Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1994 21/4 Zen Buddhism during the Tokugawa Period The Challenge to Go beyond Sectarian Consciousness

The transformation of Buddhism during the Tokugawa period has not been sufficiently explored by modern scholars. In this essay I will attempt to sketch an overall view of Tokugawa-period sectarian consciousness as expressed in the relations between the various obediences of what is popu larly called “the Zen sect, ” namely the Soto, Rinzai, and Obaku schools. The question of lineage and identity is of central importance here, as this issue is intimately connected with sectarian developments during the Tokugawa period, and thus with the way in which the Japanese sects view themselves today. By examining certain figures and tnevr writings, I will focus on the extent to wnich Buddhist sectarianism grew stronger during the Tokugawa period. The transformation of Zen Buddhism during the Tokugawa period is a topic that remains insufficiently explored by scholars in botn Japan and the West. In Japan there is a growing body of research on single figures，like Manzan Dohaku FB山萄白（1636-1715)，Mujaku Dochu 無著萄忠（1653-1745)，and Hakuin Ekaku 白隱慧鶴（1686-1769)，but most such research focuses on the contributions of these individuals to their respective sects. Although this approach is essential if we are to handle the enormous amount of material that each of these mas ters produced, it is hardly conducive to a synthetic view of the com plex trends of the period. In the West, general studies of Tokusrawa thought have tended to concentrate on Neo-Confucianism, with Buddhist movements often viewed as decadent or of merely secondary importance (e.g., Maruyama 1974 and Ooms 1985).1 This interpretation This article is a revised version of a paper delivered at the March 1994 Annual Meetin