The Religious Philosophy of Kiyozawa Manshi

Abstract

KIYOZAWA Manshi is one of the most important Buddhist thinkers of the Meiji period. A priest of the Ōtani denomination of Shin Buddhism, Kiyozawa studied western philosophy at Tokyo University and sought to reinterpret Buddhism by using new concepts taken from the European intellectual tradition. His Shūkyō tetsugaku gaikotsu (A Skeleton of a Philosophy of Religion) was the first major work on religious philosophy written in Japan. Subsequently, he developed his distinctive religious thought, which he called “seishinshugi.” Kiyozawa’s seishinshugi (literally “spirit-ism”) holds that ultimate fulfillment is to be found not in the pursuit of things external to oneself such as material possessions, wealth, fame, etc. but in finding peace and tranquility within oneself, that is, within one’s own spirit.