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A rich and detailed autobiography of one Japanese woman's journey through life.
This autobiography describes a woman's attainment of enlightenment in modern Japan. Satomi Myōdō rejected the traditional roles of good wife and wise mother, broke with her unhappy past, and followed her spiritual path beginning as the disciple of a Shinto priest. At midlife she turned to Zen Buddhism encouraged by a female dharma friend and by various teachers. Under the guidance of Yasutani Rōshi she attained Kenshō, the goal of her lifetime's search.
"…Journey has stayed with me for the unselfconscious cheer with which Myōdō recounts her misery … As Myōdō tells it, frustration and misery are not the final word, but are part of a wholly ordinary, if dramatic, confusion, from which one may emerge. Her voice is quite a tonic for these times." — Theo Davis, Public Books
"The second half of the book is devoted to a commentary by Sallie King relating the autobiography to various aspects of Japanese history and religion. The topics are well chosen and will be especially helpful for readers with little or no background in Japanese religion. This book is to be highly recommended, especially for college courses on Japanese religion, anthropology, women's studies, and human development. It offers a rich and detailed account of one Japanese woman's journey through life." — Winston Davis, Journal of Asian Studies
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part One: The Spiritual Autobiography of Satomi Myodo
1 Moral Education
2 Sincerity
3 My Strange Mental Condition
4 I Lose My Baby
5 Complete Nervous Breakdown
6 Kageki Actress
7 I Find a Teacher
8 Leaving Ryo-chan
9 A Fool's Freedom
10 Shinto Shamaness
11 Possessed by Spirits
12 Return to My Village
13 A Heart Full of Longing
14 Knocking at the Gates of Zen
15 Sick of Chasing Satori
16 "I Can't Die Before Making You Buddhas!"
17 Dharma Friend
18 Two Cracks in the Rice Paper
19 Knocking Over Flagpoles
20 Joy
Epilogue
Notes for Part One
Part Two: Commentary by Sallie B. King
The World of Satomi-san
Religion in the Prewar Era
Kami, Buddha, Bodhisattva
Makoto and Kokoro
Purification
Women in Japanese Religion
Encounters with Spirits
Mysteries and Marvels
The New Religions
Pure Land Buddhism
Zen Buddhism
Notes for Part Two
Bibliography