Tanzan

Hara Tanzan (原坦山, December 5, 1819 – July 27, 1892) was a Japanese philosopher and Sōtō Buddhist monk. He served as abbot of Saijoji temple in Odawara and as professor at the University of Tokyo during the Bakumatsu and Meiji era. He was a forerunner of the modernization of Japanese Buddhism and the first (in Japan) to attempt to incorporate concepts from the natural sciences into Zen Buddhism.

Life

Hara was born in Iwakitaira Domain, Mutsu Province (present-day Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture), the eldest son of samurai Arai Yūsuke. At the age of 15, Hara enrolled at the Shoheizaka Academy (昌平坂学問所) where he studied both Confucianism and medicine, the latter under Taki Genken.

Hara became the first lecturer of Indian Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at Tokyo Imperial University in 1879. He was later superintendent of the Soto-shu Daigaku-rin (currently Komazawa University).