Nembutsu as Remembrance (1977)

Abstract

The second western author whom we include here is the Briton Marco Pallis (1895–1989).13 This author was widely known in the general field of what has been called the “perennial philosophy”, a way of thinking which presupposes an inner unity of all religions and sees their value in the promotion of an inner, spiritualised mysticism. Pallis’ main reference point for the traditions of Asia lay in Tibet, for he was also a keen mountaineer and a general writer on various associated subjects. The Tibetan connection seems to have matched the contemporary Japanese interest in Tibetan and Central Asian Buddhism as a field of study relevant for understanding the manifold development of Mahāyāna Buddhism in general. While Pallis had a relatively slight relationship to Shin Buddhism, he showed considerable acumen in the way in which he appraised and commented on the practice of the nenbutsu.