Nanjio, B.

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Nanjio, B. on the DRL

南条文雄
English Phonetics Bunyiu Nanjio
Sort Name Nanjio, Bunyiu
Bunyu Nanjo Wikipedia.jpg
Dates
Birth:   1849
Death:   1927


Tibetan calendar dates

About

Biographical Information

Nanjo Bunyu, or Nanjō Bun'yū (南条文雄) (1 July 1849 – 9 November 1927) was a Buddhist priest and one of the most important modern Japanese scholars of Buddhism. Nanjō was born to the abbot of Seiunji Temple (誓運寺), part of the Shinshu Ōtani sect (真宗大谷派) of the Higashi Honganji (東本願寺) branch of Jodo Shinshu.

Nanjō studied Classical Chinese texts and Buddhist doctrine in his youth before being sent to Europe in 1876 to study Sanskrit and Indian philosophy from European scholars, including Max Müller, under whom Bunyu studied in England. While there he met the Chinese Buddhist Yang Wenhui, whom he helped to acquire some three hundred Chinese Buddhist texts that had been lost in China to be reprinted at Yang's printing house in Nanjing.

In September 1880, Nanjō examined and cataloged a complete edition of the Chinese translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka that had been gifted to the India Office Library in London by the Japanese government. He determined that the India Office Library collection contained the same works as those mentioned in the oldest Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka compiled in 520 AD.

He returned to Japan in 1884 and served as a professor or head of a number of Buddhist seminaries and universities until his death. (Source Accessed Jan 13, 2022)

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