Buddhism, war, and nationalism: Chinese monks in the struggle against Japan, 1931--1945

In a period of national crisis early in the twentieth century, Chinese Buddhist institutions found themselves under attack from officials and intellectuals who wanted to confiscate their temples and properties for state-building projects. For the most part Buddhists were little able to resist. But a small number of "new monks," who had received modern education as part of the young Buddhist reform movement, began to realize that in an atmosphere of nationalism the protection of institutional Buddhism would require convincing society that they could be useful to the nation. The greatest opportunity to do this came with Japanese aggression against China in the 1930s, when many monks wrestled with how to reconcile their religious commitment to non-violence (ahimsa) with their duty as citizens to help protect the nation.; This thesis examines the doctrinal grounds and different approaches to working out this "new Buddhist tradition," a startling contrast to the teachings of non-violence and compassion which have made Buddhism known as a religion of peace. In scores of articles as war approached in 1936--37, new monks searched and reinterpreted scripture, making controversial arguments for ideas like "compassionate killing" which would justify participating in war.; And many did participate. The thesis goes on to describe, based on extensive research in previously little-used historical sources, the range of actual clergy involvement in the resistance war: Buddhist propaganda against Japan, blessing troops, donating to the army, military training, battlefield first-aid, and combat with both regular and guerrilla forces. In Japanese-occupied areas, Chinese Buddhists were faced with difficult choices of resistance, withdrawal, or cooperating to different degrees with the authorities.; The end of the war brought to power the reformist faction of Taixu, who had tirelessly written in the 1930s and during the war for active Buddhist support of the nation and the Nationalist government; but hopes for Buddhist reform were soon dashed by civil war. Finally, the modern histories of several other Buddhist nations suggest similarities, particularly in how modern nationalism and state building brought Chinese and Japanese clergy alike to distort Buddhist teachings and take part in war.