Constructing a transcultural bridge: A look at the making of modern Japanese Buddhism in the Meiji period through the writings of Furukawa Rosen

This thesis focuses on the works and historical context of Furukawa Rosen (1871-1899), and includes a full translation and discussion of one of his seminal articles. While Furukawa's ideas were largely shaped by his historical context, his response to this context also reflected a great deal of ingenuity in his skillful and creative appropriation of both Western modernist and Japanese nationalist sentiments. In his writings, Furukawa deftly maneuvers through the variety of ideologies that shaped his time and creatively appropriates key Unitarian and perennialist values in order to fight back against Western hegemony and advocate Japanese nationalism through Zen Buddhism. He purports an ideological parallel between Zen Buddhism and Unitarianism in that both traditions reflect a modernist emphasis on rationalism and skeptical inquiry yet argues for the inherent superiority of Japanese Zen Buddhism in that it alone offers the possibility of the attainment of buddhahood for all.