Asia-Pacific Week 2006 Japanese Studies Graduate Summer School ABSTRACT

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Suzuki Shosan (1579-1655) was a unique Buddhist monk who lived in the early Edo period (1603-1869). As a Bushi of the Tokugawa Ieyasu camp (1543-1616), he participated in the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and the Battles of Osaka (1614, 1615). In his age of 42 (1621), he became a Buddhist monk. Since then, he preached Buddhism by means of his own Ni_ Statue Zen. After the Christian Uprising of Shimabara (1637) was quelled by Tokugawa Bakufu, he preached Buddhism in Shimabara area.

Generally the thought of Sh_san has been characterized by three angles. In 1944, Suzuki Daisetsu (1870-1966) introduced Shosan to American academia for the first time entitling "Buddhist of Bushi-Zen". In 1949, Nakamura Hajime (1911-1999) said, "Sh_san is a modern Buddhist who talked about the Buddhist professional ethics." In 1959, Fujiyoshi Jikai (1915-) argued that Sh_san emphasized on both Zen and Nembutsu (Buddhist sutra reading) in the Japanese Buddhist discourse.

While these three characterizations have enjoyed a basic framework to understand the thought of Shosan, one should not skip that Sh_san was a Buddhist of the people or a sage outside the Japanese Buddhist sector. For example, his practical method for Buddhist Enlightenment is based on ki-power which is also a core concept of Shugenja (those who train themselves in the mountain). He actively gave a service for the repose of the deceased too. In conclusion, Suzuki Sh_san, as a Bushi and Buddhist monk, preached Buddhism for the people in his period, namely, "a Buddhist sage for the people outside the Buddhist sector".

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