Grosnick, William H. “Nonorigination and Nirvana in the Early
Tathagatagarbha Literature.” Journal of the International As-
sociation of Buddhist Studies4, no. 2 (1981): 33–43.
Ruegg, David Seyfort. La théorie du tathagatagarbha et du gotra:
Études sur la sotériologie et la gnoséologie du bouddhisme.
Paris: École Française d’Extrème-Orient, 1969.
Takasaki, Jikido. A Study on the Ratnagotravibhaga (Ut-
taratantra), Being a Treatise on the Tathagatagarbha Theory
of Mahayana Buddhism.Rome: Istituto italiano per il Medio
ed Estremo Oriente, 1966.
Wayman, Alex, and Wayman, Hideko, eds. The Lion’s Roar of
Queen S ́rlmala: A Buddhist Scripture on the Tathagatagarbha
Theory,tr. Alex Wayman and Hideko Wayman. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1974.
WILLIAMH. GROSNICKTEMPLE. SeeMonastic Architecture; Monasticism
TEMPLE SYSTEM IN JAPAN
The Japanese Buddhist temple system was established
through legal decrees by the Tokugawa government
(1603–1868) as a method to maintain secular control
over Buddhist institutions. Overseen by the govern-
ment’s Office of Temples and Shrines, this adminis-
trative system involved a head-and-branch temple
(honmatsu) organization. Each Buddhist sect desig-
nated a headquarters temple, which was approved by
the government. With the headquarters temple at the
top, all the sect’s temples in Japan were linked through
a hierarchical network. With links originally formed
between teachers’ (head temples) and disciples’ tem-
ples (branch temples), a head temple often had a num-
ber of affiliated lineage branch temples. These linkages
between generations of temples formed the basis for
the concept that a particular temple was hierarchically
superior to another.
Under the Tokugawa regime, informal lineage-
based ties became formalized, and even temples that
had no lineage ties were sometimes arbitrarily placed
in head-and-branch relationships. This system consol-
idated sectarian hierarchies for all Buddhist temples by
the early eighteenth century as the government per-
fected its control over Buddhist institutions. While the
system developed out of a secular need for control, it
also served each sect to establish organizational sec-
tarian structures that persist into the modern period.
See also:JapanBibliography
Nosco, Peter. “Keeping the Faith: Bakuhan Policy towards Re-
ligions in Seventeenth-Century Japan.” In Religion in Japan:
Arrows to Heaven and Earth,ed. Peter Kornicki and Ian Mc-
Mullen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Williams, Duncan. “Representations of Zen: A Social and In-
stitutional History of SotoZen Buddhism in Edo Japan.”
Ph.D. diss. Harvard University, 2000.DUNCANWILLIAMSTENDAI SCHOOL. SeeTiantai SchoolTHAI, BUDDHIST LITERATURE INThai, the national language of Thailand, is closely re-
lated to Lao, the national language of neighboring
LAOS, as well as the Shan language of northern Burma
(MYANMAR) and several other languages and dialects
in northern VIETNAMand southern CHINA. Together,
they comprise the Tai language family. Approximately
half of the more than sixty million residents of Thai-
land speak Thai as their mother tongue. Thai, and all
Tai languages, are tonal languages in which a change
of syllable tone results in a change of meaning.
The origin of the Thai script is credited to King
Ramkhamhaeng the Great of Sukhothai and an in-
scription that dates from the latter part of the thir-
teenth century. While there is some debate about the
authenticity of this inscription, it is generally held to
be the first written evidence of the strong presence of
Buddhism in Siam or Thailand. The Thai definition of
literature is far reaching, and this inscription, which
reads like a nation’s constitution, is also viewed as a
seminal piece of Buddhist literature. In it, the king
states that he gives alms to the Mahathera San ̇gharaja,
a wise monk who has studied the Buddhist Pali CANON
(Tipitaka) from beginning to end (and who also likely
came from Sri Lanka). The king also mentions that
paying proper tribute to a divine spirit residing at a lo-
cal mountain helps to ensure the prosperity of the
kingdom. This blend of Buddhist practice and ani-
mistic elements continues to be characteristic of the
Thai worldview.
The Thai imagination is most active in a work at-
tributed to Phya Lithai, Trai Phum Phra Ruang(TheTEMPLE