Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1947. In 1958, moved to the United States with Japanese American parents at the age of 10. Encountered Buddhism at a Buddhist temple there while attending a public school in Mountain View, California.
After graduating from Stanford University in 1970 (major in cultural anthropology), he spent a year traveling the world. During that time, he practiced as a monk for several months at a Thai monastery. After that, he entered the Master’s program of the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS), which is a member of the GTU (Graduate Theological Union) in Berkeley, California, and was involved in Buddhist studies. After that, he obtained a master’s degree (Indian philosophy) from the University of Tokyo graduate school, and subsequently obtained a Jodo Shinshu monk. After returning to Japan, he received a PhD (Buddhist Studies) from the University of California, Berkeley.
Work history started in 1984 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California, where he served most of the 11 years as Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of the school. In 1995, he became the resident minister of the Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church in Union City, California. He then moved to Tokyo in 1998 to take a position as Professor of Buddhist Studies at Musashino University. His main course was entitled “The Principles of Interdependence.” During this time, he also taught at the University of Tokyo and Ryukoku University.s
He currently serves as Chairman of the Editorial Committee of the Chinese Buddhist Canon English Translation Project sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism (BDK). He was recently appointed Adjunct Researcher at the Hongwanji Comprehensive Research Center.He is the former President of the Int. Assoc. of Shin Buddhist Studies as well as the Japanese Assoc. for the Study of Buddhism and Psychology.
His publications include The Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine (The State Univ. of New York, 1990), Ocean: An Introduction to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in America (WisdomOcean Publication, 1997), Amerika bukkyo (in Japanese, meaning “American Buddhism”) (Musashino University, 2010), Buddhism on Air: Kaleidoscope of a Growing Relgion (Buddhist Education Center, 2015) and edited Chi’e no ushio – Shinran no chi’e, shutaisei and shakaisei (in Japanese, meaning “The Tide of Wisdom: Shinran’s Wisdom, Subjectivity and Social Dimension”) (Musashino University, 2017). His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese.
He is the 2017 recipient of the 27th Nakamura Hajime Eastern Study Prize, awarded to scholars who distinguish themselves in the field of Indian and Buddhist studies. He was the object of a one-hour NHK Educational Television documentary series entitled “The Age of Kokoro (heart/mind)” on April 8, 2018.
Reference: “Kenneth Tanaka” by Wikipedia
[Book]
“Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism-Keikyo Giju of Jouiji Temple”, New York University Press, 1990. [ Amazon ]
“Ocean-Introduction to thePure LandBuddhism of America” Berkeley: Wisdom Ocean Publication, 1997. (English) [ Amazon ]
“Aspects of American Buddhism” (tentative translation, co-author) University of California Press; Berkeley, 1998. (English)
“Buddhism Participating in Society” (tentative translation, co-author)) Berkeley: Wisdom Ocean Publication, 1998. (English) )
“Introduction to Shinshu” by Masamasa Shimazu Hozokan, 2003. [ Amazon ]
“Goingto the Pure Land” (tentative translation, co-author) University of Hawaii Press; Honolulu, 2004. (English)
“The Pure Land Religion-History and Modern Revelation ”Dharmaram University Press, 2004. (English)
“ American Buddhism: Changing Buddhism, Changing America ”Musashino University Press, 2010. [ Amazon ]
“ Awakening Religion (Sanga Shinsho) ”Sanga, 2012. [ Amazon ]
“ Diversity ” Modernizing Society and Jodo Shinshu: From a Global Perspective ”Hibiki Shobo, 2016. [ Amazon ]
“Introduction to Buddhism that changes the American mind” (translated by Ito Makoto) Shunjusha, 2016. [ Amazon ]