Chizen Akanuma
Chizen Akanuma was a Japanese Buddhist scholar and priest within the Ōtani-ha branch of Shin Buddhism, and a professor of Ōtani University who specialized in pre-sectarian Buddhism.
Biography
Early life and education
Chizen Akanuma was born in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture in 1884. His family was a monk of Ganjyo-ji temple under the Higashi Hongan-ji. He entered Shinshū University to study Buddhism. In 1909, he attended "Koukou do", which was an association school built by Kiyozawa Manshi. After graduating from graduate school, he and Shūgaku Yamabe went abroad to deepen their knowledge of Buddhism. He studied at India, Ceylon, and UK, and came back Japan in 1919.As a Buddhist scholar
After coming back to Japan, he was appointed professor of Shinshū University and lectured on pre-sectarian Buddhism and Pali language. Chizen and his colleagues, Daisetsu Suzuki and Gessyo Sasaki established "The Eastern Buddhist Society" to spread the essence of Buddhism to Western countries.His interest existed in the Early Buddhism, and his research theme was the primitive Buddhist sect and Siddhartha Gautama's real sermons. He left works about Āgama or Nikāya.
He died at his home in an unexpected accident in the morning of 1937.
Publication
Books written in English
- "The comparative catalogue of Chinese Āgamas & Pāli Nikāyas"
- ''"A dictionary of Buddhist proper names"''
Papers
- Digital Library of Buddhist studies : Publications of Chizen Akanuma