was a Japanese Buddhist philosopherFredericks, James. "In Memoriam: Masao Abe (1915-2006).", in Buddhist-Christian Studies. (University of Hawaiʻi 2007) Issue 27, at pages 139-140. Accessed on August 24, 2007. and religious studies scholar who was emeritus professor at Nara University. He is best known for his work in comparative religion, developing a Buddhist-Christian interfaith dialogue which later also included Judaism. His mature views were developed within the Kyoto School of philosophy. According to Christopher Ives: "Since the death of D. T. Suzuki in 1966, Masao Abe has served as the main representative of Zen Buddhism in Europe and North America."Christopher Ives, "Introduction" at pages xiii-xix, xiii, in The Emptying God. A Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books 1990), edited by John B. Cobb, Jr. and Christopher Ives."Masao Abe has been the leading philosophical exponent of Zen to the West since the death of D. T. Suzuki." John Hick, in his "Foreword" at page ix, to Masao Abe, Zen and Western Thought (University of Hawaiʻi 1975), edited by William R. LaFleur.
Life and career Training Abe's father was a medical doctor, his mother a practitioner of Jōdo Shinshū Pure Land Buddhism, from whom came his early faith in Amida Buddha.Amitābha (Sanskrit language), Amida (Japanese language), means Boundless Light. "One of the most important and popular Buddhas of the Mahayana [school], unknown in early Buddhism." "Amitābha is at the center of worship" in Pure Land Buddhism. Access to liberation becomes possible by such worship (or even by Nembutsu (Japanese), calling out the name). "The veneration of Amitābha represents... a new path to salvation... owing to help from outside through the liberating will of... Amitābha." Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Michael S. Diener, Lexikon der őstlichen Weisheitslehren (1986), translated as Shambala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen (1991), Amitābha entry, at pages 5–6. Such help from another or Tariki (Japanese) is often contrasted with Jiriki (Japanese), one's own power (as generally in Zen). Yet this distinction may be seen as artificial, due to each one being endowed with buddha-nature. Cf., Jiriki entry, at page 104. Abe, however, experienced this distinction as a source of personal turbulence; this spiritual crisis eventually led him to his own buddha-nature, under the guidance of his teacher Hisamatsu. See text here below. Born in Osaka, Abe was the third of six children. His higher education began at Osaka Municipal University, where he studied Economics and Law. For four years during the late 1930s he worked in a business office at a private trading company in neighboring Kobe. Yet Abe was seriously troubled by an ongoing personal crisis, which stemmed from the perceived conflict: rationality versus faith in the Amida of Pure Land Buddhism. This conflict he thought he could conclusively resolve in favor of faith through the study of philosophy, by which he could overcome objections posed by reason.Christopher Ives, "Introduction" at pages xiii-xiv, in The Emptying God (Maryknoll: Orbis 1990).Jeff M. Shore, "The True Buddha is Formless: Masao Abe's Religious Quest" at pages 3–9, in Masao Abe. A Life of Dialogue (Rutland VT: Charles E. Tuttle 1998), edited by Donald W. Mitchell.
Abe entered Kyoto Imperial University in April 1942.In 1949 at Kyoto University, Abe would complete the graduate course (under the old Japanese system) in Buddhism and comparative religion. Donald W. Mitchell, "Preface" at pages xi-xxiv, xii, in Masao Abe. A Zen Life of Dialogue (1998). It was a courageous step, as he changed career direction in mid-stream, exceptional in Japanese life, yet even more so considering the current political situation. He studied Western philosophy under Hajime Tanabe. Also, Abe studied Zen under the direction of Shin'ichi Hisamatsu, a philosophy professor at Kyoto University and a lay practitioner of the Rinzai school. Guided by Hisamatsu,Hisamatsu became known and admired in the West. In 1958 he visited Carl Jung, their conversation being transcribed. Young-Eisendrath and Muramoto (eds.), Awkening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy (London: Routledge 2002), pages 111, 116. Abe worked with others to revitalize Buddhist youth organization at Kyoto University throughout the 1940s.Specifically, Gakudo-Dojo [Place for Study of the Way], which was followed during the war by the formation of the F.A.S. Society [Formless self, All humankind, Supra-historical].Cf., Felix E. Prieto, "The F.A.S. Acronym in Masao Abe's Life Trajectory" at pages 35–40, in Masao Abe. A Zen Life of Dialogue (1998).The wartime government in Japan generally favored an nationalist version of Shinto, although all religious groups were compelled to support the war. William K. Bunce, Religions in Japan (C I & E 1948; reprinted 1954 by Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland VT) at pages 37–42. Professor Hisamatsu challenged Abe's quasi-theistic faith in Amida Buddha; instead Hisamatsu became for Abe a vital religious model, of a rigorous adherent of Śūnyatā (which may be called Emptiness) as an ultimate reality. In consequence, Abe came to understand Amida Buddha as a sacred fiction.Christopher Ives, "Introduction" at pages xiv–xv, in The Emptying God (Maryknoll: Orbis 1990)."Part of the strength of Abe's approach to Christianity is his uncompromising rejection of theism. ... Abe himself grew up in a quasi-theistic form of Buddhism and was converted away from that to what he is convinced is the true and pure form. Hence he understands theism from within and hopes to liberate from it those who are still attached to it. The contrast to the Biblical faiths thus becomes stark." John B. Cobb, Jr., "Preface" at pages ix–xi, xi, to The Emptying God (1990).
Abe's spiritual progression under Hisamatsu was complex and dialectical. Hisamatsu taught that the revered image of Amida Buddha was but a stage on the way to realizing a "formless" Buddha, whereby one could awaken to one's True Self."Abe was shocked to hear [Hisamatsu] use the same basic Buddhist terminology that Abe was used to, but with what seemed to be a completely opposite interpretation!" Jeff M. Shore, "The True Buddha is Formless: Masao Abe's Religious Quest" at pages 3–9, 5, in Mitchell (ed.), Masao Abe. A Life of Dialogue (1998). Nonetheless Abe first reacted to Hisamatsu by coming to discover and experience an infinite grace from the Amida Buddha. Abe's profound quest continued. In December 1951, during a group Zen sitting at the Reiun Temple of the Myōshin-ji in Kyoto, Abe personally challenged Hisamatsu, screaming to him, "Is that the True Self?" Hisamatsu replied, "That's the True Self." Thereafter Abe entered an intense phase and struggled with the view that "It's all a lie!" (which he cried out while dousing himself with a bucket of ice water at a subsequent group sitting). He agonized over the seeming proximity of the deity and the devil, and with his own complicity. Finally, Abe told Hisamatsu, "I just cannot find any place where I can stand." Hisamatsu told him, "Stand right at that place where there is nowhere to stand."Jeff M. Shore, "The True Buddha is Formless: Masao Abe's Religious Quest" at pages 5–7, in Masao Abe. A Life of Dialogue (1998).
Along this way Abe confronted, and managed to distinguish and overcome, a "positive nihilism" associated with the irreligious philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.Later, Abe would write of an alliance of "authentic religiosity" in order to counter various "anti-religious ideologies" in our societies. Abe, "Author's Introduction" at page xxii, to his Zen and Western Thought (University of Hawaiʻi 1985). Reflecting on his life development, Abe acknowledged the crucial role of Shin'ichi Hisamatsu in his spiritual formation. "Without him I am not what I am."
Academia Among Abe's chief academic influences would be the aforementioned Shin'ichi Hisamatsu (1889–1980) and also Keiji Nishitani (1900–1990), as well as Hajime Tanabe (1885–1962), key professors for Abe at Kyoto University, and Kitarō Nishida (1870–1945), teacher of Hisamatsu and Nishitani, and teacher of his own successor Tanabe. Abe follows Nishida's Kyoto School of philosophy. During the 1950s and early 1960s Abe was in communication with the well-known Buddhist scholar Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (1870–1966), e.g., at Columbia University in New York City; Abe is said to have later assumed Suzuki's role as academic transmitter of Buddhism. Also in New York City, at the Union Theological Seminary, Abe encountered the Christian professors and teachers Paul Tillich (1886–1965) and Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971).Christopher Ives, "Introduction" at page xvi, in The Emptying God (Maryknoll: Orbis 1990).Abe received a Rockefeller Grant in 1955 which he used to study in New York. Donald W. Mitchell, "Preface" at pages xi-xxiv, xiii, in Masao Abe. A Zen Life of Dialogue (1998).
From 1952 to 1980, Abe served as professor of philosophy at Nara University. Before he had been professor at Kyoto Women's College (1946–1948) and Ōtani University (1948–1950). Thereafter, while at Nara, Abe was concurrently professor at Kyoto University from 1955 to 1958, and from 1964-1980 professor at Hana Zono University. Also in the mid-1950s he studied Christian theology in New York City at the Union Theological Seminary and at Columbia University. Then in 1980 he left Nara University and moved to California, to the Department of Religion at the Claremont Graduate School, and later in 1983 to the University of Hawaiʻi where he served as Professor of Japanese philosophy. From 1965 Abe participated and made presentations at many universities and colleges throughout the United States while serving as a visiting professor in residence (with his wife Ikuko).Masao Abe, Zen and Western Thought (University of Hawaiʻi 1985), edited by Wm. R. LaFleur, at page ii.Abe has served at: Haverford College, Graduate Theological Union, Columbia University, University of Chicago, Princeton University, Claremont Graduate School, Purdue University, University of Hawaiʻi, Carleton College, and Gustavus Adolphus College (2000–2001). During these years Abe shared in the Buddhist-Christian dialogue while at universities in Europe.Donald W. Mitchell, "Preface" at page xv, to Masao Abe. A Zen Life of Dialogue (1998). Abe's venues included the University of Oslo, the University of Bonn, the University of Tübingen, Heidelberg University, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
Abe contributed to and led many conferences on comparative religion, Buddhism, and related subjects. He was perennially involved with: the East-West Philosophers' Conference at the University of Hawaiʻi; and the International Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter (the "Abe-Cobb group") which, along with Professor John B. Cobb, Jr., Abe directed.Christopher Ives, "Introduction" at page xvii, in The Emptying God (Maryknoll: Orbis 1990).Donald W. Mitchell, "Preface" at pages xi–xxiv, xv, in Masao Abe. A Zen Life of Dialogue (1998).
In addition to his contributions of creative insight and scholarship, Masao Abe also brought to interfaith meetings a serenity and a quiet charm. Here, for example, his fellow academic Arvind Sharma recalls a moment with Abe at a conference in 1986:
Abe broke into a smile. I still remember it vividly because it had a compelling ineffable quality about it. It was so totally unencumbered. It seemed curiously and totally detached from the environment, a happening complete in itself, with a childlike simplicity beguiling in its guilelessness. When his face assumed its normal expression, one was left with the feeling of something very precious—found fleetingly and then lost irretrievably—until he smiled again.Arvind Sharma, "A Chrysanthemum with a Lotus Stalk: Reminiscences from a Hindu Perspective" at pages 326–334, 328, in Masao Abe. A Zen Life of Dialogue (Boston: Tuttle 1998).