Japan Talks

Japan (Japanese: 日本, Nippon or Nihon, and formally 日本国, Nihonkoku) is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands, with the five main islands being Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

Japan is the eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its highly urbanized population on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Japan has the world's highest life expectancy, though it is experiencing a population decline.

Japan has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic period (30,000 BC). Between the 4th and 9th centuries, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under an emperor and the imperial court based in Heian-kyō. Beginning in the 12th century, political power was held by a series of military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō) and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (samurai). After a century-long period of civil war, the country was reunified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate, which enacted an isolationist foreign policy. In 1854, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan adopted a Western-modeled constitution and pursued a program of industrialization and modernization. Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization, Japan invaded China in 1937 and entered World War II as an Axis power in 1941. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under a seven-year Allied occupation, during which it adopted a new constitution.

Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature, the National Diet. Japan is a developed country and a great power. Its economy is the world's third-largest by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by PPP, with its per capita income ranking at 36th highest in the world. Although Japan has renounced its right to declare war, the country maintains Self-Defense Forces that rank as one of the world's strongest militaries. A global leader in the automotive, robotics and electronics industries, the country has made significant contributions to science and technology. It is part of multiple major international and intergovernmental institutions.

Japan is considered a cultural superpower as the culture of Japan is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, film, music, and popular culture, which encompasses prominent manga, anime and video game industries.

From Japan on Wikipedia

Showing 28 talks
 

- Reset Search

Title Speaker

Ten Vows, Ten Practices, and Ten Cakes

Discrimination, Bowing, Japan, Bell, Attachment, Priest, Dragons, Doubt, Bodhidharma...
Mar 07 2020
PM
No Abode Hermitage

Reaching Home Again Without Realizing It

Chanting, Suzuki Roshi, Practice Period, Priest, japanese, Faith, Impermanence, Lotus...
Oct 19 2019
AM
No Abode Hermitage

Stories of Enlightenment

In our class this fall we will contemplate and converse about several stories of Zen practice and enlightenment. Our contemplation and conversations will naturally bring up questions and concerns...

YRB-2019-Fall, Blue Cliff Record, Japan, true dharma, Book of Serenity, Patience,...
Oct 17 2019
3/7
The Yoga Room

Stories of Enlightenment

In our class this fall we will contemplate and converse about several stories of Zen practice and enlightenment. Our contemplation and conversations will naturally bring up questions and concerns...

YRB-2019-Fall, Four Noble Truths, Book of Serenity, Daily Life, Suzuki Roshi,...
Oct 10 2019
2/7
The Yoga Room

Teachings for the Welfare of the World

In this summer series, teachings will be offered for those who aspire to embrace and sustain the great earth and all living beings in order to realize peace and freedom in our troubled world.

...
YRB-2019-Summer, Silence, japanese, Teacher-and-Student, Priest, Interview, Tassajara...
Jul 16 2019
4/7
The Yoga Room

Our Original Home

Human consciousness limits reality so that it can grasp "things".

Torei Zenji, Consciousness, Ego, Emotions, Evil, Japan, Discrimination, Interview,...
Jul 13 2019
PM
No Abode Hermitage

A Conversation about Principle and Phenomena

Heart Sutra, Perfect Wisdom, resistance, confusion, Letting Go, Don't Know Mind...
May 18 2019
AM
No Abode Hermitage

Silent Sitting & Social Action

Zen students often ask how our practice of silence and stillness relates to injustice and our environmental crisis. In this class we explore this question and study the intimate interplay of...

YRB-2018-Fall, Silence, Bodhidharma, cognitive process, Observe, Fundraising, Lay,...
Nov 13 2018
5 of 7
The Yoga Room

Listening, Training, Hearing and Liberation

Discrimination, Enlightenment, Compassion, Study, Delusion, Discrimination, Non-...
Aug 09 2014
PM
No Abode Hermitage

I always think of Hunan in Spring

Bodhisattva Vow, Koan, Perfection of Wisdom, Perfect Wisdom, japanese, cognitive...
Apr 12 2014
AM
No Abode Hermitage

The Good Friendship of Shitou, Matsu and Yaoshan

Shitou, Mazu, Yaoshan, Koan, Teacher-and-Student, Perfect Wisdom, Manjushri, Faith,...
Feb 01 2014
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

The Good Friendship of Shitou, Matsu and Yaoshan

Japan, Suzuki Roshi, Silence, Triple Treasure, Funeral, Mahayana, japanese, Faith...
Feb 01 2014
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

The Work of Going Beyond Buddha

“Going Beyond Buddha” (partial) Sept 2013 No Abode

Perfect Wisdom, Silence, Right Speech, Buddha Ancestors, Don't Know Mind,...
Sep 21 2013
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

The Work of Going Beyond Buddha

Realization in the body
Going Beyond Buddha
Sept 2013 PM No Abode

Observe, Big Mind, Mill Valley, Describe, Passions, Zazen, Priest, Japan
Sep 21 2013
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

I've long heard there is no Zen in India

Dragons, Lotus Sutra, Buddha Nature, Humility, Book of Serenity, Karmic Consciousness...
May 17 2013
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

I Have Long Heard of Dragon Pond 

I Have Long Heard of Dragon Pond
Tenshin Reb Anderson
No Abode April 13, 2013 PM

Perfect Wisdom, Dragons, Lotus Sutra, Buddha Mind, Lineage, Enemies, Doubt, Japan...
Apr 13 2013
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Bodhisattva Precepts Guided by the Teaching of Mind Only 

Bodhisattva Precepts Guided by the Teaching of Mind Only AM
Tenshin Reb Anderson
No Abode 10/6/2012

Karmic Consciousness, Bodhisattva Precepts, Sangha, Rinzai, Enthusiasm, Duality,...
Oct 06 2012
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

The Four Aspects of Practicing the Threefold Ethics of Bodhisattvas 

Bodhisattva Precepts, Breath, Enthusiasm, Mahayana, Commitment, confusion, Patience,...
Feb 04 2012
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Stimulating Bodhisattva's courage and entering reality 

Observe, Rinzai, Gratitude, Bodhisattva Vow, Enemies, Japan, Bodhidharma, Religion,...
Oct 15 2011
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Whole-Hearted Commitment for the New Year 

Intimacy, Priest, Bodhisattva Precepts, Enthusiasm, Japan
Jan 02 2011
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Intimacy with Birth and Death: The 39th Yearly Memorial for Suzuki Roshi 

Buddha's Birthday, Commitment, Tassajara, Suzuki Roshi, Intimacy, Priest, Japan...
Dec 04 2010
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Paying Respect to the Great Teacher 

Daily Life, Enemies, Birth-and-Death, Greed, Tassajara, Doubt, Commitment, confusion...
Nov 06 2010
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

The Ultimate transcends Difference and Unity

Samdhinirmochana Mahayana Sutra Chapter 3, part 1

Tenshin Reb Anderson
Samdhinormonchana Sutra (Part VI),
Chapter Three, Morning Dharma Talk
Saturday June 14, 2009, A.M....

Nirvana, Fox, Lineage, Soto Zen, Japan, Oneness, Samsara, Bowing, Interview, soto...
Jun 13 2009
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Causation and Non-Self 

Evil, Attachment, Lineage, Faith, Doubt, Zazen, confusion, Japan, Patience, War...
Mar 26 2009
The Yoga Room

The Buddha Way is Ongoing Crisis 

Bodhisattva Precepts, Letting Go, Don't Know Mind, Buddha Ancestors, Buddha Mind...
Aug 16 2008
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Entering and Embodying Truth 

Soto Zen, Japan, Perfect Wisdom, Bodhisattva Precepts, soto, japanese, Priest, Family...
Jul 29 2008
The Yoga Room

Worship of the Buddha

When a person pays homage and bows to the Buddhas, there is just one Buddha with no other person.

Lotus Sutra, Bowing, Buddha Ancestors, Duality, War, Bodhisattva Vow, resistance,...
Jul 28 2007
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

The Bodhisattva and the Mahayana

"Enlightening beings" are committed to living for the benefit of all beings; they practice in the "universal vehicle" which includes everyone.

Mahayana, practicing generosity, Enemies, Complete Perfect Enlightenment, Heart Sutra...
Jul 14 2007
Morning
No Abode Hermitage