Against Harmony: Progressive and Radical Buddhism in Modern Japan
Publication Date
Summer 6-26-2017
Description
Against Harmony traces the history of progressive and radical experiments in Japanese Buddhist thought and practice, from the mid-Meiji period through the early Showa. Perhaps the two best representations of progressive Buddhism during this time were the New Buddhist Fellowship (1899-1915) and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism (1931-1936), both non-sectarian, lay movements well-versed in both classical Buddhist texts and Western philosophy and religion. Their work effectively collapsed commonly held distinctions between religion, philosophy, ethics, politics, and economics. Unlike many others of their day, they did not regard the novel forces of modernization as problematic and disruptive, but as opportunities.
James Mark Shields examines the intellectual genealogy and alternative visions of progressive and radical Buddhism in the decades leading up to the Pacific War. Exposing the variety in the conceptions and manifestations of progress, reform, and modernity in this period, he outlines their important implications for postwar and contemporary Buddhism in Japan and elsewhere.
ISBN
9780190664008
Keywords
Buddhism, Japan, history, 20th century, politics
Disciplines
Asian History | Buddhist Studies | Comparative Philosophy | Ethics and Political Philosophy | Ethics in Religion | History of Religion | History of Religions of Eastern Origins | Japanese Studies | Political History
Publisher
Oxford University Press
City
New York
Department
Comparative Humanities
Files
Recommended Citation
Shields, James Mark, "Against Harmony: Progressive and Radical Buddhism in Modern Japan" (2017). Faculty Books. 148.
https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/books/148
