Nanjō Bun'yū (南条文雄) (1 July 1849 – 9 November 1927) was a Buddhist priest and one of the most important modern Japanese scholars of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. Nanjō was born to the abbot of Seiunji Temple (誓運寺), part of the Shinshu Ōtani sect (真宗大谷派) of the Higashi Honganji (東本願寺) branch of Jodo Shinshu.

Biography

Nanjō studied Classical Chinese texts and Buddhist doctrine in his youth before being sent to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 1876 to study

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...

from European scholars, including

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

, under whom Bunyu studied in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. While there he met the Chinese Buddhist

Yang Wenhui Yang Wenhui (; 1837-1911) was a Chinese lay Buddhist reformer who has been called "The Father of the Modern Buddhist Renaissance". His courtesy name was Rénshān (). He was a native of Shídài () county (modern Shítái 石台 county) in Anhui pr ...

, whom he helped to acquire some three hundred Chinese Buddhist texts that had been lost in China to be reprinted at Yang's printing house in Nanjing. In September 1880, Nanjō examined and cataloged a complete edition of the Chinese translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka that had been gifted to the India Office Library in London by the Japanese government. He determined that the India Office Library collection contained the same works as those mentioned in the oldest Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka compiled in 520 AD.Bunyiu Nanjio, A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka, the Sacred Canon of the Buddhists in China and Japan, Clarendon Press, 1883, xiii He returned to Japan in 1884 and served as a professor or head of a number of Buddhist seminaries and universities until his death.

Major publications

* (Co-editor with F. Max Müller) ''Buddhist texts from Japan.'' Oxford : Clarendon press, 1881–84. * Nanjo Bunyu (1883)
''A catalogue of the Chinese translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka
the Sacred Canon of the Buddhists in China and Japan, compiled by order of the Secretary of State for India.'' Oxford, Clarendon Press * ''A short history of the twelve Japanese Buddhist sects. Translated from the original Japanese by Bunyiu Nanjio.'' Tokyo, Bukkyo-Sho-ei-yaku-Shuppan-sha, 1886.
Internet Archive
* (Co-author) ''An unabridged Japanese-English dictionary, with copious illustrations, by Capt. F. Brinkley.'' Tokyo, Sanseido 896 * B. Nanjio (ed.)
The Laṅkāvatāra sūtra
Kyoto, Otani University Press 1923 n Nāgarī * H. Kern; B. Nanjio (ed.); ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīka;'' St. Pétersbourg 1908-1912 (Imprimerie de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences), XII, 507 S.; Sert.: Bibliotheca Buddhica, 10 [In Nāgarī
Vol.1Vol. 2Vol 3Vol. 4Vol. 5

References

1849 births 1927 deaths Japanese academics Japanese scholars of Buddhism Japanese Buddhist clergy Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist priests {{Japan-reli-bio-stub