“Without Indian influence Japanese culture would not be what it is today.”

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Hajime Nakamura (1912 - 1999) Was a Japanese scholar. His field of research was exceedingly broad, encompassing Indian philosophy, Buddhist studies, historical studies, Japanese thought, comparative thought. He was the author of The History of Early Vedanta Philosophy an epoch-making study in four volumes.





“Indians conducted far more elaborate speculations than the Westerners of antiquity and the Middle Ages with respect to the theory of numbers, the analysis of psychological phenomena, and the study of linguistic structures. The Indians are highly rationalistic, insofar as their ideal is to recognize eternal laws concerning past, present, and future. The thought represented by Tertullian’s aphorism, “credo quia absurdum,” or “I believe because it is absurd,” had no receptivity in India.

The Indians are, at the same time, logical since they generally have a tendency to sublimate their thinking to the universal; they are at once logical and rationalistic. On the contrary, many religions of the West are irrational and illogical, and this is acknowledged by the Westerners themselves. For example, Albert Schweitzer, a pious and most devoted Christian, says, “Compared to the logical religions of Asia, the gospel of Jesus is illogical.”

It is often contended that in contrast to Western thought the spirit of tolerance and mutual concession is a salient feature of Eastern thought. The religion of the West at times is harsh and even emphasizes struggle for the sake of keeping the faith and condemning unbelievers:

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke, 14.26).





Such aggressive thoughts as expressed here did not appear at all in the religions of East Asia. Throughout the religious world of India a more tranquil and peaceful atmosphere has prevailed from time immemorial. Gotama and Mahavira ended their lives in peace.

"The idea of tolerance and concession is based on admitting the compatibility of many different philosophical views of the world. The Indians are prone to tolerate the co-existence of philosophical thoughts of various types from the metaphysical viewpoint. Interference with religions on the part of the state was not found in India, but in China it occurred to a considerable degree.”

(source: Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India-China-Tibet-Japan- By Hajime Nakamura p. 16 – 19).

He firmly believed that:

“Without Indian influence Japanese culture would not be what it is today.”

(source: Japan and Indian Asia - By Hajime Nakamura p. 1)