Keiji Nishitani and Buddhist Existentialism in Japan

by Lance Stilp through Professor Rev. Dr. James K. Powell II, opensourcebuddhism.org
This very thoughtful investigation reveals the close relationship between Germany and Japan during WWII and the resultant Japanese importation of Heidegger's Existentialism by Nishitani. Nishitani goes far further than the European existentialists in our opinion, adding the sophistication of Zen thought especially that of Dogen to the Existentialist tradition. He is a pure mix of "Eastern" and "Western" ideas.

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• humanities
• religion
• philosophy
• Buddhism
• Buddha
• Dogen
• Japan
• Zen
• Nishitani
• Keiji
• language
• existentialism
• Heidegger
• Dr.
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• opensourcebuddhism.org

[opensourcebuddhism]

at last, we reach agreement. i should note that this is not the editor (james Powell) documentary. it was made by student lance stilp. check out his dogen doc on youtube and you will see, he knows something about japan and zen. he was influenced i believe by a more politically oriented student who stressed those things in class. he is a zen manhimself and gone to japan.

my own greatest mentor dr. isshi yamada assigned the great nishitani and nishida for my class long about and i did too!

[park3051]

Nishitani practiced Zen meditation for many years. He was 37 when he went to Germany, it would be a mistake to call him his student. He was already a professor by then.

What's a "questionable human being mean"? This seems like a one-sided presentation on Nishitani. American Buddhism too often stresses practice to the extent that they do not see the importance of anything else. Dogen also wrote much as did Nagarjuna.

[opensourcebuddhism]

Well,

I think of him as one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century but...like Heideggar, he and many Zen scholars got caught up in nationalism...like Heidegger, though not so bad a case as his for sure.

He certainly was Heidegger's student. I am a professor to many, but a student to a few still. Where else did he pick up his fluency with Existentialese?

James

[DunjeonES]

I am sorry, but there is no critical discussion of Nishitani's ideas here, in my opinion.

[ilovejackie808]

what exactly is nihility to nishitani?

[Kristianssand]

This would be a valuable internet resource if you had avoided focusing on Nishitani's questionable political views. I agree with park3051 (below) that we should not dismiss thinkers such as Nishitani (or Paul de Man, etc.) for such allegations (and/or being victims of extreme nationalistic environments). In your segment, the images speak more loudly than your words. Such an association could really skew the Buddhist theory of emptiness in a negative way. Thanks anyhow!

[whiteheronsteel]

Brilliant!

[Felbur]

Dogen: 1200-1253 CE.

Thanks for the video though. Thumbs up.

[ads0889]

hey! just visited your page.......I am a philosophy major...hope we can talk about philosophy......^_^

[ads0889]

yeah dude! but I ain't speaking about Buddhism. I was reading about the book of nishitani....."religion and nothingness"... somehow, you have a point but can you provide the sources of your claims...a book from nishitani perhaps....^_^ it's good to have a philosophical or religious discourses here...^_^ makes me glad!!! ^_^

[park3051]

In Heisig's Philosophers of Nothingness, he writes that Nishitani studied Zen under Yamazaki Taiko for 24 years.

I don't doubt that he was influenced by Heidegger, but to simply dismiss him for getting caught up in nationalism or studying under Heideggar does not seem very wise.

If anything, I would say Nishitani recognized the shortcomings of Existentialists and his entire project was going a step further with Buddhism.