Dominick Scarangello
I obtained my Ph.D. in Religious Studies, concentration in East Asian Buddhism, from the University of Virginia, in 2012. I specialize in early modern and modern Japanese religions, and my scholarly interests include the Lotus Sutra tradition in East Asia, esoteric Buddhism, religion and modernity, embodiment, religious material culture, and religious praxis in Japan, including liturgy and ascetic practices. I taught at the University of Virginia and was the Postdoctoral Scholar in Japanese Buddhism at the Center for Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley (2013-2014).
Presently, I am the International Advisor to the lay Buddhist group Rissho-Kosei-kai, located in Tokyo, Japan, where I am responsible for education, translation and other duties, including coordinating the International Lotus Sutra Seminar (ILSS), an annual academic conference focused on the Lotus Sutra and its related religious traditions. At Rissho Kosei-kai I was one of the principle editors of The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation for Contemporary Readers, and am now engaged in a retranslation of one of the principle Lotus Sutra commentaries of Niwano Nikkyo 1906-99), founder of Rissho Kosei-kai I am also involved with editing Dharma World magazine and a regular contributor.
Presently, I am the International Advisor to the lay Buddhist group Rissho-Kosei-kai, located in Tokyo, Japan, where I am responsible for education, translation and other duties, including coordinating the International Lotus Sutra Seminar (ILSS), an annual academic conference focused on the Lotus Sutra and its related religious traditions. At Rissho Kosei-kai I was one of the principle editors of The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation for Contemporary Readers, and am now engaged in a retranslation of one of the principle Lotus Sutra commentaries of Niwano Nikkyo 1906-99), founder of Rissho Kosei-kai I am also involved with editing Dharma World magazine and a regular contributor.
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Papers by Dominick Scarangello
As part of my continuing exploration of the Lotus Sutra's Ten Suchnesses in East Asian Lotus Sutra-based Buddhism, I found Kiyozawa's comparative "Hegelian read" of the Ten Suchnesses preliminary but stimulating and suggestive of further comparative work that could be done. I also feel that by reading explanatory insufficiency, an important driver of the dialectic of Hegel's logic, into the cycle of the Lotus Sutra's Ten Suchnesses, Kiyowawa contributes to the theory of the Ten Suchnesses by proposing a reason why they flow and develop in sequence.Traditional accounts of the Ten Suchnesses do not offer much of an explanation of the development and flow of the Suchnesses much beyond the notion that their progression is simply a universal law. By offering the reason of explanatory insufficiency, Kiyozwa makes a contribution to the theory of the Ten Suchnesses that I think can even be incorporated into traditional explanations found in Chinese Tiantai or Japanese Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism.
In this piece I continue how we can engage with rather than interpret away the religious myth and metaphor of the Lotus Sutra in practice by interacting with the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Sounds of the World (Skt., Avalokiteśvara; Chn., Guanyin; Jpn., Kannon 観音). One way of doing this is to approach the Sound Regarder as an archetype. I think that doing so can be a transformative practice and also reconcile the two seemingly incompatible apprehensions of the bodhisattva seen in Buddhist practice, including Rissho Kosei-kai, which is to see the Sound Regarder as a symbol of compassion and also a "real" person who can be an exemplar. For me, the bodhisattva is "real" precisely because she is archetypal. This piece also uses a more contemporary understanding of archetypes that clarifies Jung's ideas and deals with some of the problematic universalistic and gender-essentialist aspects of the notion of archetypes.
I would like to note that approaching bodhisattvas are archetypes is certainly not my own idea, but has a long history, which I hope to advance. I will also mention an important work on this topic that I did not mention in the work because due to the pandemic I could not obtain a copy to use for the piece. This is Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Buddhist Guides to Awakening and Their Modern Expression (1998), by Taigen Daniel Leighton.
[This paper explores affirmative and anthropomorphic language and metaphors employed to envision the Buddha that are often found in Japanese Buddhism, particularly Nichiren or Tendai Buddhism, but confusing to people who are unfamiliar with these traditions.]
Thesis Chapters by Dominick Scarangello
As part of my continuing exploration of the Lotus Sutra's Ten Suchnesses in East Asian Lotus Sutra-based Buddhism, I found Kiyozawa's comparative "Hegelian read" of the Ten Suchnesses preliminary but stimulating and suggestive of further comparative work that could be done. I also feel that by reading explanatory insufficiency, an important driver of the dialectic of Hegel's logic, into the cycle of the Lotus Sutra's Ten Suchnesses, Kiyowawa contributes to the theory of the Ten Suchnesses by proposing a reason why they flow and develop in sequence.Traditional accounts of the Ten Suchnesses do not offer much of an explanation of the development and flow of the Suchnesses much beyond the notion that their progression is simply a universal law. By offering the reason of explanatory insufficiency, Kiyozwa makes a contribution to the theory of the Ten Suchnesses that I think can even be incorporated into traditional explanations found in Chinese Tiantai or Japanese Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism.
In this piece I continue how we can engage with rather than interpret away the religious myth and metaphor of the Lotus Sutra in practice by interacting with the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Sounds of the World (Skt., Avalokiteśvara; Chn., Guanyin; Jpn., Kannon 観音). One way of doing this is to approach the Sound Regarder as an archetype. I think that doing so can be a transformative practice and also reconcile the two seemingly incompatible apprehensions of the bodhisattva seen in Buddhist practice, including Rissho Kosei-kai, which is to see the Sound Regarder as a symbol of compassion and also a "real" person who can be an exemplar. For me, the bodhisattva is "real" precisely because she is archetypal. This piece also uses a more contemporary understanding of archetypes that clarifies Jung's ideas and deals with some of the problematic universalistic and gender-essentialist aspects of the notion of archetypes.
I would like to note that approaching bodhisattvas are archetypes is certainly not my own idea, but has a long history, which I hope to advance. I will also mention an important work on this topic that I did not mention in the work because due to the pandemic I could not obtain a copy to use for the piece. This is Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Buddhist Guides to Awakening and Their Modern Expression (1998), by Taigen Daniel Leighton.
[This paper explores affirmative and anthropomorphic language and metaphors employed to envision the Buddha that are often found in Japanese Buddhism, particularly Nichiren or Tendai Buddhism, but confusing to people who are unfamiliar with these traditions.]