Inoue Shūten (1880-1945) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist scholar, socialist and anti-war activist from the Meiji period to the early Showa period.[1][2]

Life

Inoue entered a Sōtō Zen temple at the age of nine and later studied Indian philosophy at Komazawa University. During his travels throughout south China, Ceylon, Burma, and India, he met Anagarika Dharmapala and was deeply influenced by the region's Theravāda Buddhist traditions.[1] These experiences, along with his socialist tendencies, influenced his strong pacifism and his opposition to Japanese imperialism.[1] Inoue was also part of the Japanese Socialist organization called the Kobe People's Club (J. Heimin Kurabu).[1]

Inoue was deeply critical of Japanese militarism and of "Imperial Way Buddhism" which supported Japanese imperialism. He also criticized Suzuki Daisetsu for his defense of the idea that Buddhists could be effective soldiers.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Shields, James Mark, "Zen Internationalism, Zen Revolution: Inoue Shūten, Uchiyama Gudō and the Crisis of (Zen) Buddhist Modernity in Late Meiji Japan" (2022). Faculty Contributions to Books. 262. https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/fac_books/262
  2. ↑ Moriya Tomoe 守屋友江. "Social Ethics of “New Buddhists” at the Turn of the Twentieth Century A Comparative Study of Suzuki Daisetsu and Inoue Shūten." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 32/2: 283–304 © 2005 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
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