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

Watanabe, Hoyo

Rissho University, Japan

The Peace the Lotus Sutra Aspires After(09M)

In the history of Buddhism, religious practices of the Buddha-with-Eternal-Life in the past were envisaged through the Bosatu-Do (Bodhisattva-Way-of-Life). Though Buddhism suggested various religious practices in its history, the Lotus Sutra advocates the Bosatu-Do as a path leading to Buddhahood. As we find a deep gap between this ideal and our stressful daily lives, the Lotus Sutra shows the Bosatu-Do as the path for overcoming difficulties. The image of the Bodhisattva Sadaparibhuta appearing in Ch. 20 of Myo-ho-renge-kyo is the typical example. The late Rev. Fujii Nichidatsu, who preached the Sutra in modern India, was a practitioner of this thought, and shared common religious understandings with Gandhi, his contemporary Indian Peace Movement leader. "Unstable Foundation for the Ideal" appears to have existed both in the history of the Lotus Sutra Faith and in Modern Society. For overcoming such difficulties, we wish to examine the Peace the Lotus Sutra aspires after.

Roundtable session
Watanabe, Manabu

Nanzan University, Japan

The Personal and the Impersonal in the Absolute(02Q)

Generally speaking, the Christian God is said to be transcendental and personal, but the Buddhist dharma is said to be immanent and impersonal. However, God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament have an immanent transcendent side, and are impersonal on the immanence side. And there is a transcendent immanence side in the Buddhist Tathagata, and it is personal on the transcendence side. On the one hand, the three major personalistic monotheisms that originated in the Middle East have the intolerant tendency to deny the truths of other religions; on the other hand, Buddhism humiliates other religions as being "other ways," but its tendency to annihilate other religions and to convert their believers are relatively ignorable. It is said that in the case of the personalistic religions that absolutization is likely, because God reveals His divine will to believers through prophets and others, and they simply believe it; in the case of Buddhism, the others would not be coerced into its doctrine, because believers seek their own enlightenment. However, even in Buddhism, the thoughts of the founders of sects have absolute authority. It is necessary to reexamine the meaning of God and dharma to the human personality.

Organized panel, English
Watanabe, Manabu

Nanzan University, Japan

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

*respondent

Organized panel
Watanabe, Manabu

Nanzan University, Japan

Salvation and Violence(10I)

Many religions promise their believers salvation in one form or another, and some of them even aim at the salvation of unbelievers. Christian agape and Buddhist compassion, for example, imply a process of salvation that reach beyond the confines of their own faithful. In many cases those who experience such works of agape and compassion welcome them as a healing or a grace. In this case, a certain mutual understanding binds the two parties. In many other cases, however, what one person believes to be a salvific act is rejected by the person on the receiving end as an unwelcome intrusion. The Buddhist practice of "subjugation" (chōbuku) is a good example. Seen from the standpoint of the believer, it is a way of bringing mind and body under control, while from the standpoint of the non-believer it amounts to nothing less than the indoctrination and subjugation of those who do not happen to share the same beliefs. The grotesque extremes to which this practice can lead have more than amply been demonstrated in the case of Aum Shinrikyō.

Organized panel, English
Watanabe, Mitsuharu

Kanto Gakuin University, Japan

Application of Formal Logic or Mathematical Modeling for Religion(14K)

Most object of religious theory/discourse might be regarded as something above language. In other words, they are hardly described by natural language. Object of natural science and technology is also something above language. On the other hand, natural science and technology have been developing abstract and systematic modeling methodology and not depending on natural language, in order to describe their object clearly and distinctly and also to insure universality and applicability. But, in the field of religion and related human/ social science, natural language (and tables, simple figures at most) have been mainly used for description and it has been very rare to adopt more sophisticated modeling methods. Some scholars (e.g. new scientist) refer to natural science concept such as quantum physics, but they are nothing more than mere metaphor. We try to consider about modeling of religious ontology/practice and its benefit such as universality, applicability, contribution for mutual understanding of religions.

Organized panel, English
Watanabe, Mitsuharu

Kanto Gakuin University, Japan

Application of Systematic Modeling for Religious Research(14K)

Most object of religious theory/discourse might be regarded as something above language. In other words, they are hardly described by natural language. But, in the field of religion and related human/social science, natural languages (and tables, simple figures at most) have been mainly used for description and it has been very rare to adopt more sophisticated modeling methods. Therefore, the following items are considered here. 1. We try to consider about modeling of religious ontology/practice and its benefit such as clearness, distinctness, universality and applicability. 2. We will propose a hypothesis that the built-in pendulum of religion has oscillated between the two polar opposites, namely the centrifugal force and the centripetal one, in the world history of religion. 3. In religious studies, we often face a limit of natural language. Therefore, it would make characteristics or problems clear to illustrate concepts and key terms structurally using UML.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Watanabe, Mitsuharu

Kanto Gakuin University, Japan

Research Portfolio and Roadmap to Utilize the Internet for Religious Information(16T)

We have prepared the research portfolio consisting of normative and descriptive method. In normative method, researcher operates web site as a normative example for religious Internet practice. For that sake, it is required to have a balance between strategy and tactics. The strategy is to make a win&win scheme where religious body, researcher and citizen enjoy benefit altogether. The tactic is to utilize up-to-date technology available in reasonable cost for the purpose of descriptive analysis of data and text given in the web site. Therefore we have designed a web site portfolio to satisfy several criteria totally and its roadmap reflecting estimated progress of elementary information technology. Middle term goal of descriptive research consists of two aspects. The first is to discover new taxonomy of religious concept and religious body. The second is to clarify a communication gap between religious body/ believer and general public/ intelligentsia statistically through calculation of terminology gap.

Organized panel, English
Watanabe, Tamaki

University of Tsukuba , Japan

M.K. Gandhi's Independent Movement in Contact Situations(01F)

With his peculiar narratives and activities, M.K. Gandhi has been recognized as one of the most important figures in the Indian independence movement, and evaluation has been done mainly in his political leadership and ideology. It may be difficult, however, to grasp the total significance of Gandhi´s movement, if we see only its political aspect. It is true that they carried out the movement, utilizing political slogans like "national independence," but such slogans had profound religious meanings at the same time. For instance, Gandhi used the word swaraj in the traditional meaning of "self-control," although it is usually translated as "independence." Likewise his unique performances, such as khadi and the salt march, make sense only seen from the indigenous religious symbolism of spinning and salt. It is in this context that we can recognize their creativity that arouse in the crucial conflict between modernity and the indigenous tradition.

Organized panel, English
Watanabe, Toyokazu

Kyoto University of Art and Design, Japan

The Power of Megaliths(10P)

Faith in megaliths, or worship of Iwakura, is a common practice in Japan. Most Iwakura were arranged by human beings, and these rocks are said to take gods' place. But Japanese gods are invisible and have no shape or form. Iwakura itself is not where the invisible gods dwell, but is built in a momentary and mysterious state. Is Iwakura worshiped as a god because of the emergence of such mysterious states or because of a dwelling anima in the rock itself?

Symposium, Japanese
Waterhouse, Helen

Open University, UK

Second Generation Soka Gakkai in the UK(05G)

The paper will be based on a study, now in progress, on what can loosely be called 'generational issues' in Soka Gakkai, in the UK. The study began as research into second generation Soka Gakkai members I.e. of the practising and non-practising children of converts to the movement. Soka Gakkai has been well established in the UK since the mid-1970s. This means that some long term practitioners have adult children whose relationship with the movement is qualitively different from that of their parents. The research also incorporates activities developed for the children of practitioners and general parenting matters. Early in the research it became clear that closely related to the second generation focus was the attitude of UK Soka Gakkai members to previous generations and to deceased family members. Ancestor practices and practices for the dead more generally are common within Japanese religion but do not usually form a part of UK religion. However, this study is uncovering some interesting attitudes to the dead among UK Soka Gakkai practitioners. These attitudes are significant in their own right but specifically for what they can add to our understanding of the adaptation and assimilation of this Japanese religion in a European context.

Organized panel, English
Waterman, Denise

(12L)

Organized panel

Watts, Jonathan Stansbury

Jodo Shu Research Institute, Japan

The Search for Socially Engaged Buddhism in Japan(11E)

This paper will attempt a cursory evaluation of Buddhist organizations' activities in Japan, especially in reference to the growing movement of socially engaged Buddhism throughout Asia. The key characteristics of such socially active Buddhist groups will be identified and mapped out in a typology. "Relief," "Evangelistic," and "Reform" will be three ways to consider the core intention of various groups' activities. In particular, the ideological element behind Buddhist social activities in Japan will be discussed, with brief comparisons to some of the more well know SEBs in other parts of Asia. A final section which discusses the emergence of Japanese Buddhist NGOs and the development of an ideological component to Buddhist social action, which will be argued is one of the key components to an authentic socially engaged Buddhism

Organized panel, English
Wazaki, Haruka

Nagoya University, Japan

Religion as a Bridge Combining Private with Public and Sacred with Profane in the Case of Daimoji Urban Ritual in Japan(17G)

Daimonji urban ritual is the Buddhistic Bon ritual combined with Japanese local religion of Shinto or ancestor worship held in Kyoto, which was the former capital of Japan before Tokyo for more than thousand years up to Meiji era, whose population numbers one million and half. The writer aims at criticizing the rigid separation of sacred from profane and personal from public/civic, whose concept is based on the European tradition of Christianity, when people intend to analyze Japanese and Asian religious deeds and thoughts in terms of this strict division of dichotomy. The writer is going to describe how close the personal and the achievement of the sense of citizenship were by these interactions of private and common, holy and secular.

Organized panel, English
Weaver, Jace

University of Georgia, USA

War and Peace in the Local Village (with Apologies to Marshall McLuhan)(04C)

The paper will examine how war and violence are viewed broadly across Native American indigenous communities and as these relate to their religious traditions. Examples will range from the wars and human sacrifice of communities like the Aztec and Pawnee, to checks upon warfare among the Cherokee, to healing rituals designed to restore warriors to the wholeness of community.

Organized panel, English
Welch, Christina

King Alfred's College, UK

Becoming the Other: Appropriation or Appreciation?(06G)

This paper examines the hobbyist scene in Europe. From Scandinavia and the Baltic States, through Britain and into Germany, groups of Westerners regularly dress, dance and ritualise as Native American Indians in replica Pow-wows. Based around native concepts of appropriate behaviour and incorporating aspects of traditional spiritual practices, these non-Natives firmly believe they are honouring the host culture. By looking at the sources of material that informs this activity, including the role of popular culture, academia and Native peoples themselves, this paper seeks to determine whether becoming the Other is appropriation or appreciation.

Organized panel
Welch, Christina

King Alfred's College, UK

Indigenous Concepts of the Land and New Age Appropriations(10U)

Many so-called New Agers or Western Alternative Spiritual practitioners (WASps) draw on traditional Indigenous concepts of the land to inspire and validate their own spiritual beliefs and practices; practices typically appropriated from North American Indian and Aboriginal Australian peoples. Expressing connectivity between themselves and the 'natural' environment in ways expounded by colonial ideologies, WASps typically fix the Native peoples whom they seek to identify with spiritually in a manner that ignores the contemporary realities of Indigenous lifeways. This paper examines the perceptions of Indigenous concepts of land by WASps in the UK, and considers the appropriation of such concepts in the legitimising of pseudo-Native identity. Further, by drawing on Germaine Greer's recent manifesto for Aboriginality as a solution to environmental destruction (2004), this paper also looks at the implications of the appropriation of indigenous concepts of land in relation to neo-colonialism.

Organized panel
Welter, Albert Franklin

University of Winnipeg, Canada

Defining Orthodoxy in the Chan/Zen Tradition(13Q)

How is orthodoxy determined? Who defines it? How is it sanctioned? This presentation explores orthodoxy in Chan/Zen Buddhism as a function of those defining it and the circumstances governing their interpretation. Rather than assume Japanese Rinzai Zen interpretation as normative, as is frequently the case in modern discussions of Zen, I explore alternate models of orthodoxy in the Chan/Zen tradition, attempting to shed light on how questions relating to orthodoxy are decided, and what criteria are used to determine orthodox principles and practices. The presentation demonstrates how orthodoxy functions as a contested terrain used by competing groups to sanction their interpretations and marginalize opponents. Rather than posit a single orthodoxy, multiple orthodoxies exist in Chan/Zen tradition, rooted in the socio-political and religio-spiritual concerns of contending groups. The discussion is framed around texts central to the formation of classical Chan identity compiled in early Song China (ca. 960-1050).

Organized panel, English
Welter, Albert Franklin

University of Winnipeg, Canada

Aspects of Japanese Buddhism(16F)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Werner, Karel

University of London, England

Buddhism and Peace - Historical and Comparative Perspective(15G)

Buddhism, despite its message of peace, has always suffered from strife owing to royal patronage which brought career seekers into monasteries eager for political power and material benefits. Resulting tensions led sometimes to execution of monks or even murders within monasteries (Sri Lanka). Rival Buddhist kingdoms often engaged in wars with each other (Burma). Where monarchs adhered to non-violence, empire builders replaced them (Mauryas - Sungas; Sukhothai - Ayutthaya). In SE Asia Buddhist kingdoms succumbed to Islamization. In Japan and Tibet monasteries engaged in warfare for political and economic power. Not so in Korea, but monks did take arms against Japanese invaders. Yet, in contrast to theistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Buddhism never engaged in religious wars. However, it has no power to bring peace to the world; its message points to peace in transcendence. Peace on earth is possible only if secular democratic governments with powers to control religious excesses prevail.

Organized panel, English
Wessinger, Catherine

Loyola University, USA

Rethinking Violence in Japanese New Religious Movements(01R)

*respondent

Organized panel
Wessinger, Catherine

Loyola University, USA

Assessing New Religious Movements for the Potential for Volatility(02T)

Members of religious movements may become caught up in violence, or they may, in some instances, initiate violence. This paper will present analysis deriving from the comparison of new religious movements that were involved in violence in order to address the thorny issue of assessing groups for the potential for volatility. While it is impossible to predict whether or not a religious group will become involved in violence, I assert that certain characteristics can be cause for concern, and thus indicate the need for more careful research and the need to take particular care when dealing with such groups. The "characteristics that cause concern" include "interaction factors," "internal factors," and "belief factors." "Reassuring characteristics" will be highlighted in the hope that in the future more group members will be able to correct problematic dynamics, and more scholars can interface constructively between religious groups, law enforcement agents, and the media.

Organized panel, English
Wessinger, Catherine

Loyola University New Orleans, USA

New Religious Movements (1)(02T)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Wessinger, Catherine

Loyola University, USA

Teaching about Religion Using Interactive Video(05L)

For the past three years I have offered a "Religion and Media" course team-taught with faculty at other universities in the United States using interactive video (videoconferencing) to create a unified seminar out of classes on three campuses and to bring in distinguished guest speakers. We have found that the use of videoconferencing greatly stimulates student engagement with the subject. Students benefit from being exposed to a variety of experts, and they particularly enjoy the discussions with students in other locales. In Spring 2004 we expanded the format to include one linked session with a class in Chile. My presentation will discuss the pitfalls to be avoided in using videoconferencing to create a unified seminar consisting of students on different campuses, strategies to use videoconferencing effectively in the classroom, and the benefits of utilizing this technology in teaching about religion.

Organized panel, English
Westermann, Nicola

University of Tuebingen, Germany

Tibetan Buddhist Ethics in the Context of Globalization(16M)

The point of departure of this paper is the search for approaches to global challenges and effective possibilities for intercultural and inter-religious dialog. More concretely, this paper handles the efforts at dialog made by His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama who tried to build bridges between religions through ethics and their general acceptance among Western scholars of theology and philosophy who have a particular interest in His Holiness´ ethical approach. First the focus of interest are the foundations of His Holiness´ ethical arguments, especially his ethics of compassion, within the Tibetan tradition. Then it will be shown how he advocates these ethical principles in consideration of global challenges in a pluralist world. Finally his approach will be compared with seemingly corresponding approaches from Western philosophical ethics (e.g. Walzer, Nussbaum) as well as seemingly contradicting theories of Western evolutionary ethics. The aim is to show similarities and differences between the approaches and to pinpoint the risks of misunderstanding for exponents of these very disparate traditions of thought.

Organized panel
Weststeijn, Matthijs Arie

University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Iconoclasm, Calvinism and the Depiction of the Visible World(13S)

The possible relationships between Calvinism and the growth of the art market in the Dutch Republic have given rise to many speculations. In the 17th century, the fervent painter-who-became-preacher Camphuysen wrote against all images, even those on household objects. By contrast, the painter-poet Samuel van Hoogstraten tried to reconcile Calvinism with the art of his contemporaries, such as his master Rembrandt. In a double publication of 1678, of which one volume was entitled 'The Visible World' and the other 'The Invisible World', Van Hoogstraten elaborates on phrasings of the Church Fathers and Calvin. This presentation will focus on how this Dutch painter came to regard the visible world as the 'Second Bible', a subject worthy of religious attention. The argument will connect these ideas to Spinozism, taking into account how Van Hoogstraten took part in the fierce discussions to which the radical religious philosophy of Spinoza gave rise.

Organized panel, English
Wettach, Tania

University Tuebingen, Germany

The Role of Religion in Ethnopolitical Conflict(03V)

According to D. Horowitz, mass mobilization in ethno-political conflict cannot be reduced to the seducing role of "ethnic entrepreneurs." Similarly, the role of religion in ethno-politcal conflict cannot be, often argued by theorists of modernization, relegated to a passive role of passive victimization by nationalistic leaders. Religion as an identity marker not only plays a decisive role in generating a collective ethnic identity, but also in its ethno-religious form, religion can become a political actor in ethno-political conflict. Interpreting ethno-religion or ethno-clericalism as the "politicized" form of world religions presupposes an essentialist conception of religion. This conception divides religion into its peaceful "actual" form, on the one hand, and its derived, politicized and violent version, on the other. Such a notion of religion is often found in the conflict theories of political scientists. But ethno-religion can also be described in the framework of the phenomenological typology proposed by Theo Sundermeier and Andreas Feldtkeller (based on Lanckowskis model of religious change) as a combination of "primary" and "secondary" characteristics of religion. This concept and typology of religion allows us to understand ethno-religion as the intrinsic potential of all world religions founded on specific conflict issues and exposes root causes that need to be taken seriously in processes of conflict transformation.

Organized panel, English