was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Shin Buddhist reformer and priest of

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

background who studied at

Tokyo University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

Western philosophy Western philosophy encompasses the philosophical thought and work of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the pre-Socratics. The word ' ...

under the American philosopher

Ernest Fenollosa Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (February 18, 1853 – September 21, 1908) was an American art historian of Japanese art, professor of philosophy and political economy at Tokyo Imperial University. An important educator during the modernization of Japa ...

.Popular Buddhism In Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture by

Esben Andreasen Esben is a Norwegian and Danish male given name. Origin and variants It originated as a variant of Asbjørn. A common variant is Espen Notable people Notable people with this name include: * Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad, Norwegian physician and s ...

, p. 40 /

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

Press 1998, He belonged to the

Ōtani-ha Ōtani-ha (真宗大谷派, ''Shinshū Ōtani-ha'') is a Japanese Buddhist movement. It belongs to Jōdo Shinshū, also known as Shin Buddhism. The movement has approximately 5.5 million members. The headquarters of Ōtani-ha are in Kyoto,http://w ...

branch of Shin Buddhism.

Biography

Many Shin scholars feel that Kiyozawa's viewpoints are comparable to the

religious existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

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 ...

. Many

Higashi Hongan-ji , or, ″the Eastern Monastery of the Original Vow″, is one of two dominant sub-sects of Shin Buddhism in Japan and abroad, the other being Nishi Honganji (or, 'The Western Temple of the Original Vow'). It is also the name of the head temple ...

scholars trace their line of thought to Kiyozawa Manshi, including such men as

Akegarasu Haya was a Shin Buddhist priest in Ōtani-ha. For a decade he was a student of the Shin reformer Kiyozawa Manshi. Akegarasu was also a former head of administration of the Higashi Hongan-ji who was a major inspiration to the formation of the Doboka ...

(1877-1954),

Kaneko Daiei was a Japanese Shin Buddhist philosopher and priest during the first half of the 20th century, belonging to the Ōtani-ha branch of Shin Buddhism. He was born to the priest of Saiken-ji, a Shin Buddhist temple in Jōetsu, Niigata Prefecture. ...

(1881-1976), Soga Ryōjin (1875-1971) and Maida Shuichi (1906-1967). Some of his essays were translated into English, such as the book ''December Fan'', and have found a Western readership. Kiyozawa was instrumental to the establishment of Shinshū University in Tokyo in 1901. The university is now known as Ōtani University, and is located in Kyoto near Higashi Hongan-ji. Kiyozawa served as the first dean of the university. In his life, however, Kiyozawa was an ambivalent figure. He was emblematic of both the need for modernization, and its pitfalls. He was not popular with the members of his temple, who considered his Dharma messages too difficult to understand. Accordingly, many of his disciples were branded heretics. Kiyozawa himself died of tuberculosis quite young and therefore some consider his thought to be immature and incomplete. Even today, many conservative Shin thinkers see Kiyozawa as being emblematic of what had gone wrong with the Ōtani school.

Intellectual influences

Kiyozawa was attracted by three works, the Agongyō which are scriptures of early Indian Buddhism, Discourses of the Greek Philosopher

Epictetus Epictetus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκτητος, ''Epíktētos''; 50 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when ...

, and the

Tannishō The , also known as the ''Lamentations of Divergences'', is a late 13th century short Buddhist text generally thought to have been written by Yuien, a disciple of Shinran. In the ''Tannishō'', Yuien is concerned about the rising doctrinal diverge ...

by Yuien, a disciple of

Shinran ''Popular Buddhism in Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture'' by Esben Andreasen, pp. 13, 14, 15, 17. University of Hawaii Press 1998, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) at the turbulent close of ...

. He did not get his urge to look toward the past from Honganji religious education or culture. Though, it was not unusual to look back to early Buddhism. There were three main aspects of the Agongyō that he was attracted to: psychological insight into the Buddhist problem of spiritual ignorance, the personal relationship between the Buddha and his disciples and their commitment to drop anything for the path, and the psychological doubts expressed by the Buddha's students, which are resolved through dialogue. The second work that Kiyozawa was inspired by was the Discourses of Epictetus. Epictetus was believed to have been a handicapped former slave, but this did not stop his academic pursuits. This perseverance was admired by Kiyozawa as Epictetus believed that pain has its origins in the unenlightened aspect of the self, and that pain can only be relieved by growth in the enlightened aspect of the self. The individual must go through this process of the self. The third work that inspired him was the Tannishō which is the only one of the three works which came from the Shin school of Buddhism. Kiyozawa wanted to learn Shinran's thought but rejected Honganji which was built on Pure Land Patriarchs, Shinran's Kyōgyōshinshō, and Rennyo's letters. This text was somewhat exclusive as some say that it was limited to Shin clergy; Rennyo said that only those “karmically ready” should be allowed to view it. He thought the work was so relevant that he published it in the journal Seishinkai making it available to the public. His efforts were taken up by later generations which resulted in Rennyo's letters being replaced by the Tannishō as the core Japanese language text for transmitting Shin thought. Unlike the Mahāyāna sutras, these three works employ a dialogic style where specific problems are addressed, making them concrete.

Works translated to English

Two translations has been made of Manshi's essays: * * :*

Biography

Intellectual influences

Works translated to English

References

Further reading