Article ID: CBB078331888

Geoscientists and Buddhist Thought: the popularization of science and ‘Cosmic Consciousness’ in 1920s Japan (2021)

unapi

This article examines the circumstances and the context of the popularization of geoscientific knowledge with reference to a Japanese religious background. It is generally agreed that there was little conflict between Buddhist doctrines and Western science when the latter was accepted among Japanese scholars in the nineteenth century. Yet, fifty years after the comprehensive changes to Japanese society brought about by the restoration of imperial rule under the Emperor Meiji, in 1868, the Japanese people, as late as the 1920s, were faced with difficulties of mental or spiritual ‘readjustments.’ This was also the case among geoscientists. Especially so, when they tried to popularize Western scientific concepts, and to reconcile them with the religious background of Buddhism. The problems they encountered in these attempts and how they dealt with them, will be discussed. The author will concentrate on two cases, those of the cosmo-geophysicist Shinjo Shinzo (1873-1938) and the geologist-poet Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933), focusing on how they utilized Buddhist terminology in writing their works. Shinjo, after studying at the University of Göttingen, in Germany (1905-1907), institutionalized cosmophysics at Kyoto Imperial University in Japan, and gave popular lectures in the 1910s-1920s. Miyazawa, trained as agricultural engineer, became a follower of the Nichiren-shu sect, and wrote poems and fables. The analyses of their works show that they shared geo-cosmic evolutionary thoughts and held a kind of ‘cosmic consciousness’ in common but followed different pursuits. Shinjo proceeded to study the history of ancient Chinese astronomy and became the director of an institute in Shanghai while Miyazawa became a local practitioner and religious activist.

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Authors & Contributors
Satomi Hiyama
Yang, Anand A.
Huntington, Eric
Kaimal, Padma
Gyo Nakao
Erik Hammerstrom
Concepts
Science and religion
Cosmology
Buddhism
Science and politics
Geology
Evolution
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
Taisho period (Japan, 1912-1926)
Meiji period (Japan, 1868-1910)
Ancient
20th century, late
Places
Japan
Russia
Tibet
India
Nepal
Tokyo (Japan)
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