Interactions with Japanese Buddhism
Explorations and Viewpoints in Twentieth Century Kyōto
Edited by
Michael Pye [+–]
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013
In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city.
This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue.
Series: Eastern Buddhist Voices
Table of Contents
Preliminaries
Preface with Acknowledgements [+–] ix-x
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013 In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city. This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue .
Conventions on Names, Titles and Scripts [+–] xi-xiii
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013 In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city. This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue .
Introduction [+–] 1-7
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013 In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city. This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue .
Part I: Flashback to Some Early Examples
1. Buddhism and Moral World Order [+–] 11-16
Otani University
Kiba Ryoton was professor of philosophy at Otani University.
The author gave this address at a meeting of the Religioser Menscheitsbund which took place near Berlin in August 1922. That group was founded in 1921 by Rudolf Otto. This article was translated for The Eastern Buddhist from a German text which appeared in the second report of the association.
2. On Zen Buddhsim [+–] 17-23
University of Marburg
While holding a professorship of systematic theology at the University of Marburg, Rudolf Otto did much to push forward the historical and systematic study of religions in general and was particularly interested in the devotional and mystical traditions of India and– within the multifacered religious scene of Japan — in Zen Buddhsim, His work, Das Helige appeared in 1917 and the English translation, The Idea of the Holy in 1923.
This article is more or less a recapitulation of Professor Sukuki’s paper on Zen that appeared in an issue of the Eastern Buddhist .
3. Dengyo Daishi and German Theology [+–] 24-31
Writer and Buddhist Scholar
Bruno Petzold (1873–1949) was born at Breslaw, Silesia, which at that time was part of the German Empire. He attended Leipzig University and Berlin University. For several years he was the correspondent in Paris for the Berliner Tageblatt and other German newspapers and periodicals and became acquainted with Georges Clemenceau, Emile Zola and other literary and political figures. He was later a correspondent in London and China before moving to Japan in 1910. He lived there for the rest of his life. He taught German at a school, Dai Ichi Kotogatta, in Tokyo, while his wife taught at the Ueno Academy of Music.
In Japan Petzold converted to Buddhism and he eventually became a priest of the Tendai sect. Most of his published articles and monographs related to Buddhism. They included: Die Triratna; Grundsätzliches űber das Wahre des Buddhismus (1933), Goethe und der Mahāyāna Buddhismus (1936), Les classifications du Bouddhisme (1937), Japanese Buddhism: A Characterization. His most important writings were published posthumously: Tendai Buddhism: Collection of the Writings of Bruno Petzold (1979), Die quintessenz der T’ien-t’ai (Tendai) (1982), The Classification of Buddhism=Bukkyō Kyōhan (1995).
In this essay, the author looks at the work of Dengyo Daishi, known as the systematic introducer to Japan of the Chinese Tiantai School and compares it with the medieval mystical writing known of Theoogia Germanica. It is thus an early example of those Buddhist-Christian encounters that have focused on the mystical strand within Christianity as the most promising point of contact for exploration.
4. The Unity of Buddhsim [+–] 32-46
Williams College
James Bissett Pratt (June 22, 1875 – January 15, 1944) held the Mark Hopkins Chair of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at Williams College. He was president of the American Theological Society 1934–1935.
Pratt attended Williams College, graduating in 1898. He subsequently studied at the University of Berlin and at Harvard University, earning his doctorate with William James in 1905. He returned to his Williams to teach and write on philosophy thereafter.
In this essay, Pratt, normally known as a scholar of Hinduism, addresses head-on the inevitable questions of coherence and consistency which arise within any religious tradition which displays striking diversity as he attempts to summarize the character of Buddhism.
5. Shinran’s Concept of Buddhist History [+–] 47-59
Otani University
Soga Ryōjin (1875-1971) was an influential thinker in the Higashi Honganji Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist tradition, and a president of Ōtani University.
This essay was not translated into English until 1995 yet first published in Japan in 1935. By raising the question of ‘Buddhist history’ in the mind of Shinran, the medieval founder of Shin Buddhism, it challenges readers to take historicity as a legitimate part of the tradition while at the same time insisting on historicist presuppositions.
Part II: Thinking About Zen Buddhsim in the 1960s
6. Zen: Its Meaning for Modern Civilization [+–] 63-81
Kyoto University
Shin’ichi Hisamatsu (1889- 1980) was a philosopher, Zen Buddhist scholar, Japanese tea ceremony master and a professor at Kyoto University.
This somewhat essay looks at Buddhist aesthetics.
7. The Awakening of Self in Buddhsim [+–] 82-90
Kyoto University
Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990) was the successor of the philosopher Nishida Kitaro at Kyoto University and a scholar of Zen Buddhism.
This essay goes beyond the denominational characteristics of Japanese Zen in its characterization of Buddhism.
8. Introducing Martin Heidegger [+–] 91-101
Kyoto University
Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990) was the successor of the philosopher Nishida Kitaro at Kyoto University and a scholar of Zen Buddhism.
Nishitani had a significant interaction with the Western world in the context of which he met Martin Heidegger in Germany, As a result, The Eastern Buddhist as able to publish two early writings by Heideggerin German with an introduction by Nishitani in English.
University of Freiburg
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was a German philosopher in the Continental tradition and one of the twentieth-century’s most influential thinkers.
This was an address given on July 22 1961 on the occasion of the seven-hundredth of Messkirch. The author meditates on the concept of home, homesickness. the ‘alien’ and what it means to celebrate ‘home’.
10. Zen and Compassion [+–] 109-121
University of Hawai’i
Masao Abe (1915- 2006) was a Japanese Buddhist and professor in religious studies and an influential presenter of Zen Buddhism to the Western world.
Characteristically, in this essay, Masao shows how Zen might be correlated with a number of Western thinkers. It was originally part of a memorial collection for Suzuki Daisetsu whose life and work was being celebrated in The Eastern Buddhist at the time.
Part III: Responses to Suzuki Daisetsu
11. The Stone Bridge of Joshu [+–] 125-131
Psychiatrist
Kondo Akihisa (1911-1999), a psychiatrist in Tokyo and former student of Karen Horney, became one of the most respected clinicians in Japan and, through his postrgraduate training in New York in the 1940s , became a central link between Fromm, Horney and Suzuki.
In his appreciative response to Suzuki, Kondo Akihisa compares the master to the stone bridge of Joshu,
12. The Enlightened Thought [+–] 132-140
Abbot of Ryōkōin
Kobori Nanrei Sōhaku (1918—1992) was a Japanese Rinzai roshi and former abbot of Ryōkōin, a subtemple of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, Japan and a student of Suzuki Daisetsu.
This essay explores the relationship between scholarship and the central features of Zen experience associated with prajna (insight or great wisdom).
13. The “Mind-less” Scholar [+–] 141-144
Author and Lecturer
An indefatigable promulgator of Zen in North America, the British-born Alan Watts (1915 – 1973) published widely and did much to popularize Zen to the counter culture of the 1960s.
Here Watts writes of Suzuki as a “mind-less” scholar, that is, one who overcame the restrictions of ratiocination.
14. Memories of Dr. D.T. Suzuki [+–] 145-148
Psychologist
Erich Seligmann Fromm (1900-1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.
Here the influential psychologist Erich Fromm recalls his creative association with the mature Suzuki, illustrating the many interactions that were taking place between Japan, North America and Europe in the 1960s.
15. A Personal Tribute [+–] 149-150
Translator
Eberhart Julius Dietrich Conze (1904-1979) was an Anglo-German scholar probably best known for his pioneering translations of Buddhist texts who lectured internationally and served as vice president of the Buddhist Society.
Here Edward Conze recounts how he, in the context of a difficult life experience, found emotional inspiration in the underlying themes of Mahayana Buddhism, rather than Zen in particular
(1904-1993)
This essay, first published in Japanese in 1982, brings out a most interesting counterpoint betweenb the motivation of philologically oriented specialists in the Buddhist tradition, represented by the influential figure of Ui Hakuju and Suzuki’s more existentialist or spiritual interest.
17. D.T. Suzuki and Pure Land Buddhism [+–] 165-170
Otani University
Shojun Bando (1932- 2004) a Japanese scholar, author, editor, and priest who was influential in disseminating information to the West on Shin Buddhism and who is known for his correspondence with Thomas Merton.
While Pure Land Buddhism was scorned by many, including Conze, it was clear for both Suzuki and the author of this piece, that faith centred on the “Original Vow” of Amida Buddha was a significant trend within the more complex tradition of Mahayana Buddhism as a whole. For them, it is in this shared matrix that the correlation of Shin and Zen Buddhism is able to take place
Part IV: Thinking About the Pure Land
18. The Concept of the Pure Land [+–] 173-182
Otani University
A Japanese Buddhist philosopher who studied with Kiyozawa Manshi, Kaneko Daiei (1881-1976) taught for several years at Ōtani University. In 1928 he was excommunicated from Jodo Shinshu for having charged the organization with materialism but a decade later his excommunication was overturned.
This essay written in 1925 in Japanese, displays a distinctly modern orientation, as the author explores the relationship between myth and consciousness and assumes the abandonment of religious naivety.
19. The Pure Land of Beauty [+–] 183-206
Philosopher
Yanagi Sōetsu (1889-1961, aka Yanagi Muneyoshi) Japanese philosopher and founder of the mingei (folk craft) movement in Japan in the late 1920s and 1930s.
In this essay, Yanagi, who was a driving force in the Japanese folk art revival, finds the Pure Land not only in consciousness but also in material objects of everyday life.
End Matter
Appendix 1: Synoptic List of Text Titles [+–] 207-228
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013 In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city. This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue .
Appendix 2: Character List for Historical Persons [+–] 229-233
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013 In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city. This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue .
Appendix 3: Original Publication Details [+–] 234-235
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013 In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city. This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue .
Appendix 4: A Note on The Eastern Buddhist [+–] 236-237
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
A short history of The Eastern Buddhist and the objectives of the Eastern Buddhist Society.
Index [+–] 239-256
Marburg University, (Emeritus) and Otani University
Michael Pye is Professor (emeritus) at Marburg University and a visiting Research Associate of Ōtani University in Kyōto. His writings have ranged widely over problems in the study of religions, studies in Buddhist thought and many aspects of contemporary Japanese religion. His major publications include Skilful Means and Emerging from Meditation.
NEW IN PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013 In the early twentieth-century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west’s engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyōto School. Also to be heard, however, were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which have a strong tradition in the city. This book brings together a range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west. It is a companion volume to Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue .
ISBN-13 (Hardback)
9781908049186
Price (Hardback)
£75.00 / $99.95
ISBN-13 (Paperback)
9781908049193
Price (Paperback)
£24.95 / $29.95
ISBN (eBook)
9781781790410
Price (eBook)
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Institutional
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£24.95 / $29.95
Institutional
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Publication
01/11/2012
Pages
258
Size
234 x 156mm
Readership
scholars
Illustration
4 figures
