이노우에 엔료의 진여불교론 전개에 대하여

Abstract

This article Inoue Enryo was a person who made a great contribution to the renewal of the Buddhist world in early modern Japan, which was subjected to the suppression and the destruction of Buddhism. He pioneered a variety of academic fields with over 160 books, especially in the field of Buddhism, and solidified the status of Buddhism with many writings. Looking at his conduct related to Buddhism, he attempted to rediscover the value of Buddhism through the study of Western philosophy at the University of Tokyo, criticize Western Christianity from the standpoint of seeking truth, and further systematize the history of Buddhism from the standpoint of doctrinal unification. In particular, in his rediscovery of the values of Buddhism through the study of Western philosophy, the concept of Tathatā, based on the theology of the Dai-seung-gi-sin-ron, played a major role. In other words, the ideological position of the theory of the Phenomenon and Substance as the highest point of Western philosophy is the same as the position of the objects and Tathatā based on the Cheon-tae ideology of Buddhism. Here, Tathatā is the basis or nature of all things, and implies the unknowable aspect that we cannot know by human thoughts. Enryo, who was convinced of the truth of Buddhism with the concept of Tathatā, regards the concept of Tathatā as an important concept in his later Buddhist writings and develops its dogmatic logic. In particular, Enryo even says that the core concept emphasized in all sects of Buddhism was a change of the concept of Tathatā. The author named Enryo's position on Tathatā as “Theory of Tathatā Buddhism,” and through this paper, I reviewed and summarized the historical development of the concept of Tathatā in his writings.