Buddhist Thought and Culture: Indo-Japan Seminar on Buddhist Philosophy

India and Japan have very old cultural contacts. Many travelers and scholars have contributed immensely to this living tradition between the two countries. Among these names Professor Hajime Nakamura and Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore in contemporary times come to the forefront. Nakamura was an outstanding thinker and interpreter of Indian culture. He was a scholar of international repute and recipient of many prestigious awards in Japan and India apart from several other countries of the world. He was a great friend of India and an ardent admirer of Indian culture. He was closely associated with Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the late President of Republic of India, who had profuse admitation for him. In the words of Dr. K.R. Narayanan, another former President of the republic of India, “Nakamura was well known in India as one of the outstanding and eminent scholars, and true friend of or country”. The central axis of Nakamura’s scholarship was Indian which he studied and expounded with remarkable depth and compression, and with admirable width and breadth of philosophical perspectives. He was proud of his association with Indian culture and he declared this in unequivocal terms. The present Volume is an outcome of Indo-Japan International Seminar in the form of a befitting tribute and discharge of “Guru rna” to the late Nakamura. The papers included here reflect his astounding scholarship in all systems of philosophical thoughts of classical and modern India. It is hoped that this Volume would significantly contribute to better understanding not only of Indian philosophical systems but also of the rise and spread of Buddhism in Japan.