In Japan, no Buddhist sect founder is as popular as Shinran today in terms of the reach of his teachings, which has come to be accepted across all different schools.
In relation to this phenomenon, the writer shall try to seek answers to two key questions: 1) why Shinran? And 2) what is the truth of “Shinran” referred to by everyone?
With these questions in mind, this paper shall try to uncover a place for sharing between Shinran’s Doctrinal Studies and the Kyoto School based on the thoughts of Soga Ryojin, who has exerted great influence over the doctrinal studies of modern Shinshu Otani-ha.
Despite being a researcher of Shinran’s Doctrinal Studies, the writer has chosen to focus on the Kyoto School due to the fact that the philosophers of this particular group have come to learn Shinran’s thinking and devised their own line of thoughts through his key publication, Kyogyoshinsho, as opposed to Tannisho, which was compiled by followers of Shinran and is better known by most people in modern Japanese society.
This paper shall seek to explore “The Possibility of Philosophy of Religion in Pure Land Buddhism” by comparing Soga’s interpretation of a passage called “Sangan-Tennyu” from Kyogyoshinsho against the thinking of Hajime Tanabe, Yoshinori Takeuchi, and Kitaro Nishida.
