Taitetsu Unno

Taitetsu Unno (海野 大徹 Unno Taitetsu) was a scholar, lecturer, and author on the subject of Pure Land Buddhism. His work as a translator has been responsible for making many important Buddhist texts available to the English-speaking world and he is considered one of the leading authorities in the United States on Shin Buddhism, a branch of Pure Land Buddhism. Dr. Unno was an ordained Shin Buddhist minister and the founding Sensei of the Northampton Shin Buddhist Sangha.

He published extensively on the subject of Pure Land Buddhism, his most famous works include: Shin Buddhism: Bits of Rubble Turn Into Gold; River of Fire, River of Water and Tannisho: A Shin Buddhist Classic.

Biography

Born in Japan in 1929, Taitetsu Unno immigrated to the United States at the age of six. During World War II he spent three and a half years imprisoned in the Rohwer internment camp in Arkansas, and Tule Lake in California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in English literature and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Buddhist Studies from Tokyo University.

From 1971 to 1998 he taught Buddhism and Japanese aesthetics and was the Jill Ker Conway Professor Emeritus of Religion at Smith College. He retired in December 1998. After his retirement, he continued to travel as a lecturer on Japanese Buddhism, religion, and culture.

Unno died on December 13, 2014.

Essays

• “Is There a God? A Buddhist Answer” by Rev Taitetsu Unno
• “Contrasting Images of the Buddha” by Rev Taitetsu Unno