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

Comparative Study of Conversion and E-shin(01W)

The aim of this presentation is to delineate the common structure of conversion in Christianity and e-shin in Buddhism, and promote a general understanding of religions. First, I intend to show the usage of "conversion" or "convert" in various English language Bibles, then compare them to e-shin, as found in several Buddhist scriptures. The term e-shin means "change of heart" in Buddhism and is often considered to correspond with the word conversion in Christianity; however, previous studies have focused on the differences between conversion and e-shin from the view of theology. Therefore, it is my purpose to find the commonality of conversion and e-shin according to Western and Eastern scriptures from the standpoint of human existence. In this sense, this attempt will be an innovative study in that it not only treats religious experiences in contrasting religions, but also suggests a ground for the mutual understanding between religions.

Organized panel, English
Tokunaga, Michio

Kyoto Women's University, Japan

Life and Religion: Bio-ethics Viewed from Oriental Perspectives(02J)

Due to a tremendously rapid progress of the contemporary medical science, we are forced to deal with serious bioethical issues which we have never been faced with before. In order to reconsider such issues, our panel will be discussing the significance of life from "Oriental" perspectives. Denoting firstly the ambiguous notion of "Oriental" on the basis of Izutsu Toshihiko's "Oriental Philosophy," we would like to clarify Buddhist, especially Mahayana and Pure Land, and Islamic views of life, and by doing so we intend to disclose what is lacking for considering the urgent issues evoked by the present medical technology.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Tomatsu, Yoshiharu

Taisho University, Japan

Engaged Buddhism in Japan(11E)

*respondent

Organized panel, English
Tomita, Hiroshi

Chuo University, Japan

Leiblichkeit und Eschatologie bei Jakob Böhme(05Q)

An dem Leib des Menschen, mit dem die fünf Sinne unvermeidlich verbunden bleiben, offenbart sich Gott, da Gott als solcher in seiner Majestät dem Geschöpf nie erfaßbar ist, so der Görlitzer Mystiker. Demütigt sich der Mensch in seiner leiblichen Gegebenheit, so wie Gott selber sich im Menschensohn in seiner gedemütigten Gestalt, also in der Menschwerdung, mitteilte, dann geschieht es, dass er sich in Christus als dem Spiegel Gottes widerspiegeln lässt, indem der Absolute dem Geschaffenen auch erreichbar wird. Außerhalb der Leiblichkeit sieht man Gott und seine Werke nicht, weil der Leib des Menschen der einzige Ort ist, wo die Heilsgeschichte in Erfüllung kommt. Der Mensch wird dort erst Gott ins Angesicht schauen, wo die Leiblichkeit des Menschen dem Schöpfer auf die Spur kommt, so dass er mit seinen fünf Sinnen die vervollkommnete Geschichte seiner selbst als Eschatologie erfährt.

Organized panel, Japanese
Tomita, Kasei

University of Taisho, Japan

The Religious Dimension of War and Peace. Enlightenment of Symbiolisis and Benevolence on Salvation by Faith(07J)

Honen's Nembutsu was his own teaching based on his own enlightenmention Senchaku-Hongan Nemvutsu. About the Characteristics of Honen's doctrine, the most noticeable factor is that his teaching was based on realism, in other words, it was deictic, while early Buddhism was based on ideology and moral binding. Sakya muni was to see clearly for sufferings. Also, Hone said the same sufferings.

Organized panel
Tomizawa, Kana

University of Delhi, Japan

The Understanding of Religion in Indology under the British Raj(12K)

Indology as a modern discipline was established toward the end of the 18th century, from demands that arose from the British rule of India. In the Indology of this period, the pro-Indian people called 'Orientalists' were predominant. Their image of India is different from previous ones, as they denied the negative and stereotyped image of 'Oriental despotism,' and regarded Brahmanic Ideology in Sanskrit texts as the essence of India. This means that the core of their image of India was 'religion.' It can be said that the historical study of Indology in this period and that of the concept of religion are inseparable. Here I will take up the texts and speeches on India by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, William Jones, Warren Hastings, and Edmund Burke, and examine their image of India and concept of religion, focusing on the vocabulary they used for India and religion.

Organized panel, English
Tong, Chee Kiong

University of Singapore, Singapore

Japanese New Religions in Singapore(11I)

In this paper I will examine the popularity of new religions, including Soka Gakkai and Sai Baba, in relation to religious change and rationalization in Singapore society and the role of the state in religion.

Organized panel, English
Torok, Peter

University of Szeged, Hungary

The Different Roles of NRMs in Hungarian Church-State Relationships(06E)

In recent years, the number of NRMs in Hungary has exploded, but compared to Western-Europe, that number remains relatively low (about one percent of the population.) Nevertheless, The role of NRMs in the country's church-state relationships is complex and significant. While the governments of the so-called Christian-national parties express a somewhat negative attitude towards most of the NRMs, the Liberals and the former Communists relate to them with ambiguous feelings, ranging from a cautiously reserved attitude to a somewhat forced friendship. A deeper analysis, however, reveals that the relationship of the different political parties towards the so-called historical Christian churches (Catholic, Reformed aand Lutheran) is critical. This paper begins with definitional clarifications, and presents of some qualitative and quantitative data. Based upon these data, I analyze the different roles of NRMs in the church-policy of the post-Communist government. I conclude by exploring possible consequences of these policies for Hungrary's NRMs.

Organized panel, English
Torres, Yolotl González

Universidad de México, Mexico

Maize: the Life of Mesoamerican People(10L)

Maize has been, from time immemorial, the source of life and nourishment for Mesoamerican people. Its importance has been iconographically represented from the time of the Olmecs ( 1500 b.C.-100 a.C ) onwards.. There was a mystic interdependence between humans and maize, in such a way that it can be considered an archetype. It can be said that ritual life of the Mexican centered on the cultivation of maize. Maize is still a fundamental plant for the Mesoamerican indigenous people and even for all the Mexicans. The mystical relationship between maize and humans is reflected in their respectful attitude towards the grains and the complex rituals which are performed during its sowing and harvesting and in the numerous myths about its origin and about a cultural hero called maize child, who like many cultural heroes had to pass through death and rebirth in order to give his beneficial gift to mankind.

Organized panel
Torres, Yolotl González

Universidad de México, Mexico

(12L)

Roundtable session

Toth, Mihaly

Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Hungary

Religion and Science in Today's Hungary(06E)

After more than forty years of repression religion has been practiced freely again in Hungary since 1990. However, the transformed situation of traditional churches in an altered society and the appearance of new religious movements have brought numerous challenges. Old patterns of interaction with society and culture do not work any more; yet owing to the specific characteristics of local development, new solutions cannot be simply imported from other countries. One of the critical points of this emerging interaction is the attitude of religious communities toward natural and social sciences, and correspondingly, the reaction of natural and social sciences to the revived presence of religion. The aim of the present paper is to analyze the nature of this complex yet ambiguous relationship, to disclose its roots, and to examine its prospects and pitfalls.

Organized panel, English
Travagnin, Stefania

University of London, Italy

A Religious Bridge: Dharma and Sangha Exchanges between Taiwan and Japan in the Post-colonial Period(17L)

During the colonial period (1895-1945), Japanese Buddhism contributed to the development of Buddhism in Taiwan and to the shape of Taiwanese Buddhism. The reality of Taiwanese monks and nuns travelling to Japan and through Japan in pursuit of a Buddhist education, and the phenomenon of Japanese monks and nuns moving to Taiwan and spreading Japanese Buddhism on the island are two important features of East Asian Buddhism in the first half of the twentieth century. This paper discusses in which respects the end of the colonial period affected the relationship between Japanese and Taiwanese Buddhism. This discourse aims to analyse the changes that occurred in the monks' travels and in the relationships between Japanese and Taiwanese temples, to highlight the patronage of the respective governments, and to reveal the role that Japanese and Taiwanese Buddhist associations played in either obstructing or supporting the dialogue between Taiwan and Japan.

Organized panel, English
Triplett, Katja Sophie

University of London, UK

Freedom of Religion in Vietnam: Persistent Policy and Vivid Reality?(04I)

After a short assessment of the policies put in place since the enactment of the 1946 Vietnamese constitution, the official constitutional definition of freedom of religion and the Vietnamese model of religious pluralism is described and compared to Chinese equivalents. Additional comparisons are provided to other Asian nations that have also had a strong cultural connection to China, but have recently been influenced by western democracies such as Japan. The principle of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to ensure freedom of religion and national unity is further elucidated with case studies such as one that examines the activities of the Religion Publishing House. Furthermore, the study of reports from particular religious groups and the US-based International Committee for Religious Freedom shed light on areas of conflict between citizens and government policies. The title of this presentation is taken from an article published on the English edition of the Nhan Dan information web-site in which Vietnamese government policies are praised.

Organized panel, English
Tsai, Yen-zen

National Chengchi University, Taiwan

Ritual Violence and Communal Sanity: The Case of Herem and Its Solution in Biblical Judaism(04S)

Ritual violence has been widely used by religious groups to ensure and justify their existence. In Biblical Judaism, the practice of herem serves this function. Etymologically, herem denotes a ban or that devoted to destruction. In the practical sense, it was adopted to banish community members, to exterminate aliens, or even to wage a holy war. The ancient Jews regarded herem necessary to maintain their self-identity and accordingly conducted violent actions to advance the common wealth. A modern reading of the herem-related texts, however, reveals that one can derive many implications from them. This paper proposes that while herem might be exclusive as far as ancient Jews' attitude toward peoples of other faiths was concerned, the Jews also adopted a more tolerant or even inclusive policy toward the aliens. The latter practice was thus to release the tension that might arise from the former. This dual practice in ancient Judaism, one strict, hostile, and exclusive, the other lenient, friendly, and inclusive, actually worked side by side to ensure the continuity of the Jewish community. The paper finally suggests that in our contemporary world that is replete with religious tensions and conflicts, it is instructive to search for solutions that possibly exist in every religious tradition as the Jewish case here presented.

Organized panel, English
Tsai, Yen-zen

National Chengchi University, Taiwan

Conflict and Communalism: Taiwanese Perspectives on Violence in World Religions(04S)

This panel intends to explore the problems of conflict and communalism in different religious traditions from Taiwanese perspectives. It consists of four panelists, all of them scholars of religion from Taiwan, and each one deals with a religion according to his specialty by focusing upon an example to illustrate the proposed topic: herem in biblical Judaism, sectarian conflict in Buddhism, communal tension between the Hindus and the Muslim in India, and Islam and the reconstruction of communalism in contemporary Malaysia. By examining the four examples within textual, philosophical and socio-historical contexts, the panel aims to reach a better understanding of the creative as well as destructive nature of world religions.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Tsai, Yuan-lin

Nanhua University, Taiwan

Islam and the Reconstruction of Communalism in Contemporary Malaysia --Regarding Debates on the Shari'a Reform in 1990s(04S)

Malaysia provides a good example to examine the relationship between religion and communalism in modern nation-state. Communal difference upon ethnicity and religion in post-independent Malaysia, instead of becoming the source of social conflict and civil war like several multi-ethnic countries in South Asia and East Europe, is transformed into an institution of sharing power and bargaining among ethnic groups. It is interesting to observe how religion becomes a stabilizing and de-stabilizing factor to the institutionalized communalism in contemporary Malaysia. The "three pillars" of the Malay, the majority of Malaysia, are Malay, Islam and Adat according to the Federal Constitution (160:2). But due to some internal and external factors after 1970s, Islam has been the most important pillar and a controversial issue in the Malay public sphere. The ruling party UMNO initiates the policy of Islamization; the opposition party PAS also offers their Islamic alternative and accuses the ruling elites of "un-Islamic"; the non-Muslims, particularly the Chinese, consider the politicization of Islam as a threat to their religious and cultural autonomy. In fact, Islam as a public symbol defines communal boundary and constructs political identity. My paper focuses on the public discourse regarding the Shari`a reform in 1990s, in which UNMO and PAS struggled for the Malay support; the Chinese parties and organizations expressed their dissent and fought for their civil right. I attempt to analyze some debates on the Shari`a issue in order to show how the communalist institution is facing a challenge from the elevation of religious awareness by both the Muslim Malay and the non-Muslim Chinese and to what extent Islam would play a significant role to reshape the configuration of the Malaysian ethno-politics.

Organized panel
Tsuchida, Tomoaki

Waseda University, Japan

For a Religious Person to Utter: Dogen's View of Parole(14Q)

Awakening to one's own being (which is, for Dogen, at the same time awakening to other beings as beings in the world) and witnessing to one's participation in being as a being together with other beings, enables one to have one's own word and to get affirmed by buddhas and masters as a witness to the Buddha-dharma. Then and there, one is him/herself, a person, nothing but a person on his/her own together with other persons. This state and the striving toward it is a personal act to live and act like Buddha and to be one on one with Buddha, as oneself a buddha (this actualizing of buddhata may be called 'faith'). In the iconoclastic tradition of Zen, Dogen reflects on the ambiguity of language and, nonetheless, exhorts each of us to come up with one's own word. This presentation purports, examining some chapters in the Shobogenzo, to see how uttering such a word can be an act of faith or of transcendence.

Organized panel, English
Tsuchida, Tomoaki

Waseda University, Japan

Reflections on the Study of Dogen Zen(14Q)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Tsuchiya, Hiroshi

Hokkai Gakuen University, Japan

The Study of Christianity within the Field of Religious Studies in Japan(01A)

When studying Christianity within the context of Japanese society, which has a substantially different cultural background compared to that of Europe and the United States, the traditional way of "theology" must not be directly adopted into Japan from the West. This is because there must be a clear distinction made between "research" and "propagation." Furthermore, there is a necessity to reevaluate the methodology used in the Philosophy of Religion in the context of Japanese scholarship. However, we still fall short of reaching this kind of recognition in Japan because we have a different way of viewing Christianity as a religion in comparison to Western countries and because the features of the academic institution in Japan has prevented this from happening. In order to exercise research of Christianity within the context of Japanese culture, a flexible conception that can perceive ideas from both within and out of the established church is required. This will be a "Study of Christianity" that makes a clear distinction between Christian Theology and the Philosophy of Religion and I believe that this can be grounded as a new style of academic scholarship in the field of contemporary Religious Studies. With the wide recognition of Christianity as a religion that corresponds to diverse regional cultures, I believe that research of this kind is an international issue that must be addressed.

Organized panel, English
Tsuge, Gen'ichi

Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Japan

Attitudes towards Music of the Shiite Muslims in Iran(14U)

There have been numerous discussions on the legality of music, song, and dance in Islamic laws. A certain negative attitude toward music was disclosed right after the Iran-Islam revolution in 1979, on the grounds that music is harmful to the human mind and body. However, religious music exists in the Islamic world, as it appears in Sufi ritual. Moreover, traditional music has been cherished in Iran for many centuries. In this paper, I will discuss the concept of music among Shiite Muslims in Iran and explore the sacred/secular notion in their religious musical culture.

Organized panel, English
Tsuji, Naoto

Meiji Gakuin, Japan

On the Work of Missonaries from the Dutch Reformed Church in America toward Japanese Culture(10W)

I would like to clarify how the mission works of the Dutch Reformed Church in America contribute to Japanese modern culture. The Reformed Church eagerly promoted to send missionaries to Japan. It is famous that this denomination dispatched three missionaries, whose names are S. R. Brown, D. B. Simmons, and G. H. F. Verbeck, soon after the arrival of foreigners including missionaries to Japan was permitted in 1858. Those three are pioneers of mission work in Japan and are well -known, but actually the Reformed Church has dispatched ten more male missionaries and nine female missionaries (excluding wives of missionaries) by 1890. To grasp the contribution of this to Japanese culture, the missionaries of the younger generations must be described. In this session, I would like to take up on some apostles like Stout, Amerman, Oltmans, etc. to solve the subject.

Organized panel, Japanese
Tsuji, Ryutaro

Hokkaido University, Japan

Conspiracy Theory-Thinking:The Judea = Freemason Conspiracy Theory in Japan(07U)

It is often said that a feature of so-called cults is that they identify themselves as the victim, the indicter, or the liberator of a concealed conspiracy. However, such "conspiracy theory-thinking" is not necessarily restricted as a feature only for "cults" at all. The same idea can also be applied to Japanese society in general and in "anti-cult" movements as well. "Conspiracy theory-thinking" has always caught people's heart in history. "Anti-cult" movements that tend to overestimate the peculiarity and ability of a "cult" tend to mimic the logical structure of "cults," which must be the object of criticism and they also cannot get out of the trap of "conspiracy theory-thinking" completely either. Based on these things, I will argue as follows. In Japan, the Judea = Freemason conspiracy theory is often seen in books, expressed by several religious groups, etc. Who tells and believes it? Why do they believe it? And what role does the conspiracy theory have for them?

Organized panel, Japanese
Tsujimura, Shinobu

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan

Fujii Nichidatsu's Buddhistic Pan-Asianism in Manchuria and India(12M)

My paper will discuss the thought and activities of Fujii Nichidatsu (1885-1985), founder of the Nipponzan Myohoji sect of Japanese Buddhism and known for his correspondence with Ghandi during the Second World War and his role as a leader of the peace movements in post-war Japan. Throughout his life, Fujii strived to follow in the footsteps of his ideal - Nichiren. Inspired by Nichiren's writings, and foremost among these Nichiren's Rissho-Ankoku-ron, Fujii criticized the Japanese state, its foreign relations, and embarked on missionary activities in Manchuria and India. In this presentation I will explore Fujii's activities from the perspective of pan-Asian thought.

Organized panel, English
Tsukada, Hotaka

University of Tokyo, Japan

Acquisition of the Faith, Withdrawal, and the Continuance(08J)

In sociology and psychology of religion, one of the most important assignments is to analyze the commitment to a religious group and the process to acquire a faith. On the other hand, from the 90's, "Dropouts" have come to be paid attention to as activities of some groups began to cause social problems. There are some studies dealing with "Withdrawal" by Futoshi Watanabe, Yuri Inose, Yoshihide Sakurai, and so on. But, by far, the whole lives of "Dropouts" have not been focused on; how they encountered the groups, acquired the faith, were lead to the withdrawal, and how they live afterwards. In this study, I have studied the life history of a second generation believer, and have tried to understand the meaning of the withdrawal about her whole life and how she is going to live her present life. And then, I will also add some new knowledge to studies of "Withdrawal."

Organized panel, Japanese
Tsukada, Sumiyo

Kagoshima University, Japan

La Paix au delà de la Tolérance chez Gabriel Marcel(12Q)

Nous voudrions réfléchir sur la paix et le conflit en les rapportant à l'idée de tolérance ou à son analyse phénoménologique chez Marcel et montrer que la paix, inséparable de la foi vivante, est au delà de la tolérance tandis que dans la sphère proprement politique nous sommes en deçà. En effet, étant au fond «une contre-intolérance» qui porte sur les manifestations de la croyance ou de l'opinion de l'autre en tant qu'autre, la tolérance n'est pas la charité envers le prochain. De plus, en politique, elle ne pourra être pratiquée que «dans la mesure où les opinions divergentes seront regardées comme relativement inoffensives». Enfin, la réflexion montre que la notion de tolérance est «une cote mal taillée entre des dispositions psychologiques qui s'échelonnent entre la bienveillance, l'indifférence et le dégoût, un machiavélisme larvé et un dynamisme spirituel d'une essence toute différente».

Organized panel, Japanese