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School · 774 CE–1253 CE

Japanese Buddhist philosophy

Japanese Buddhist philosophy is Buddhist philosophical traditions in Japan, including debates about awakening, language, practice, and institutional authority.

Shared questions

  • How do practice, doctrine, and lineage relate to awakening?

Internal disagreements

  • Whether awakening is gradual or sudden, accessible to all, and best articulated through scholastic analysis, ritual, meditation, or paradox.

Key texts

  • Shōbōgenzō — Dōgen's collection exists in several recensions of different lengths, and its arrangement is editorial.
  • Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence (Sokushin jōbutsu gi) — Kūkai's argument that buddhahood is realised in the body, not after it.