Critical Buddhism (Japanese: 批判仏教, hihan bukkyō) was a trend in Japanese Buddhist scholarship, associated primarily with the works of Hakamaya Noriaki (袴谷憲昭) and

Matsumoto Shirō Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the ...

(松本史朗). Hakamaya stated that "'

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...

' or that 'only that which is critical is Buddhism.'" He contrasted it with what he called ''Topical Buddhism'', in comparison to the concepts of

critical philosophy The critical philosophy (german: kritische Philosophie) movement, attributed to Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), sees the primary task of philosophy as criticism rather than justification of knowledge. Criticism, for Kant, meant judging as to the p ...

and topical philosophy. According to

Lin Chen-kuo Lin Chen-kuo (; born 9 December 1937) is a Taiwanese politician who served as Minister of Finance between 1993 and 1996. He later chaired the Taiwan–Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council from 2010 to 2013. Early life and caree ...

, Hakamaya's view is that "Critical Buddhism sees methodical, rational critique as belonging to the very foundations of

itself, while 'Topical Buddhism' emphasizes the priority of rhetoric over logical thinking, of

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ...

over

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

." Critical Buddhism targeted specifically certain concepts prevalent in Japanese Mahayana Buddhism and rejected them as being non-buddhist. For example, Matsumoto Shirō and Hakamaya Noriaki rejected the doctrine of

Tathagatagarbha Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...

, which according to their view was at odds with the fundamental Buddhist doctrine of dependent origination. Critical Buddhism became known to Western scholarship due to a panel discussion held at the American Academy of Religion's 1993 meeting in Washington, DC with the title "Critical Buddhism: Issues and Responses to a New Methodological Movement", which led to an English collection of essays. The movement is seen as having peaked in 1997 and having declined by 2001. Steven Heine, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30233679?seq=1

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