Yes, organizations in Taiwan and / or Japan probably could do that.suanck wrote:
Don't know if some Buddhist organisations in Taiwan or Japan, with strong financial supports, could organize and/or sponsor such joint research? Perhaps it's just my wishful thinking ...
But ...
These organizations, though having academic elements, are almost all based on, and receive their support from, the Buddhism practiced by the ordinary people, obviously including their big financial sponsors.
Why would they want to spend money and time promoting texts (the Agamas) and forms of Buddhism (early Indian Buddhism) which are often quite at odds with the traditions that they have upheld for the past 1000+ yrs?
For example, can you see a Japanese school based on the Lotus Sutra (eg. forms of Tendai, Nichiren, etc.) encourage people to seriously spend time and effort to investigate the Agamas as opposed to the Lotus sutra, which they uphold as the ultimate teaching ever given?
Any real look into the Agamas (let alone the Nikayas) in East Asian Buddhism in the last 100 yrs, has only come from a small group of scholars, and some very tiny and minority practice groups in the last 10-20 years. The majority of the Buddhist population in these countries tends to look at this as "Hinayana". Enough said.