The dawn of modern Buddhism: contacts between Chinese and Japanese Buddhism in the late nineteenth century

ABSTRACT

This article examines contacts between four Japanese and Chinese Buddhists at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries and provides an overview of the nature of Sino-Japanese Buddhist exchange in the modern period. Modern contacts between Chinese and Japanese Buddhism began when Ogurusu Kōchō traveled to Beijing in 1873. His exchange with the Chinese monk Benran exemplifies the shifting relationship between Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. Perceiving Chinese Buddhism to be in a state of decline and in need of revival, Ogurusu formulated a plan to reform Chinese Buddhism and initiated mission work. The second relationship discussed is that between the Chinese layman Yang Wenhui and the Japanese priest and scholar Nanjō Bunyū, who met in London. The transfer of knowledge about Sanskrit and modern Western academic methodology from Nanjō to Yang formed the basis of these contacts. This exchange marked the advent of modern Buddhist studies in East Asia and a shift away from an exclusive focus on the Chinese language scriptures towards Sanskrit and Pali texts. Despite these close contacts, the encounter ultimately also reminded both the Chinese and Japanese of the peculiarities and differences in their respective Buddhist traditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Ogurusu Kōchō
• Benran
• Yang Wenhui
• Nanjō Bunyū
• Max Mueller
• Buddhist studies
• Sanskrit

Acknowledgements

This article was originally published in No. 943 (November 2002) of SHISO (思想) (ISSN 0386-2755). We would like to thank the editors and publisher, Tokyo Iwanami Shoten, for their kind permission to translate and republish the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Yamamuro Shin’ichi analyzed in his Shisō kadai toshite no Ajia the relationship between modern Japan and Asia from the new perspectives of ‘focal point, linkage, and project,’ but did not touch on the subject of Buddhism.

2. Kojima and Kiba, Ajia no kaikyō to kyōiku, 31.

3. Satō, Kindai Nitchū kōshōshi no kenkyū, 221–222.

4. Kojima and Kiba, Ajia no kaikyō to kyōiku, 26.

5. Kitanishi, ‘Meiji shoki ni okeru Higashi Honganji no Chūgoku kaikyō,’ 335.

6. Kashiwara, Nihon bukkyōshi – kindai, 72.

7. Chen, ‘1873nen ni okeru Nihonsō no pekin nikki – Ogurusu Kōchō no Pekin setsuwa (I),’ 26.

8. Ogurusu, Shina kaikyō mikomi, 8. The original text lacks page numeration and the page number given here and below represent provisional page numbers determined by the author.

9. Kiba, ‘Kindai ni okeru Nihon bukkyō no Ajia dendō,’ 223.

10. Ogurusu, Shina kaikyō mikomi, 2.

11. Ogurusu, Pekin setsuwa. The volume has no page numbers.

12. Fujii, ‘TaiShi bukkyō undō no suii – Meiji Taishō gojūnen wo hete daitenkanki kuru,’ 28–29.

13. Yamamuro, Shisō kadai toshite no Ajia, 580–582. Fujii, ‘Senzen ni okeru bukkyō no higashi Ajia fukyō,’ 15.

14. See Ogurusu, Hasshū Pekin shojō no. 10 (January 21, 1874), in possession of the temple Myōshōji 妙正寺. The volume is a collection of the letters sent by Ogurusu to his younger brother and disciple from China between 17 July 1873 and 19 August 1874. It consists of altogether 15 items of correspondence. The quotes below are taken from letters found in this volume.

15. Ibid. ‘Although the Buddha dharma came from China, none of the current seven sects exists in China. [Buddhism] is truly a Japanese teaching (Nihonkyō) and not a Chinese teaching (Shinakyō). And neither is it Shinto.’

16. Kashiwara, ‘Meijiki shinshū no kaigai dendō,’ 835. Kiba, Ajia no kaikyō to kyōiku, 32–34.

17. Nanjō Bunyū writes in his article ‘Ōshū bongogaku ryakushi,’ that ‘there was no one among the Buddhists of Japan or China (wakan) of old who knew the difference between “Sanskrit” and “Pali”’. See Reichikai no. 9, 21 December 1884.

18. De Jong, Bukkyō kenkyū no rekishi, 30.

19. Nanjō, ‘Yō bunkai shi wo omou’ (jō).

20. Okayama, ‘Kan’yaku butten to kanji bunkaken,’ 4–35.

21. Mueller, ‘BUNYIU NANJIO,’ 187.

22. Reichikai 令知會 no. 12 (21 March 1885), 51–52. Yang, Yang Renshan quanji, 476.

23. Reichikai 令知會 no. 13 (21 April 1885), 51. Yang, Yang Renshan quanji, 477.

24. Ibid., no. 9, p. 49 and no. 13, 51. Yang, Yang Renshan quanji, 472 and 477.

25. Yang, Yang Renshan quanji, 491. Richard, The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana Doctrine.

26. Mueller, ‘BUNYIU NANJIO,’ 188.

27. Nanjō, ‘Makkusu Myuraa shokan,’ 33 and 35.

28. Ibid.

29. Chen, ‘Qingmo Riben fojiao dianji chuanlai kao,’ 304–335. Chen, ‘Riben Dazang jiaobao zhong Yang Wenhui zhi ziliao kao.’

30. Sakamoto, ‘Yō Bunkai,’ 105.

31. Chūgai nippō 中外日報 11 November 1911.

32. Shibata, ‘Jōdokei no bukkyō,’ 105–146.

33. Chen, ‘Ogurusu Kōchō no Shinshū kyōshi no naiyō oyobi Chūgoku de no hankyō,’ 86–113.

34. Araki, Chūgoku shingaku no kodō to bukkyō, 297–332. Nakamura, Chūgoku kegon jōdo shisō no kenkyū, 252–306.

35. Nanjō, ‘Yō Bunkai shi wo omou’ (ge).

36. Chen, ‘Yō Bunkai to meimyōshū,’ 881–885.