The Thought of Buddhist Folklore : Gorai Shigeru and His Philosophy

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  • 仏教民俗学の思想 : 五来重について
  • ブッキョウ ミンゾクガク ノ シソウ ゴライ シゲル ニ ツイテ

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Abstract

Recently, "life" has been more and more acknowledged as an important subject in Buddhist Studies. As part of this current academic trend, we should revaluate Gorai Sigeru and his philosophical discourses on Buddhist Folklore, because Buddhist Folklore is nothing but Buddhism reconstructed in the life histories of the common people of Japan. Gorai often criticized other Buddhists, or students of Buddhism, because their view on Buddhism is so unrealistic and so speculative that many ordinary people could not understand nor utilize such Buddhism for their daily lives. To improve such a lamentable situation, Gorai provided an alternative view on Buddhism, which is full of the reality of people who accept Buddhism. Gorai's philosophy mainly focused on Buddhism in "practice," that is, Buddhism in action or Buddhism in body, and his philosophical discourses are very useful when we think about various kinds of Buddhism in real life, regardless of their level of sophistication. Gorai's philosophy has its weak points, such as his too idealistic view on "popular belief," but if we think of Japanese Buddhism free from epistemologies of specific academic disciplines, there is much to learn from his ideas concerning Buddhist Folklore.

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