K. M. University, India Christianity in the Land of Santhals: a study of Resistance and Acceptance in Historical Perspective(03U)

Nagashima, Takayuki

Former time National Diet Librarian, Japan

Hypothesis, Zen Sect Was Established after the Sixth Patriarch Enoh (Hui-neng) and "the Rokuso Dankyoh (the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch ; the Liu-tsu t'an-ching)"(09O)

Inclusing the materials of the Sixth Patriarch Enoh (638-713) of Zen sect , the previous data of Enoh were simply , honestly, and religiously edited. However, the data would be almost the source of fabrications. We are trying to research the past studies of many scholars who used same documents, and concluse some different decisions as follows: Concerning with the documents from the First Patriarch Bodhidharma to the Sixth Patriarch Enoh, we are trying to research and prove the contradictions and truths by many materials from "the Rakuyoh garanki (lit. Records of monasteries in Lo-yang) "(547 A.D) to the edited age of "the Nanshutei zehiron (lit. Comments on the Southern school of legitimacy was thought to be established) ".

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Nagashima, Takayuki

Former time National Diet Librarian, Japan

Philosophical Research in Chinese Buddhism(09O)

*chairperson

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Nagy, Dorottya

Evagelical Lutheran Church in Hungary/ University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Chinese Christian Community in Bucharest (Romania)(01B)

Chinese migration is a new phenomena in the Romanian social context. During the last decade Romania was declared to be a country in transition, recovering from the painful consequences of a dictatorial regime. After fifteen years of democracy Romania still does not have a well-developed migrant policy, which makes the lives of the migrants unstable and unpredictable. The paper is preoccupied with the question: why Chinese Christian migrants (being already or becoming Christians) in Bucharest felt the need to form a church as the only way of community formation. It discusses the theological developments of the Chinese Christian Church in Bucharest from its beginnings till the present, focusing on the ecclesiastical, doctrinal and missiological factors that led to the actual identity of the community. The paper further suggests that the Chinese Christian Church in Bucharest is a transnational religious community in transition, not constructing, but contextualizing theology, and that their specific context is defined by both being Chinese in Romania and being Christians among Chinese.

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Naidoo, Thillayvel

University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

God and Pentacyclic Revelation(12K)

One of the focal points in the study of the religions of the world concerns their respective origins. Scientists of religion draw a distinction between the Eastern religions Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism on the one hand and the Middle Eastern religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There are in fact five religions that have their birth in the Middle East. We need to add Zoroastrianism and Baha'I to the three already named. These two groups of religions have their distinguishing characteristics and it is of extreme importance to understand the nature of the distinction that marks the differences between them. The classification of these religions is traced to their origins and to their content. The benefits of identifying these marks of distinction are invaluable in the task of assessment and the respective positions they assume in their claims to validity. The paper will seriously consider the claims not only to validity made by each of the Middle Eastern religions but also their claims to legitimacy.

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Naidoo, Thillayvel

University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Torelance and Intorelance toward Other Religions(15P)

*chairperson

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Naito, Masanori

Hitotsubashi University, Japan

Behind Veiling Issues(06W)

In the last two decades, the western societies expected that the Muslim immigrants would accept western norms, and obey the rules which were created in the modernization paths of each European nation state. But the result fell short of their expectations. The Muslims in Europe with immigrant origin partially accepted western customs, but kept distance from inadequate phenomena, denied some norms and principles which were against Islam. The Muslims' attitude against host European societies was selective, however, in integration policies for the immigrants in the host countries, such selective attitude of the immigrants were not assumed. The discordance was deprived from a social view of the Muslims, which does not imply secularization as an assumption for social development. On the other hand, most of the European states implemented separation between state and church as a sine qua non for progress and evolution. In addition, anti-Islamic atmosphere after September 11 deteriorated relationships with the Muslim neighbors. In many European countries, xenophobia against immigrants was changed to criticism against the Muslim neighbors whose doctrines are regarded as anti-democratic. The head scarf issues of the Muslim women are polemic under these circumstances.

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Najera, Martha Ilia

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

Monkeys' Images in Contemporary Mayan Rituals(02R)

The indigenous dances at the present time constitute the expression of an old ritual, for that reason they are loaded with a great symbolism and its study allows us to approach the beliefs of a community. This paper approaches the topic through a recurrent image of diverse dances: the simian. The monkey from the pre-Hispanic period represented several valencies, which with Conquest and later Colonization, were modified when being reprocessed by the Christian beliefs. The paper will analyze the meaning of the adorned images of these diverse animals. Between the ritual dances celebrated in diverse Mayan communities in which participate the 'monkeys' are the 'Carnivals', the ceremony of the 'Flying Wood', the 'Dance of the Deer', 'Loas to the Virgin Maria' and the 'Dance of Monkeys'.

Symposium, English
Nakabeppu, Harukazu

Miyazaki Municipal University, Japan

Coherence and Modification of Religious Meanings - An Analysis of Prayers in Zoroastrian Parsis in Navsari, Gujarat, India -(12V)

The purpose of this paper is to clarify some aspects of religious phenomena in terms of prayer. The object of study is Zoroastrian Parsis living in Navsari of Gujarat State in the northwestern coast of India. The method is an individual interview research using a questionnaire of our own. 300 cases are the materials for a tentative analysis. The questionnaire is composed in order to investigate and analyze how the most valuable prayers in Zoroastrianism are offered, to what extent the meanings of the prayers are understood and are handed down to the present Zoroastrians in Navsari. The results of research proved, against the few working hypotheses in this research, that the essential meanings of the prayers are not understood or taught by Parsis. In the paper, the fact is to be discussed mainly from angles of language, missionaries, and religious education.

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Nakabeppu, Harukazu

Miyazaki Municipal University, Japan

Ritual and Power in Asia(12V)

*chairperson

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Nakada, Naomichi

The Eastern Institute, Japan

Meeting of the Religious Theory and the Pharmacological Theory - An Aspect of Viirya and That of Prahbaava with Their Example as Dantii as Found in a Buddhist Text and a Medical Text(15J)

In this paper I discuss conversion into the state of contradictory opposition, through religious exercise based on physical and mental energy, into the state void of physical and mental energy(Caitasika viirya and Kaayika viirya). Such phenomenon may be compared with that found in the pharmacological effect as indicated in the concept prabhaava applied to the special effective activity which cannot be explained and is beyond the reach of thinking(acintya). This specific activity(prahbaava) is explained with an example dantii in a medical text Carakasamhitaa. The "viirya" activity is introduced in the above-mentioned Buddhist text with the example "dantii巴豆." The same example is mentioned for the concept of prabhaavatoo, in the medical text. "Viirya" is used in this Buddhist text as one of the six items to be observed. Aiming at the last one as the top item most important. Prabhaava is treated in the Indian pharmacological system as the last one among four basic concepts, while viirya treated as the third.

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Nakagawa, Tadashi

Mie University, Japan

Religious Landscape of Owase on the Kii Peninsula(03P)

Like other parts of Japan, the city of Owase, located on the eastern Kii Peninsula, demonstrates syncretic religious landscape of animism, Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, and other folk beliefs. With the official designation as a World Heritage Site, "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range" in 2004 by UNESCO, these religious landscape elements have gained new meanings. Based upon the data collected through an exhaustive field survey of religious landscape elements and participant observations of festivals and other ritual activities, the contemporary meaning of this landscape is examined in the context of polarization of religious attitudes between constructivism and fundamentalism.

Symposium, English
Nakai, Ayako

Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College, Japan

Nature Mysticism, Theosophy, and Philosophy of Nature(04Q)

In European Mysticism after the Renaissance, the problem of nature became an important field. Facing the impact of a new view of the cosmos and nature, philosophers such as Valentin Weigel and Jacob Boehme tried to express the position of God in a new way. Boehme used terms and patterns of thinking in German Mysticism and Hermetic Philosophy in order to express his new vision of the relationship between God, Man, and Nature. Boehme's theosophical thinking was rediscovered in the Romantic Philosophy of Nature. In European theosophy and philosophy of nature, philosophers tried to find a synthesis of traditional philosophies of nature and the consequences of natural science in the new era. Such attempts may be able to give hints to those who try to find a new harmony between their traditional philosophies of nature and consequences of modern science and technology in non-European cultures today.

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Nakajima, Koji

Meiji Gakuin University, Japan

Missionaries and Japanese Culture - On Rev. William Imbrie, D.D.(10W)

In this paper, I will provide an introductory discussion of Rev. William Imbrie, D.D.(1846-1928), a Presbyterian missionary who was active in Japan. He joined the Mission in 1875 and spent 47 years in Japan. Before his departure to Japan, he was given three tasks by the mission board. These tasks were to establish a strong Presbyterian Church, unify the missionaries, and create a theological education system in Japan. He completed all of these tasks within a short period of time. Thereafter he negotiated firmly with the Japanese government on behalf of all missionaries about the issue of religious freedom, developing Christianity, and safeguarding church independence at a time of political turmoil. I believe that Rev. Imbrie was one of the most important missionaries in Japan due to his strong commitment to the mission, his leadership skills and administrative abilities.

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Nakamaki, Hirochika

National Museum of Ethnology, Japan

Religious Concepts of Time and Space(17R)

*chairperson

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Nakamaki, Hirochika

National Museum of Ethnology, Japan

The Global and the Local Seen through Calendars(17R)

Nowadays, the most global form of calendar is undoubtedly the Gregorian. While there are other global calendars such as the Islamic and Chinese, these are restricted to particular regions. At the same time, local calendars such as the Saka, Buddhist, Javanese, Balinese, Ethiopian, and Iranian Solar calendars are abundant in number. There are instances in which two or more calendrical systems are juxtaposed: the Gregorian and agricultural (solar-lunar) calendars in China; and the Islamic and Gregorian calendars in the Islamic countries. Moreover, in recent years, along with the flow of global migration, ethnic minorities are producing their own calendars, such as the calendars of the Turks in Germany, or of the Tamils in Malaysia. Such local calendars find their niche using a combination of the global Gregorian or Islamic calendars. My investigation into such juxtaposed calendrical systems has relied mainly on the collections at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan.

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Nakamura, Chihagi

University of Tokyo, Japan

Manipulation of Information: Image of an Indian Seer(03U)

Juan Diego, an Indian seer of Mexican Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, was beatified by John Paul II in 1990 and finally achieved the status of official saint in 2002 with a lavish ceremony. But this canonization at the initiative of the ecclesiastical hierarchy was realized without widely accepted devotion to him and drew criticism on its political ulterior motive rather than receiving a good reaction, especially from the native community. This paper traces in what manner people see this Indian saint and how he is a religious symbol of the Mexican Catholic Church by mentioning what kind of information is provided strategically by the church, based on the study in the field.

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Nakamura, Keishi

Japan

Religion, Peace, and Media: a Brief Sketch(12C)

Some basic questions are unavoidable when we talk about the relationship between "religion" and the media. As a listener or a speaker, we wonder about what "religion" is, whether it is a self-professed definition or one applied by others. What are the implications of our tendency to search individual consciousness for the core of "religion," especially when it has emerged as a strange -- even dangerous -- one , or when we talk about the violent nature of "religion," or the possibility of peaceful talks between "religions"? What kind of tensions can be found between "religion" as a disciplinary medium and the other media (journalistic, educational, artistic, administration, etc)? My presentation will be a brief sketch that will include some considerations of the situation in Japan and a brief reference to T. Asad's arguments on conceptional matters and the Islamic traditions.

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Nakamura, Kojiro

Obirin University, Japan

The Study of Islam in Japan(01A)

The first contact that Japanese had with Islam was during the Meiji Period (1868) when Japan opened its borders to the world. Since then, the interest in Islam has gradually grown in Japan. However, there have been two peaks in which this interest was especially apparent. The first peak was before World War II and occurred in the years of 1935-45 and the other peak came after World War II, starting in the late 1970s and lasting for 10 years. These peaks were both derived by the political and economical situation in Japan during those years. Although there was a gap between these two peaks, while adopting the preceding research of Islam done in Europe and the United States and starting with the study of historical texts written in Arabic, scholars in Japan have eventually come to a point where they can conduct their own fieldwork in the study of Islam. It is well known that there is a significantly low number of Muslims in Japan and that the interest in Islam was derived largely by political and economical factors; therefore, it is not surprising that there is a distinctly low number of scholars who study Islamic religion, Islamic thought, and Islamic philosophy. However, there is a relatively large number of those interested in Sufism, as seen with the study by Toshihiko Izutsu. I believe that there may be an affinity between Japanese religion (Buddhism) and Sufism.

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Nakanishi, Kyoko

Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Japan

Christian Invectives against Julian in Context of Late Antique Religious Culture(14N)

This paper examines Late Antique Christian invectives against Julian and analyses the aspects of conflicts between the Church leaders' ambition for the establishment of the universal faith and their struggle for eliminating Christian magical culture such as healing of the martyr or exorcism. The authors of the invectives, from Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, to the fifth-century Constantinopolitan Church Historians, seem to have common interest on Julian's deep commitment to the oracles and divinations, his hatred to the martyr cults that he regarded as the defilement of corps, which could be related with the exercise of the magic, and his attempt to adapt the ethics of 'the philosophical life' as the foundation of pagan perfection, which was the communal ideal for the perfection among their contemporary intellectuals. It reveals the multiplicity of their Christian culture and the local religious common background with the traditional polytheism.

Symposium, English
Nakano, Tsuyoshi

Soka University, Japan

International Comparison of Religious Conflicts (1): Re-Examining the Cult Controversies in Global Context(10I)

After the 9.11 attacks in 2001, the controversies on so-called cults /sects among mass-media, politicians and people in general, seem to have ended, and their major concerns shifted to the extremist terrorism and wars. But the similar kinds of movements still exist and people in suffering from them also still are struggling with the burden of their experience. In addition, the recent studies gradually have made apparent the complicated relations among the anti-cult campaigns by the governments, constant vigilance against terrorism and the rise of religious nationalism in this globalizing world. In these today's situation, we would like to discuss again on the recent developments or changes of major movements called 'cult' and of social/political controversies around them in relations to other global contexts.

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Nakano, Tsuyoshi

Soka University, Japan

International Comparison of Religious Conflicts (2): The Rise of Religious Nationalism and Fundamentalism in a Globalizing World(11I)

The world is even now in a period of great transition and searching for new order and identity. We see many movements that aim at the re-union of people in emphasizing the old myth of ethnic-origin or fundamental religious ideas. This can be called the rise of "religious nationalism." Although this kind of nationalism was first seen in developing countries, now we find it even in the advanced societies of the West, first in an implicit form among anti-sect/cult political campaigns, and in quite explicit forms with strong political/military action after the 9.11 attacks of 2001. But at a much deeper level, these developments could be said to be triggered by and related with the growing trend of globalization, which transcends the existing modern nation-state system in terms of culture, information, and exchange of human resources. We would like to share information and insights on the various forms of religious nationalism, and to re-examine their relations to the globalizing or glocalizing trend of the world now.

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Nakata, Ko Hassan

Doshisya university, Japan

The Discourse on the Present Condition of the Islamic World and Jihad(12B)

In the world view of Islam, the Earth is divided into "the abode of Islam," and "the abode of war." "The abode of Islam" is space where the responsibility for security (internal/external) is taken by the Islamic community (ummah) with the caliph as the sovereign. The public sphere is ruled by Islamic public law, and the private sphere is left to the autonomy of plural religious communities. In the world view of Islam, legislative power belongs only to Allah, the Creator of the universe, and the rule of human beings is usurpation of this divinity. Thus, "the abode of Islam" is the only space in which the true rule of Law is realized, meanwhile the outer world is the Darwinian world, where a strong man governs the weak, "the lawless world," and "the abode of war," even if it seems that there exists law and order exist apparently in it. The jihad is a means for protecting and expanding this "abode of Islam = space of rule of the Law." In this presentation, distortions of the discourse around the jihad in the world where "the abode of Islam" collapsed are analyzed.

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Nakata, Ko Hassan

Doshisya university, Japan

Interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures and Politics in Islam(14B)

The intention of Allah the Creator is known by His words Qur'an, in the light of his prophet Muhammad's memoir Hadith. So, Islam comes to mean the obedience to Allah through the obedience to the Prophet. However, it is impossible for ordinary people to imitate the Prophet led by revelation of God, so that the obedience to the Prophet in fact means to follow the companions of the Prophet who accompanied him. In this way, to imitate the Companions who obeyed the Prophet who obeyed Allah becomes Sunni Muslims' ideal, which is based on the fact that the Arabic language was shared among Allah, the Prophet, and the companions, which made the communication among them possible. So, it is the prerequisite for the faith to Allah to keep the Arabic language of the time of the Revelation pure from being mixed with foreign concepts. In this presentation, political discourse of contemporary "Islamic fundamentalism" is analyzed in conformity with this idea.

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Nakatomi, Kiyokazu

Chiba Prefectural Yachimata High School, Japan

The Philosophical Principle of Synthesizing Christianity, Buddhism and Islam(17N)

Today, differences in religious belief have created chaos and conflict throughout the world. For example, there is the serious conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. Furthermore, after the US invaded Iraq, the confrontation between the Christian and Islamic world has intensified. The purpose of this presentation is to express my thoughts and a philosophical principle on how to solve such confrontation. I will often refer to my book, "Philosophy of Nothingness and Love." In it, to prove "the principle of nothingness and love," I researched the idea of "nothingness" throughout all ages and civilizations, and noted that "nothingness" leads to infinity, eternity, the transcendent Being which is God, and love. With this principle, I would like to show how a possible synthesis of these three religions could be attempted.

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Nakayama, Kaoru

Kokugakuin University, Japan

A Change in the Character of Ontake Belief - The Opening of Mt. Ontake by Mokujiki Fukan(08C)

On the basis of Fukan's recently discovered diary, I would like to discuss his influence on Ontake belief. Fukan opened Mt. Ontake to make it a place for his ko group members. Through his shamanistic power, he transformed the system of belief at that time and produced a new symbol system and worldview on the mountain. Additionally, he used the oza ritual to authorize his worldview of Mt. Ontake. Fukan's opening of Mt. Ontake and his organization of ko groups shifted the focus of Ontake belief in the middle of the Edo period from the people at the foot of Mt. Ontake to those from outside areas. Because of this, Fukan's activities had a profound influence on subsequent religious movements and thus held an important place in the history of mountain-based worship.

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