The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy

Gereon Kopf received his Ph.D. from Temple University and is currently professor of East Asian religions and philosophy of religion as well as the chair of the religion department at Luther College. He is also an adjunct professor of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Iceland. As a research fellow of the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, he conducted research in 1993 and 1994 at Ōbirin University in Machida, Japan, and at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan, from 2002 to 2004.  In the academic year of 2008-2009, he taught at the Centre of Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong.  2013-2014, he was a visiting lecturer at Saitama University and a Visiting researcher at Tōyō University. He is the author of Beyond Personal Identity (2001), the co-editor of Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism (2009) and the editor of the Journal of Buddhist Philosophy. He also contributes a series of essays on Japanese Buddhism to buddhistdoor.net. He is currently developing a non-essentialist philosophy of mind and an ethics based on a non-essentialist conception of identity formation.

Content Table and Authors.- Introduction.- A: Basic Issues in Japanese Buddhist Philosophy.- Chapter 1: “Japanese Buddhism” or “Buddhism in Japan.- The Category “Japanese Buddhism”; Richard Payne.- Is There Such a Thing as Buddhist Philosophy in Japan? John Maraldo.- Buddhist Philosophy; Makio Takemura, translator: Eiji Suhara.- The Role of Women in Japanese Buddhist Philosophy; Michiko Yusa.- Buddhist Theory and Culture in Japan; Rein Raud.- Chapter 2: Current Issues in Japanese Buddhist Philosophy.- The Reception of Buddhist Thought by Contemporary Philosophers in Japan; Ralf Mueller.- Interaction Between Japanese Buddhist Philosophy and Confucianism; Tomomi Asakura.- The Philosophy Underlying Buddhist Art; Pamela Winfield.- Violence and Salvation in Buddhism; Manabu Watanabe.- Buddhist Socialist Thought in Modern Japan; James Shields.- B: Individual Thinkers.- Chapter 3: Japanese Buddhist Philosophy Before the Meiji Period.- Saichō; Victor Forte.- Kūkai; David Gardiner.- Jōkei; Jay Ford.- Hōnen; Mark Blum.- Dōgen; Steven Heine.- Keizan; Shudō Ishii, translator: Ching-yuen Cheung.- Shinran; Dennis Hirota.- Nichiren; Ruben Habito.- Chūgan Engetsu; Steffen Doell.- Takuan Sōhō; Dennis Lishka.- Hakuin Ekaku; Juhn Ahn.- Bankei Yōtaku; Enshō Kobayashi, translator: Thomas Kirchner.- Chapter 4: Japanese Buddhist Philosophy After the Meiji Period.- Nakamura Hajime; Toshi’ichi Endō.- Inoue Enryō; Rainer Schulzer.- Nishida Kitarō; Mayuko Uehara, translator: John Krummel.- Nishitani Keiji; John Krummel.- D. T. Suzuki; Michiko Yusa.- Kiyozawa Manshi; Robert Rhodes.- Tamaki Koshirō; Makio Takemura, translator: John Krummel.- Hisamatsu; Andre van Braakt.- Ueda Shizuteru; Brett Davis.- Hiratsuka Raichō; Saeko Kimura.

“One can wholeheartedly agree that it was timely and wise on the part of the Dao Companions to gather some of the best current experts on the various subfields of Japanese Buddhist philosophy in order to contribute to creating a finely detailed, most accurate picture of how Buddhist thought has been shaped by, and is still shaping … . characteristically religious discourse that merits the attention of the general reader curious about the Asian religious cultural heritage.” (Lehel Balogh, Religious Studies Review, VOl. 45 (4), December, 2019)