Modern Pure Land Thinkers

Abstract

Kiyozawa Manshi (1863–1903) and Soga Ryōjin (1875–1971) were Shin Buddhist thinkers of the Pure Land tradition of Higashi Honganji, one of the two main branches of the largest sect of Japanese Buddhism. Kiyozawa, together with his student Soga, spearheaded the modernization of Shin Buddhism by addressing and incorporating Western religious and philosophical ideas as well as the broader context of Mahayana Buddhism, as religious seekers attempting to deepen their own realization, and as institutional leaders who sought reform in what they perceived as an antiquated, corrupt ecclesiastical hierarchy. Kiyozawa focused on the synthesis of Shin Buddhism and Western thought and Soga on the reformulation of Shin within the Mahayana. Kiyozawa emphasized Amida Buddha as absolute other power. Soga reformulated Dharmākara Bodhisattva as the embodiment of the “storehouse consciousness” (Sk. ālaya-vijñāna) of the Yogacara.