William R Lafleur's Books

Awesome Nightfall

The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyo

By: Saigyo,William R Lafleur

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Awesome Nightfall

The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyo

By: Saigyo,William R Lafleur

Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyo captures the power of Saigyo's poetry and this previously overlooked poet's keen insight into the social and political world of medieval Japan. It also offers a fascinating look into the world of Japanese Buddhism prior to the wholesale influence of Zen.

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Page Count

193

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0861719077

ISBN 13

9780861719075

Awesome Nightfall

The Life, Times and Poetry of Saigyō

By: William R. LaFleur

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Awesome Nightfall

The Life, Times and Poetry of Saigyō

By: William R. LaFleur

Awesome Nightfall captures the power of Saigyo's poetry and this previously overlooked poet's keen insight into the social and political world of medieval Japan. It also offers a fascinating look into the world of Japanese Buddhism prior to the wholesale influence of Zen. LaFleur's much-heralded translation and commentary make this book ideal both for the poetry lover, and for the professor and student of Asian arts and languages.

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Page Count

173

Publisher

Wisdom Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

0861713222

ISBN 13

9780861713226

Biolust, Brain Death, and the Battle Over Organ Transplants

America’s Biotech Juggernaut and its Japanese Critics

By: William R. LaFleur

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Biolust, Brain Death, and the Battle Over Organ Transplants

America’s Biotech Juggernaut and its Japanese Critics

By: William R. LaFleur

William LaFleur (1936-2010), an eminent scholar of Japanese studies, left behind a substantial number of influential publications, as well as several unpublished works. The most significant of these examines debates concerning the practice of organ transplantation in Japan and the United States, and is published here for the first time. This provocative book challenges the North American medical and bioethical consensus that considers the transplantation of organs from brain dead donors as an unalloyed good. It joins a growing chorus of voices that question the assumption that brain death can be equated facilely with death. It provides a deep investigation of debates in Japan, introducing numerous Japanese bioethicists whose work has never been treated in English. It also provides a history of similar debates in the United States, problematizing the commonly held view that the American public was quick and eager to accept the redefinition of death. A work of intellectual and social history, this book also directly engages with questions that grow ever more relevant as the technologies we develop to extend life continue to advance. While the benefits of these technologies are obvious, their costs are often more difficult to articulate. Calling attention to the risks associated with our current biotech trajectory, LaFleur stakes out a highly original position that does not fall neatly onto either side of contemporary US ideological divides.

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Page Count

265

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1350255017

ISBN 13

9781350255012

The Karma of Words

Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan

By: William R. LaFleur

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The Karma of Words

Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan

By: William R. LaFleur

A masterly book . . . will prove of great assistance to a student of Japanese literature and thought from the eleventh century onwards."--Times Literary Supplement "A major contribution to the fields of Japanese studies, comparative literature, and history of religions . . . a book that begs for classroom use."--The Eastern Buddhist "Innovative and provocative . . . will be of interest not only to specialists in Japanese religion and Japanese culture, but also to literary critics and cultural historians."--Religious Studies Review "Rich and stimulating material . . . an important help and influence to all concerned with understanding the tradition that has shaped Japanese culture and religion."--History of Religions "Thought provoking, finely written . . . one of the more original and creative contributions to the study of medieval culture and religion to be produced by a Western scholar. . . . Can be read with profit by all Western students of Japanese culture . . . one of those rare books that has something to offer Japanese specialists in medieval studies."--Journal of Japanese Studies "A very important contribution to Japanese studies . . . a paradigm of the genre."--Pacific Affairs "This is an exciting, ground-breaking book."--Chanoyu Quarterly "I have been most impressed and even excited by what I have read."--Donald Keene, Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University "This is one of the most important books in Japanese studies in a long time and will influence the entire field."--Robert Bellah, former Elliott Professor of Sociology, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley

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223

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520342674

ISBN 13

9780520342675

Liquid Life

Abortion and Buddhism in Japan

By: William R. LaFleur

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Liquid Life

Abortion and Buddhism in Japan

By: William R. LaFleur

Why would a country strongly influenced by Buddhism's reverence for life allow legalized, widely used abortion? Equally puzzling to many Westerners is the Japanese practice of mizuko rites, in which the parents of aborted fetuses pray for the well-being of these rejected "lives." In this provocative investigation, William LaFleur examines abortion as a window on the culture and ethics of Japan. At the same time he contributes to the Western debate on abortion, exploring how the Japanese resolve their conflicting emotions privately and avoid the pro-life/pro-choice politics that sharply divide Americans on the issue.

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Page Count

275

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400843677

ISBN 13

9781400843671

Fertility and Pleasure

Ritual and Sexual Values in Tokugawa Japan

By: William R. Lindsey

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Fertility and Pleasure

Ritual and Sexual Values in Tokugawa Japan

By: William R. Lindsey

As their ubiquitous presence in Tokugawa artwork and literature suggests, images of bourgeois wives and courtesans took on iconic status as representations of two opposing sets of female values. Their differences, both real and idealized, indicate the full range of female roles and sexual values affirmed by Tokugawa society, with Buddhist celibacy on the one end and the relatively free sexual associations of the urban and rural lower classes on the other. The roles of courtesan and bourgeois housewife were each tied to a set of value-based behaviors, the primary institution to which a woman belonged, and rituals that sought to model a woman’s comportment in her interactions with men and figures of authority. For housewives, it was fertility values, promulgated by lifestyle guides and moral texts, which embraced the ideals of female obedience, loyalty to the husband’s household, and sexual activity aimed at producing an heir. Pleasure values, by contrast, flourished in the prostitution quarters and embraced playful relations and nonreproductive sexual activity designed to increase the bordello’s bottom line. What William Lindsey reveals in this well-researched study is that, although the values that idealized the role of wife and courtesan were highly disparate, the rituals, symbols, and popular practices both engaged in exhibited a degree of similitude and parallelism. Fertility and Pleasure examines the rituals available to young women in the household and pleasure quarters that could be employed to affirm, transcend, or resist these sets of sexual values. In doing so it affords new views of Tokugawa society and Japanese religion. Highly original in its theoretical approach and its juxtaposition of texts, Fertility and Pleasure constitutes an important addition to the fields of Japanese religion and history and the study of gender and sexuality in other societies and cultures.

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Page Count

249

Publisher

University of Hawaii Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0824862503

ISBN 13

9780824862503

Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

By: William M. Bodiford

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Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

By: William M. Bodiford

Explores how Soto monks between the 13th and 16th centuries developed new forms of monastic organization and Zen instructions and new applications for Zen rituals within lay life; how these innovations helped shape rural society; and how remnants of them remain in the modern Soto school, now the lar

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Page Count

376

Publisher

University of Hawaii Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0824814827

ISBN 13

9780824814823

Interpreting the Sacred

Ways of Viewing Religion

By: William Paden

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Interpreting the Sacred

Ways of Viewing Religion

By: William Paden

William Paden's classic exploration in religious studies, with a new introduction In the current climate, Interpreting the Sacred provides a fresh, thorough way to consider and compare various religious belief systems. Paden puts forth the idea that our understanding of religion influences our understanding of ourselves and our world. Updated with a new introduction, this book is for anyone who wants to consider and discuss religious beliefs.

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Page Count

180

Publisher

Beacon Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807077054

ISBN 13

9780807077054

Mystics

By: William Harmless

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Mystics

By: William Harmless

In Mystics, William Harmless, S.J., introduces readers to the scholarly study of mysticism. He explores both mystics' extraordinary lives and their no-less-extraordinary writings using a unique case-study method centered on detailed examinations of six major Christian mystics: Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and Evagrius Ponticus. Rather than presenting mysticism as a subtle web of psychological or theological abstractions, Harless's case-study approach brings things down to earth, restoring mystics to their historical context.

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Page Count

369

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195300386

ISBN 13

9780195300383

A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism

By: William E. Deal,Brian Ruppert

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A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism

By: William E. Deal,Brian Ruppert

A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism offers a comprehensive, nuanced, and chronological account of the evolution of Buddhist religion in Japan from the sixth century to the present day. Traces each period of Japanese history to reveal the complex and often controversial histories of Japanese Buddhists and their unfolding narratives Examines relevant social, political, and transcultural contexts, and places an emphasis on Japanese Buddhist discourses and material culture Addresses the increasing competition between Buddhist, Shinto, and Neo-Confucian world-views through to the mid-nineteenth century Informed by the most recent research, including the latest Japanese and Western scholarship Illustrates the richness and complexity of Japanese Buddhism as a lived religion, offering readers a glimpse into the development of this complex and often misunderstood tradition

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Page Count

322

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1405167017

ISBN 13

9781405167017

The Kiso Road

The Life and Times of Shimazaki Toson

By: William E. Naff

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The Kiso Road

The Life and Times of Shimazaki Toson

By: William E. Naff

William E. Naff, the distinguished scholar of Japanese literature widely known and highly regarded for his eloquent translations of the writings of Shimazaki Toson (1872–1943), spent the last years of his life writing a full-length biography of Toson. Virtually completed at the time of his death, The Kiso Road provides a rich and colorful account of this canonic novelist who, along with Natsume Soseki and Mori Ogai, formed the triumvirate of writers regarded as giants in Meiji Japan, all three of whom helped establish the parameters of modern Japanese literature. Professor Naff’s biography skillfully places Toson in the context of his times and discusses every aspect of his career and personal life, as well as introducing in detail a number of his important but as yet untranslated works. Toson’s long life, his many connections with other important Japanese artists and intellectuals, his sojourn in France during World War I, and his later visit to South America, permit a biography of depth and detail that serves as a kind of cultural history of Japan during an often turbulent period. The Kiso Road, as approachable and exciting as any novel, with Toson himself as its complex protagonist, is arguably the most thorough account of any modern Japanese writer presently available in English.

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Page Count

693

Publisher

University of Hawaii Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

082486073X

ISBN 13

9780824860738

Awesome Nightfall

The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyo

By: Saigyo,William R Lafleur

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Awesome Nightfall

The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyo

By: Saigyo,William R Lafleur

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Page Count

193

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0861719077

ISBN 13

9780861719075

Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan

By: William E. Deal

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Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan

By: William E. Deal

Captures the essence of life in great civilizations of the past. Each volume in this series examines a single civilization, and covers everything from landmark events and monumental achievements to geography and everyday life.

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Page Count

433

Publisher

Infobase Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0816074852

ISBN 13

9780816074853

Book's by William R Lafleur

Awesome Nightfall

Awesome Nightfall

Awesome Nightfall

Awesome Nightfall

Biolust, Brain Death, and the Battle Over Organ Transplants

Biolust, Brain Death, and the Battle Over Organ Transplants

The Karma of Words

The Karma of Words

Liquid Life

Liquid Life

Fertility and Pleasure

Fertility and Pleasure

Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

Interpreting the Sacred

Interpreting the Sacred

Mystics

Mystics

A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism

A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism

The Kiso Road

The Kiso Road

Awesome Nightfall

Awesome Nightfall

Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan

Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan

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