Fumihiko Sueki – Japan

Linked with International Association for the History of Religions IAHR, with Religion and Peace, with The Buddhist Community at Stanford and with York Centre for Asian Research YCAR.

SUEKI Fumihiko studied at the University of Tokyo and received his Ph. D. degree in 1994. He became Professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology at the University of Tokyo in 1995, where he teaches Buddhism, in particular Japanese Buddhism. He works mainly on the reconstruction of the intellectual history of Buddhism in Japan from ancient to modern times. His recent research also covers Zen philosophy and comparative studies of modern Buddhism. His publications (in Japanese) include History of Japanese Buddhism (Tokyo, 1992), Miscellaneous Essays on Japanese Buddhism (Tokyo, 1993), Studies in Buddhist Doctrines in the Early Heian Period (Tokyo, 1995), Studies in the Formation of Kamakura Buddhism (Kyoto, 1998), and Rethinking Modern Japanese Thought (2004). He has contributed several articles in English to the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies and other journals. He was Guest Professor at Ruhr University in Germany in 1997, was Guest Researcher at Renmin University in China, and Directeur d’Études Invite de la Section des Sciences Religieuses de l’École Pratique des Hautes Etudes in 2001 … (full text).

Find his datas on ReaD (Directory Database of Research and Development Activities).

Find his Bio on UNESCO.

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Fumihiko Sueki – Japan

He writes: … Conclusion: We have examined some of the works included in Nichiren B. These works cannot be conclusively demonstrated to be either Nichiren’s authentic works or apocryphal ones, but there exists the possibility that they are Nichiren’s work. Usually the ideas developed in them are not identical to those of Nichiren A, but they are often more fully elaborated expressions of ideas found in Nichiren A. For this reason, we cannot disregard them when we consider Nichiren’s ideas, but neither can we treat them as being on the same level as those of the Nichiren A category. This is the reason why we must acknowledge the category of Nichiren B (along with its ambiguity), and not just Nichiren A and Nichiren C. We cannot always deal with medieval literature in clearcut scienti³c terms but must sometimes acknowledge some ambiguity. (full 20 pdf pages text about Nichiren’s Problematic Works).

Shigaku zasshi, Vol.109, No.1(20000120) pp. 104-114, The Historical Society of Japan ISSN:00182478 (in japanese).

He writes also: Japanese Buddhism is sometimes called “funeral Buddhism” contemptuously. Buddhism is often criticized in that it serves only the dead and does not useful for the living. In truth, the main duties of Buddhist monks are to perform funeral services, maintain graves and perform memorial services for the dead in Japan today. Modern Buddhist leaders in Japan tried to argue against such criticism and insisted that Buddhism in origin was not a religion for the dead but for the living. In the post-modern situation, however, the philosophy of the dead is becoming necessary instead of the philosophy of the living that has been prevalent in modern ages. The living human beings cannot live without thinking of the dead. For example, the war victims in Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Nanjing and other places do not forgive us even today. In this situation, it is necessary to evaluate Buddhist tradition in Japan that shows us the way how to go with the dead. In this paper, first, I will introduce the philosophy of Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962) who insisted the existential co-operation with the dead under the influence of Zen Buddhism and next, examine some Mahayana Buddhist sutras from the viewpoint of the relation between the living and the dead. (Buddhist Philosophy of the Dead, on the XXII World Congress of Philosophy, July 30 to August 5, 2008, Seoul, Korea).

Some ancient European researchers on Japanese Buddhisme he tells about:

Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716):

Johann Joseph Hoffmann (1805-1878):

Émile Étienne Guimet (1836-1918):

Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (1796-1866):

Prof. Bernhard Frank:

  • there are many persons with this name, the only one I found refering to our professor does not allows me to enter.

Find him and his publications on amazon (with 25 results); on bookfinder; on openLibrary; on the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (their english homepage); on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.

Academic Summary Lecture, November 16, 2006: Religions and Academics (3) – Religions After All.

links:

the ancient book Butsuzo zui (a popular Japanese guide for devotional pictures, paint by Ki no Hidenobu);

Buddhism and Peace, Theory and Practice, edited by Chanju Mun;

Buddhist and Indian Studies in Honour of Professor Sodo MORI;

Books of Japan: Philosophy and Religion;

the Buddhist Community at Stanford;

THE CUTTING EDGE OF RESEARCH ON JAPANESE BUDDHISM;

AAR Buddhism Section Fall 2002 Newsletter;

The Threefold Pure Land Sutra;

The article: Official monks and reclusive monks: focusing on the salvation of women;

Gods of Japan;

the ancient book Butsuzo zui;

York Centre for Asian Research, Update June 20, 2008, Issue 120;

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies:

Buddhism in Japan:

Some Google download books:

Find on wikipedia:

  • Hyegwan Hyegwan (Japanese: Ekan (… year of birth and death unknown) was a priest who came across the sea from Goguryeo to Japan in the Asuka period. He is known for introducing the Chinese Buddhist school of Sanlun to Japan. Ekan studied under Jizang and learned Sanron. In 625 (the 33rd year of Empress Suiko), he was dispatched to Japan by an order of King of Goguryeo, and he propagated the Sanlun. He lived at Gangō-ji (… Gangō temple) by an Imperial command. (Hyegwan Hyegwan);
  • Buddhist biography stubs;
  • Japanese Buddhist monks.