Basic Sutudies on the Modern Meanings of Buddhism

1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 05451005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: 印度哲学(含仏教学)
• Research Institution: TAISHO UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: ISHIGAMI Zenzo TAISHO UNIV., Department of Humansutudies, Professor, 人間学部, 教授 (90054618)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MURASE Kayoko TAISHO UNIV., Department of Humansutudies, Professor, 人間学部, 教授 (70174290) ; HOSHINO Eiki TAISHO UNIV., Department of Humansutudies, Assistant Professor, 人間学部, 助教授 (00054669) ; MATSUNAMI Seitatsu TAISHO UNIV., Department of Liberal Arts, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (20106727) ; FUJII Masao TAISHO UNIV., Department of Liberal Arts, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (30054638) ; TAMARU Tokuzen TAISHO UNIV., Department of Liberal Arts, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (40011358)
• Project Period (FY): 1993 – 1995
• Keywords: Modernization / Socialization / Sociology / Social Welfare / Councelling

Research Abstract

Buddhism, through its history, has been seeking and inquiring the way to meet the times and to put into practice its socialization and modernization, continuously maintaining the doctorinal development. However, the more developed the order and the bigger grew the congregations, the more remarkable became the time lag to manifest the results directly linking to the ages. There are some factors in this. Broadly speaking, surface layr structure on doctorinal level and base layr customarity on mass level produced a great gap between them. Every time the demand for modernization was offered, its history, repeating itself, has come to today.
On the other hand, sciences have got birth to the disciplines rangingover various branches. We are now in the period to cope with our problems from a view point of interdisciplinary synthesis and grasping of commonness. As well, this is the period when the way of problem consciousness comes to be a theme to be examined, What should we clarify before we ask the modern meaning? To answer to this, the way of existence of this modern age needs to be analyzed, because the emphasis of the meaning is in most cases merely the study of the past. Keeping this in mind, we should combine the researches and methodology of discilinary fields other than Buddhism, abstract through this what are most deficient at present, and at the same time we must continue our efforts and try to establish the comprehensive applied Buddhism.
In pursuit of this, making the buddhist studies as axis, we have to make mutual intercourse of the concrete approaches and the problems of sociology, social welfare and councelling. There must be no hesitation to cope with the modern days.
On the basis of the results of these studies, we are planning publications during the fiscal year of 1996.