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Pruning the Bodhi Tree

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What is Buddhism? According to Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shiro, the answer lies in neither Ch’an nor Zen; in neither the Kyoto school of philosophy nor the non-duality taught in the Vimalakirti Sutra. Hakamaya contends that “criticism alone is Buddhism.”

This volume introduces and analyzes the ideas of “critical Buddhism” in relation to the targets of its critique and situates those ideas in the context of current discussions of postmodern academic scholarship, the separation of the disinterested scholar and committed religious practitioner, and the place of social activism within the academy.

Essays critical of the received traditions of Buddhist thought—many never before translated—are presented and then countered by the work of respected scholars, both Japanese and Western, who take contrary positions. (Source: University of Hawai'i Press)

Learn more by watching the video interviews here: Interview with Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson at 2018 AAR.

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Citation	Hubbard, Jamie, and Paul L. Swanson, eds. Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm Over Critical Buddhism. Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997.

Contents

• Introduction by Jamie HUBBARDvii
• List of Contributorsxxiii
• Source Creditsxxvii
• Bibliographic and Linguistic Conventionsxxixi

PART ONE The What and Why of Critical Buddhism

• Why They Say Zen Is Not Buddhism: Recent Japanese Critiques of
  Buddha-Nature3
  • Paul L. Swanson

• Critical Buddhism and Returning to the Sources30
  • Dan LUSTHAUS

• Critical Philosophy versus Topical Philosophy56
  • HAKAMAYA Noriaki

• Topophobia81
  • Jamie HUBBARD

• Scholarship as Criticism113
  • HAKAMAYA Noriaki

• The Limits of Criticism145
  • Paul J. GRIFFITHS

• Comments on Critical Buddhism161
  • MATSUMOTO Shirō

PART TWO In Search of True Buddhism

• The Doctrine of Tathāgata-garbha Is Not Buddhist165
  • MATSUMOTO Shirō

• The Doctrine of Buddha-Nature Is Impeccably Buddhist174
  • Sallie B. KING

• The Idea of Dhātu-vāda in Yogacara and Tathāgata-garbha Texts193
  • YAMABE Nobuyoshi

• A Critical Exchange on the Idea of Dhātu-vāda205
  • MATSUMOTO Shirō & YAMABE Nobuyoshi

• The Core Elements of Indian Buddhism Introduced into Tibet: A Contrast with Japanese Buddhism220
  • YAMAGUCHI Zuihō

• The Meaning of "Zen"242
  • MATSUMOTO Shirō

• Critical Buddhism and Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō: The Debate over the 75-Fascicle and 12-Fascicle Texts251
  • Steven HEINE

• Is Critical Buddhism Really Critical?286
  • Peter N. GREGORY

• Metaphysics, Suffering, and Liberation: The Debate between Two Buddhisms298
  • LIN Chen-kuo

• Thoughts on Dhātu-vāda and Recent Trends in Buddhist Studies314
  • TAKASAKI Jikidō

• A Reexamination of Critical Buddhism321
  • SUEKI Fumihiko

PART THREE Social Criticism

• Thoughts on the Ideological Background of Social Discrimination339
  • HAKAMAYA Noriaki

• Buddhism and the Kami: Against Japanism356
  • MATSUMOTO Shirō

• Tendai Hongaku Doctrine and Japan’s Ethnocentric Turn374
  • Ruben L. F. HABITO

• The Lotus Sutra and Japanese Culture388
  • MATSUMOTO Shirō

• Notes407

• Bibliography491

• Index501

bodhi - Enlightenment or awakening. In Tibetan it is translated as "purified" (byang) and "perfected" (chub), which corresponds to Siddhartha Gautama's achievement of purifying all obscurations and perfecting or attaining all qualities associated with a buddha. Skt. बोधि Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་ Ch. 菩提,悟,覺

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dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt. धातु Tib. ཁམས་ Ch. 界

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