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

The Changes of Belief and Religious Consciousness after the Mongolian Democratization(17O)

In Mongolia, after the collapse of the socialist system, during 10 years of new constitution, basic changes have occurred in the social consciousness, and new consciousness of religion already found its place in the social mentality. Monasteries and religious institutions, operating in Mongolia can be divided into two parts: those of traditional and non-traditional religions. Buddhism and Islam are considered to be traditional religions in Mongolia. Non-traditional religions include those, which emerged lately according to the time of origination, which teachings and worship practices relate less to the national traditions and come from foreign countries. Under the hyper change or stressful situation of the country, non-traditional religions are expanding their borders by targeting specific activities towards children, youth, and vulnerable groups. If we make deep analysis on the reason why religion has revitalized in our country and people began preferring religion, we will be able to delineate the influences of social conditions on the religious consciousness in contemporary Mongolia.

Organized panel, English
Samita, Zacharia Wanakacha

Kenyatta University, Kenya

Power Hoarding and Power Loading from Divine Spaces with Reference to the New Holy Church, Kenya(10T)

The continued upsurge of New Religious Movements (NRMs) in Kenya, as elsewhere in Africa, demonstrates, among other factors, the important place of religion in both the public and private domains. These NRMs are characterized by embedded power relations and dynamics which follow from these power relations. The NRMs are seen to be satellites of diverse spiritual powers and resources that can be marshaled for individual and communal advantage and well-being. Accordingly, people in various crisis situations throng to NRMs expecting to tap from these powers and resources as a solution to their crises. In like manner, religious personnel, spaces and activities (e.g. ritual) are believed to be charged with power.

Organized panel, English
Sanada, Yoshiaki

Chuo University, Japan

The Past, the Present and the Future of WCRP(06D)

"The Crash of Civilizations" has been on a hot issue these days, and it is needless to say that silly wars have been repeated and unceasingly justified themselves by adopting terms like "justice", "freedom", "democracy" and "civilization" etc, utilizing them in a sense similar to religious convictions. At no time have the inter-religions dialogue and cooperation as well as inter-civilization dialogue to be kept critical discussions as at present. The World Conference of Religions for Peace, originating in the first World Assembly held in Kyoto convening some three hundred religious leaders from 39 countries in 1970, have experienced the 7 World Assemblies ever since, the most recent one of which was held in Amman Jordan in 1990. The WCRP have been acting in action-oriented ways through the inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, and contributed to the global themes which hinder the peace issues like human rights oppressions, devastating the environment, ethnical and regional conflicts, exporting weapons, development and poverty etc. We, the members of the Peace Research attached belonging to the WCRP Japan, would like to verify the contribution of the inter-religious cooperation on WCRP in the past, present and future, and to discuss the contemporary mission on the people of the faith.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, Japanese
Sander, Ake S.

Goteborg University, Sweden

Itjihad vs. Taqlid. The Process of Rethinking Islam in the Face of Modernity, Globalization and Migration, with Special Reference to Islam in Western Europe(01O)

No human phenomenon exists in a cultural vacuum, but always in a dynamic context. When the cultural borders of a religious tradition change or are redrawn, the production, distribution and consumption of religion changes as a result. One important mode of this modification of meanings is a particular kind of self-consciousness, which the conditions of "borderland", "Diaspora" or minority status have stimulated. This situation creates a fertile ground for individuals to engage in hermeneutical processes of reassembling components from the cumulative Islamic tradition, together with components arising out of the migration experience, into new complex wholes which function more successfully in the new European modern (or even post-modern), secular, and urban context. This paper will trace and discuss some aspects of the process of rethinking Islam in the face of secularization, migration and globalization which have been visible in Western Europe during the last decade.

Organized panel, English
Sankarnarayan, Kalpakam

K.J.Somaiaya Centre For Buddhist Studies Vidyavihar, India

Buddhist, Meditation in the Context of Present Globalization(15G)

Ethics and values play a vital role in understanding the present situation of globalization. The concern of this paper is with growing violence, fissiparous tendencies, and ethnic, linguistic and religious conflicts throughout the world. A sense of mutual distrust and fear of the other is visible everywhere. At this juncture in history, nations, both developed and developing, face erosion of humanistic, ethical and moral values resulting in an immense loss of human dignity. The common individual continues to suffer because of the erosion of values and ethics practically in every sphere of human activity. This phenomenon is not new, but the magnitude has increased. Humans still respond only to the symptoms of their malady, remaining blind to the source of the illness which is none other than the three strong Roots of Everything Evil pointed out by the Buddha: greed, hatred and delusion. The Buddha offers a great variety of methods of mental training and meditation suited to the various individual needs, temperaments and capacities. Yet all these methods ultimately converge in the 'Way of Mindfulness' called by the master himself 'the only Way'. This paper will focus on the Buddha's prescription of 'Meditation' with special reference to the Shingon tradition of East Asia which has its roots in the Indian tradition of the Mantrayana Sect of 7th-8th Century.

Organized panel, English
Sanni, Amidu

Lagos State University, Nigeria

The Resurgence of Shari'ah in 21st Century Nigeria: Implications for Peace and Human Rights(11O)

The (re)introduction in 2000 of the penal aspect of the Islamic law by Zamfara State signalled a new phase in inter-religious interaction in pluralistic Nigeria. Since then, limbs of convicted thieves have been cut, women adulterers have been sentenced to death by stoning, and public lapidation as decreed by Islam has been carried out. This has provoked a variety of reactions from Muslims, Christians, the media, and human rights organisations world-wide. The panel will examine the subject in more detail. Muslih Yahya discusses the subject in relation to its specifics in Northern Nigeria/Middle Belt region. Mobolaji Adetona investigates the role of the youth as unofficial implementers of the legal system. Amidu Sanni examines the concept of sacralisation of violence in the course of supporting or opposing religious institutions/symbols. Muhib Opeloye explores the human rights dimension of the subject in relation to interfaith cohabitation/social justice.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Sano, Yasuo

Rissho University, Japan

Philological Studies in Buddhism(07R)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Sano, Yasuo

Rissho University, Japan

The Structure of the Distinct Sects Found in the Abhidharmako{s'}abh{a_}{s.}ya(07R)

The establishment of new splinter sects and scholastic systems, as it occurs in the various schools of Buddhism, occasionally becomes entangled with a range of complex political, economic, and ideological factors. In particular, the collection of writings known as Abhidharma Literature has been considered a crucial resource for the study of the emergence of new ideological lineages in Buddhist schools. However, religion's synchronicity – in particular that of religious doctrine - has meant that the same terminology can be found in multiple texts, and subsequent generations of commentators have furthermore added their own readings and contexts. The aim of this study is to categorize these texts and, by paying particular attention to discontinuity, focus on the logical consistency of distinct splinter sects within the framework of one of the texts. Another aim of this research project is to assess the texts based on their own merit and, rather than scour for hidden meanings, consider why those particular writings appeared and why no other text could have occupied that same ideological space. My hope is to clarify through this the conditions of existence for the sect in question as they are stated in the texts, as well as to clarify the ideological boundaries of these texts.

Organized panel, Japanese
Sarao, Karam Tej Singh

Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies, Taiwan

Tzu Chi: Master Cheng Yen's Engaged Buddhism in Taiwan(16M)

Tzu Chi founded by Master Cheng Yen in 1966 is a unique Buddhist organization. Not only that it is run by one of the most powerful women in Taiwan, but also because it has further indigenized Tibetan Buddhism. Instead of spending too much time on prayers, burning incense, or reading sutras, she exhorts her disciples, to 'humanize Buddhism' by 'just doing it.' She claims that the Buddhism practised and preached by her is the original form of Buddhism, which is simple and down-to-earth. She advocates that a woman's world is not within the boundary of her home. She and the other nuns grow their own food, run workshops and do not live on any material support of lay followers. Her unique experiments in frugality, avoidance of wastage, and recycling have provided a new dimension to Buddhism in action. In this paper, an attempt is made not only to evaluate the character of Tzu Chi Buddhism vis-a-vis other forms of engaged Buddhism but also its long terms consequences in the post-modern world with its problems of war and conflict, gender discrimination, human and animal rights, wastage, pollution, and ecological degradation.

Organized panel, English
Sasaki, Kei

Hokkaido University, Japan

Is Japanese Christianity and Japanese Biblical Scholarship Minority or Majority?(10N)

The Japanese Christian population is just a little over 1% of the Japanese total today, even though 450 years have passed since the first missionary came to Japan (though Japanese Christianity had been completely oppressed in an extremely brutal way for 260 years). This is a very rare case in Christianity in the world. This situation is a reflection of the present situation in Japanese Christianity, especially that of Japanese Biblical scholarship. We, Japanese Christians and Biblical scholars, are domestically of the minority. For example, the number of members of Japanese Society of New Testament Studies is only about 120 members. However, religiously and economically at an international level, we belong in the majority, namely in the European and (not indigenous) American cultural realm. This idiosyncratic situation of Japanese Christianity and Japanese Biblical Scholarship has resulted as a very strange one. The small society of our Biblical scholarship has created its elitism and narrowness of methods. Now, we, Japanese biblical scholars, have to make this kind of self-awareness implicit methodologically in our own hermeneutics of the Bible.

Organized panel, English
Sasaki, Kohkan

Komazawa University, Japan

Shamanic Practitioners in Contemporary Japan(11R)

*respondent

Organized panel
Sasaki, Naoko

Syracuse University, USA

Women, Religion, and War(03C)

In this panel we will explore the role of war in the lives and work of four different women, from different eras and locales. Each of these women (Radegund of Poitiers, Akiko Yosano, Jiang Qing [wife of Mao Zedong], and Yoko Ono) used political involvement, as well as poetry and art, to capture the patriarchal violence of war and to speak out as women against this violence. The ways these women responded to war were all shaped by their respective times and cultures, but each expressed the idea that this violence is destructive, not just to the individual woman, but to society as a whole. In what ways did these responses to war help women achieve power and change?

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Sasaki, Naoko

Syracuse University, USA

Benevolent Power of the Private: Yosano Akiko and Japanese 'Modernity'(03C)

In this paper I will discuss how the Japanese female poet, YOSANO Akiko developed her idea of womanhood in response to the process of Japanese modernization. Born in 1878 and dying in 1942, she lived during the critical period of Japan in which the nation strived to emerge in the world as a modern imperial power. Contrary to the public acceptance of such a national vision, Akiko expresses her anti-war stance in the poem Kimi shini tamo kotonakare. I will explore the connection between her doubt about war and her idea of womanhood. In reply to this question, I will argue that her strong sense of "private" marks her understanding of modernity in such a way to connect her idea of womanhood, criticism of the patriarchal nature of society, and anti-war perspective.

Organized panel, English
Sasao, Michiyo

Keisen University, Japan

'PassingGod,' San Simon: Ethnic Identity and Boundary Dynamics in 'Contact Zone' of Postcolonial Guatemala(01F)

Basic to the postcolonial Guatemalan society is a status division between one ethnic segment of the population called ladino and another called indigena or Indio．The two ethnic segments are empirically different and categorically distinct，but as each ethnic segment is frequently defined as those people bearing the opposite or negation of some characteristics of the other("inverse image" by J. Howkins, ) the ethnic 'boundary' that defines the segments entails much ambiguity and pliability. A constant seepage into the periphery of Ladino region from Indian communities, 'passing' the ethnic boundary or 'Ladinization' are a social reality. This paper addresses the question of 'boundaries,' which is linked to the meaning of religion itself and rituals, by examining the cult of "San Simon," which attracts a largely lower-class Ladino congregation in western highlands，the 'boundary' area of Guatemala. "San Simon," depicted as a seated Ladino wearing European-style clothing and dark glassed, is considered as a Ladinized "Maximon"-the rum-gulping, cigar-puffing ancient folk deity revered among the Tzutuhil-Mayas of Santiago Atitlan-. It is a deity 'passing' the ethnic boundaries and obscuring those conceptual categories constructed by the modern West and Christianity as ethnicity，race, culture，religion and God．

Organized panel
Sassa, Mitsuaki

Keio University, Japan

Globalization and New Age Movements in Present-Day Korea(06T)

Influenced by the West, New Age movements started to emerge in Korea around the 1980s. Moreover, the wave of globalization has had a tendency to facilitate the development of these movements, especially after the IMF currency crisis of 1997. In the wake of the diffusion of a mass-consumer culture that characterizes globalization, Korean New Age movements have been strongly influenced by Western movements, taking on such features as hybridism, overemphasis of consumption, and collusion with the media. On the other hand, a new type of nationalism that re-unifies Korean traditional culture has been rising as a reaction against the global homogeneity of Western standards. In this report I want to discuss the most recent trends in contemporary Korean New Age movements from the viewpoint of how present-day Koreans re-create their religious tradition while undergoing this process of globalization.

Organized panel, English
Sassaki, Ataru

University of Tokyo, Japan

Two Forms of Power: Imaginary and Disciplinary(07T)

Michel Foucault analyzes two forms of power in detail: sovereign and disciplinary. However, he suggested in an interview in 1977 that this sovereign power was connected with the imaginary "Love for Maitre". What conclusion can be drawn from this proposition?

Organized panel, Japanese
Sato, Atsushi

Toyo University, Japan

Why Is the Hua-yen Doctrine Important in Korean Buddhism?(08M)

In the present Korean Buddhism, Hua-yen is educated and studied as the fundamental doctrine of the Zen sect. Korea can also be said to be the area where the Hua-yen doctorine is the most prosperous in East Asia. In order to consider the reason for this, the precise research from a historical and an ideological viewpoint is required. In this announcement, I want to consider this problem from the following three points. 1) Positioning of the Hua-yen doctorine within the Zen Buddhist system, 2) Research of the Hua-yen doctorine itself 3) Educational system in the priest training organization

Organized panel, Japanese
Sato, Junichi

Osaka Sangyo University, Japan

To Surmount Religionized Scienticism of Today(06D)

Few scientists and engineers of today recognizes truly that their science has become an ism or even a religion. If not so, the science and technology attained in the 20th century should not have led the world and humanity along such an annihilating road of nature and peace. Propagation of this ism or religion has arisen from the blind belief in of arithmomorphism and the traditional application of dialectic; the former treats only with all the matters and phenomena numerically expressible in our world excluding the others, and the latter consists in the absolutization of the principle of contradiction and that of the dialectic which distinguishes unreasonably every phenomena into right and wrong and afterward fuses both. However, this attitude is not "scientific" in itself, because the religionized science excludes the penumbra of knowledge, an termediate area between to be known and not to be known.

Organized panel, Japanese
Sato, Kazunori

Kokugakuin University, Japan

Debating the Appraisal of the Virtues of Emperor Meiji (Seitoku-ron)(08S)

Meiji Jingu is commonly known as the shrine established in Yoyogi, Tokyo that is dedicated to cherishing the memory of virtues (seitoku) displayed by Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Although the Japanese name for the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery, an institution in the Meiji Jingu Outer Garden, is preceded by the term seitoku it is difficult at best to explain what this term precisely means. One book outlining Shinto states that the manifestation of Emperor Meiji's virtue and the foundation upon which this shrine was established are closely related to the concepts of "the deification of an emperor of Japan" and "a living god." However, I think that as far as postwar historical studies and religious studies are concerned, debate of the issues of the "Emperor System" and "State Shinto" has been left unresolved. In order to rectify the situation, it is indispensable for us to learn how modern Japanese perceive the concept of "imperial virtue," and debate these issues until it is clarified so that we can continue to expand in our understanding of the foundation of Meiji Jingu. Keeping this in mind, I hereby propose concrete inquiry emphasizing public ideology that affects the formation of the modern-day view of "imperial virtue."

Organized panel, Japanese
Sato, Keisuke

Osaka Prefectural College of Technology, Japan

Au Bout de la Vengeance: la Mémoir Inoubliable au point de Vue de la Philosophie de la Religion(07Q)

La mémoire, personnelle ou collective, garde souvent le mal même que l'on a subi malheureusement. En certains cas, cette mémoir se change en vengeance à ce qui a commis ce mal. En outre, cette vengeance peut reproduire les mémoires suivantes et causer la chaîne de vengeance. C'est le pardon que l'on commence à remarquer en tant que coin de faire cesser cete chaîne. Dans la tradition chretienne, le pardon est, dit-on, l'œuvre de l'amour de Dieu. Mais alors, y a-t-il le pardon que l'homme fait à l'homme en conservant cette hauteur divine, et pourtant qui pardonne le mal en gardant la mémoire du mal en tant que mal sans oubli. En un mot, le pardon humain est-il possible? Or, d'autre part, le pardon est-il vraiment nécessaire? Pourquoi pardonner, malgré que il n'y ait pas le devoir de pardonner? À partir du concept de vengeance ou haine, mon essai examine ces questions, c'est-à-dire la possibilité et la nécessité du pardon.

Symposium, Japanese
Sato, Noriaki

Komazawa University, Japan

Shamanic Practitioners in Contemporary Japan(11R)

*respondent

Organized panel
Sato, Shintaro

Tohoku University, Japan

Rethinking Eliade's Homo Religiosus(10Q)

In this presentation I attempt a review of Mircea Eliade through his concept of homo religiosus. He is a representative scholar of religion in the 20th century, but has come under heavy attack from his critics. Therefore, I wish to rethink his contemporary significance in the study of religion. He claims that the "history of religions can open the way to a philosophical anthropology." His usage of the term homo religiosus provides a good example of his vision. In my view, he is an existential thinker in certain aspects, because his consideration of hierophany is the quest for an existential meaning for human beings. He also believes that the possibility of human existence is disclosed towards religiosity. In fact, for Eliade humanity is homo religiosus, and to him that is the core of the problem. This is also where the contemporary significance of Eliade's works abounds.

Organized panel, English
Sato, Takehiro

Taisho University, Japan

Folk Practitioner of Okinawa in Modern System(01H)

Organized panel, Japanese

Sato, Takehiro

Taisho University, Japan

Prayer for Personal Health and World Peace: Okinawa, Militarization, and Shamanic Practice(11R)

The religion courtesy in a local place and the meaning of a prayer has become clearer from a global perspective. We can understand the meaning of practice of Shaman similarly. In this report, I take up as an example the courtesy of Okinawan Shaman "Yuta." Okinawa is located in the southernmost end of Japan. I want to show the following things: How does the courtesy of praying for individual health which Shaman performs overlap with the prayer of movement against the military base and world peace? The point of my argument here is following: 1) Religious susceptibility and logic of relating individual reality and the world situation. 2) The global range which appears in local prayer. My conclusion is as follows. Shamanic practices in present-day Okinawa are examples of the religious correspondence to the situation of globalization and they are also important cultural movements.

Organized panel, English
Satoh, Saori

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan

Faith and Nation: Case Study on Non-Church (Mukyokai-shugi) Christians in Japan(03W)

The purpose of this study is to show the characteristics of the linkage between religious orientation and the view of the nation, dealing with the case of Non-Church Christians in Japan. The people in this case have tended to focus on and share the concept of 'ideal nation' within their religious acts, (e.g. 'Two J's' (Jesus and Japan)). I would like to examine why and how faith and nation have been linked in this case. We deal here with data from magazine articles they published, and focus on some controversial essays on 'faith and patriotism' and 'prophet and evangelist' during 1930-1945, and analyze in reference to Max Weber's ideal types on social actions, from the aspects of sociology of religion. This analysis shows that the variety of views of 'Japan' and 'the Japanese' depends on the different orientations of 'self and divinity,' 'reformation of this world,' and 'saving of individual and nation.'

Organized panel, English