Abstract—This paper tries to give a theoretical and historical
framework of the intimate link between Chinese and Japanese
Buddhism, nationalism and militarism evidenced by the Second
Sino-Japanese War. It analyzes how the Buddhist monks in
both China and Japan, despite Buddhism's traditionally ahimsa
philosophy, participated in the fierce violence of the Second
Sino-Japanese War from a historical perspective. In sum,
Buddhism has played an essential role in reevaluating the
Second Sino-Japanese War, and more insights can therefore be
gained on the complicated relationship between religion, polity
and violence.
Index Terms—Buddhism, nationalism, violence,
Sino-Japanese War.
Dong Zhao is with the Beijing Foreign Studies University, China (e-mail:
dzhao@bfsu.edu.cn).
[PDF]
Cite: Dong Zhao, " Buddhism, Nationalism and War: A Comparative
Evaluation of Chinese and Japanese Buddhists‘ Reactions
to the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937~1945)," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 372-377, 2014.