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

Particularity and Universality Revealed in Shinran's Teachings: Overcoming Exclusiveness(15Q)

This paper examines Shinran's teachings in regard to the concepts of particularity and universality. It can be argued that Shinran's particularistic position of entrusting himself single-heartedly to Amida Buddha to attain rebirth in the Pure Land, viewed from the perspective of the attainment of an ultimate religious experience, actually displays a universal nature. Particularity refers here to a specific dogmatic position advocated by a religion, while universality refers to a common ground of values and functions a religion can share with other traditions on a global scale. One problem most likely to arise from the exclusiveness a religion fundamentally possesses is an overemphasis on sectarianism. I will discuss the relationship between particularity and universality as they interrelate and coincide with each other. Particularity is here understood as an individual expression or experience of universality, just as universality manifests itself in particularity.

Organized panel, English
Ishihara, Kohji

Hokkaido University, Japan

Artificial Environment and Designing Life(06J)

From the beginning, human beings have altered their environment using tools and techniques. Moreover, since the start of the modern age, we have created a fairly artificial environment adopting various technologies. Biotechnologies, such as genetic engineering and manipulation of reproduction, may be regarded as extensions of such modern technologies. However, biotechnologies are essentially different from previous developments in that the former has opened up the possibility of designing and exploiting the human body. The question of continuity and discontinuity between (human) biotechnologies and other technologies would be helpful when trying to understand the nature of conflicts between biotechnologies and social values. In my presentation, referring to recent arguments on embryonic stem cell research and the new eugenics, I would like to discuss 1) the continuity and the discontinuity between biotechnologies and others, and 2) the relationship between biotechnologies and society, culture, and religion.

Symposium, English
Ishii, Kenji

Kokugakuin University, Japan

Modern Society and Shrine Shinto(08P)

Shrine Shinto stands at the crossroads of modern society. Traditionally, relations between the parishioner and the guardian god were self-evident relations for the Japanese based on the existence of the local community. However, it is now clear that the weakening of faith in guardian gods and parishioner behavior is happening. There is also faith in Shinto which is kept in daily life, but this also now faces the crisis of disappearance. Family Shinto altars exist in only 40% of all the households, and only 10% actually worship them. Further, worship at shrines among the Japanese is a little under 50%. Two polarization processes are occurring at the social structure level, and shrines are no longer able to adapt to the realities of modern society.

Organized panel
Ishii, Kiyozumi

Komazawa University, Japan

Choosing the Stillness: Characteristics of Dogen Zen and Contemporary Zen Practice(17P)

In this paper, I would like to consider what the characteristics of Dogen Zen are, and how they affect lay participants during Zazen meetings (one-day sitting practice) in contemporary secular society. First of all, I point out the basis of Dogen's thought as the assertion of the necessity of ceaseless religious practice presented thought in the Genjo-koan and Daigo fascicles of the Shobogenzo. Then, I clarify how these practices are unified into Zazen (sitting practice) as a most conducive method of Dharma teachings. I will also refer to the influence of Dogen zen on participants involved in Zazen meetings focusing on mental and physical aspects of their daily life.

Organized panel, English
Ishii, Kosei

Komazawa Junior College, Japan

Huayan Philosophy and Anarchism at the Dawn of the Chinese Revolution: with Special Reference to Zhang Taiyan and Liu Shipei(08M)

It is a well known fact that most reformers and revolutionaries of the late Qing Dynasty took a great interest in Buddhism. The Huayan Philosophy and the Mind-only Theory were very popular among intellectuals in this period. Why were such old philosophies used as ideologies for social reform? What did radical revolutionists who esteemed anarchism find in Buddhist doctrines? I will investigate these questions through approaching Zhang Taiyan (1869-1936) and Liu Shipei (1884-1919).

Organized panel, Japanese
Ishii, Kosei

Komazawa Junior College, Japan

Local Buddhisms and Transnational Contacts, 1868-1945(17E)

*chairperson, respondent

Organized panel
Ishii, Noriko

Sophia University, Japan

Constructing Christian Brotherhood: Makiko Hitotsuyanagi Vories and Her American Mentors(04G)

Christianity provided salvation to Japanese women suffering under the Confucian family system that justified concubinage. Yet stressing the Christian ideals of marriage emphasizing monogamy and gender equality decreased the marriage possibilities of Japanese women in Japan's male-dominated society. My paper examines against this background the case of Makiko Hitotsuyanagi Vories (1884-1969), a graduate of Kobe College. After studying in the United States for nine years, she chose to marry William Merrell Vories (1880-1964), a renowned American architect and missionary, and together they founded the Omi Brotherhood Academy. Drawing on her own writings and comparing them with the writings of her American mentors and friends – including Alice Mabel Bacon, her own husband William Merrell Vories, and Charlotte B. DeForest – I intend to examine the impact of Christianity on her views of male-female relationships and the ways in which she sought to influence future Japanese generations.

Organized panel, English
Ishii, Shudo

Komazawa University, Japan

Chan in the Song Dynasty(08G)

Chan was institutionalized in the Song Dynasty, and with the establishment of Chan monasteries, the standardization of Chan practice, and the compilation and publication of large amounts of Chan books, the school succeeded in establishing its orthodox appearance. In this paper, I will discuss the compilation of some contemporary Chan historiographies and examine how the historical outlook of the Chan School took its shape during the Song Dynasty.

Organized panel, Japanese
Ishii, Shudo

Komazawa University, Japan

Rethinking the History of Chan Buddhism(08G)

"Chan" is often thought of as a form of absolute "experience" which transcends history. However, it is a fact that this conception of Chan itself has been historically shaped. The development of Chan Buddhism can be divided into several periods: the period of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, and "Chan Buddhism" in the twentieth century. Each period has its own characteristics. The reception and adaptation of Chan in the countries surrounding China, such as Korea, Vietnam and Japan is important, too, but this issue will be omitted for reasons of time. Instead, I want to re-examine the history of Chan Buddhism by reading a sample of texts characteristic of each of the three periods.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, Japanese
Ishikawa, Akito

Hokkaido University, Japan

Religion and Art in Paul Tillich(14S)

Paul Tillich's religious thought has a close relationship with expressionist art. The concern here is Tillich's concept of religious art in relation to his theological and philosophical thought. The point of Tillich's theory of art is that religious art should be judged by its import rather than its subject matter. Even if an artwork depicts traditional religious symbols, Tillich does not always recognize it to be religious art, and often affirms expressionist art, which depicts landscape or still life, as religious art. The importance lays not so much in what the subject matter is as how it expresses the ultimate reality. Through an investigation of Tillich's theology and philosophy, the basis of his theory of art may be discovered and it will suggest that Tillich's understanding of religious art is a clue to the new relationship between religion and art in the 21st century.

Organized panel, English
Ishikawa, Hiroki

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan

Literacy and the Jesuit Mission in Seventeenth-Century Northern Ethiopia(01E)

The Society of Jesus sent several missions to Northern Ethiopia, from the middle of the sixteenth century to that of the seventeenth century. The missionaries condemned the monophysite doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and its practices such as the observance of the Saturday Sabbath. Finally, in 1612, they succeeded in converting Emperor Susenyos (r. 1607-1632) to Roman Catholicism. His pro-Roman Catholic policy, however, brought about several rebellions. The popular commotion was so serious, that the emperor was forced to proclaim a return to the old faith in 1632. Although the Northern Ethiopian mission ended in failure, the Jesuit religious education attracted quite a few literate Ethiopians, and converted them to Roman Catholicism. The purpose of this paper is to examine the situation of literacy in seventeenth-century Northern Ethiopia, and to consider the reasons why the Jesuit religious education attracted the Ethiopians.

Organized panel, English
Ishikawa, Iwao

The Eastern Institute, INC., Japan

The Fusion of Religions in the Dunhuang Tibetan Manuscript Declining Age and its Significance in Religious History(17L)

The Declining Age, three Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang (IOL Tib J 733, 734 part 1, 735), are prophecies in which the temporal decline of the human world is described. It seems to me that doctrinally, while showing the influence of Buddhist sutras concerning the decline and the end of Buddhism, this text mainly consists of Taoist ideas. The text's vocabulary partly comes from the Bon religion and shows few signs of being influenced by foreign sources. From the viewpoint of the history of Taoism, it is a manuscript that shows the infiltration of folk Taoism into Hexi Tibetans. But from the viewpoint of the history of the Bon Religion, it shows the process by which Old Bon Religion absorbed foreign religions and changed.

Organized panel, English
Ishikawa, Tomoko

Tomakomai National College of Technology, Japan

"The Jesus of History" in Schleiermacher(12T)

D.F. Strauss criticizes F.E.D.Schleiermacher's Life of Jesus(1864) for being depicting not "the Jesus of history" but "the Christ of faith." Even though Strauss' view reaches a broad consensus, at least it is true that Schleiermacher thinks it possible to comprehend "the Jesus of history" with Christian faith. It is his brief dialogue Christmas Eve (1805) that we can get a clue of this matter. In Christmas Eve the characters argue how man should interpret the historical Jesus, which is one of the most productive questions in the study of the New Testament in the 19th century, and the scene provides us an atmosphere of debate on the historical Jesus at that time. Schleiermacher is seldom mentioned in modern Life-of-Jesus-Research, but he shouldn't be ignored, because he leads us to consider its motif and significance as a whole---for whom and for what is Life-of-Jesus-Research?

Organized panel, Japanese
Isomae, Jun'ichi

Japan Women's University, Japan

Buddhism in West/West in Buddhism(02S)

In this panel, we wish to rethink the notion of Japanese Buddhism by examining Buddhist Studies in different regions and different disciplines. Modern Buddhist Studies started under the overwhelming influence of Western discourse about religions, and the framework of Japanese Buddhism seems to come from the West. Accordingly, we first clarify the relationship between Japanese Buddhism and Western influences. Secondly, one panelist will make a presentation on the character and situation of Buddhism in Japan compared with it it in the Western. Here we can obtain hybrid images within so called Japanese Buddhism through these presentations, and discuss how we should lead such structure of this hybridity into productive ground to study Buddhism and religion. Following this, one discussant who studies another Buddhist tradition in South Asia discusses whether he can discern the distinguishing character of Japanese Buddhism based on listening to the above three panelists' presentations. He problematizes the notion of diversity and unity within what we call Buddhism. Lastly, one discussant from Religious Studies sums up our panel in terms of how we can develop the possibility of Buddhist Studies and the possibility to think of Japanese Buddhism related to Religious Studies in a wider context.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Isomae, Jun'ichi

Japan Women's University, Japan

Questioning ' the Religious': Talking Outside the West(10E)

In the colonial and postcolonial era, the Western notion of "religion" has been disseminated in the non-West in significant ways and through a multitude of forms. In the process, analyses of religious phenomena have predominantly emerged through a binary discourse categorizing "the transcendental" in opposition to "the indigenous." This discursive space has been constituted in terms of the hegemonic notion of "Westernization," wherein the indigenous emerges as a reflective and reactionary form of identification vis-à-vis the transcendent. This panel aims to undermine this discursive space by analyzing narratives of religious phenomena that cannot be reduced to this binary framework. First, the panel will problematize the transcendental element in religious phenomena by alluding to and locating the distinct writings of Japanese philosophers in a comparative perspective. Second, the panel will re-examine the indigenous as tangentially related to the transcendental by comparing popular religious experiences in Japan with perspectives stemming in South Asia. Third, the panel will analyze the connotation of guilt and relief/salvation in Japan and its implication in light of Christianity as indiginized. Finally, our respondent will discuss the prospect and possibility that emerges through the panel's discussions of religious phenomena as situated outside the West, raising the significance of such a dialogue as it pertains to the IAHR Congress held in Tokyo.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Isomae, Jun'ichi

Japan Women's University, Japan

Rethinking 'Japanese Religion': The Transcendental and the Indigenous(10E)

The term 'Japanese Religion' is constituted of two words: 'Japanese' and 'Religion'. They both come from Western notions: The word 'Japanese' connotes one particular form of a nation-state, whereas the word 'Religion' derived from Christianity. There is conflicting for discussion on how to bridge these two words under the name of 'Japanese Religion' because 'Religion' can not be reduced to within a boundary of one nation-state. Consequently the term 'Japanese Religion' wears dualistic meanings. One is 'religion particular to Japan', the other is 'religions in Japan'. The former emphasizes Japanese uniqueness, while the latter does hybridity existed in Japan. The uniqueness of 'Japanese Religion' is interpretated as the indigenous like Shinto, whereas the hybridity is done as the transcendental like Christianity and Buddhism. The important thing for our argument is how to connect and define these two perspectives: the transcendental and the indigenous.

Organized panel, English
Isomae, Jun'ichi

Japan Women's University, Japan

The Character of Religious Studies in Japan(16B)

The treatment of religion as a subject for study in Japan was first undertaken around the turn of the 20th century. Because the study of religion first appeared as an effort to find a sui generis religion, religious studies were established at Tokyo University, the only imperial university at that time, which had no affiliation to any particular religious denomination. The character of religious studies at that time was based upon the notion of separation between church and state, and therefore became highly critical of State Shinto, a political-religious system promoted by the imperial house. However, after Japan's defeat in the Second World War, the occupying forces dissolved State Shinto, and religious studies soon lost its political and educational significance. The number of lectures in Japanese universities on religious studies has significantly decreased. Yet since the war, religious studies in Japan have been transformed through an exchange with anthropology, historiography, sociology, folklore and theology, and are no longer reduced to the idea of sui generis religion.

Organized panel, English
Isshiki, Aki

Koshien University, Japan

Regional Society under Military Occupation and Christianity as Religion of the Ruler in Postwar Okinawa(08S)

The purpose of this study is to make clear the following in postwar Okinawa: Under the military occupation, I discuss that Christianity as the religion of rulers influenced Okinawan society from the viewpoint of faith, and one of politics, economy, and military. The society in the postwar was governed directly by U.S. Forces. Okinawan Christianity actively missionized by the support of troops and chaplains from the occupation's early days. Christianity was welcome as a religion of the "emancipator" from Japanese force's control at first. However, the occupation army changed into brutal rulers with growing tensions in East Asia, and Christianity came to send shock waves through Okinawa society. According to the detailed analysis of this process, though Christianity worshiped the same God, it became a tool of control and suppression, and a principle of liberation from such oppression. I investigate a principle to invent such a difference in this study.

Organized panel, Japanese
Isshiki, Aki

Koshien University, Japan

Religion, Society, and State in Contemporary East Asia(08S)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Itai, Masanari

Kogakkan University, Japan

A Common Field of Religious Culture and Welfare Culture in Japan(11V)

The purpose of this presentation tries to argue relationship between the religious culture and welfare culture in Japanese society. Here as one concrete example, we elaborate social activities of NPO which tackles the barrier-free problem of various religious institutions (shrine & temple). From there, the new relation between religious and welfare needs can be seen.

Organized panel, Japanese
Ito, Masayuki

Aichi Gakuin University, Japan

The Religious Dimension in Japanese Popular Culture(02H)

*respondent

Organized panel
Ito, Masayuki

Aichi Gakuin University, Japan

Various Forms of Spirituality in the World (1)(04B)

This panel aims to explore various forms of spirituality emerging and developing in contemporary societies. Since the late 1970s, many people in the world have attempted to find appropriate spiritual expressions for themselves through participating in non-religious and quasi-religious activities. Although the organizational forms of their activities vary, each individual seems to seek new types of spiritual expressions, showing particular interest in self-transformation. In this panel, we illustrate and highlight the spiritual aspirations of participants in these forms of spirituality by specifically focusing on non institutional religious forms of spirituality.

Symposium, * Session Abstract, English
Ito, Masayuki

Aichi Gakuin University, Japan

Body and Spirituality in Contemporary Yoga Boom(05B)

Since the mid-1990s, many people in Western societies, and in particular the United States, have been attracted to relatively new types of yoga. These forms of yoga emphasize breath-synchronized movement in which a progressive series of postures is synchronized with a specific breathing technique (I.e., Power Yoga and Astanga Yoga). Following this trend, a large number of Japanese people, especially women in their twenties and thirties, have begun to practice contemporary yoga over the last few years. Today, Japan has a variety of yoga journals and many sports gyms offer a number of yoga courses. In this paper, I explore the relationship between the body and spiritually by focusing on contemporary yoga practices and the intentions of their practitioners. I also analyze the distinct characteristics of yoga by contrasting it with the New Age movement and Japan's New Religions.

Symposium, English
Ito, Masayuki

Aichi Gakuin University, Japan

Life, Death, and Spirituality as Perceived by Japanese People(11D)

This paper aims to explore contemporary Japanese religious beliefs, especially beliefs related to death, and their connection to the spiritual life of the Japanese. Death is one of the most crucial events for human beings, calling into question the very meaning of one's life. At the same time, the religious orientations of people emerge vividly when they are forced to confront death. In order to understand deeply rooted religious orientations, I have conducted interviews with a number of Japanese who had lost family members or close friends in recent years. While analyzing the beliefs of these people, I found that their images of the afterlife are comparatively vague, inconsistent, and easily changing. Nevertheless, all of my informants perform ancestor worship at home and/or in the cemetery as part of which they report about their personal lives and important events to particular ancestors with whom they had close relationships. Thus, in contemporary Japan, people maintain a traditional religious orientation in communicating with the spirits of deceased family members.

Symposium, English
Ito, Miyuki

University of Tokyo, Japan

"The Death of the second person" in Contemporary Japan(09J)

The philosopher V. Jankelevitch gave birth to the concept of "the death of the second person." This concept was taken up in Japan, especially by Yanagida Kunio, who underwent the traumatic experience of his son's mental illness, suicide, brain death, posthumous kidney donation, and death, in order to discuss brain death and organ plants. Whilst the notion of "the death of the second person" is important in shedding light on the problem of bioethics in Japan, it seems that the common understanding of the notion is based on vague experiential knowledge that has not yet been clearly defined or articulated. I elucidate the characteristics of death in contemporary urban Japanese society, as well as examine the phenomenon of "the death of the second person" therein. In doing so, my aim is to present a bioethical perspective more tailored to the Japanese mentality.

Organized panel, Japanese
Ito, Zuiei

Rissho University, Japan

The Source and Development of the Six-fold Nature (六相 liu-xiang) Theory of Hua-yan Sect(07M)

In this Study, I shall study some important thought which has its ground in Da1a-bh[mi, and which was developed with the striking features, from the viewpoint of intellectual history of Buddhism. In Section,I seek the source and development of the Six-fold Nature六相（1iu-xiang)Theory of Hua-yan Sect華厳宗. The original meaning of the Six-fold Nature六相is a formula for Upade1a in Da1abh[mika-s[tra. It is used as a style for interpreting the s[tra in QDV. Fa-shang法上of Di-lun Sect 地論宗is regarded as abhisa/skqra造作, vyavahqra言説for cultivating the Six-fold Nature．Hui-yuan慧遠，however，observes that it is a noumenon理(li)，with which sarva-dharma諸法are endowed．Chih-yan智儼, belonging to Hua-yan Sect, according to being有, understands that it is a lak2aza相of Part]tyasamutpqda縁起, which froms the phenomena事(shi)．And Fa-tsang法蔵came to establish as a theory the Six-fold Nature Prat]tyasamutpqda 六相縁起proving distinctly Phenomena-phenomena-undivided事事無擬. Thus, transformed from a form of recognition to the logic of existence, the Six-fold Nature Theory in its historical development is raised to the height of the dialectic of Prat]tyasamutpqda and preserved intact．I shall lucidly demonstrate such a development by means of re-examination of material available to me.

Organized panel, Japanese