Note to moderators: Read the answerline carefully. Note to players: Japanese or English answers are acceptable. In Kitaro Nishida’s “logic of place,” all reality takes place within the “absolute” form of this concept. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this concept that Nishida’s student Keiji Nishitani equated with the Buddhist term Śūnyatā (“SHOON-yuh-tah”). In a koan (“KOH-ahn”), Master Joshu is asked if a dog has Buddha-nature and responds with the word for this concept.
ANSWER: mu [or nothingness; accept emptiness, voidness, or vacuity; accept absolute nothingness; accept non-being; reject “no”]
[10e] Nishida, Nishitani, and other philosophers of the Kyoto school were influenced by this Buddhist tradition. Koans are from this tradition, popular in Japan, that emphasizes achieving enlightenment through meditation.
ANSWER: Zen Buddhism [or Chán Buddhism; prompt on Mahayana Buddhism]
[10m] After graduating from Kyoto Imperial University, Nishitani moved to the University of Freiburg, where he studied under this German philosopher who collaborated with the Nazis and theorized Dasein (“dah-ZYNE”).
ANSWER: Martin Heidegger
<Editors, Philosophy>