Site mapAbout usConsultative CommitteeAsk LibrarianContributionCopyrightCitation GuidelineDonationHome        

CatalogAuthor AuthorityGoogle
Search engineFulltextScripturesLanguage LessonsLinks
 


Extra service
Tools
Export
Vision and Reality: Buddhist Cosmographic Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Japan
Author Okada, Masahiko
Date1997
Pages336
PublisherStanford University
Publisher Url http://www.stanford.edu
LocationStanford, CA, US [史丹佛, 加利福尼亞州, 美國]
Content type博碩士論文=Thesis and Dissertation
Language英文=English
Degreedoctor
InstitutionStanford University
DepartmentDepartment of Religious Studies
AdvisorCarl Bielefeldt
Publication year1997
Keyword比丘=Buddhist Monk=Bhiksu=Bhikkhu; 佛教人物=Buddhist
AbstractIn 1810, a Japanese Buddhist monk, Fumon Entsu wrote his main work, Bukkoku rekishohen, and established a system of Buddhist astronomy and Buddhist geography based on the idea of a flat and motionless earth. In opposition to the modern scientific worldview, especially the idea of a spherical earth and the heliocentrism, that was getting popular in his period, he tried to prove the existence of the flat world system of Buddhism. In order to verify this theory, Entsu calculated the movement of the heavenly bodies and predicted astronomical phenomena. He also visually demonstrated the plausibility of his Buddhist astronomy by making an annual calendar and the miniature mechanical model of the Buddhist worldview. Moreover, Entsu propagated his theory by conducting a public observation of astronomical phenomena, lecture tours, and publication of his works.

The people influenced by Entsu's theory through these activities constituted a school and developed a unique thought movement in the early modern and modern Japanese intellectual history. One of the main purposes of this dissertation is to fully examine this thought movement which has been neglected by intellectual historians and to provide the study of early modern and modern Japanese intellectual history with a new material.

Entsu and his follower's thought movement has simply been interpreted as a reaction of the traditional religious worldview against the modern scientific worldview. In this dissertation, however, I would like to reexamine this thought movement in its discursive relation with the contemporaneous intellectual activities and rethink the meaning of this unique thought movement. Reconsidering the stereotyped image of Entsu's works, which includes significant topics of modern intellectual history, such as the relation between tradition and modernity, is to reevaluate the basic perspective of conventional Japanese intellectual history.

Moreover, Entsu's theory was the first Japanese Buddhist thought that dealt with the relation between modern science and religion. Examining Entsu works as "the first modern Buddhism," I would also like to reveal a discursive foundation of modern Japanese Buddhist thought in its early form.
Hits1282
Created date2008.04.23
Modified date2016.06.03



Best viewed with Chrome, Firefox, Safari(Mac) but not supported IE

Notice

You are leaving our website for The full text resources provided by the above database or electronic journals may not be displayed due to the domain restrictions or fee-charging download problems.

Record correction

Please delete and correct directly in the form below, and click "Apply" at the bottom.
(When receiving your information, we will check and correct the mistake as soon as possible.)

Serial No.
158661

Search History (Only show 10 bibliography limited)
Search Criteria Field Codes
Search CriteriaBrowse