Heinrich Dumoulin, S.J. (31 May 1905 – 21 July 1995) was a Jesuit theologian, a widely published author on

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

, and a professor of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese language, Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit research university in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1913 by ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, where he was Professor Emeritus. He was the founder of its Institute for Oriental Religions, as well as the first director of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

Biography and career

Dumoulin was born in the village of Wevelinghoven,

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the son of a notary public. He studied philosophy in Holland and France, receiving his doctoral degree in 1929, and was ordained as a Jesuit

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1933. In 1935, he was sent to Japan on missions under the guidance of Fr.

Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle (11 November 1898 in Gut Externbrock near Nieheim, Province of Westphalia, Westphalia – 7 July 1990 in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Westphalia) was a German Jesuits, Jesuit priest and one of the foremost tea ...

, where he became fluent in the

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

religion and

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Dumoulin was a scholar of Zen Buddhism and wrote several books on its history, first urged to do it by the American Buddhist Ruth Fuller Sasaki. His ''Zen Buddhism: A history'' was published in 1988, translated from the original German by James Heisig and Paul Knitter. He died in 1995 at the age of 90, after being hospitalized for three weeks, and was buried at the St. Ignatius Church, Tokyo.

Legacy

According to John Jorgensen Dumoulin was "the foremost exponent of the history of Zen Buddhism to the West". The 1985 double number of the '' Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' was dedicated to him and his work.

Bibliography

*''The Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch in the Light of the Mumonkan'' (1953, First Zen Institute of America) *''A History of Zen Buddhism'' (1963,

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint. Founded in 1942 as an independent publishing house in New York City by Kurt and Helen Wolff, it specialized in introducing progressive European works to American readers. In 1961, it was ...

) *''Christianity Meets Buddhism'' (1974,

Open Court Publishing The Open Court Publishing Company is a publisher with offices in Chicago and LaSalle, Illinois. It is part of the Carus Publishing Company of Peru, Illinois. History Open Court was founded in 1887 by Edward C. Hegeler of the Matthiessen-Hegeler ...

) *''Buddhism in the Modern World'' (1976,

Macmillan Publishing Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

) *''Zen Enlightenment: Origins and Meaning'' (1979,

Weatherhill Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet". Ma ...

) *''Zen Buddhism in the Twentieth Century'' (1992) *''Understanding Buddhism: Key Themes'' (1994),

*''Zen Buddhism: A History; Volume 1 India and China,'' (2005,

World Wisdom World Wisdom is an independent American publishing company established in 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana. World Wisdom publishes religious and philosophical texts, including the work of authors such as Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus ...

) *''Zen Buddhism: A History; Volume 2 Japan,'' (2005,

)

References

External links

Heinrich Dumoulin - Life and Work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumoulin, Heinrich Zen Buddhism writers German Zen Buddhists 20th-century German Jesuits 1905 births 1995 deaths German Roman Catholic missionaries German missionary educators Jesuit missionaries in Japan German emigrants to Japan Missionary educators Academic staff of Sophia University Christian Zen