Masao Abe - Böcker

The Buddhist view of inter-religious dialogue is significantly different from, say, that of Christianity. In Christianity Jesus Christ, being the only incarnation in the history, has an inexplicable uniqueness. It must be maintained even in the inter-faith dialogue. By contrast, in Buddhism Guatama Buddha is not the only Buddha, but one of many Buddhas. His uniqueness is realized in the fact that he is the first Buddha in human history. Furthermore, the Buddhist teaching of dependent co-origination and emptiness not only provides a dynamic common basis for various religions, but also will suggest a creative cooperation amongst world religions. The book clarifies such a Buddhist view and inter-religious dialogue from various perspectives.

This complete translation of Masao Abe's essays on Dogen probes the core of the Zen master's philosophy and religion. This work analyzes Dogen's formative doubt concerning the notion of original awakening as the basis for his unique approach to nonduality in the doctrines of the oneness of practice and attainment, the unity of beings and Buddha-nature, the simultaneity of time and eternity, and the identity of life and death. Abe also offers insightful, critical comparisons of Dogen and various Buddhist and Western thinkers, especially Shinran and Heidegger.

This collection of Abe's essays is a welcome addition to philosophy and comparative philosophy.

This volume concludes the two-volume sequel to Masao Abe's Zen and Western Thought. It contains many previously published essays and papers by Abe. Here he clarifies the true meaning of Buddhist emptiness in comparison with the Aristotelian notion of substance and the Whiteheadean notion of process.