William Bodiford


William Marvin Bodiford is an American professor and author. He teaches Buddhist Studies and religion in the cultures of Japan and East Asia at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Education and early career

In his section "Acknowledgments" in his book Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, Bodiford thanks the monks of the Eihei-ji temple in Japan who "kindly broke the rules" to teach him, before his university education began, about Sōtō Zen and Japanese beer.
Bodiford earned his PhD in Buddhist Studies at Yale University and did additional graduate training at the University of Tsukuba and Komazawa University.
Before moving to UCLA, he taught at Davidson College, the University of Iowa, and Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan.

''Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan''

Bodiford's book Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan began as his written at Yale under Stanley Weinstein. Fabio Rambelli, who reviewed the book in 1994 for The Journal of Asian Studies, writes that the author delivers an alternative to the "traditional dichotomy between 'pure' Zen and 'popular' religion". Christopher Ives writes in the Journal of Japanese Studies that the book is the "most important English work on Sōtō Zen to date".

Other activities and research

He presented his paper on the birth of Ise Shinto at the 2008 annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in a session organized by Rambelli. In 2009, Bodiford participated with Shoji Yamada of International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Japan and William R. Lafleur of the University of Pennsylvania in a panel at the AAS annual meeting.
In 2011, he sat on a panel with Steven Heine, Taigen Dan Leighton, Shohaku Okumura and others for a conference on Dogen Zenji organized by Heine's school, Florida International University. In May 2023, he gave a lecture on "Buddhist and Samurai Views of the Japanese 'Watery Moon' Motif" at UC Santa Barbara.
Bodiford researches Japanese history from medieval times to the present. He has published works on the Tendai and Vinaya Buddhist traditions, on Shinto, and other subjects. He is an associate editor of Macmillan Reference USA's Encyclopedia of Buddhism.

Publications

Articles

  • Bodiford, William M. 2025. “Introduction to the Shōbōgenzō.” In Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō. Translated by the Sōtō Zen Text Project. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Volume 8, pp. 1–287.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2023. “La relecture des écritures bouddhiques en Chine et chez Dōgen”, in L’identité du japonais face aux traductions: les cas du bouddhisme, de la philosophie et du kanbun. ' 12: 163–192.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2021. "Introduction". In Keizan, Shōkin, T. Griffith Foulk, et al. Record of the Transmission of Illumination. Honolulu:, .
  • Bodiford, William M. 2020. "". Annual Report of the Zen Institute, n.32, pp.59–86.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2019. "Rewriting Dōgen". International Zen Studies, pp. 219–302.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2018. "". Asian Studies 6: University of Ljubljana, pp. 33–50.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2018. “.” The Eastern Buddhist 49, 1 & 2. pp. 181–210.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2015. " In Steven Heine ed., Dōgen and Sōtō Zen. Oxford University Press, pp. 167–187.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2012. "". In Steven Heine ed., Dōgen: Textual and Historical Studies. Oxford University Press, pp. 207–222.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2011. "." In Christoph Anderl ed., Zen Buddhist Rhetoric in China, Korea, and Japan, pp. 285–314. Brill.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2010. "Zen and Esoteric Buddhism." In Orzech, Charles D.. Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in Eastern Asia. Brill, pp. 924–935.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2010. “” In Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia, edited by James A. Benn, Lori Meeks, and James Robson, 125–147, New York: Routledge.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2008. "" In Steven Heine, Dale S. Wright ed., Zen Ritual: Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory in Practice. Oxford University Press, pp. 261–331.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2006. "When Secrecy Ends: The Tokugawa Reformation of Tendai Buddhism.” In Bernhard Scheid, Mark Teeuwen ed., The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion, Routledge, pp. 309–330.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2006. "Koan Practice" In John D. Loori ed., : Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection, Wisdom Publications, pp. 77–96.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2006. “' The Journal of Japanese Studies, Volume 32, Number 1, pp. 1-21.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2006. "." Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, Vol. 16, pp. 233–262.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2005. "Zen and Japanese Swordsmanship Reconsidered." In Alexander Bennett ed., Budo Perspectives. Auckland: Kendo World Publications, pp. 69–103.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2005. " In: Going Forth: Visions of Buddhist Vinaya. , University of Hawaii Press, pp. 185–209.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2005. "A Chronology of Religion in Japan." In: Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions, pp. 395–432.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2005. "The Medieval Period – Eleventh to Sixteenth Centuries." In: Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions, pp. 163–183.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2003. "Monastic Militias." In Robert E. Buswell ed., , Vol. 2 pp. 560–561. New York: Macmillan Reference.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2002. "Soke: Historical Transformations of a Title and its Entitlements." In Diane Skoss ed., Keiko Shokon. Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan, vol. 3, pp.129–143. Also available on
  • Bodiford, William M. 2002. " In Theodore A. Barry et al, ed., Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume One: From Earliest Times to 1600, pp. 306–335.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2001. "Written Texts: Japan." In Thomas A. Green, ed., .'' Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2001. "Religion and Spiritual Development: Japan." In Thomas A. Green, ed., : A–Q. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio, pp. 472–505.
  • Bodiford, William M. 2000. " In David Gordon White, ed.,Tantra in Practice. Princeton University Press, pp. 299–307.
  • Bodiford, William M. 1996. "." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 23.
  • Bodiford, William M. 1994. "Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1994 21/1: 3–36.
  • Bodiford, William M. 1993. "" Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, pp. 267–282.
  • Bodiford, William M. 1992. "Zen in the Art of Funerals: Ritual Salvation in Japanese Buddhism." History of Religions 32, no. 2: 146–164.
  • Bodiford, William M. 1991. "Dharma Transmission in Sōtō Zen. Manzan Dōhaku's Reform Movement." Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 46, no. 4: 423–451.
  • Bodiford, William M. "Zen." Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zen.
Translations
  • Foulk T. Griffith, William M Bodiford, Carl Bielefeldt, and John R McRae. 2021. Record of the Transmission of Illumination Volume 2: A Glossary of Terms, Sayings, and Names Pertaining to Keizan's Denkōroku. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  • 瑩山 1268–1325 T. Griffith Foulk, William M Bodiford, Sarah J Horton, Carl Bielefeldt, and John R McRae 2021. an Annotated Translation of Zen Master Keizan's Denkōroku. Tokyo Honolulu: Sōtōshū Shūmuchō; University of Hawai'i Press.
  • In Donald S. Lopez Jr. ed. 2004. Buddhist Scriptures :
  • Kyōkai's “Karma Tales.” pp. 24–33
  • Genshin's “Avoiding Hell, Gaining Heaven.” pp. 69–77
  • “Taking the Vinaya Across the Sea.” pp. 306–317
  • " pp. 318–328
  • "." pp. 531–539
  • “, by Ishikawa Rikizan. The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2002.
  • "", Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō. Introduction and translation by William M. Bodiford. Dharma Eye: News of Sōtō Zen Buddhism – Teachings and Practice. pp. 21–26, December 2002.
  • In Religions of Japan in Practice Chapter 8.
  • " in: Religions of Japan in Practice Chapter 44.
  • "Chidō's Dreams of Buddhism." In Donald S. Lopez Jr. ed., Religions of Asia in practice: an anthology. Princeton University Press, pp. 649–659, 2002.
  • Takuan Soho's “ In Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume 2: 1600 to 2000. Columbia University Press, pp. 527–531.
The Sōtō Zen Text Project
  • Introduction to the Shōbōgenzō.” In Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō, vol. 8, edited by Carl Bielefeldt.