Pruning the bodhi tree

Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm over Critical Buddhism, edited by Jamie Hubbard and Paul L. Swanson, was published in 1997 by the University of Hawaiʻi Press. It emerged as a scholarly response to the controversial 'Critical Buddhism' movement, a rigorous intellectual school of thought in Japan spearheaded by Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shirō. The movement argued that essentialist concepts like 'Buddha-nature' were historically un-Buddhist and functioned as tools for ideological oppression, challenging centuries of East Asian Buddhist tradition.

The volume gathers essays from various scholars who critically evaluated the movement's radical claims, exploring the tension between textual analysis and traditional practice. Jamie Hubbard, a respected scholar of Buddhist studies, sought to frame these debates within a broader academic context, providing a platform for both supporters and critics to engage with the movement's provocative assertions. The work is widely regarded in academic circles as an essential record of the intense scholarly discourse that reshaped contemporary studies of Japanese Buddhist thought.