Senshō Murakami

Senshō Murakami in his Shin Buddhist priest robes

Senshō Murakami (村上専精, 1 May 1851 – 31 October 1929) was a Meiji period Buddhist scholar and Jodo Shinshu priest. He famously introduced Western scholarship on Buddhism for Japan, and because of this was forced to resign from Japanese Buddhist priesthood.[1] However, ten years later he was reinstated into the priesthood. He belonged to the Ōtani-ha branch of Shin Buddhism.[2]

His most notable work was 『仏教統一論』, (Discourse on Buddhist Unity), which argued that Japanese Mahayana texts were not the true teachings of Buddha. While he had explained this argument before in a history text, this book, written more in the style of polemic, became famous in intellectual circles. It was also called 『大乗非仏説論』 which has been translated simply as "The Theory That Mahayana Is Not the Buddha's Teachings".[1] However, Murakami believed that Mahayana was nonetheless transcendental truth.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b 村上重良, 「日本百年の宗教―排仏毀釈から創価学会まで」. Translated as Japanese Religion in the Modern Century. pp.56-7 in translation.
  2. ^ Ward, Ryan (2005). "Against Buddhist Unity: Murakami Sensho and his Sectarian Critics". The Eastern Buddhist. XXXVII: 178.
  3. ^ Keith Yandell, Harold A. Netland. Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal. p. 197.

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