Free inquiry; New Buddhism; Katō Totsudō; social edification; politics of religious freedom
摘要
This paper argues that an influential but hitherto largely unexamined strain of Japanese Buddhist studies emerged from the ideal of “free inquiry” (jiyū tōkyū 自由討究) advocated by the Fraternity of New Buddhists (Shin Bukkyōto Dōshikai 新佛教徒同志會), a group of lay intellectuals and disaffected priests primarily active in Tokyo from 1900 to 1915. Although this group disbanded in the late 1910s, the New Buddhist project of “free inquiry” reached its zenith in the 1920s, when former members such as Katō Totsudō 加藤咄堂 (1870-1949) prodigiously published evidentiary scholarship on Buddhism while also advocating normative policy aims such as the eradication of superstition and the inculcation of “a sound Buddhist faith” in the populace. Katō’s “free inquiry” upheld the ideal of academic freedom as a way of countering sectarianism and superseding clerical authority, but as an example of activist Buddhist studies scholarship that clearly influenced contemporary religions policy, it was hardly politically neutral.
目次
1. The New Buddhism Movement 34 The Ideal of Free Inquiry 37 The New Buddhists after the Discontinuation of Shin Bukkyō 38 2. The Case of Katō Totsudō 39 3. A Common Project 44 4. Conclusion 46 References 48
