Shojun Bando

Rev. Shojun Bando was a Japanese scholar, author, translator, editor, and a revered Shin Buddhist priest.  He was an influential figure, due in large part to his role in disseminating information on Shin Buddhism to the Western world. Born in 1932, he taught for many years as Professor of Buddhism at Otani University in Kyoto, Japan.  He died in 2004.

A prolific author on matters of Buddhism, Rev. Bando published many articles and books on Shin Buddhism, and Buddhism in general, including the essay “Shinran’s Indebtedness to T’an-luan” in the World Wisdom anthology on Shin Buddhism, Living in Amida’s Universal Vow: Essays in Shin Buddhism, edited by Alfred Bloom.

Western readers may have read some of Shojun Bando’s correspondence with Thomas Merton, some of which can be read online (click here to read some of Rev. Bando’s correspondence with Merton). Several of his articles can be read on the web site of the journal  Studies in Comparative Religion (click here to read).