Tracing Karma in Meiji Japan: The Global Entanglement of Religion, Morality and Science
Despite its doctrinal importance, the concept of karma or karmic causality has come to occupy a complicated place in contemporary Japanese Buddhism, due to its historical connection with discrimination against outcast groups and disabled people. Furthermore, among post-war Japanese intellectuals, th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
Journal of Religion in Japan
Year: 2022, Volume: 11, Issue: 3, Pages: 205-235 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Meiji era
/ Karma
/ Leading idea
/ Buddhism
/ Modernization
/ Discourse
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BL Buddhism KBM Asia NAB Fundamental theology NBD Doctrine of Creation NBL Doctrine of Predestination NCC Social ethics TJ Modern history |
| Further subjects: | B
civil morality
B Modern Japanese Buddhism B World’s Parliament of Religions B Karma B Materialism B karmic causality |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Despite its doctrinal importance, the concept of karma or karmic causality has come to occupy a complicated place in contemporary Japanese Buddhism, due to its historical connection with discrimination against outcast groups and disabled people. Furthermore, among post-war Japanese intellectuals, the idea of karma has often invoked criticism in the context of modern values such as free will and human potential. Against this conventional framework, this paper demonstrates how the concept of karma was the focus of intense interest among Meiji Japanese intellectuals and a center concern in the developing global network of modern Buddhists. At the intersection of the multifaceted problems facing the Buddhist world at that time—namely, the Buddhist search for scientific religion, civil morality in the nation-building process, reformulating Buddhism for non-Japanese audiences, and the confrontation with competing forms of Western thought—lies the relatively unexamined story of karma in Meiji Japan (1868–1912). |
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| ISSN: | 2211-8349 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Religion in Japan
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22118349-20221002 |