SOURCE: "The Philosophy of Nishida," in The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School, edited by Frederick Franck, Crossroad, 1982, pp. 179-202.

In the following essay, Yoshinori presents an overview of Nishida's philosophy and places it within the Japanese Buddhist tradition.

I

At the present juncture of history, our world, hitherto divided into East and West, is in a rapid process of integration. Our great problem in this connection is the failure of spiritual progress to keep up with progress in science and technology. There is still not a little misunderstanding between cultures and ideologies. But I suspect that where there is misunderstanding there is also the possibility of understanding. Fortunately there is today, both in the West and in the East, a growing interest in the problem of the East-West synthesis. And perhaps it is not unwarranted to seek in the spiritual traditions of the East for...