The True Pure Land sect of Japanese Buddhism, or Shin Buddhism, grew out of the teachings of Shinran (1173–1262), a Tendai-trained monk who came to doubt the efficacy of that tradition in what he viewed as a degenerate age. Shinran held that even those unable to fulfill the requirements of the traditional Buddhist path could attain enlightenment through the experience of shinjin, “the entrusting mind”—an expression of the profound realization that the Buddha Amida, who promises birth in his Pure Land to all who trust in him, was nothing other than the true basis of all existence and the sustaining nature of human beings. Over the centuries, the subtleties of Shinran’s teachings were often lost. Elaborate rituals developed to focus one’s mind at the moment of death so one might travel to the Pure Land unimpeded, and a rich artistic tradition celebrated the moment when Amida and his retinue of bodhisattvas welcome the dying believer. What is more, many Western interpreters tended to reinforce this view of Pure Land Buddhism, seeing in it certain parallels to Christianity. This volume introduces the thought and selected writings of Yasuda Rijin (1900–1982), a modern Shin Buddhist thinker affiliated with the Otani, or Higashi Honganji, branch of Shin Buddhism. Yasuda sought to restate the teachings of Shinran within a modern tradition that began with the work of Kiyozawa Manshi (1863–1903) and extended through the writings of Yasuda’s teachers Kaneko Daiei (1881–1976) and Soga Ryōjin (1875–1971). These men lived through the period of Japan’s rapid modernization and viewed the Shin tradition as possessing existential significance for modern men and women. For them, and Yasuda in particular, Amida did not exist in some other-worldly paradise but rather Amida and his Pure Land were to be experienced as lived realities in the present. In the writings and lectures presented here, Yasuda draws on not only classical Shin and Mahayana Buddhist sources, but also the thought of Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945), the founder of the Kyoto School of philosophy, and modern Western philosophers such as Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Buber.

2000CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism offers proposals for creatively reinterpreting the Pure Land path. Japanese Pure Land thought brought about a major development in Buddhist tradition by evolving a path to enlightenment that is pursued while carrying on life in society. It is rooted in the Mahayana ideal of compassion and in the bodhisattva, or being of wisdom, who vows to ferry all living things to the other shore of awakening. In this book, three Buddhist scholars utilize hermeneutic thought, process theology, and the mandala contemplation of Buddhism to address issues of modernity and religious values in the world today. In addition, the work proceeds to offer a new model of interreligious dialogue. Gordon D. Kaufman and John B. Cobb, Jr. reflect critically on the Buddhist proposals, drawing on their long experience as religious philosophers facing questions concerning the contemporary applicability of Christian thought. Contributors include John B. Cobb, Jr., Dennis Hirota, Gordon D. Kaufman, Musashi Tachikawa, and John S. Yokota.

Reacting to nineteenth-century forces of colonialism and globalization, Buddhist reformers across Asia strove to modernize Buddhist teachings, practices, and institutions. “Buddhist modernism” was typically characterized by disbelief in the supernatural, rejection of ritual, deinstitutionalization, and egalitarianism. The Revolution of Buddhist Modernism provides an account of the upheaval that took place within the world of Japanese Jōdo Shin (True Pure Land) Buddhism when scholar-priest Kiyozawa Manshi (1863–1903) initiated modernist reforms. Kiyozawa and his disciples, especially Soga Ryōjin and Kaneko Daiei, reenvisioned Pure Land teachings as a path to awakening in the present world rather than rebirth in a faraway Pure Land after death. This doctrinal reinterpretation led to a range of revolutionary institutional reforms, including new experiential methods of Buddhist studies, democratization of sect institutions, and enhanced cooperation with Japan’s imperialist state. By combining intellectual history with institutional history, The Revolution of Buddhist Modernism reveals deep connections between Buddhist thought, Buddhist institutions, and national and global politics. It tracks the chaotic, fascinating history by which modernist Buddhist ideas came to be grounded in Buddhist institutions and authoritative for Buddhist communities, offering readers a compelling, ground-level view of Buddhist modernism—and traditionalism—in action.

This collection of seventeen essays situates modern Shin Buddhist thinker Kiyozawa Manshi (1863–1903) and his new form of spirituality, Seishinshugi, in the broader context of Buddhism and religious thought in modern Japan. The work highlights several factors that led to the development of Kiyozawa’s ideas and demonstrates the broad influence that he and his disciples had, putting in relief both the events that led Kiyozawa to set forth his unique formulation of a modern Shin Buddhist religiosity in Seishinshugi and the ways in which those ideas became a force that shaped a large part of Japan’s religious landscape well past the middle of the twentieth century. The book is made up of historical studies that explore the significance of Seishinshugi from a variety of perspectives and chapters that attempt to introduce some of the original ideas of Seishinshugi thinkers and other modern Shin proponents such as Sasaki Gesshō (1875–1926) and Yasuda Rijin (1900–1982). The inclusion of several translations of recent Japanese scholarship on Kiyozawa and Seishinshugi provides a snapshot of the state of the field for Kiyozawa studies today in Japan. Several early chapters present issues that Kiyozawa addressed in his formulations of Seishinshugi. His relationship with Inoue Enryō (1858–1919) is discussed in depth, as is his understanding of the Tannishō and new research indicating that Seishinshugi might more closely represent the thought of Kiyozawa’s disciples than his own. This portion ends with a consideration of the reinvention of Kiyozawa’s historical image by his followers after his death. Later chapters bring together research into the specific ways in which Kiyozawa’s legacy shaped the Japanese religious and philosophical environment in the last century, including contributions on female spirituality as expressed in the Seishinshugi movement and the influence of Kiyozawa and Soga Ryōjin (1875–1971) on the Kyoto School and its implications. Other essays highlight approaches to finding meaning in Shin doctrines by Sasaki, Soga, and Yasuda, and how D. T. Suzuki, an Ōtani University colleague, fits into the movement as a whole.

Nothing is more distressing to the modern person than the experience of an unsurpassable limit of the calculable. Nothing disturbs us more deeply than incalculable time, unpredictable time—the time of the advent of the unpredictably new. In a series of interventions into contemporary political crises, McGrath reactualizes the early Christian sense of eschatology as the experience of a time that runs out rather than moves forward. In contemporary politics, economy, ecology, and technology, much that was familiar for most of the twentieth century—the intra-generational transmission of religious values, progressive economic growth, a stable global climate, and predictable movements of peoples and nonhuman species across the planet—is ending calamitously. Endtime, however, is not only the time of endings; it is also the time of unforeseeable beginnings.

Pure Land was one of the main fields of mythopoesis and discourse among the Asian Buddhist traditions, and in Japan of central cultural importance from the Heian period right up to the present. However, its range, inconsistency, variability, and complexity have tended to be misevaluated. The pieces reproduced in this set, organized both chronologically and thematically, have been chosen as linchpin works accentuating the diversity of what evolved under this heading of Buddhism. Special attention is given to the traps into which Western observers may fall, the role of the large True Pure Land (Jōdoshinshū) school, and the richness of Tokugawa and twentieth-century developments. These selections of previously published articles will serve as an essential starting point for anyone interested in this perhaps underestimated area of Buddhist studies.

With Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook, readers of English can now access in a single volume the richness and diversity of Japanese philosophy as it has developed throughout history. Leading scholars in the field have translated selections from the writings of more than a hundred philosophical thinkers from all eras and schools of thought, many of them available in English for the first time. The Sourcebook editors have set out to represent the entire Japanese philosophical tradition—not only the broad spectrum of academic philosophy dating from the introduction of Western philosophy in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but also the philosophical ideas of major Japanese traditions of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto. The philosophical significance of each tradition is laid out in an extensive overview, and each selection is accompanied by a brief biographical sketch of its author and helpful information on placing the work in its proper context. The bulk of the supporting material, which comprises nearly a quarter of the volume, is given to original interpretive essays on topics not explicitly covered in other chapters: cultural identity, samurai thought, women philosophers, aesthetics, bioethics. An introductory chapter provides a historical overview of Japanese philosophy and a discussion of the Japanese debate over defining the idea of philosophy, both of which help explain the rationale behind the design of the Sourcebook. An exhaustive glossary of technical terminology, a chronology of authors, and a thematic index are appended. Specialists will find information related to original sources and sinographs for Japanese names and terms in a comprehensive bibliography and general index. Handsomely presented and clearly organized for ease of use, Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook will be a cornerstone in Japanese studies for decades to come. It will be an essential reference for anyone interested in traditional or contemporary Japanese culture and the way it has shaped and been shaped by its great thinkers over the centuries.