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Miracles of Book and Body is the first book to explore the intersection of two key genres of sacred literature in medieval Japan: sutras, or sacred Buddhist texts, and setsuwa, or "explanatory tales," used in sermons and collected in written compilations. For most of East Asia, Buddhist sutras were written in classical Chinese and inaccessible to many devotees. How, then, did such devotees access these texts? Charlotte D. Eubanks argues that the medieval genre of "explanatory tales" illuminates the link between human body (devotee) and sacred text (sutra). Her highly original approach to understanding Buddhist textuality focuses on the sensual aspects of religious experience and also looks beyond Japan to explore pre-modern book history, practices of preaching, miracles of reading, and the Mahayana Buddhist "cult of the book."

Books and reading --- Buddhism --- Buddhist literature, Japanese --- Folk literature, Japanese --- Movement, Psychology of --- Religious aspects --- Buddhism. --- History --- History and criticism. --- affect theory. --- amida. --- bodhisattvas. --- book history. --- buddha. --- buddhism. --- buddhist texts. --- china. --- cult of the book. --- dharma. --- east asia. --- embodiment. --- explanatory tales. --- history of the book. --- indian scriptures. --- japan. --- japanese didactic tales. --- mahayana buddhism. --- materiality. --- medieval japan. --- memory. --- miracles. --- nonfiction. --- popular religion. --- preaching. --- religion. --- religious texts. --- sacred literature. --- sacred texts. --- scroll. --- sermons. --- setsuwa. --- spirituality. --- sutra recitations. --- sutra. --- textual culture. --- transubstantiation.