Kogen Mizuno



Kōgen Mizuno (水野 弘元) was a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Soto sect and scholar of Early Buddhism. He served as president of Komazawa University where he attained the status of professor emeritus. He held a Doctorate of Letters degree from the (University of Tokyo) and had an honorary Doctorate of Literature degree from Nalanda University.

Career
Mizuno was born in Saga Prefecture in 1901 and attended Soto Zen Daishi Junior High School (known now as Takagawa Gakuen High School/Junior High School) and then Yamaguchi High School. In 1928, he enrolled in Tokyo Imperial University where he graduated from the Department of Indian Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, before entering the same university's graduate school.

In 1935, he became a lecturer at Komazawa University where he was promoted in 1940, as a professor. Mizuno was renowned for specializing in Pali literature. From 1959 to 1962, he was also a professor at the University of Tokyo. From 1976, he served as vice president of Komazawa University and from 1982 as president of Komazawa University. In 1967, he received the Purple Ribbon Medal.

Mizuno died in January 2006 at the age of 104.

Awards and honors

 * 1967, Medals of Honor (Japan), Purple Ribbon
 * 1979, Oriental Academic Special Award
 * 1981, 15th Buddhist Mission Award

Books

 * "Pali Grammar" (Yamakibo Butshorin, 1955)
 * "Primitive Buddhism" (Heirakuji Shoten, 1956)
 * Pali Buddhist Reading Book (Yamakibo Butshorin, 1956)
 * “The Life of Shakyamuni” (Shunjusha, 1960 → 1985)
 * “Buddhist Consciousness Theory Centered on Pali Buddhism” (Yamakibo Butsu Shorin, 1964 → Pitaka, 1978)
 * “ Shushogi Lecture” (Soto Sect Religious Affairs Office, 1968)
 * “Buddhism of Shushogi” (Shunjusha, 1968 → 2000)
 * "Pali Dictionary" (Shunjusha, 1968 → 2005)
 * Handbook of Religious Studies (co-authored with Michiken Shibata, Sekai Shoin, 1969)
 * “Basic Knowledge of Buddhism” (Shunjusha, 1971 → 2009)
 * “Basic knowledge of Buddhist essential terms” (Shunjusha, 1972 → 2006)
 * "The Origins of Buddhism" (Kosei Publishing, 1974)
 * "Buddhist Scriptures Interpretation Dictionary" (Shunjusha, 1977)
 * "Sutra" (Kosei Publishing, 1980 → 1990)
 * “ Research on the Dharma Sutra ” (Shunjusha, 1981)
 * "The Essence of Buddhism" (Shunjusha, 1986)
 * “ Shakyamuni ’s Life and Thought” (Kosei Publishing, 1989)
 * "Shakyamuni's Human Education" (Kosei Publishing, 1994)
 * "Japanese Translation Pali Buddhist Reading Book" (Yamakibo Butshorin, 2001)
 * “How the scriptures were transmitted” (Kosei Publishing, 2004)
 * “Introduction to Primitive Buddhism” (Kosei Publishing, 2009)