What is Japanese Buddhism?

Introduction, Acculturation, Reculturation

When people first come to Japan, they inevitably visit some Buddhist temples. Buddhism is everywhere, from the sights tourists enjoy to the rituals for the dead, from the scrolls visitors see in museums to the relationship Japanese people have with the cherry blossoms.

However, speaking of a unified, singular “Japanese Buddhism” or “Japanese Buddhist philosophy” is not without problems. Do such expressions refer to “Buddhism in Japan” or to a “Japaneseness” of Buddhism in Japan? Is there such a thing as a Buddhist tradition specific to Japan? Is it still a kind of Buddhism? Is it really philosophy or something that questions philosophy? Does it really raise questions about philosophy or something else?

There is no definitive answer to such questions, and authors who talk about Japanese Buddhism are used to promote a kind of skepticism. This is the case, for example, with Richard K. Payne when he writes in a chapter of The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy:

“Japanese Buddhism” is not something discovered but, rather, something made, an artifact of both popular and academic discourse. Such a claim, of course, does not imply that there are not indefinitely many things that can be pointed to stipulatively as instances of Japanese Buddhism. Indeed, the constructed nature of the concept is indicated by this overwhelming number of possible stipulative referents and the plurality of ways in which they can be grouped and categorized. (“Chapter 1: “Japanese Buddhism”: Constructions and Deconstructions”, p. 6)

Leaving aside such difficulties, what I would like to do is to present some elements of thought about what might be called a philosophical discussion of Buddhism in the Japanese context.

In fact, what is of interest to me is not whether it is perfectly legitimate to understand Japanese Buddhism as Japanese, but to give a general overview of what a philosophical account of Buddhism in Japan looks like.

I will first give some elements of understanding regarding the introduction of Buddhism in Japan. Then I will focus on three authors who seem to me to be representative of the originality of Japanese Buddhist philosophy: Kūkai, Shinran, and Dōgen.