| Abstract (English): |
The present study examines Daruma to Yōmei (達磨與陽明 Daruma and Wang Yangming), a major work by Japanese scholar Nukariya Kaiten 忽滑谷快天 (1867-1934) published in 1908 that demonstrates the connections between the philosophical system of Wang Yangming 王陽明 and the Japanese Zen Buddhist tradition (founded by Daruma), both of which possess a mixture of Confucian and Buddhist influences. This study explores the historical background to the book's composition and its significance, examines Nukariya’s desire to return to the original religious roots of Zen Buddhism, and seeks to identify the key features of his critique of Zen Buddhism and the issues relating to this critique. This study uses both external and internal evidence to demonstrate that Nukariya’s Daruma to Yōmei was written in response to the circumstances of his times. As regards the external evidence, the book is closely linked to the upsurge in interest in the philosophy of Wang Yangming that swept Japan in the first decade of the twentieth century, and to the impact that the anti-Buddhist movement of the Meiji 明治 era had on Buddhism in Japan during this period. Regarding the internal evidence, the study shows Nukariya’s desire to return to what he saw as the original, uncorrupted form of Daruma’s teaching, with an emphasis on preaching and the gradual attainment of enlightenment. However, unlike the Cao Dongzong 曹洞宗 school of Buddhism, with its rejection of close ties to earthly rulers, Nukariya’s doctrine fails to maintain a suitable distance between religion and state power. Influenced by the calls for “spiritual evolution” that were being made in Imperial Japan, Nukariya restricts his criticism of Zen Buddhism to the internal aspects of Zen Buddhism, somewhat less effectively addressing the impact of external authority; in fact, he shows a tendency to submit to this authority. Nukariya’s critique of Zen Buddhism is thus very much a partial one. On the face of it then, Daruma and Wang Yangming's ideas are seemingly incompatible. However, there are close links between Japanese intellectuals' advocacy of the philosophy of Wang Yangming and the Buddhist teachings of Daruma and the state ideology of the Meiji regime that make it possible for Nukariya to reconcile them into a natural, unified whole. In doing so, he created one of the most distinctive examples of the trend in modern Japan for dialogue between Confucianism and Buddhism; at the same time, Nukariya’s attitude towards Zen Buddhism also helps us to understand some of the key features and problems of the evolution of religion in modern Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |