monk who decided that all the existing schools of Buddhism were heretical and needed to return to the correct practice as expressed in the Lotus… Read more »
Zen Buddhism
“Zen” is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word “Chan”. Chan Buddhism was supposedly founded by an Indian monk named Bodhidharma who traveled to China in the early 5th century… Read more »
Shingon Buddhism
Shingon Buddhism was founded by a monk named Kuukai, who is more commonly referred to by his posthumous name of Koubou-daishi (“Great Teacher of Buddhist Doctrine”). In the year 804… Read more »
Early Japanese Buddhist Sects
I’m not sure whether anyone is interested in any more long posts about Japanese Buddhism. This doesn’t even have too much relevance to anime. Anime often has references to Buddhism… Read more »
The Tree of Life–Movie Review
The Tree of Life is one of those movies that everyone seems to really love or really hate. Writer/director Terrence Malick has come up with an ambitious and controversial film…. Read more »
AnoHana Ends
The last episode of Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai (We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw that Day) left a… Read more »
Midnight in Paris–Movie Review
Midnight in Paris is Woody Allen’s 41st film so he must be doing something right. This one revisits a number of familiar themes, but it has a twist that Allen… Read more »
Super 8–Movie Review
Super 8 is an exciting summer sci-fi movie with a rather old-fashioned feel. Steven Spielberg is listed as Producer, and it greatly resembles, in both its strengths and its weaknesses,… Read more »