1st Edition
Buddhism, War, and Nationalism Chinese Monks in the Struggle Against Japanese Aggression 1931-1945
This thesis examines the doctrinal grounds and different approaches to working out this "new Buddhist tradition," a startling contrast to the teachings of non-violence and compassion which have made Buddhism known as a religion of peace. In scores of articles as war approached in 1936-37, new monks searched and reinterpreted scripture, making controversial arguments for ideas like "compassionate killing" which would justify participating in war.
Foreword. Acknowledgments. Introduction. 1. Changing Buddhism in Modern China 2. Buddhism and National Defending 3. Propaganda against Japanese Aggressions 4. Buddhist Participation in the War 5. Buddhism in Japanese-Occupied Areas 6. Taixu and Buddhism after the War. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography. Index.
Biography
Xue Yu is Director of the Centre for the Study of Humanistic Buddhism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
'Buddhism, War, and Nationalism makes a valuable contribution to the nas-cent field of Republican Chinese Buddhism by capturing the ethical di-lemma thrust upon Buddhist monks by the circumstances of invasion, occupation, and resistance, as well as pointing to the ways in which the war accelerated rather than disrupted the Buddhist reform movement that began in the late nineteenth century and continues to inform Budd-hist revival in China today. ' - Brooks Jessup, University of California, Berkeley
