근대 일본의 화엄사상과 국가

Abstract

The thought of Avataṃaka (Flower Garland) in modern Japanese history was used to support imperialism and militarism. It is a dark history hidden behind the auspices of Buddhist studies and developed by modern Japanese Buddhism thinkers. This paper elucidates the relationship between modern Japanese Buddhism and 20th century nationalism from the perspective of the thought of Avataṃaka. First, this paper organizes the scholarship and activities of the key individuals who supported the state authority through the thought of Avataṃaka. By doing this, we can see that, in modern times, systematic scholarly research was conducted on the thought of Avataṃaka to support and justify imperialism and the invasion of Japan into foreign countries. The concepts that the thought of Avataṃaka was used to support were nationalism based on family, the One Household of the World under the Emperor, and the new world order, which was an ideology that justified an emperor-centered state. Next, this paper examines the degree to which the thought of Avataṃaka was used to support the state authority focusing on the relationship between imperialism and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. First we analyze how the view of the Dharma Realm, as the environmental cause of all phenomena in the thought of Avataṃaka, developed into the Emperor system and the ideology of the national system. As a result, we find that the thought of Avataṃaka was used to provide justification for the universality and absoluteness of the modern state system. We then explore how the thought of Avataṃaka was used 근대 일본의 화엄사상과 국가 / 원영상 351 to support the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which served as the leading ideology in ruling colonies as well as in the Japanese expansion of imperialism. This paper specifically examines the Kyoto School of Philosophy, which provided the necessary philosophical insight to support the design of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Kyoto School seemed to play a key role in using the thought of Avatamsaka to defend nationalistic ideology and imperialism. Lastly, this paper explains the limitations for using the thought of Avatamsaka as the foundation for the development of Japan’s state theory. It examines how religious ideology and an imperialistic world view were applied excessively to the theory of state policy as well as, in relation with, the limit of social and ethical responses by religion. This paper provides an analysis on the work of Nishita Kitaro, which elucidates this point as well. By doing this, it was revealed that the thought of Avataṃaka based on nationalism, which deviated from the social role as a religion and the spirit of the Mahāāa Buddhism, could not prevent Japan’s eventual collapse. In other words, this study can be seen as an attempt to recover the value of religion.