Shinran’s World: A Dialogue of Shin Buddhism and Zen Buddhism (1961: published in three parts in 1985, 1986 and 1988)

Abstract

Finally, we re-compact this period in the presentation of Shin Buddhism by taking a step backwards in time to take note of the interaction with Zen Buddhism. This area is explored in a robust dialogue between Suzuki Daisetsu, Kaneko Daiei, Soga Ryōjin 曽我量深 (1875–1971) and Nishitani Keiji 西谷啓治 (1900–1990), all resident in Kyōto at that time. Though not published until 1985, 1986 and 1988, in three parts, the meetings between these Buddhist thinkers had of course taken place shortly before Suzuki died in 1966. The participants are all major figures in the philosophically religious explorations of Buddhism in the wider context of modern thought. Soga Ryōjin was one of the leading intellectuals of the Shin Buddhist tradition in his day. Nishitani Keiji is well known as a representative figure of the “Kyōto School,” a loose designation for that influential stream of intellectual consciousness which spanned religious denominations and universities alike in the city of Kyōto. This chapter is dedicated to analyse the dialogue of four of the most eminent Japanese Buddhist thinkers of this century, who gathered on Mount Hiei for a three-day dialogue on Shin Buddhism.