JJRS > Volume 31 Issue 2 Popular Buddhist Orthodoxy in Contemporary Japan

Tanabe Jr., George J.

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The writings of popular lay Buddhist writers Kino Kazuyoshi and Hiro Sachiya affirm traditional Japanese Buddhist ideas of original enlightenment, suchness, nonduality, immediacy, Buddha nature, emptiness, ineffability, and the valorization of everyday life. Kino presents his ideas of self-affirmation through a loose association of stories and lessons drawn from life, literature, and Buddhist texts. Rejecting early Buddhist teachings such as the Four Noble Truths and dependent origination, Hiro Sachiya argues for a Zen that champions individual freedom and disengagement from social expectations as an alternative to the stresses of Japanese life. Despite their free and contemporized interpretations, both writers present a pansectarian Buddhism consistent with traditional Mahayana orthodox ideals.