decades later, the themes of millennial world renewal
are easily linked to the larger tradition of Maitreya
worship.
Agrarian utopianism in Japan
In Japan, as well, native utopian ideals promised a
coming age of peace and plenty. As had been the case
in China, Buddhist millennialism in Japan grafted onto
an extant tradition, restructuring elements so as to in-
corporate Buddhist terminology and figures such as
Maitreya. However, in the Japanese tradition, this mil-
lennium was not premised on epochal change or the
violent destruction of the world order, and as a con-
sequence, did not serve as the inspiration for revolt as
often as it did in China.
One characteristic of Japanese belief was the loca-
tion of the promised land on earth, either on a moun-
taintop or across the sea. The pre-Buddhist cult of
mountain worship was taken up and transformed by
various sects of Japanese Buddhism, who established
sacred mountains as the home of Maitreya and the lo-
cation of the millennial paradise. The deathbed utter-
ance of KUKAI(774–835), the deified founder of the
esoteric Shingon school, that he would descend to
earth with Maitreya, has prompted the belief that he
remains alive and in deep meditation on Mount Koya.
This and other sacred mountains, such as Fuji and
Kimpu, became regarded as gates to the Pure Land,
and were the home of ascetics known as yamabushi,
who dwelled between heaven and earth. Similarly, an-
other tradition prophesied the arrival of Maitreya by
ship, prompting a tradition of popular folk worship in
anticipation of the triumphal arrival of Maitreya in a
ship laden with rice.
See also:Apocrypha; Cosmology; Monastic Militias;
Nationalism and Buddhism; Politics and Buddhism;
Pure Land Buddhism; Sanjie Jiao (Three Stages
School); Syncretic Sects: Three Teachings
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THOMASDUBOISMIND. SeeConsciousness, Theories ofMINDFULNESSMindfulness (Sanskrit, smrti; Pali, sati) is a spiritual
practice that is common to both early Buddhism and
early Jainism. It plays a particularly important role in
the former. Two conspicuously different forms of
mindfulness are found near each other in the standard
description of the PATHto liberation that occurs nu-
merous times in the early canonical sermons: one in
preparatory exercises and the other in meditation
proper. During the former the (hypothetical) practi-
tioner “acts consciously while going and while com-
ing, while looking forward and while looking
backward, while bending his limbs and while stretch-
ing them, while carrying his clothes and alms-bowl,
while going, while standing, while sleeping, while wak-
ing, while speaking and while remaining silent.” How-
ever, at some point the practitioner sits down, folds his
legs, holds his body erect, and applies mindfulness. Ap-
plying mindfulness (Sanskrit, smrtyupasthana; Pali,
satipatthana) is the precondition for the four stages of
dhyana (trance state) that follow. Indeed, mindfulness
accompanies the practitioner in all of them, the fourth
being characterized by “purity of equanimity and
mindfulness.” Clearly mindfulness in its highest degreeMIND