“Flourishing Femininity and the Embodiment of Reproductive Karma”

Jesse LeFebvre (Assistant Professor, University of Rochester) - “Flourishing Femininity and the Embodiment of Reproductive Karma”

According to one legendary account in Hasedera reigenki (The Miraculous Accounts of Hasedera), the Kannon of Hasedera appeared before Emperor Shōmu (701-756, r. 724-749) radiating light in ten directions and leading a retinue of dragon kings, divine youths, and countless heavenly beings. The emperor’s devotion to had ensured his ascent to the throne and secured his lineage’s rule far into the future. In return, the Hasedera Kannon requested that the emperor provide her with curtains and screens so that she may hide herself from undignified exposure. In this way, asking to be treated as would an aristocratic woman of the court, she spoke to the sovereign saying, “The only thing that can pacify the ferocious beings of the defiled age is a woman. I have softened the intensity of my light, manifested in the form of a woman, and will offer protection to this realm until the end of the final age of the dharma.” According to Hasedera reigenki, the only thing capable of defying delusion, destruction, and suffering in the final age of the dharma is a woman. 

This presentation will trace the development of the Hasedera Kannon’s unique iconography and material qualities as they emerged at the confluences of natural processes, politics, religious belief, and visions of cosmology. In the body of the Hasedera Kannon, lightning strikes and centuries of marriage politics were given shape and worshipped as an expression of flourishing femininity and generative reproductive potential, giving birth to an icon that unified the karmic capacity of nature, biology, and politics in both its materiality and iconographical program.