A Buddhist Philosophy of Literature: Outlining Yogacara Buddhism with Miyazawa Kenji and Huey P. Newton

What we characterise as being “Buddhist” has a two-fold aim: First, it is designed to drive each self to think about its existential condition and to find a solution to its fundamental problem deriving from the fact that it is a sentient, transient being. Second, any theories in Buddhism are to serve as a guiding post for readers to navigate themselves in their lives towards the cessation of suffering (nirvana). To show this two-fold characteristic of Buddhist literature, this paper will first explain the metaphysical framework of Buddhist philosophy in reference to Yogacara Buddhism. To show what this Buddhist philosophy of literaturelooks like in practice, we will also conduct a comparative study of two thinkers from Japanese and Africana philosophies: namely, Miyazawa Kenji and Huey P. Newton. The works of this underrepresented pair in the field of world philosophies will help us understand the point of (Yogacara) Buddhism and simultaneously prove to be an instance of Buddhist literature par excellence.