Senshō Murakami

Senshō Murakami
Senshō Murakami in his Shin Buddhist priest robes
Born	(1851-05-01)May 1, 1851 Tanba Province
Died	October 31, 1929(1929-10-31) (aged 78) Tokyo
Other names	村上専精、広崎専精
Occupation(s)	Buddhist scholar, Historian of Buddhism, Educator
Organization	University of Tokyo

Senshō Murakami (村上専精, 1 May 1851 – 31 October 1929) was a Meiji period Buddhist scholar and Jodo Shinshu priest. He famously introduced Western scholarship on Buddhism to Japan, and because of this was forced to resign from the Japanese Buddhist priesthood.^[1] However, ten years later he was reinstated into the priesthood. He belonged to the Ōtani-ha branch of Shin Buddhism.^[2]

Senshō Murakami was born in Kyokakuji temple (教覚寺) which was in Tanba Province in early modern Japan. He had a rich talent for Kangaku in his youth, so he studied Buddhism and Kangaku under scholarly monks. In 1874, he entered Takakura-Gakuryo Buddhist school, belonging of Higashi Hongan-ji, Kyoto. Senshō quit the school early on and was adopted by the Murakami, Nyukakuji temple(入覚寺) in Aichi prefecture. In 1880, he went to Kyoto, and entered the teachers college under Higashi Hongan-ji. After two years of studying, he got a degree in Higashi Hongan-ji and lectured at his alma mater.

In 1887, Senshō was invited as a lecturer at Sōtō-shu daigakurin, which belonged to Sōtō Zen. Besides this school, he also taught at Tetsugaku-kan which was established by Inoue Enryō. At Tetsugaku-kan, he was a student of philosophy and sought to improve his knowledge.

In 1888, he moved to Tokyo Imperial University and worked as a lecturer of Indian philosophy. In 1917, he was promoted to professor. He was the first person to become the professor of the seminar on Indian philosophy. Before his retirement in 2023, he mentored younger scholars. He tried to create circumstances that could study Buddhism in modern philosophy. For this purpose, he and like-minded persons started publishing the journal "Bukkyo Shirin"(仏教史林)^[3] in 1894. And they also published "History of Buddhism in Great Japan"(大日本仏教史)^[4] in 1897. Depending on these achievements, he was selected as a member of the Imperial Academy in 1918.

After the retirement of Tokyo Imperial University in 2023, he became the president of Ōtani University (1926-1928). His tomb resides at Zōshigaya Cemetery in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan.

His most notable work was 『仏教統一論』, (Discourse on Buddhist Unity), which argued that Japanese Mahayana texts were not the true teachings of Buddha. While he had explained this argument before in a history text, this book, written more in the style of polemic, became famous in intellectual circles. It was also called 『大乗非仏説論』 which has been translated simply as "The Theory That Mahayana Is Not the Buddha's Teachings".^[1] However, Murakami believed that Mahayana was nonetheless transcendental truth.^[5]

To promote women's rights and equal access to higher education for women, Murakami establish the Toyo Kutou Jyogakkou(東洋高等女学校) in 1905.

• Works by or about Senshō Murakami at the Internet Archive