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(★)(If America is called a ´melting pot´ of different culture, Japan may be the one, too, of sundry currents of religions and philosophy. Even in the pre-Nara period, strong influences of Chinese and Indian thoughts are quite evident. In the middle age of the warriors´ regime, Zen Buddhism comes across the sea over to Japan. Then by the visit of Jesuits in the 16th century European Catholic impact led to great religious and political discussions and it ended up by the civil war of Kirishitan. Even during the closed door policy of the Tokugawa shogunate, Chinese philosophies were imported and translated into Japanese philosophy. The tendency became more dynamic once the country was open to the Western countries in 1868. It reached to a stage that Dr. Reischauer called Japan with her westernized modern attire as a part of the Far West, instead of Far East.／ It may be an interesting question to ask whether there existed or exists any Japanese thought of its own. The question was already raised by such scholars or philologists of the Tokugawa period as KEICHU, KADANO Azumamaro, MOTOORI Norinaga and HIRATA Atsutane who created a school of Kokugaku or National Study which unfortunately came to be one of the guiding principles of nationalistic movement of the late Tokugawa and early Meiji thinkers and politicians.／ The author of this book is Professor of Hindu Philosophy and Dean of the Literature Department at the University of Tokyo. He opened a new horizon of comparative study of Asian thought when he wrote his ´The Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples : India-Tibet-Japan (English edition, 1964)´.／ This book is a compilation of the various articles the author has written in different occasions on Japanese thought. There are some repetitious phrases in chapters. But time being limited it was impossible to reedit them entirely. Some revision should be undertaken in later days. (March 1967, Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, [from ´Foreword´]) ▼CONTENTS／ ●I.THE IDEAL OF A UNIVERSAL STATE AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS --Prince Shootoku and his Successors／1.The Universal State／2.Administration of the Centralized State／3.Cultural Policy／4.Philosophical Thought (Dialectic・Theory of Cause and Effect・The Absolute・This-Worldliness・Moral Values・High Regard for Industriousness・Tolerance・Pacifism) ●II.PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS OF THE NARA AND THE HEIAN PERIODS／1.Introductory Remarks (The Six Sects of the Nara Period・The Two Major Sects of the Heian Period)／2.Voidness／3.Existence in Interrelation)／4.The Absolute (Words and Categories・Forms of the Buddha)／5.Affirmation of the World／6.Synthesis of Philosophies ●III.MEDIEVAL THOUGHT／1.The Social Background／2.The Supremacy of Religion (Major Sects of Buddhism・Other-Worldliness・Establishment of Religious Authority・Approach to the Common People)／3.Compassion and Schools of Pure Faith (The Compassion-Love Doctrine・The Role of Bodhisattvas・Vicarious Atonement・Deliverance in the Pure Realm・Sense of Sin and Need of Divine Grace)／4.The Way of Meditation (The Object of Contemplation・Intuitive Knowledge of Mystics・Practical Significance of Meditation・The Absolute in Phenomena)／5.The Concept of Time and Change／6.Philosophy of History／7.Conclusions ●IV.CONTROVERSY BETWEEN BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY --The period of Contact with the West／1.The Encounter of Joodoo Buddhism and Christianity --A Case Study of Banzui´i Shoonin (The Problem・Banzui´i´s Anti-Christian Activities・Characteristics of the Encounter)／2.Suzuki Shoosan´s Criticism of Christianity (The Problem・Criticism corresponding to Western Criticism・Criticism from a Buddhist Point of View・Characteristics of Shoosan´s Criticism・Conclusion)) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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