Sand and Pebbles: The Tales of Muju Ichien, A Voice for Pluralism in Kamakura Buddhism

Sand and Pebbles presents the first complete English rendering of Shasekishū—the classic, popular Buddhist "Tale Literature" (setsuwa). This collection of instructive, yet often humorous, anecdotes appeared in the late thirteenth century, within decades of the first stirrings of the revolutionary movements of Kamakura Buddhism. Shasekishū's author, Mujū Ichien (1226-1312), lived in a rural temple apart from the centers of political and literary activity, and his stories reflect the customs,...