Senshō Murakami

Senshō Murakami
Senshō Murakami in his Shin Buddhist priest robes
Born	(1851-05-01)May 1, 1851 Tanba Province
Died	October 31, 1929(1929-10-31) (aged 78) Tokyo
Other names	村上むらかみ専精せんじょう、広崎ひろさき専精せんじょう
Occupation(s)	Buddhist scholar, Historian of Buddhism, Educator
Organization	University of Tokyo

Senshō Murakami (村上むらかみ専精せんじょう, 1 May 1851 – 31 October 1929) was a Meiji period Buddhist scholar and Jodo Shinshu priest. He famously introduced Western scholarship on Buddhism to Japan, and because of this was forced to resign from the Japanese Buddhist priesthood. However, ten years later he was reinstated into the priesthood. He belonged to the Ōtani-ha branch of Shin Buddhism.

Biography

Early life

Senshō Murakami was born in Kyokakuji temple (教覚寺きょうかくじ) which was in Tanba Province in early modern Japan. He had a rich talent for Kangaku in his youth, so he studied Buddhism and Kangaku under scholarly monks. In 1874, he entered Takakura-Gakuryo Buddhist school, belonging of Higashi Hongan-ji, Kyoto. Senshō quit the school early on and was adopted by the Murakami, Nyukakuji temple(入覚にゅうがく寺てら) in Aichi prefecture. In 1880, he went to Kyoto, and entered the teachers college under Higashi Hongan-ji. After two years of studying, he got a degree in Higashi Hongan-ji and lectured at his alma mater.

Teaching and monkhood in Tokyo

In 1887, Senshō was invited as a lecturer at Sōtō-shu daigakurin, which belonged to Sōtō Zen. Besides this school, he also taught at Tetsugaku-kan which was established by Inoue Enryō. At Tetsugaku-kan, he was a student of philosophy and sought to improve his knowledge.

In 1888, he moved to Tokyo Imperial University and worked as a lecturer of Indian philosophy. In 1917, he was promoted to professor. He was the first person to become the professor of the seminar on Indian philosophy. Before his retirement in 2023, he mentored younger scholars. He tried to create circumstances that could study Buddhism in modern philosophy. For this purpose, he and like-minded persons started publishing the journal "Bukkyo Shirin"(仏教ぶっきょう史し林りん) in 1894. And they also published "History of Buddhism in Great Japan"(大だい日本にっぽん仏教ぶっきょう史し) in 1897. Depending on these achievements, he was selected as a member of the Imperial Academy in 1918.

After the retirement of Tokyo Imperial University in 2023, he became the president of Ōtani University (1926-1928). His tomb resides at Zōshigaya Cemetery in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan.

Works

Buddhist studies

His most notable work was 『仏教ぶっきょう統一とういつ論ろん』, (Discourse on Buddhist Unity), which argued that Japanese Mahayana texts were not the true teachings of Buddha. While he had explained this argument before in a history text, this book, written more in the style of polemic, became famous in intellectual circles. It was also called 『大乗だいじょう非ひ仏説ぶっせつ論ろん』 which has been translated simply as "The Theory That Mahayana Is Not the Buddha's Teachings". However, Murakami believed that Mahayana was nonetheless transcendental truth.

Education for Girls

To promote women's rights and equal access to higher education for women, Murakami establish the Toyo Kutou Jyogakkou(東洋とうよう高等こうとう女学校じょがっこう) in 1905.

External links

• Works by or about Senshō Murakami at the Internet Archive