Toshihiko Izutsu and the Philosophy of Word: In Search of the Spiritual Orient 4924971375, 9784924971370

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Toshihiko Izutsu

and the Philosophy of word In Search of the Spiritual Orient

hv /

EISUKE WAKAMATSU

Translated by Jean Connell He

\

V

EISUKE WAKAMATSU Critic. Born in 1968. A graduate

Department

of the

of French in the Faculty of Letters, Keio University,

he was the 2007 reeipient of the 14th Mita Bungaku (Mita Literature) prize

new

for

writers in the

category of literary criticism for his essay on the

and times of the poet and

critic

life

Yasuo Ochi.

In addition to the present book, his works in-

elnde studies ofYasno Oehi {Shinpi no 2011)

yorii

no

tabi;

and the philosopher Akiko Ikeda (Ikeda Akiko

fumetsu no tetsugaku; 2013), as well

as those

on the

writings of two highly influential introdueers of Ja-

pan

to the

West, Christian thinker Kanzo Uchimu-

ra {{Jchiniura

Kanzo o yonm;

2012)

and Tenshin

Okakura, author of The Book of Tea {Okakura Tenshin “C/id no hon' 0 yomii; 2013).

Other works deal

with grief and the relation of the living to the dead {Tanuishii ni fureru: Daishinsai to ikite ini shisha

and Shisha tie

is

to

no taiwa;

2012).

also the editor of the eolleeted essays of

Toshihiko Izntsu {Yomu essei shu;

to

kaku: Iziitsu Toshihiko

2009) and those ofYasno Ochi on

liter-

ary critic tiideo Kobayashi {Kohayashi Hideo: Ochi

Yasuo zensakuhin; 2010). Currently (2014) he sitv in

is

a leetnrer at

Keio Univer-

the Faculty of Letters, the editor-in-ehief of

the literary journal hlita the Yoiniuri

Bungaku and

a

member of

Shimhun hook review eommittee.

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2017 with funding from

China-America

Digital

Academic

Library

(CADAL)

https://archive.org/details/toshihikoizutsupOOwaka

loshihiko Izutsii

and the Pliilosophy of word In

Search of the Spiritual Orient

The LTCB

International Library Trust

The LI’CB (Long-Term Credit Bank Trust, established in Jnly 2000,

Library Foundation.

It

earries

is

of Japan) International Library

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on the mission

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is

moving steadily toward a borderless eeonomy and deepening

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with nations worldwide tbrongb trade,

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drawing attention

to the

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attributable largely to the high cost of trans-

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Id’CB International Librarv Selection No.

33

Toshihiko

Izutsii

and the Philosophy of WORD; In Search of the Spiritual Orient

hv /

EISUKE WAKAMATSU

Translated by Jean Connell Hoff

LTCB

International Library Trust/International

House

of Japan

Transliteration of Foreign

'The

Hepburn system of romanization

is

used

for

Words

Japanese terms, ineluding the names

of persons and plaees. Exeept in familiar plaee names, long vowels are indicated by

macrons.

An apostrophe

is

used

to distinguish syllable-final

ii

from n

at the

beginning

of a syllable. I'he spelling of non-Japanese words that have been incorporated into

Japanese reflects the way these words are pronounced by Japanese speakers.

With regard

to

Chinese personal names, we have followed the

name first. name last.

ing the family

with familv j

Japanese names, however, are presented

words from other languages,

'IVansliteration of

local

for the

most

in

custom of placWestern order,

part, follows the

usage

adopted bydoshihiko Izntsn.

This book originally appeared ('Tokyo:

Keio Universih Press,

in

Japanese as Izutsu Toshihiko: Eichi no I'etsugaku

2011). International

House of Japan

retains the English-

language translation rights under contract with Eisnke Wakamatsn and through the courtesy of the Keio Universih’ Press.

© 2014 International .\11

rights reser\

House of Japan

ed by International House of Japan.

or reproduced in any

manner whatsoever without

No

part of this

hook mav he used

written permission, except for brief

quotations in critical articles and reviews.

Eirst

English edition published

11-16,

http:/A\\vw.i-house. or.jp/

Printed in Japan

978-4-924971-37-0

106-00:^2,

Eax: -^81-^-^470-9368

E-mail: [email protected]

ISBN

2014 by International

Roppongi 5-ehome, Minato-ku, 'Tokvo

'Tel: -i-8i-:5-^47o-927i

LIRl

March

Japan

House of Japan

lb

my

late wife

Keiko (1960-2010)

«

%

Contents

Preface to the English Edition xi

Preface to the fapanese Edition \\

Translator's Notes xxi

CHAPTER ONE Shinpi tetsugaku:

The Pure

The

Birth of a Poet-Philosopher

Starting Point

i

"Fhe Sage of Stagira and the Sacred

The

Poet

Who

Duty

Prophesies

14 19

Mitsno Ueda and Soetsn Yanagi

25

CHAPTER rwo

ITe Eneounter

witli

Islam

d he Children of Sheni: Setsnzo Kotsnji

39

d'he Ivvo d’atars

50

Shnniei Okavva and the Origins of Japanese Islam

34

Martyrdom and Dialogue:

61

flallaj

vn

and Massignon

CONTE N'l’S

CHAPTER THREE Russia:

1

lie

The

The

Spiritualih' of

Night

Writer’s Mission

71

Seer of Souls and the Mystie Poet:

Dostoevsky and Tyutchev

rhe Poet

The

Who

79

Sang of Life before Birth

Eternal Idea

85

92

CHAPTER EOUR

A Contemporary and

the Biography of the Prophet

Religious Philosopher Yoshinori Moroi

Shamanism and

Alystieism

101

108

Biography of the Prophet

118

CHAPTER FIVE Catholicism

The

Saint and the Poet

The

Praxis of Proceeding toward Truth:

127

Shuzo Kuki and Yoshihiko Yoshimitsu Izutsu’s Influence

on Christians;

Shusaku Endo,

Yoji Inoiie

and Takako Takahashi

CHAPTER

Words and The

141

H7

SIX

WORD

Position of Islam in Izutsu’s Scholarship

155

Language and Semantics

161

The

168

“Introduction to Linguistics” Lectures

The Semantics o^Waka

180

viii

CONIKNI'S

CHAP KK SKVKN I

I

Vaiislator of the

d he d’ranslation of the

1

leavcnly World

Koran

189

Structure and Strueturalisiu

199

Ihu ‘Arab!

206

Lao-tzCi,

Chuaug-tzu and Ch’ii Yuan

215

CIIAPIKK KiGin

Faanos

— Dialogue

in the

Beyond

d’he “Tiiue” of Frauos

223

Otto and

233

PZliade

d'he Fraditioualists and Sophia pereiiuis

241

CHAPTER NINE Consciousness and Essence

On

the Eve of “Ishiki to houshitsu”

253

Ad Orieutem

259

A

264

Spiritual

Autobiography

“Cousciousuess” and “E.sseucc” d’be Mystic Philosophy of

270

WORD

279

CHAPTER PEN d’he Philosophy of

Mind

Buddhism and Depth Psychology: Pbe Uucouscious and Mu-cousciousuess I’be “Readings” of Writers

287

296

dVue Reality and Paueutheisui: Kitaro Nishida and Beu’uei Yamazaki

IX

308

CONTENTS

Afterword

"

321

Chronology 329

Notes 351

Bibliography 1.

WORKS BYTOSHIHIKO IZUTSU 397 2.

OTHER WORKS CITED 421

Index 1.

INDEX OE NAME 439

2.

SUBJECT INDEX 449

X

Preface to the English Edition

i

HE YEAR 2014 MARKS the ceiitenaiA" of the birth of Toshihiko Izutsii, one of the most important philosophers of the h\ entietli eentnrv.

In his ease, there

is

no need

add the qualifier “japanese.” His ideas

to

transeend national borders and are universally loved and aeeepted. Last vear was the twentieth aimixersarv of Izntsu’s death. «

his writings are gaining

more

J

readers in Japan than thev did even at

the time they were written.

The on-going

Japanese works, begun

year in Japan, has

tion

Ibdav

m

last

from many readers not only

puhlieation of his eom])lete

in the field of

met with

a

warm

philosophy.

reeep-

Artists,

opin-

ion makers and ordinary people, not to mention speeialists in literature, religion, linguisties,

find

new meaning

anthropology and ethnography, are attempting

in Izutsu

s

words that w ill cut through the confusion

of the times. In this respect, Izutsu calls to after his

death would

come

before outside his special

made him

out as a philosopher.

whom

he called

his

The

The

reason

I

age he lived

“one and only men-

was the poet Junzaburd Nishiwaki,

close terms with T.S. Fdiot. is

enjoy even wider influence than ever

start

one. Fhe person

tor” in his entire life

earlier

to

mind Henri Bergson, who

field.

Toshihiko Izutsu did not in

to

wTo

v\as

on

mentioned Bergson’s name

not simply because the trajectories of their influence overlap

but because poetrv and

a pure,

transcendental experience underlie the

metaphysics of both men. Izutsu called the

XI

magnum

opus of

his early

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

years, Sliiiipi tetsugaku (Philosophy of mysticism).

come

after a

metaphysical experience,” he wrote.

much

surprise that Bergson said

morale 1935).

de

et

been able

to

the

same thing

The Two Sources

la religion (1932;

Some

“Metaphysics should

in

It

will

come

as

Les deux sources de

of Morality

and

no la

Religion,

people have had profound experiences, but only a few have put those experiences into words, and rarer

who have been

them

able to express

which Izntsn

"Phe works for

is

in rich, poetic

known

in the

still

are those

language.

West are

his studies

and Taoism, and his semantic The Ethico-Religious Concepts in

of Islamic mysticism, especially Sufism

hermeneutics of the Koran, such the

Quran. Some have

called

as

him

a scholar of Islam;

during

his life-

time, he was recognized as such even in Japan. But he never called

himself an Islamic specialist. losopher of language

in the

He considered himself

higher sense, or rather,

row sense.

it

Just as color

musician, and shape

is

does not

mean words

WORD for an WORD for a sculptor.

artist,

is

be

a phi-

to use his

most

WORD. When

important key term, a metaphysician of kotoha Izntsn writes kotoha,

to

or language in a nar-

sound

is

WORD for a

In prayer, the

most

elo-

WORD silence. For Jesns as depicted in the New destament, WORD perhaps was the gaze with which he looked at people. Izntsn believed that the world full of WORDs, that WORD forms the basis quent

is

is

for the existence of all things.

can be

summed up

in this

“Being

is

WORD” - Izntsiks philosophy

one sentence.

two main works are Shinpi tetsugaku (1949), published when he was 33, and Ishiki to honshitsu (1983; Consciousness and Izntsn’s

essence).

It is

a fact

worth noting

that,

although he was conversant

more than 30 languages, had no difficult}' writing in English and spent the main part of his scholarly life abroad, he wrote what would with

become

his

major works

compare favorably with to

in Japanese.

his

He

left

books

in

Japanese writings, but even

English that if

these were

be included, that does not change the fact that the two books

mentioned It

would be

time soon.

ought

are his

And

just

main works.

difficult to translate these

two books into English any

yet reading the passages quoted in the present

to sufficiently

work

convey the brilliance of the ideas they contain.

Words do not achieve

their

end when they are w ritten but when they

xii

PRF.FACK

are read.

It is

not the writer

the job of the reader.

modern

ealled

They eontinne words

I'HF

who

Izntsn’s

elassies.

FNGFISII FF:)mON

brings a hook to eompletion; that

works have

a c|nalih’ well suited to

Books that are eonsidered

he read over the ages, changing

to

New

in the

K)

restainent are the

same

were written, but the meaning hidden

in

as thev

as they

is

Similarly

I'lie

is

rieher w ith

proof that

a

on Islamie philoso])hv

it is

who were

no

that are in

his

eontempo-

highly likely that people whose native language

not Japanese will diseover the latent potential of 'loshihiko Izntsn’s

philosophv.

I

stronglv

hope

so.

Not onK'

so that research

nal ealled dbshihiko Izntsn ma\' flourish,

hiit,

rather,

metapin'sies ought to plav in ameliorating the elash

between, eidtnres that eontinne a

so.

were on the day they

them has heeome

inferior to those of the Islamie seholars

raries.

do

a elassie.

is

Izntsn, a Jaj^anese, left works

way

being

elassies are ali\e.

the passage of time, d'hat ahilih’ to ehange over time

work

is

day

to this ver\'

is,

I

on the

indi\ id-

beeanse the role

and

of,

think,

h\'

eonfliets

no means

small one. Ibshihiko Izntsn believed that philosophv must plav a

bigger role in bringing about peaee in the true sense. Philosopin' for

Toshihiko Izntsn was not an abstraet matter, d’he mission of philoso-

he believed, was

]:)h\’,

Wisdom

eanse the workings of that imasible something

to

world

we

live in.

misunderstood, the fnndamental issue

for

dbshihiko Izntsn was

ealled

abound

to

human

ean philosophy save the

Mv j

in the

this translation

What

is

I

risk

of being

he blessed w

to

ith

an extremeK j

sensed while reading the Faiglish

text

not simply a matter of turning the Jaj^anese

into English, d’he

how

raee.

hook has been fortunate

ented translator.

At the

work has taken on

a

new

life

of

its

is I

tal-

that

wrote

own. "Fhe beaiih'

of the translator’s language will no donbt he apparent to the reader, but

what

deser\’es attention

is

the depth of Jean Connell Hoff’s “reading.”

d’he diffienlh' of translation in

lies

not in ehoosing the right words but

reading and understanding the original, d'hrongh her reading of

my book

has been reborn on a

new

level.

I

wish

to

eonvey

to

her

it,

my

sineere thanks. d

he

efforts of

many people

tion of this translation.

Although

have, in fact, gone into the producI

cannot

xiii

cite all their

names

here,

1

PREFACE TO

would

like to single

was also the editor

ENGLISH EDITION

I'HE

out Ryoko Katahara of Keio Universih' Press,

who

Yasno

Saji

for the

Japanese edition, and, above

House of Japan, who has given me

of the International

and wholehearted support during the long found thanks goes Finally,

on before

I

ns.

to

would

One

all,

them

translation proeess. IVIy pro-

both.

like to express

of

his eonstant

them

is

my gratitude to

those

who have gone

Frank Hoff, the translator

s

husband. As

she writes in her Translator’s Notes, he worked tirelessly with her on the translation, hut died

hook eompleted. to the

on

on November

7,

2013 and did not live to see the

My father, Akio Wakamatsn, who w as looking forward

pnblieation of this translation, also died before

May

7, 2012.

Death,

to

he sure,

is

its

eompletion,

the demise of the body. But

signified the

end of existenee, there would probably he no need

metaphysies.

Its

of

life.

very existenee

The dead eannot he

in a different form.

their support.

I

tells

if it

for

us that metaphysies forms the basis

seen, hut they live together with the living

This hook eould not have been eompleted without

thank them from the bottom of

my

heart.

Eisuke Wakamatsn

March

\1V

6,

2014

Preface to

A

tlie

t the start of a lecture

Japanese Edition

in 1943, Ibsliihiko Iziitsu said

he was not

philosopher, fie was twenh-nine years old.

a

My

specialty primarily has been Arabic, Persian and Turkish

literature,

had

and since these are

some

to study Islam to

say to those of

He was

yon who are

Islamic literatures, naturally

all

extent. For that reason

specialists in philosophy.

not being modest. Vhe position

a research fellowship in

a

have nothing .

held

Izntsii

book on philosophy

On

to his credit,

of Arabic thought)^ and had written on

to

.’ .

Arabic language and literature

of Philological Studies, Keio Universih'.

he had

I

have

1

at the

time was

at the Institute

the other hand, howev

Arabia shisoshi

Mnhammad

er,

(1941; Iliston’

and Ibn

‘Arabl.'^

Although Shinpi tetsugaku (Philosophy of mysticism, 1949) wonld not be published until after the war, the lectures on the intellectnal history of Greek mysticism

upon which

Keio.-^

On

poses,

he might well have

it

was based had already been given

the evidence of these achievements, for said

he was

a

What

inxtents

and pur-

student of philosophy.

Plato, the central figure in Shinpi tetsugaku,

poets from the state.

all

at

wonld have expelled

Not because he had any objection

to the arts.

Plato objected to were harmfnl fabrications. Poets ought to be

conduits of revelation.

When

of divine enlightenment and

they

lost sight

of their role as conveyors

became preoccupied with

XV

self-expression.

PREFACE TO THE [APANESE EDITION

they were to be banished from poets

tlie

who

liis

are to be expelled but the

Shinpi tetsiigaku ean almost hear is

something

own clay, it is not philosophers. The reader of

Republie. In onr

that should

says in that work.^

It is

eome

author saying

its

after

“Metaphysies

this.

metaphysieal experienee,”

no wonder, then,

sneh

that a person

not reeognize as “philosophy” an aetiviR that had severed

transeendenee and no longer lent an ear ration.

Nor

ties

its

with

to the voiee of poetie inspi-

unhesitatingly shied themselves “philosophers” simply

heeanse they were studying that snbjeet. Already by

innermost heart, the term “philosopher” had him, eompletely divorced from

its

life

roughly divided into three periods. The

maiden work, Arabia

this time, in his

a speeial

meaning

for

generally aeeepted usage.

As he himself suggests, the pnblie

his

he did

as

did he regard himself as a student of philosophy, iniieh

who

those

less

Izntsii

sliisoshi,

of Toshihiko Izntsn ean be

began

first

in 1941, the year of

and eontinned through the pnbli-

eation of Shinpi tetsiigaku, Roshiateki ningen (1953; Russian hiimanih

)^

and the

Koran (1957-1958 and 1964), ^ np until overseas. The seeoncl period was spent in

translations of the

the beginning of his

life

pursuit of intercliseiplinary studies abroad, in

Montreal, Canada, then

Institute of Islamie Studies

at the

and

Philosophy there, namely the period up

in\olvecl in the

to his return to

During

The

third period lasted

this

Japan

in

1979

time he was deeply

from the time of

all

of his

his return

Japan until his death and saw the publieation of one work after

another, ineluding Isurdmu seitan (1979;

Ishiki to honshitsii: seishinteki

and essenee: kontei ni its

The

birth of Islam),^

Isurdmu

no genzo (1980; The original image of Islamie philosophv),*^

tetsiigaku

up

Imperial Iranian Aeaclemy of

Eranos Conferenee and published almost

works in English. to

MeGill University

Tehran braneh of MeGill’s

at the

as the Iranian revolution intensified.

first at

Toyo o niotomete

(1983; Conseioiisness

In seareh of the spiritual Orient),^®

am mono

(1981; Islamie eulture:

Isurdmu bunka: sono

The elements

that

make

foundation)," Koran o yomii (1983; Reading the Koran),*- Imi

no fiikami

e:

Toyo

tetsiigaku

no

siiii

(1985;

To

Eathoming Oriental philosophy),*^ Kosiimosii

Cosmos and

anti-eosmos),*-^ Choetsii

the depths of meaning:

to

no kotoha

anchi kosiimosii (1989; (1991;

I

ranseenclental

\\T)Rns),'’ up to and ineluding part one of his notes on Oriental

XVI

TO HIF |APANFSF FDI ION

PRKFACF,

I

philosophy, hhiki no keijijogaku ness).’^’

At the time of his death, he was about to begin w riting the

published work, so

secjncl to this j^osthninonsK’

that

Mclaj^hvsics of conscious-

wonld he

it

say

fair to

he staved the course, never resting until he took up residence

in

the other uorld. d’his

does not mean, of course,

that,

Izntsn WAS the profound scholar that

from the

one might

manv

ent international reputation, khere were

beginning,

\'ery

from

infer

his pres-

exents in the process

that led to the birth of d’oshihiko Izntsn the philosopher.

not exelnsixelv internal, sneh as his eneonnters w

ith

These were

Ihn ‘Arab! and

Lao-tzn and Chnang-tzn. Out of his meetings and interactions with ))Cople

and ideas

Izntsn the

in the

world around him wonld emerge Toshihiko

epoeh-making philosopher. And

selected works of dbshihiko Izntsn,

world

his relation to the

in

it

whieh he

is

ewen when reading the

xet

diffienlt to

eateh a glimpse of

names of even sneh

li\ed. d’he

great Japanese philosojdiers as Kitaro Nishida (1(870-19415)

Suzuki (1870-1966), works, and Izntsn ers

made

who preeeded him.

Japanese thought. ter,

for

1

is \

\

example, appear irtnalK’

d’hat does not

Keiji Nishitani (1900-1990),

genius

at

other Jaj^anese thinkinterest in

Okawa

in his seleeted

works that

(18(89-1961). Nishida’s best student,

who

was someone

an earlv stage, do

of Islamic scholar Shfimei ies as

in his

eneration for Daisetz Suzuki was no small mat-

he read Mnneyoshi (Soetsn) Yanagi

s

to

mean he showed no

and we know from writings not included

Izntsn

onee or twiee

onl\-

no referenees

and Daisetz

this list

recognized Toshihiko

eonld be added the names

(1886-1957) and sneh Keio luminar-

Shinobn Oriknehi (1887-1955) and

Izntsn’s

mentor, Jnnzabnrd

Nishiwaki (1894-1982).

Nor was

it

Japanese thinkers alone

who

inflneneed him. Izntsn

fre-

quently mentioned his eontemporary Jaecines Derrida, but perhaps the

non-Japanese intellectual he loved most w as Tonis Massignon.

In

terms

of the strength of their inflnenee, Rudolf Otto and Mircea Ediade also

cannot be overlooked. But,

exee]:)t in

other thinkers and writers, even the

and scholars of an

names of

earlier generation hardly

works. Providing ns with clues to

and

the ease of his eolloqnies with

fill

in this

these friends, mentors

appear

gap

is

at all in his seleeted

Yomu

to

kaku Reading

writing), an anthology of his essays published in 2009.’^

XVII

(

PREFACE TO THE JAPANESE EDITION

Up seen as

until that point, there

somehow detaehed

is

fr’ctin

no denying that Izntsn had been eontemporary

history.

have been something aloof about Izntsn, and,

to

as a result, eonntless

him from an

qnasi-mythieal aneedotes attaehed themselves to period.

Even describing

seems overly guage. Such

do

early

Izntsn as an Islamicist, while not mistaken,

restrictive, like calling titles

There seems

much

to

he never identified himself as

him simply

conceal the truth,

philosopher of lan-

a 1

believe.

And

indeed,

a specialist in the study of Islam, except

with reservations. Nearly every year from 1967 to 1982, Izntsn attended

Begun in 1933 by Olga Eroebe-Kapteyn with the cooperation of )nng and Rudolf Otto, Eranos was an attempt to integrate Eastern and Western spiritual itv. Izntsn gave a total of tweKe lectures at Eranos, but never chose Islamic philosophy as the main the Eranos Conference.

WTat he

topic for any of them.

did discuss was the thought of Lao-tzh

and Clinang-tzh and the Ch\i Tzii (Elegies of Ch’n), Confneins and the

/

Ching (Book of Changes), the Buddhist thought of the Zen,

Yen and Yogacara schools, Indian philosophy, Izntsn

s

As

etc.

will

he had not been

Ina

he clear

Japanese readers, these topics flow directly into Ishiki

shitsu. If

I

to

to

hon-

Eranos, that work might never

in\ ited to

have seen the light of da\'. Ishiki to honshitsu

we

to

is

Toshihiko Izntsn’s

magnum

opus.

Even were

include the works written in English, that fact would remain

unchanged. Although he never wrote

a

he read

As we watch

as his spiritual autobiography.

memoir,

Ishiki to honshitsu it

can

unfold, beginning

with Sartre through the poets of the Kokinshu (ca 920; Collection of

Japanese poems from ancient and modern times), Rilke, Mallarme, the Islamic philosophers, Confneins, Jewish mysticism and Jnngian psy-

chology, it

we seem

to

be following along with him

were, of his intellectual development. Yet

aeeonnt of his own

spiritual journey,

ing: his relationship

Someone may Christianity, ness.

we

if

we

in the footsteps, as

read this work as an

notice there

is

one topic miss-

with Christianitv. cite Roshiateki

and indeed

in

it

ningen

as Izntsn’s discussion of

he called Dostoevsky “a Christian

wit-

But we should not forget that he added soon afterwards that

Dostoevsky was above

all a

true mystic, “a

new man” — non’ chelo\yek —

w ho transcends the single religions belief system of CliristianihA®

XMll

\\ 1 iat

PRKKACK K)

work makes clear

that

letters

who h\ed

is

the

1

lot

III'',

lAPANKSK KDI ION I

of a

S])iritual re\’()liitionar\-

dangerous times.

in

here

I’he issue

is

qua man of

literalK' the direct

historical relationship of loshihiko Izntsn to Cdiristian thinkers. At

time Izntsn was strongly mo\’cd

h\'

such Christian

intelleetiials as the

One

poet Claudel, Augustine, John Ifriugena and John of the CAoss. these thinkers

whom

sages.

comparable

and religious hgnres would pierce

to that of his

So strong and so profound was

contact with the CTreck

their iidlnenee that, as

the ])rcface to that work, without this encounter, Izntsn

nc\cr ha\c begun

of

he discussed with intense emotion was Bernard of

Clairx aux. 1'he im]:)aet of these j^octs his sold with a force

one

is

clear in

would prohahlv

Sliiuf:>i tetsiigakii^'

'loshihiko Izutsu’s philosophical projects eoinerge on the “svn-

ehronie struetiiralization of Oriental philosophies,” the subtitle of honshitsii, in other words,

Isliiki to

what he describes elsewhere

as cre-

ating “a comprehensive structural framework, a kind of metaphilosoph\’ of Ifastern philosophies

treating a

problem

cie aeteruitatis

as

.

though

.

“Synchronic”

.

it

exists

— ''inmspos\ng the

at the

context

traditions of the

present ])oint ... to create

an organic space of thought, which could ineludc

traditions strueturalK’, by taking [them] off

by recombining them paradigmaticalK

would be impossible

means

present and siih spe-

in the

main philosophical

Orient spatially into an ideal plane artificially

both

in this

.”-’

.

.

I'hat

for a single individual to

all

these

the axis of time and

.

such an undertaking

complete was something

Izutsu understood from the outset, d’hc words in huraiuu tetsugaku no

genzo must be understood lessness” ph\' to

he

felt as

he

i.e.

the “acute sense of power-

tried to penetrate the

depths of Oriental philoso-

in this

way,

through the prism of Islamic mysticism. -+ At the beginning of Isliiki

honshitsu as well, he writes that this work

a “s\

is

onl\' a

to

nehronic struetiiralization of Oriental philosophies. lo be sure,

what Itsuzu wrote was only

can frequently be seen

mental

issues.

in

a

“prolegomenon.”

an outstanding work,

it

And even while he acknowledged

would be only an introduction, the very

fact that

was because be believed there would be readers ers are S])read across the world. for

])rolegomenon

But what

clarifies the

that the

end

he took up for

it.

'^'et,

as

fundaresult

his

pen

Izutsu’s read-

needed now,

helicwe,

is

Japanese to “read” Izutsu’s Japanese works, beginning with hhiki

to

XIX

is

I

prp:face

honshitsu.

to the Japanese edi tion

Most of his readers abroad

still

do not know

ant work, i'he possibilih' of understanding

him

his

most import-

in his totalih’

open

is

to

Japanese readers alone.

A tiqne

writer poses a question, "hhe role of a reader it

or

eomment on

it.

It is

deeper level and sometimes

is

to take the written

to find in

it

a

not simply to

word

to

eri-

an even

world or worlds of whieh

even the author him/herself had no idea, d he written word remains

nnehanged, but with the advent of the reader, the meaning hidden within

it

S])ontaneonsly reveals

terms a ereative

aet,

itself.

the advent of a reader

interpretation” brings the work to

- without works

Through “reading”

fear of misinterpretation

its

who

as

what

Iziitsn

praetiees ereative “mis-

eompletion.

Frankly speaking

- authors do not know

their

own

in their entireh’.

Chapters

One

through Six of

this

hook were serialized

in the

journal Mita Biingakii (Mita Literature) between the spring of 2009

and the antiimn of 2010, but they have been

largely rewritten.

Chapters

Seven through Fen and the Chronolog\’ were written espeeially

for this

book. Authorial additions within quoted texts are enelosed in braekets [

].

Following Izntsn’s usage the spelling “Koran”

will

be used instead of

“Onr’an,” and Wade-Ciles romanization will be used instead of Pinyin for

Chinese words and names. Pinyin

spellings will be given in the Index.

translator’s

T

he only expression hook

is

that

seems apj^ropriate

“iiitelleetual biography.”

of its protagonist’s

life in

more

Notes

To he sure,

to cleserihe the present

it

does follow the

or less ehronologieal order

ex ents

— a ehildhood

spent praetieing Zen meditation with his father; the Keio years as a student

and teaeher;

his early

w orks on CTeek philosophy and nineteenth-eentim-

Russian literature; his two translations of the Koran into Japanese (the to

be

made from

first

the original Arabie) and the works on the semanties of

the Koranic' Weltanschauung; his major English-language study Sufism ancl laoism; his years as

an aeknowledged antliorih on Islamie mystieism

at the Institute of Islamie Studies at

later at

its

braneh

Aeademy ot

in d’ehran

MeCnll Universih'

and subsequently

in

Montreal and

at the Inij^erial Iranian

Philosophy; the leetnres on Oriental philosophy that he gave

at the kiranos

Conferenee;

his return to

Japan

in

1979 on the

mission out of Tehran on the eve of the Iranian

rex olntion;

Japanese on Oriental philosophy that he wrote

in Ja])an

last

the

resene

w orks

during the

in

last

fifteen years of his life.

Blit

what stands out

in the

present book are the purely internal

events of intelleetnal development: his awakening to the mysteries of

language; his discovery through Cmeek philosoj^hy that intelleetnal inquiry and the vita conteniplativa are not nuitnally antithetical; the

evolution of his ideas about “meaning” while teaching lingnisties

at

Keio Universih'; the impact on him of other thinkers, living and dead,

from Ibn ‘Arab!

to

Mireea Eliade, from Mallarme

XXI

to

Jean-Panl Sartre;

I

RANSLArOR’s NOTES

work on the “synchronic

liis

an attempt

which

for

to synthesize the

him

Middle East

all

the concept of

Being

that

strnctiiralization of Oriental philosophy,”

is

major philosophical ideas of the Orient,

stretched from Greece, north Africa, Russia and the the

way

to India,

China and Japan;

WORD and the realization

encounter with

his

that semantics

is

ontology,

W^ORD.

And yet the book does not confine itself to Izntsn hut discusses many other thinkers who influenced him, directly or indirectly, or who, as in the case of Yoshinori Moroi, for example, were totally unknown and yet were working simultaneously

to Izntsn

The

iu parallel fields.

inclusion of studies of such diverse figures as his

Mitsuo Ueda; Pan-Asianist Shilmei Okawa;

Bigiev and Yoshitaro

Yokemura; Orientalist Louis Massignon and al-Hallaj;

Yasahuro Ikeda; Ihn

as fascinating as they are,

one reads

further,

one

may

at first strike the

reader as odd. But as

realizes that they all illustrate

how

and animate an age; parallelism and

ideas transcend time

“contemporary”

his

‘Arahl; Jacques Derrida; Daisetz Suzuki,

the book: the importance of Zeitgeist, tures

and

publisher

language teachers

his

Musa

Setsuzo Kotsuji, Abdur-Rasheed Ibrahim,

first

link thinkers

main themes

in

certain ideas transcend culs\’nchronieit\-, the

who

way other

lived in different eras; the

hypothesis of a Zwischenwelt, mediocosmus, niiindiis imaginalis, or

M -realm that mediates between the world we

live in

and the nonmenal

world; the subject of the mystical experience; the metaphvsics of light; the as

One and

the

Many; the

unit}’

of existence; the

immanence

as well

transcendence of God. For the W^estern reader, the discussions of

Japanese thinkers have the additional advantage of shining a spotlight

on the \ ibrant

intellectual milieu in

\\

Two aspects of Toshihiko Izntsn

hich Izutsu

seem

s life

li\'ed.

central to an under-

standing of Izutsu, the philosopher of WORD: his extraordinarv

languages

— by his

own reckoning he knew

inal mystical experience. In a sense, the

on

to

develop was an attempt

through language but

thirh

— and an

gift for

earlv,

sem-

philosophv that he would go

to articulate that

in linguistic terms.

And

experience not siinplv yet, Izntsn

aware of the limitations of language and the wav

it

was acutelv

delimits our view

of the world. Differences in languages, and therefore in cultures, are

not superficial, he bclicxcd; they indicate differences in perceptions of

XXll

rRANSI./VrOK’s NO'I

reality

— hence,

his fascination

u

the different j)crsonae of (hxl in

ith

many names

world religions, the

K.S

for the

One and

his existential

eon-

eern about the “clash of enltnres.” d

he embodiment of these two strands

ot

language and

spiritnalih'

is

Mohammad,

the poet, prophet or shaman. Paid Claudel, the Prophet

the Paoist poet Ch’ii Viian, each experienced a mystical ekstasis (a state

of self-annihilation, of being literally outside of oneself) and euthoiisi-

(being

cisiiios

filled

with Cak\) and

became

a

mcdiinn of rcwclation,

a

conduit through which the dixinc word descends. Philosophers, too, scr\e a similar function

when

they introdnee new technical terms into

onr x’ocabnlary as Rudolf Otto did with the concept ot Das Nuniiuose,

Corbin with the expression inmulus

or llenrx’

thinkers such as

Nishida,

Japanese

iinagiiialis, or

Mnneyoshi (Sdetsn) Vanagi, Shfizd Knki and Kitard

who contributed

to the

dcxclopment of Japanese philosophical

terminology.

poems

Izntsn clearly lox'cd poctr\-; he often cites, and translates,

Wliat he

his works.

of poctrx

deepest

[xx

x

isnal images”’

jDhilosopher anx’ xx

— “the primarx’ goal

arencss of to

sx

inbolicallx'

aehiexe

in his oxx n

it

are not the goal of the mxstic

are for a poet or prophet or xx

orld of Ideas life

and

shaman.

rex ercntly

has the sacred

doxxn to the phenomenal xxorld, ignite the flame of

alization of the relatixe

xx

midst and xxork

orld.”'

back doxx n

The

to the

diligentlx' toxxard the ide-

katahasis, the descent from the

phenomenal

xxorld in

xx

hich

xxe

lix

c,

not the end of the mystical experience but the beginning of the mystic

philosopher’s mission. is

axx

chambers of transcendent

life in its xerx'

xxorld

ntehex

he attempted

ho thoronghlx' explores the

transcendent

is

xxhat

more than they

come back

nonmenal

is

and enthousiasmos

enters the secret inner

dnh' to

—

Px

the basic essence of the imix crse, the

of being, and to express his

jDhilosophy. Ekstasis

“A person

of the Russian poet

as] to gras]) intnitix clx’

lex cl

through

sax s

in

And

that mission, as Izntsn himself described

nltimatelx’ a practical one: to prepare “a suitable locus in xxhieh

mutual understanding” among enltnres can be actualized." db do Izntsn drexy

upon

bis yast knoxyledge of Oriental

thought

.

it,

.

.

so,

to dex elo]) a

philosophy of WORD. Izntsn’s starting point xxas the

translated as

Non-Being

concept of mu, xxhieh

is

nsnally

or Nothingness. But far from being a static.

xxiii

TRANSLA rOR’S NO TES

empty

void,

whieli

tlie

it is

the primordial ehaos, the undifferentiated

Many

arise, i.e.

Being

One

from

Drawing on the dlaya-vijndna,

itself.

the Storehouse Conseionsness in Yogaeara

Buddhism, he developed

a

semantie theory of ontology/eonseionsness, a depth-eonseionsness philosophy of language, whieh he ealled “lingnistie n/nvn-eonseionsness.”

Deep

onr depth eonseionsness

in

is

a

realm where meaning

exists in

the form of semantie potentials, hjja, literally “seeds.” Being manifests beings, or as Izntsn puts

itself as

elsewhere, “Being

it

is

a

meaningful

artienlation of the absolutely nnartienlated ‘Nothingness.’”"^ In short, is

WORD,

“the dynamic' foree of ontologieal artienlation.”’ In a

whieh

heantifnl passage Izntsn deseribed the instant in fests itself as

WORD mani-

meaning:

As the countless tangled and intertwined “potential forms of

meaning” attempt

to

emerge

into the snrhiee brightness of

meaning,

they jostle and jonst with one another in the dusk of lingnistie consciousness

— the subtle,

intermediate zone where the “Nameless”

on the verge of metamorphosing

are just

“Named.” Between

into the

“Being” and “Non-Being,” between nnartienlated and articulated, the specter of some indeterminate thing faintly flickers.

“Being

Blit if

is

WORD,”

onr encounter with language takes on

whole new dimension, and the

role of the reader

assumes

a

a far greater

function than ever before.

WORDs must he clear. To understand, through a chain of el ear WORDs that a writer has juxtaposed, the meaning behind them that existed from the beginning in the writer’s mind — their prclingnistie rcalih — that what call “reading.”^ Naturally,

i.e.

is

I

Toshihiko Izntsn’s definition of reading ble to translating. dTying to grasp

read as tor,

if

to.

And

intellect of

one

that

I

Toshihiko Izntsn

have fallen

came back

to

me

it

yet attempting to

w ide-ranging mind of Eisnke

\\

in

Fmglish

is

occupy even

akamatsn — not

— has

far short

perhaps even more applica-

what the author wrote and make

he had originally written

aspire

is

proved

to

of meeting, as the

at the re\ ision stage

X\l\

have

made

I,

as a transla-

a small corner of the

to

be

what

it

a

mention the protean daunting challenge,

manv all

corrections that

too evident, d’hese

I

mistakes liavc now, that

I

RANSI.A TOR’s NO'I KS

hope, been eorreetecl, hut

I

ha\e sueeeeded

in living

up

I

am under no

illusion

to the ideal that Izntsn sets for the

reader/translator.

would

1

like to take this

opportunih’

Rydko Katahara and Rydji Nognehi Skev

ith

whom

siij^port

more

thank kasnke Wakamatsn,

eheeking

my translation, Miriam

her earefnl proofreading and k’red Unw'alla for his imahiahle

for

eomments on w

for

to

I

e\'er\thing from eontent to shle. As always,

ha\ e worked for

during

more than

tliirh years,

this projeet’s exeeptionall}’

grateful than

ean ever

1

wondered whether Blit,

1

loff,

above

who

died

all,

He

has

my

I

am

to

eneouragement when

eomplete

deepest gratitude goes to

my

this

work.

husband, Frank

on Noxemher yth and did not

])rojeet,

])roeess.

e\])ress for his assistanee at e\'er\- stage of

would ever he able

last \'ear

eompletion of this years.

I

Saji,

has been a pillar of

long gestation

the translation and for his unfailing kindness and I

Yasno

whieh we worked on together

lixe to see the

for nearly

two

now heeome my “phantom man.” Jean Connell Hoff d'oronto

February

XXV

i6,

2014

•

^

«>'

:

•

Ptofflw

ioshilliko Izutsu, lecturing at the

Eranos CAmjerenee

in the

sunnner of 1979

in

Asco na, S wi tze rlancl. Beginning

in 1967, Iziitsu

ally involved with

Eranos

gave twelve lectures there, and he was

to

he person-

for fifteen years; in the latter half of this period, his

a central presence. Photo courtesy of loyoko Izutsu.

was

% «

«

%

CUM’

I

ER

ONE

Shinpi tetsugaku:

The

Birth of a Poet-Philosopher

rite

A

Pure Starting Point

m' DISCUSSION OF Toshihiko

Izutsu’s starting point

Shinpi tetsugaku (Philosophy of mysticism). The same would also

hold true

when

discussing his intellectual origins or his personal

d’he Shinpi tetsugaku referred to here, however, sion found in his selected works, hut rather the

hv

llikari

no Shoho

Girishia no hu (d he that

must begin with

he

later

in 1949, to

Greek

part).

is

not the revised

first

references arc

made

to passages

rewrote for the sake of greater scholarly accuracy, the revised

the present hook

is

to follow the

we can

that

is

is

aim of

course of his intellectual pilgrimage,

Shinpi tetsugaku as

shall take the first edition

tetsugaku

er-

subtitle,

version in his selected works will take precedence. But since the

work,

\

edition published

which was once attached the

When

histor\'.

my

source,

clearly sense his living, breathing presence.

written without further qualification,

it is

for, in this

When

the

I

first

Shinpi edition

meant.'

In 1989,

original

when he was

wording of the

sevenh-five years old, Izutsn returned to the

first

edition for the repnhhcation of Mahoinetto,

the brief biography of the Prophet

Muhammad

that

he had written

in

1952 and that had been published in a revised and exjxmdcd edition

under the

title

Isuranni seitan (1979;

1

I

he birth of Islam ).“ As

in the ease

CHAPTER ONE V

of Mclhoinetto,

had

it

seenis likely that the

first

edition of Shinpi tetsugaku

a speeial signifieanee for T/iitsu personally. In his later years, look-

ing baek over half a lifetime, Izntsn spoke reminiscently about this

work

as his

“pure starting point.”^

may sound

It

like a

eonelnsion

Shinpi tetsugaku and Ishiki

to sav so,

but anyone

who

reads

honshitsu (1983; Conseionsness and

to

essence) over and over again, even without having read any of his other works, wonld be unlikely to misinterpret Toshihiko Izntsn as a person, l hat

is

not to downplay the importance of his Fmglish-Ian-

gnage writings, which are even

nnmerons

as those in Japanese.

But

these were inelnded, the position of Shinpi tetsugaku and

if

Ishiki to honshitsu to

as

wonld not change. Indeed,

if

these

t\\

o works were

be translated into English, the world wonld no donht once again

acknowledge the philosopher Toshihiko Izntsn with the same astonishment

as

it

did at the time of the pnhiieation of Sufism

ism (1966-1967).'^

To ignore these two works

is

and Tao-

to lose sight of the

core

and framework of his thought. For these two volumes not only deserve to

be indelibly engraved in the history of modern Japanese philoso-

phy, they are also his intellectual and spiritual autobiography. In this regard,

whom

it is

a matter of

no small significance

the Japanese language

stand Toshihiko Izntsn Izntsn’s first

s

is

their

that Japanese people, for

mother tongue, read and under-

works.

book was Arabia shisdshi

(1941; History of

Arabic

thought), which covered the period from the birth of Islam through the twelfth-centiirv philosopher Averroes (Ibn Riishd).

Most of his pub-

lished writings that immediately preceded or followed were related to

And

Islam or the Arabic language.

since the journals to which he

contributed were Kaikyoken (Islamic Area) edited by Koji (1887-1950) and Shin Ajia

(New

Okubo

Asia), the journal of the East Asian

Economic Research Bureau headed by Shumei Okawa, people mav have thought he was a specialist

in Islamic studies. But, in fact, Toshi-

hiko Izutsn’s encounter with Greek philosophy preceded his encounter with Islam by

more than

ten years, d’he

first

universih’ lectures

he ever

gave were on the intellectual histor\ of Greek mysticism.

The even

for

“Orient” it

is

to

is

a

key term for understanding

be found

in

Izutsii, yet

the source

Shinpi tetsugaku. In ancient Greece, he

SIIINPI

saw “a

classic

TKISUCAKU:

THF, HIRI

OK A

11

POK'I

-I’l

1

l.OSOl’l K 1

1

example of the manifestation of a philosophy of identic

based on pathos and psyche that can well he called Oriental.”'’ not

comment now on

the imique to]X)logv that Izntsn includes under

the term “Orient.” lie sometimes even called h’dsewhcrc he states that

cast.”

will

I

it is

a spiritual

“Cheeee and points

it

realm not confined

to

any

geographical region.

Shiupi it

tetsiigakii

np out of mere

does not easiK' aeeonnnodate readers

w ith no prior

enriosih’

a scries of invisihle harriers,

tual practitioner.

No

after another, that

It

reminds

pick

me

confront the

of

spiri-

sooner docs the reader open the hook than s/he

eneoimters a passage that

ha\c not experienced

one

j^reparation.

who

sa\'s “it is

impossible to explain

personalK’,

it

no matter who

the other hand, howewer, Shiupi tetsiigakii

who almost nc\’er discussed his own spiritual journew

is

a

in

Yotsma,

he.”^"

which

in

On

Izntsn,

spoke frankly about

his ])ersonal history

loshihiko Izntsn was horn

may

the\'

work

w ho

to peoj^lc

d’ok\x), in 1914,

the oldest son

of his father, Shintaro, and his mother, Shinko. In a eolloqiw, Shotard ^’asnoka (1920-2013) asked

and Izntsn from

said yes.^ 71 ie

his early days

Zen was

him

if

his father

younger son of

was originally from Niigata, a rice

merchant, Shintaro

was fond of calligraphy, go and Zen.

so strong that he frequently

of the Soto seet, to practice

Zen

went

1

to Eiheiji, the

meditation.

He was

is

passion for

main temple

also a person

who,

while doing ealligraj^hy, experieneed the unique sensation of “actually feeling his

mind be suddenly

and flow out completely on a

transmitted directly to his brush tip

to the paper.”

Calligraphy was not simply

matter of writing charaeters, the father told his son;

pable

moyement

arm and

of the

of the hairs on the brush and Izutsu’s father

tanee

to his daily

was

a

an “unstop-

fingers. Feelings that are truly in a

person’s innermost recesses gush forth, tip

it is

eome

eommnnieate themseKes

to the

spilling ont.”^

businessman wbo attaehed

meditation praetiees as he did

as

to his

much

impor-

work, d’hese

praetiees had absolutely nothing to do wdth exereises for what in

common

parlance

is

called mental eoneentration or the promotion

of health. I’he quotation that follows the introduetion to the

first

edition

3

is,

as

Shiupi

explained earlier, from tetsiigakii

published

b\’

CHAPTER ONE

Hikari

no Shobo.

When

the work was later revised and included in his

selected works published

The

“he” refers

There

is

hyChno

Koronsha, part of

to Iz.ntsii’s father.

a saN'ing,

“enibraeing the ideal of the

Sodom and drowns”; my unhappy, demon-possessed man who knew this terrible dix ision

sistible force, step

by

of the soul.

Madonna, one

to the very

depths of his

Drawn by some

strange, irre-

he would sink down into the dismal depths

step,

of ignominy, while at the

same time he never stopped longing

the grace-filled light of an absolutely serene and pure

exact antithesis. Or, rather, he

profound sinfulness a terror of to

it

that

in

which human beings

the

all

more

mind

that

more keenlv than anvone

felt

makes the blood run

have made him

falls

father was just such an

into the abyss of

being

was omitted.

it

ferx

cold,

for

is its

else the

are ensnared, as well as

and

that very

seems

fiict

ent in the pursuit of truth, in the

search for a clean, undefiled state that can never be found in this xxorld. f or as

long as

him perform had an xx

ere a matter of

in the

life

I

can remember, the

air

I

often

saxx’

of desperation about them, as though they

and death. He

tearoom deep

austerities that

into the late

xx

ould

autumn

sit

ramrod

straight all alone

night listening to the sound

of the distant xvind through the pine trees and the bubbling of the xxater boiling in the antique iron tea kettle.

As he

sat silently practic-

ing the technique of stopping the breath and looking

of pain and suffering emanated from the figure of

xx

ithin, a

sense

my father.^

Gix'Cn the profound darkness of his inner heart and his extreme sensitivitv to sin,

he

same torments.

may have thought It

xxas,

his son, too,

perhaps, to build a

woidd experience the

mind and body

that could

withstand such suffering that he forced his son from an earlv age to do

zazen and

to read

collections as Lin

without understanding such classic Chinese koan

Chi

Lii

(The Sayings of Master Lin-Chi),

(The Bine Cliff Records) and a meditation practice,

Wu Men Kuan

any allowances

e.

were practiced on the borderline between ble that the impact of such rigor

(The Cateless Cate).

a spiritual

dent’s weaknesses implies a lack of lov

guide makes

Lu In

for a stu-

Since the father’s austerities life

and death,

would be passed on

4

Pi Yen

it

was inevita-

to his son.

SHINIM

But

was not only Zcmi that

it

my father his own

drummecl

suggest,

it

me

into

would perhaps be more eorreet

he would write the eharaeter

strokes; then, ]:)reseribed

was

ripe,

he would have

me

“I

Icaruccl

from

Or, rather, thev w ere

or not.” As these words

it

uuderstaud even Zeu

to

at

period ot time. Finally, the

he would

tear

iijD

vonr mind. Stare

at

it

for

“mind”

for

look

as

(/L')

in bold, flow

ing

intently da\' after day tor a

it

moment he saw

the pieee of

look at the eharaeter written on the

paj:)er

])a]:)er;

and

look

at

time

that the

tell

me, “Don’t

one inscribed

the

twenh-fonr hours without stopping e\en

an instant; gather yonr seattered thoughts together and foens

for

them on

me in

liked

1

I.OSOPI IKK

him.

his father taught

whether

I

a steppiug-stoue to bis father’s personal iutros]:)eeli\e praetiees.

f irst,

in

I'-PII

unicjiie iutrospeetix e teehuic|ues.

foreiblv

mereb’

KTSllGAKU: TIIK BIRTH OF A POK

I

to

that

“make

one

jDoint.” After

e\ er\’ effort to erase all traees

xonr mind. Don’t look

at the

‘mind’ within \on that

lies

go one step further and

say,

internal

some time had

and external

passed, he

would order

of the eharaeter written

eharaeter for ‘mind’ but at the living

behind

that eharaeter.”

“Don’t look

at

Fhen he would

yonr mind. Fliminate

distraetions eonij^letely

all

and immerse yourself in

nothingness; enter nothingness, see nothingness.

we can tell from reading this passage, the father’s aseetie praedo not seem to be the fixed meditation teehuiques handed down

A.S far as

tiees

bv any partieular traditional religion. Fhey also

commonly known probably bis

as

father’s

/Jci/Trd/?

at the

beginning of

important condition

The

a path free

introspective techniques.”

would turn out

path to spiritual perfection

each other’s religious austerities the aim

is

j^raetices

be an extremely

is

not

bound by dogma,

Zen and

as the

Christian, to perform

in silence clearly

show. In such

a

con-

not a discussion of ideas but a deepening of understand-

ing. ddie former,

of the

to

bict that

formation of Toshihiko Izntsn’s character.

sincere attempts by practitioners, both

text,

The

from specific religions tenets or

his spiritual life for the

from the praetiee

— introspection. As Izntsn writes, these were

own “unique

he was presented with

differ

it

goes without saying, primarily exists for the sake

latter. Izutsu’s

recognition of the inextrieabilitv of praetiee and

thought never changed

as

long as he lived.

5

He

valued what he actually

CHAPTER ONE

felt

over what he understood with his mind. d1iat attitude

notieeahly

is

Good examples of it are Zen monk Dogen (1200-1253)

present in his major work, Ish'ih to honshitsu. his study of the spiritual exereises of the

and how they eoneurrently deepened

and

its

understanding, or the

spiri-

and the Northern Sung Confu-

tual exereises of Chii-tzu (1130-1200)

eians, namely, Izutsu’s studies of the

his

importanee of

sitting

meditation

on

eorrelation with seholarship. Toshihiko Izutsu’s views

aseetie

praetiees will have to he eonsidered elsewhere.

His father,

who was

so free in his meditation teehniques, emphati-

cally forbade his son “to think.” Izutsu goes so far as to say, “I

was heresy. ...

that the inclusion of intellectual inquiry [spiritual exercises]

praxis,

and even

to

were, from

first to last,

I

was taught

believed that

the pure and simple path of

think about them, or to think on the basis of them,

was absolutely not permissible.”"

When

he

says, “I believed,” this

does

mean he trusted his father and had a premonition that something would come and save him. By following the path the intellect indicated, the spirit would lose its way. And one day it would be destroyed, dliese not

words were almost

like a curse.

But

this paternal

warning was also the

greatest expression of love his father could gi\ e him. For the son there

was simply no

alternati\ e

philosophy occurred

but

to believe. Izutsu’s

at the verv

moment

of this dark night of the soul.

Wdiat he disco\ ered in the Greek sages was site

the

the

oppo-

command. He discovered that it is philosophy— practice of the love of wisdom — by which he could find the way to pursuit of truth; that the \’oices of the sages, passing down through

right

up

bobbing urge

man

continue

to “think” well

to raise fresh

This experience,

cast adrift in a vast

in the waxes.

different

Going

world through the

it

and

would he

\

ital

questions

fair to say,

ocean grabbing hold of

a

plank

up within him. “Thinking”

that transcends

human

a

not supposition.

It

philosopher once said,

is

is

beings manifests

itself to

intellect.

never imagined, nexer exen dreamed, that philosophy and meta-

j)hysics,

xx

was

against his father’s words, the son felt the

from speculation. “Thinking,”

way something

1

history,

to the present day.

like that of a

the

a truth the exact

of his father’s stern

thousands of years of

is

encounter with Greek

hich might be called the classic

6

actix ities of

human

the

SHINPI TF/rSlIGAKU: IHK BIRTH OF A POF

reasoning, arc

me

life.

my

was

excitement w hen

of their philosophy, the

.OSOPl FK

1

I

tlic cx])cri-

would

But, later on. Western nnstics

that the exact oj^posite of this

was iny sniprise and

1

on, and can he cffcctnatcd by,

])rcclicatccl

cnccs of the eontein|)lati\c teach

T-PII

Cheek sages

I

true.

I

low great, then,

learned that,

at

the base

in j)artienlar presnj:)j)osed the

ecstatic cx])ericnec of the vita contewplativa as the \'cry source of their jDhilosophic thinking.

I

docs not write the

Ic

name

I'liis is

that

1

believe

it

was

it

his

was

discovered

mv

CJreeec.'“

who opened

Aristotle.

But c\en

the wa\' to

was not

if it

encounter with the “sage of Stagira”

would hceoine the turning point

he called

I

of the philosopher

“thinking” for him. Most likely Aristotle alone,

how

in the

chain of events that might

his philosophical revelation. Aristotle called the aetix ih of the

transeendenth’ Ahsolntc noesis uoeseos, “thinking about thinking,” the self-eogniti\ e

power of

reason."^ 'I’hc following quote

is

a

passage from

the chapter on the nwstic philosophy of Aristotle in Shiiipi tetsugaku. W^as

it

not surely the case that the concept ot the vita conteuiplativa

as the perfection of

from

Aristotle’s

commended \

human

life in this

w orld was an idea

that derix ed

unique view of life? For the sage of Stagira, w ho firmh’

the absolute snperiorih' ot the intellectual and noetic

irtnes ox er the actix e

and

practical ones,

contemplation resembling the

life ot

it xx

as the paradise of

pure

the gods that constituted the

irre-

placeable zest of life, the enlmination of human happiness on earth.

Can we how

“I

not see how’ consistent this passage

diseox ered

is

my Greece”? I1ie Aristotle w ho

the historx’ of philosophy

is

under the guise of a mystic philosopher it

wonld

frequently appears in

the re])ndiator of the theor\- of Ideas and of

mysticism. But the fact that dbshihiko Izntsn

Sliinpi tetsugaku,

with the earlier one about

xx

first

encoimtered

onld not only

Aristotle

set the

also serxe as preparation for his

tone for

encounter

with Islamic philosophy and the Islamic mystic philosophers.

For Izntsn, the discovery of Greek philosophy was not a negation of the spiritual exercises practiced with his hither, d his his

is

clear, too,

from

statement that the days he spent meditating with his father them-

selx'cs

constituted the vita coiiteniplativa, “the enlmination of

life in this

human

world.” Considering the jicrmanenee and profnndih of

7

its

CHAPTER ONE

impact, one cannot help but think that what Izntsn inherited from his father was the aetivitv of “readhig” rather than nic|ne.

who had

His father,

to read the

Chinese

forbidden him

works

texts

to the

Zen

elassies. In a

for students to read cor-

The

depth of their praetiee.

aet of reading

Chinese

without understanding them teaehes students that “reading”

simply an intellectual

activity,

Ihm

required

to “think,”

Analeets and the

texts of the

spiritual praxis, the teaeher will seleet

responding

any introspeetive teeh-

is

not

an activiU of “feeling” deeply that

it is

engages the entire body. At the Academy, too, where Aristotle studied, “reading”

meant coming

“Contemplation”

which the word

its

derived.

is

It is

a

also used in the sense of

deep

activih’. Izntsn writes that

tion implies an ecstatic experience of the is

from

meaning of a contact with the Transcendent

occurs beyond intellectual

templation”

Creek word

thedria,

a translation of the

is

“theor\'”

consideration from

contact with the mysteries.

in

synonym

for theoria.

hnman

When

that

“pure contempla-

intellect.”’^

“Pure con-

contemplation has attained

the nltimate in pnrih’, one experiences ekstasis, the state of being outside of oneself. Ekstasis

of course, the origin of the word ecstasy and

is,

often refers to religions exaltation. But, in this context, sarily

have

to call to

mind

of Avila. Ekstasis here

is

we do not

neces-

the ecstatic experiences of a saint like d’eresa

nothing

less

than the experience of making

the leap, as though out of longing, to the source of Being, “in short, the

process by which a person’s inner sonl or spirit sheds

and returns

to,

this activih'

from

its

in

external flesh

or immerses itself in, the great source of realih

were

flesh

its

simply

to

end with

might be dashed

to the

“ecstasy,” the spirit that

ground. Instead,

which one reaches the culmination of the

at

the

.”'^

But

had flown

ver\' instant

“ecstatic experience,”

one

immediately experiences enthousiasmos. In the twinkling of an eve, those

who have

offered

up

their bodies

are filled by the Transcendent.

they encounter the

and

anniliilated their

own being

Having completely emptied themselves,

phenomenon

of

“God”

instantly filling that void.

For the sages of ancient Greece, theoria was a sacred activity, a

An

yearning for the Transcendent.

activity that required

gers

and ordeals

them

far greater

to

internal praxis,

put their

than those

world. Moreover, philosophy for

lives at stake

we experience

them meant taking

8

it

was also an

and face danin the external

the experience of

SIIINPI TKI SIIGAKU:

eiitliousiasnios that arrix

endowing

cd

I

at

IIK PIRTIl

OF A POK

I

-I’llII.OSOI’llFR

the ecstatic climax of self-annihilation,

with the flesh of logic and leax ing a record of

it

it

behind

for

the rest ot the world, for that reason, thev' did not heliexe that philos-

ophy was of liinnan

origin. Plato

losophy ananiuesis, and, as thinking, one’s

statement Intellect,

and anamnesis of

se

it,

formed the

no further discussion, but

lax

1

that ekstasis per

ing once attained the

one must of one’s own accord bring

lofty heights of theoria,

through

itself.

This one passage concisely conveys the

Theoria, ekstasis, praxis

— these

will all

gist

When

not complete until

it

mysti-

that begin

thought. Iheoria

end with the

ecstatic

bears fruit in praxis.

how freWhat Izntsn

reading Shinpi tetsugaku, one becomes aware of

quently, and

how

diversely, the

unmistakably

sets

out

term “praxis”

to elucidate in tins

study

Greek mysticism; it is the course of praxis the process by wbieh someone goes beyond to the ontological source.

have a

it

is

o^SJnnpi tetsugaku.

Iziitsii’s

does not always entail contemplation. Nor does It is

— that

become key words

here and run through the whole of dbshihiko

experience.

to fru-

it

a resolute desire for a praxis that will deeisixeK’ destroy

the peace and tranqiiilih' of this beatific contemplation cism.”*^

philosophy.

mystical process

mean

that docs not

comprises the essence of mysticism

ition

in the

transcendent

own

basis of his

an essential clement

is

Phis

a Platonist.”*'

as also a declaration that the existence of a

Phat contemplatio

requires

nonmenal world.

described himself as “a Hellenist and xx

not a matter of

is

and gathering together

a retracing

intelligible or

of phi-

j^riinal activity

philosophy

this implies,

an act of recollection,

rememhranees of the

Izntsii

“

is

it

had called the

common

by the “mystic

He

is is

used.

not a genealogy of

that nnsties

must

self-discovery

follow,

and returns

called this the via mystica. In order to

understanding of the true nature of what he means

vx

ay,”

I

wonld

like to identify the

backgronnd of

sev-

phenomenal world and the Real World; the transcendental world or the nonmenal world; eral

key terms: intellect and sonl or

and

finally,

spirit;

the

anabasis (the ascent) and katahasis (the descent). Instead

of these words,

we might

use an ex]:)ression Izntsn wonld adopt later

on, “semantic artienlation.” Semantic antienlation was a concept that

wonld continue in his last

work

to live Isliiki

within

him

for the rest of his life.

Phis

is

clear

no keijijdgaku: ‘'Daijd kishinron” no tetsugaku

9

CHAPTER ONE

Metaphysics of consciousness: llie philosophy of the Awakening

(1993;

of Faith in the

theses is

Mahdydna),

vvh’ith in

mind)

(/b'

terminology, subject matter and

strongly reminiscent of Shinpi tetsugaku.

is

in the AvEc//:e/2//2g of Faith, the

ally ascribed to the Indian

would

I

like

you

of this

Buddhist

treatise tradition-

philosopher-poet Asvaghosa (ea 8o-cai5o).

Although the topic under discussion with here,

One example

which he discusses the consciousness of

the passage cited below, in

shin

its

to read

“d he important point ...

is

is

we

not the issue

are

concerned

taking note of the terminology.

it

that

a transpersonal,

it is

metaphysical

conscionsness-in-general, a purely intelligible body that has attained per-

enlightenment comparable with nous

fect

emanation theory

in Plotinus’

(an old-fashioned person might even call

it

a cosmic consciousness),

db

speak of a cosmic consciousness or cosmic enlightened body would be overly pretentions and passe,” Izntsn writes, and people today are not

such an

likely to readily believe in “the actual existence of

infinitely

vast,

transpersonal consciousness.”^^^ Although here he uses expressions

like

“an old-fashioned person” and “overly pretentions and passe,” in

the past he himself had often used the terms “cosmic consciousness”

and “cosmic enlightened body.” But or pure Intellect, was the

we

Indeed, were

be

fair to call

it

to liken a

that

is

not

all.

most important key word Shinpi tetsugaku

poem on

long epic

changing scene, going back

to the

Nous,

in

Intellect

i.e.

Shinpi tetsugaku.

to a fictional genre,

it

would

the subject of nous. Behind the

mythical period and passing

down

through d’hales, lA thagoras, Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Plato, Aristotle

and Plotinus, the true narrator

in this

tence that continues throughout,

“From

the

One

to nous,

soul descends, losing

its

is

work, the subjective voice of exis-

nous.

from nous

original divine

step the world, too, descends with

to the state of fallen souls, the

form

it.”"°

at e\'ery step.

Izutsii

is

And

at

even’

here describing the

place in Plotinus’ emanation theory in which he discussed the creation of

things.

all

fested

its

namely

is

tus. In

is

the

first

form

true aspect; this gradually changes to the

embodied ogy”

Simply put, nous

soul

its

in

which the One mani-

form

to the “fallen souls,”

“body-soul” or “embodied soul” of is

derived),

tbe aniina or psyche (from

and

it is

the present work,

distinct

we

from pure

will for the

10

human

beings.

which the word spirit,

the

“ps\’chol-

pneuma

most part use “soul”

An

or spiri-

to indicate

SHINIM I'KrSUC’.AKU: IIIK BIRI

the former and

“s])irit” for

the

II

OK

latter. In

A POKI -PHII.OSOPIIKR

Shinpi tetsugakii, Izntsn nses

the expression “s])iritnal enligiitenment” or “eosinie spiritual enlighten-

ment”;

this

is

an awakening of the

s])irit

and means something greater

than the w orkings of the sonl. I’he son! belongs to a j^erson and defines his/her indix idnalih

human

.

d’he

One;

the seat of the

S])irit is

it

proof that

is

beings were horn from the dVanseendent. lb borrow an expres-

sion from the philoso])her Katsmni d’akizawa (1909-1984), sonl and

inseparable yet nnassimilatahle, and in terms of the sn])eriorih’

spirit are

ot the spirit they exist in

an irreversible relation

one another.

to

lb read Sliiiipi tetsugakii j^aN’ing attention to the key is

to

he amazed

at

Real Wbrld, the

its

di\erse elassifieations.

nonmenal world,

of realms

phenomenal world,

the

the transeendental world eited above

work

are onK’ a few examples. d1hs

I’lie

word “world”

eoiild also he read as a diseiission

— Plato’s world of Ideas, of eonrse, the individuated world, the

sensible world, the world of sensible simnlaera, the true world, the truly real world, the inner ])svehologieal world, d’his existential ex])erienee of

the world as a striietnre wo\ en together out of man\' layers was prohahh’ enltiwited hv Izntsn’s daih’ meditation sessions with his father. Wliat he ealls the

“j^henomenal world”

though phenomena oeenr “realih

”

of these

“realih

”

imqnestionably

It

the world that

has been

made

I

lix

e in,

elear. d'he

exists Izntsn ealls the

in Rilke,

we

and

\’et

e\'en

world, he does not believe that the

in this

phenomena

was probably

is

w orld

in

whieh

“Real World.”

believe, that Izntsn

eneonntered

this

expression. In his hbrar\’ w'ere several old eopies of Rilke’s works. I’his poet,

whose personal

eentnr\’, was,

spiritual erisis refleeted that of the late

along with Mallarme, a poet

whom

nineteenth

Izntsn loxed

and one

whom he was strongly inflneneed. Rilke’s novel Die Aufzeichuungen des Make Laurids Brigge (1910; I he Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, by

1930)

is

nothing

less

than the reeord of a single sonl

row interfaee between the Real World

(Realitdt)

world iWirklichkeit). fake Izntsn, Rilke, too, feeling that the reality of truth Ishiki to

is

lix

ing in the nar-

and the phenomenal

w^as faithfid to his

personal

not revealed in this world. Later, in

homhitsu, Izntsn wonld note that Rilke was behind his use of

the expression the “Real World.”’'

The nonmenal

wi^rld

is,

as the

term suggests, the world over w hieh

nous, the Intellect, holds sway, and events transpire there that are

CHAPTER ONE

beyond the eonjeetures of the human mind. I1ie transeendental world is

term

a general

World or the nonmenal world. 1 he nou-

for the Real

menal world and the transeendental world both

nomenal world, and

in that

sense there

and the Real World. But the differenee rhetorieal device. Rather,

experience.

tive

sion. Just as in the

He

it

its

in

terminology

s

contempla-

uses just the right word for the topic under discus-

own dynamic

tiers

of heaven, Izntsn recognizes several different worlds,

persona.

I ’he pursuit of the via mystica

is

often likened to climbing, d he path

utterly annihilates the self

nonmenal world,

not merely a

is

reveals the suhtleh’ of IzAitsu

Dante depicted the ten

on which one

beyond the phe-

no differenee between them

is

one absolute and transcendental world,

each with

exist

and singlc-mindedly seeks the

Izntsn calls the anabasis, the ascent.

thoroughly accomplishes

this

world, hut must find his/lier

does not

live in

peace

A

person

nonmenal the phenom-

in the

way hack down once again

to

enal world and reproduce there the intelligible world’s ultimate Izntsn calls this path the katahasis, the descent.

aim

is

A mountain

not simply to reach the summit; s/he commits to

scenery seen there, and

when

s/lie

who

realih'.

climber’s

memorv

comes hack down, must

tell

the

others

summit may he enchantingly beautiful, hut to rest there would he only half the journey, d’hose whose eyes are so bedazzled by the extraordinar\' phenomena of the world of the ascent about

it.

Everything seen

that they

do not devote

at the

all

their energies into putting

what they have

seen to practical effect have abandoned the via mystica and deviated

abominably from

rectitude, d hat

nomenology of the mysteries ‘do

he addicted

to

is

why

Izntsn does not develop a phe-

db

or of mysticism,

linger there

meaningless child’s play”;" “to grow dizzy

zling brilliance” of the mystical experience “and he carried

bloated self-conceit and self-complacency”

is

is,

rather,

in the daz-

away hv

a

nothing short of a “heresv

against mysticism.”"’ Although the following passage was perhaps an

unwritten law for the sages of ancient Greece,

it

was also an expression

of the rules that Izutsu set dow n for himself throughout his

Platonic sages eternal

life

who

rise

own

lifetime.

above the present world and experience

must leave behind

serene contemplation, like

that mystic

realm of self-oblivion and

some deep limpid

12

pool,

and once again

SIIINI’I

TKTSIIGAKU:

I

IIK BIKI

II

OF

A POKT-Pl

1

1

1.OSOPI FK I

return to the present world, where they nuist untiringly build that eternal world.

A

jDerson

who thoroughly

and re\erentlv enters the

ex])lores the

world of Ideas

seeret inner ehainhers of transeendent

has the saered duty to eoine haek

down

ignite the flaine of transeendent life in

j^henonienal vxorld,

to the

its \'er\

life

midst and work

dili-

gently toward the idealization of the relatiye world.

It is

tic

not hard to find sentences like this in the chapter on the mys-

philoso])hy of Plato, the central essay in

states,

“K\ en though iny soul alone w ere

Sliiiifyi

tetsugaku.

sav ed, if the sonls

of

Ic also

I

all

other

people, without exception, were not saved, the work of the mystic

makes

vvonld not he complete.”"''' As this statement

clear, Izntsn

argued

tenaciously, w ithout fear of repetition, for the absolute importance of

Anyone who,

the katahasis in Platonic philosoj^hy. tion of contemplation, of one’s

own

at the

enlmina-

accord, breaks tbrongb tbe state

of silence and dedicates bim/herslt to the corrupt world in whieb live

— such a person Iziitsu writes

Ibshihiko Izntsn

for

is

we

a “mvstie.”

of the “mystic,” but in the mvstie coexist the ])rofonnd

thinker and the self-effacing j^raetitioner.

losophers were “activ

ists

who

lived in

Most of the prc-Socratie

phi-

complete accord with the vibrant

spirit

of their age; they were passionate practitioners inasmneh as to

think

meant

to act.

.

.

.

[Some] were great and vigorous warriors who

stirred the hearts of their

people and routed external enemies, or the

greatest statesmen of their age,

lawmakers

epoch-making revolutionaries,

for their native lands

eration of their country’s

who saw

the corruption and degen-

manners and customs and with the unre-

strained sincerity of patriotism resolutely stood

government.”"^ In short, “they were ophers.”"" As this suggests, the spiritual training rather

brilliant

than

a special quality of the soul.

all

mystics before they were philos-

word mystic

human

up and reformed the

is

an expression that implies

individuation, by

Mystics are not mystifiers,

which

men

I

mean

of manv'

words, clever rhetoricians expounding the mysteries. Mv'sties act before

they speak, d’heir earnest desire

is

not

to

are for salvation for everyone. Salvation

ultimate aim of Circek philosophy salvation of the soul.

is

is

propound any “ism.” Phey not a meta])hor here. I'he

not rational nnderstanding hut the

CHAPTER ONE

Izutsu’s father, Shintard,

he wrote about

earlier,

became

ill

and died

in 1944.

As was cited

he was “an unhappy, demon-

his fatlier that

man who knew to the very depths of his being this terrible di\'ision of the soul.” The following passage was omitted at the time Shinpi tetsugakii was reprinted. One cannot help thinking, however, possessed

that his

For tal

fundamental motivation

someone whose

soul has

for writing this

been rent

in

work

two by

is

this

inscribed here.

fundamen-

schism, one step upward toward the grace-filled light

is

simul-

taneously one step in a downward plunge into darkness, a tragic

eonsequence. As was only

inex'itablc

father’s pursuit of the

utmost

limits, for

contemplati\ e

him

it

to

life

be expected,

seemed

altogether, in other words, death

— even

of the vita contemplativa ought to have

when

m\’

have reached

to

meant, on the contrary,

just

up on

giN’ing

if

its

life

though the consummation

meant the consummation of

life itself“^

Death

And

one of the fundamental

is

yet in that work, there

issues dealt with in

always a dialogue with the dead. Death

is

and the dead are not the same. Death world, hut the dead are “the

Shinpi tetsugakii.

li\

is

an event

in the

phenomenal

When

ing” in the Real World.

Iziitsu

discussed death, he never forgot the dead, d’hat his father was always present in the background of these discussions can in doubt.

up

The

father

until his death

whose pursuit of ascetic

was the

first

somehow never be

practices continued right

“mystic” to appear in Toshihiko Izutsu

s

life.

At the time of writing Shinpi tetsugakii, Izutsu was suffering from tubereulosis and coughing

up blood

as

he wrote. Death was closing

in

on Izutsu himself.

rhe Sage of Stagira and the Sacred Philosophy

in

ancient Greece, Izutsu writes, was,

almost inextricably linked conviction

— that,

Greek philosophy religions

Duh

to the mysterion, the

at

its

inception,

mysten' religions. 1 his

rather than being a history of thought, the histon- of is

a profession of faith that originated in the mvster\-

— perxades Shinpi tetsugakii.

14

SIIINPI I'K'I’SUC’.AKU:

noted

y\s

that s/lie

w

earlier, the spirit

separated

is

rilJ-;

off, or, to

from the d ranseendent.

If

\\

RIR'I

OF A

II

which

itli

is

the

is

the act of

a j^rodnet of the

the sexenth eentnrx'

the

human

“the

it

One, who

the

rites that

a

huge

god, a foreign god from

imagination dreamed up hv the (»reeks

BCK. He

as a religions

race.

proof

Dionysus. Izntsn does not think that the god Dio-

to the north,

treats

is

key terms, artienlated

asi:)iring to

new

transformation with the emergence of a

and

endowed

primordial rcalitw CTreck spiritnalih' underwent

s])irit’s

was

s

is

c accept the implications of this idea, then,

eonld he said that spiritnalih'

insiis

a j)crson

use one of Izntsn

it

rhraee

I’OF r-l’IIII.()S()PllF,R

One

in

heliexcs in the realih of his existence

experience of a kind rarely cneonntered by

shonld also not oxcrlook the

accompanied the

worshij) of

he notes, that

fact,

Diomsns

in their original

torm” were “a kind of shamanism based on mass hallneination and extreme emotional excitement.””^^

d’his

means

experience of a primitix e euthousiaswos,

Toshihiko this-xx'orldly

is

i.e.

the

the root of philosophx’. is

utterly

profoundly interesting. In the age of mx th, the relation

sax e

the

human

for those xxho heliexcd in

end

lies at

shamanism,

ohserxation that Greek mythology

Izntsii’s

hehxeen humans and gods had not promise to

that

in this xxorld, the nexx'

him

little to

race.

do

But

xx

ith salxation.

this nexx'

d’he gods did

god proclaimed that

there xxas another xxorld. Life did not

god Dionysus

said; there xxas, in

Buddhist

terms, a higaii, an “other shore,” a xxorld of nirxana and enlightenment.

The Greeks had this

beliexed that the present xxorld xxas

god taught them that there “Dionysus! Inxoke the

xxas

name

another

xx'hole earth;

A

people, animals, trees, plants

passions xxonld surge

What

up

xve find

ised

xx

— all

sonl.”^’ d’he

salx

in eerie,

onld enx elop the things xx'onld be

and rim rampant

xx

xx

ild

ith horrific

here are sacrificial offerings, rapture, frenzy sure, this

god proclaimed

that there xxas another xxorld, but that did not

them “personal

it.

dark night of xxeird intoxication;

like a raging sea

and divine possession. Vo be

Cmeece

in a

bexond

mountains xxonld shake

storm of mysterious ecstasy

absorbed and united into one

poxxer.”'^°

orld

there xxas, but

of this fearsome god, and the trees

in the forests xxonld stir, the steep

unearthly rapture.

xx

all

to the

people ot

mean he prom-

ation” or “beatitude and the immortal itx' of the

ancient Cmeeks, xvithont any promise of fulfillment, xvere

searching for something that xvonld

15

fill

their inner hunger.

Wdien the

CHAPTKR ONE

new god manifested himself in the phenomenal world, this was surely the expression of a primordiaMmman aspiration for sah ation. Unable to find satisfaetion

ing a

life

from the gods of mythology, the C^reeks were seek-

on an “other shore,” eternal

life.

“As well as being able to provide a unique doetrinal strueture and

an organization eentered on seeret ceremonies and tion as the chief

god of the Orphic

rituals” in his posi-

Dionysus became “for the

cult,

time the god of a pan-Hellenic, other-worldly religion.

down much information about

not passed

An

early religious sect

hidden

in the

first

Historx’ has

the true nature of Orphism.

founded by “Orpheus,

T’hraeiau poet-priest’

‘a

deep mists of legend”^^ who came from

a foreign land,

it

believed in transmigration and the immortalih’ of the individual soul,

held secret ceremonies and preached that the path to eternal

bliss lay

in a life of asceticism.

Concurrently with the attainment of spiritual salvation, the concept of a spirit-flesh dualism emerged, and, eoneurrently with that, the ger-

mination of philosophy. In horn.

this brief

Not only were philosophy and

moment

was

in time, lA thagoras

religion inseparable, the

concept

of philosophy untinged by religion would probably have never occurred to

him. P\ thagoras was not alone

in

thinking this way.

I

was the true

bis

nature of philosophy throughout ancient Greece. “Philosophy was a

mystery religion on a higher plane,” Izutsu writes, “where

was

‘truth’

In postatized, so to speak, as a sacramental presence.”’’^

“Orphism-Pvthagorism,” spiritual

commimih'

in

were intimately related is

said to have

tiation, the

as Izutsu calls

which the Orphic to

first is

Parmenides,

intellectual speculation,

body and

katharsis

meaning

who ini-

purification,

of the present world”; next

filth

finally epopteia, “spiritual

purification of the mind,

three-step

to

sect

ladder by which the soul ascends in the mystery religions,

“abstaining from thought and

and

and the Pythagorean

been educated hv the Pythagoreans, Izutsu discusses

“sweeping away the emotional

tion”;

term, was a

in a single

one another. Referring

d’his ladder has three rungs: ’Phe

iiiyesis,

sect

it

becoming absorbed

and epopteia

is

Myesis

is

is

the

the overcoming of

entry into the mysteries. Phis

framework of spiritual progress

16

contempla-

enlightenment.” Katharsis

spirit.

adopted intact by philosophy, hut the

in

comes

final

iu the

mvsterv religions was

rung of the ladder, epopteia.

ihk birui of a poft-imiifosopiikr

SlIINPI rKrSU(;AKU:

“the culmination of the invstcn- religions,” l/.ntsn savs, “was the hegin-

ning of philosophy.”^^

If entr\’

into the mysteries through the j^nriheation

and annihilation of being was the end of religion, then

and elucidating point of It

we

praxis in the world

its

lixc in

rising ahox c this

heeomes

the starting

]:)hilosopln'.

was not

jnst the so-called pre-vSoeratie ]:)hilosophers

were predicated on

and

this fusion ot religion

remain nnehanged

right

down

])hiloso]:)hv.

whom

to Plotinus, with

whose

lives

I'hat \\c)nld

Sliiupi

tet-

sugciku concludes. I/.ntsn deserihes Plotinus as “the final s\nthesis of

Ionian natural mysticism and the spiritual mysticism of the mystery

was

religions.”’^’ Plotinus, too,

truth

and

be both an

likely to

iiujiiircr into

the

a priest.

Athens.” In the center stand two sages. robe and points to heaxen. I1ie other,

One

wears an orange-colored

dra]:)ed in bine,

makes

a gesture

with the palm of his hand as though ]:)nshing dow n the earth. Kaeh, so the interjDretation goes, resides. it

is

is

Phe figure pointing

confined

to the

making to

claim

a

heaxen

phenomenal

is

xxorld

for the

Plato; the is

place wiiere truth

one

insisting that

Aristotle. dVanslated into

historx-of-thonght terms, the painting depicts Plato’s theorx' of Ideas and Aristotle’s rejection of

it.

Because of the sheer greatness of their teacher, most of the students xxho gathered in the Aeademx', xxhich Plato founded, xxere too busy assimilating the thoughts he had passed doxxn and never considered

deepening those thoughts themselves, tory of philosophy tells ns, xvonld

Plotinus

600 years

later.

Most

d’his

have

aeeomplishment, the

to wait for the

histories of

appearance of

philosophy make note of the

time gap hetxveen Plato and Plotinus and attribute the reason Aristotle. Aristotle,

it

his-

for

it

to

has been argued, xxas the snhxerter of Platonic

philosophy. Aristotle “declared that he loxed his mentor hut loxcd the truth exen more.”^^ Phis eonx ietion

he

xxas in the

burned

Academy, the home of

xvithin

philoso])hy.

him from

It is

likely that Aris-

totle xvas xvell axvare of the tenacity of his oxvn skepticism,

same time he

also knexv

all

too

xxell that

master’s ideas xxonld not he easily shaken.

17

the time

hut

at the

xxPen challenged, his former

CHAPTER ONE

There

is

a flower.

People do not doubt their belief in

its

“reality.”

people pereeive with their

But

in Platouie philosophy, tlie things that

five

senses are regarded as merely eikones (illusions or images).

No

truly exists are the Ideas.

eannot be ealled

matter

how

really real {ontos on).

beautiful a flower

It is

eitizens, states or

even eoneepts sneh

many

rule does not ehange. As

may

be,

it

an ineomplete representa-

mere shadow of the Idea of blower. Be

tion, a

What

stones, people, kings,

it

as beanh',

eonrage, equal ih', this

Ideas exist as the

number

of beings.

And, Plato believed, the Ideas of all things ultimately eonverge on the Idea of Ideas, namely the Idea of the Good. Intelligibilih' of

moment?

human beings not mean that

see

and

ble.”5^

in

heaven?

why

Why

shouldn’t

feel? “If

Being

intelligible,

the Being of the heavenly world in

whieh we

truly,

in the

be lim-

now

world that

then that would

somewhere

tangibly live

is

far

away

intelligible; intelligible.

when ent would have to be thought would beeome Aristotle’s starting point.

raw being that bleeds

Th is

it

appear right

it

be realized

it

is

doesn’t

why must

world of being, the stuff of beeoming, must be

this tangible

real,

however, the Idealih’ or

ubiquitous, as Plato posits,

In short,

from the aetnal world

The

is

world of Ideas

ited to the at this

Being

If,

intelligi-

Certainly, Aristotle destroyed the “image” of Plato. But wasn’t this

image totle

a false idol of their

mentor

thatr the Platonists

had ereated?

was not the snbverter of Platonie philosophy. In

sees “a sineere Platonist,” his “Aristotle

was

a

most

pure mystie, no

faithful follower.^^

less so

Aris-

Aristotle, Izntsn

He

also states that

than either his former teaeher

mneh later disciple Plotinus.”'^® Izntsn was speaking of Parmenides when he wrote, “In the final analysis, metaphysics is theology,”'^* but he probably had Aristotle in mind at the time. The Plato or Plato’s

fundamental unity of metaphysics and theology was Aristotle, b’rom

its

a basic issue for

inception, Aristotle’s philosophy was nothing other

than “theology.” But the “theology” referred to here does not

human

mean

a

human beings. According to Shinpi someone who is entrusted bv tbe dVan-

understanding of “God” by

philosopher

tetsugakii, a

scendent with restoring templation,

precedes

it

is is

Its

is

true

image through wisdom. Theoria, con-

undoubtedly the path of ontological inquirv, but what an invitation from the Source.

It

resembles the act of

surrendering oneself totally to the beloved, Aristotle said, d’he

18

.\ristotle

SHINPl

to wlioni

“Ck)d.”

TF.

Ibshihiko

He

is

rSUGAKU:

TIIK BIR'I

In order to sa\e

human

1

1

1.OSOPl FK I

not an anaK

is

tic

student of

human

whieh

y\ristotle

with whieh

explains as an instine-

human

beings are endowed.

beings from eonfnsion and despair, Aristotle

helie\es, C^od implanted in

them

the instinct to lo\e; thus,

is

it

innateh’

beings’ true nature to seek the sonree of their being for

themsehes. Underlying

and

POF/F-PI

the praetitioner-tlnnker w ho loves him.

tive desire for the /Xbsolnte

lute

OF A

draws attcMition

Iziitsii

IzAitsn alludes to oreksis,

part of

II

Aristotle’s “theology”

is

his trust in the

his firm belief in a ])laee of repose.

It

ewen

maternal image of Cjod suggestive of Amida Nyorai

ealls to in the

of Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhism, d’he dnt\' of the nnstie

an understanding of God, not

in

is

Abso-

mind

a

teaehings

to arrixe at

order to give oneself np to the plea-

sures of the sweetly heantifnl experienee of di\ inih hut to prejxire for

the divine manifestation, \\ 1 iv? Beeanse

whieh

from

Aristotle inherited

it is

the mission of philosophy,

his teaeher, Plato, that

“one must never

stop until the benefits of personal salvation are shared by

and nltimateh' there Aristotle,

is

salvation for the entire

aeeording

eontemplation

is

to

human

the via philosophica. is

to

He

person of a

xx

less

transeend indix idnal limitations

praxis,

enthousiasmos it

a

“eosmie

than the “enlmination of the pragmatie

ho assumes upon him/herself the

human

raee.”‘^^

taught that the nltimate goal

and eonstraints and eventually make possible nothing

i.e.

a

people,

Toshihiko Izntsn, not only stated plainly that

of the eontemplatix e experienee

is

all

eosmie

eight of

xx

praxis.”'^^ If a

in the true sense, this

means

all

j^raxis.”

This

aetix ities

of a

beings hv

xx ax’

single being experienees

blessing for the xxorld.

Is

not possible to hear in these xvords the voiee of the prophet loudly

proelaiming the eoming of Jesns of Nazareth, or the transformation of

Shakvamnni

into the

Buddha,

in short, the sanetifieation of the

human

being?

d’he Poet In his

ment

Who

Prophesies

undergraduate days, Ibshihiko Izntsn belonged

to the

Depart-

of English Literature in the Faenitv of Letters, but o]:)inions

fer as to the topie

of his graduation thesis,

(1912-2000), w'ho later

flis

friend

heeame an Old 'Pestament

19

dif-

Masao Sekine

seholar, said

it

xxas

CHAPTER ONE

on Chaucer’s

former student and

literary shle; a

league, Hideichi Matsuhara self that a

it

U930-

),

was on William Morris.

said

In

later a uni\ ersit\' col-

he heard from Izutsu him-

any case, when Izutsu became

teaching assistant, he suddenly began lecturing on “the history of

Greek mystic thought.” on the campus

Ihifortunately, the nationalist trend of thought

whole

at the

time had

little

sympathy

reflections; in addition, relations

rapidly growing strained.

become

so tense that

their studies,

and

I

The

for

as a

such purely transcendent

US and Japan were home and abroad had

between the

situation at

most students were mobilized midway through

was forced

rhe reason the lectures

at

to interrupt

my

plans.

Keio Universih’ were discontinued was not

simply the intensification of the war. As can be inferred from “the nationalist trend of thought

on the campus

as a

whole had

little

sym-

pathy for such purely transcendent reflections,” pressures were brought to

bear that were hard to

as

one concept

resist.

Had he merely

dealt with “mysticism”

thought, however,

in the history of

it is

unlikely that

anyone would have

raised a fuss. Toshihiko Izutsu’s personal histor\' as

a practicing mystic,

which

tr\'

clearly evident in Shinpi tetsugaku,

made

may

If

we wish

and understand “mystics,” “we ourselves must penetrate

into the

already at this time ha\’e to

is

those around

him uneasy.

quiet depths of the mvsteries of the universe w ith the

same

insight that

they had and transform the condition of our

own

through the same experiences

not hard to imagine

as theirs.”"^’

It is

uttering words such as these from a lecture stand.

“God” of which

spiritual

awareness

him

During the war, the

Izutsu spoke was not an entity that the “nationalist

trend of thought” would tolerate. Izutsu received 110 training in philosophy at the universitv. Indeed, it

mav be

that this very fact

determined

rhere was, of course, someone zaburo Nishiwaki,

my

entire

life.”"^^

whom

whom

he described

A scholar

his intellectual

he called

as his

development,

his teacher, Jun-

“one and only mentor

in

of English literature, a philologist, linguist

and poet, Nishiwaki presumably

is

the person

who

gave permission for

the lectures that formed the basis for Shinpi tetsugaku. Nowadays,

“have become as gentle as a lamb,” but

20

at the

1

time he entered college.

SlllNPI rF/I SlK'.AKU:

I

HK BIR

I

II

OF

A

POF T-n

1

FOSOPI FR I

1

he was “truly cocky and conceited [and] looked down on most of the professors.”'^^

colloc|n\'

\\

Since

Iz.ntsn savs so hiinsclf, this

Shdtaro ^’asnoka as

ith

And according class, Izntsn made

to

Knglish

a

him, and he wrote his gcogra])hv exam Iz.ntsn

lie did so

had originally enrolled

ture

was

hceansc his father would not gi\c him

a path

had nothing

who

It

that

Keonomies

at Keio.

]:)crmissioii to

read Sdseki constantly,

enter litera-

only geniuses were allowed to j^nrsne; he ma\’ ha\e to

do

\\

ith his

esteems,”'^'^ Izntsn writes, ahilih’.

in kaiglish.

the F’aenlh' of

in

the Kaeiilh’ of Letters. lb his father,

it

he says he was “preth' wild”

\\cll,

Vasahnrd Ikeda (1914-1982), during an list of the teacher’s mistakes and handed it

at Mita."^^

to

])rohahly true. In his

is

I

le

“held me,

but that does not

had been the

son praetiee the niystie

son.

ease,

\\a\’

thought,

I

mean he

felt

low

in ver\-

son laeked

felt his

he prohahK’ would not lune made

from an

age. 1’he father

earl\-

who

his

foreed

him to enter the Kaenlh' of Keonomies may ha\ e exj^eeted that his son would he aetive in the business world like himself. After registration, when Izntsn sat in his assigned seat, Vasahnrd Ikeda sat next to him and Morio Katd (1913-1989) sat behind him. What the three had in eommon was that they had all enrolled in the Kaenlh' of Keonomies without any real interest the snhjeet and they

They

had

all

a passion for literature.

resoK ed to sw iteh to the Kaenlh of Letters.

in the

eeonomies faenlh' were

On

over, the three of

the day the exams

them went

abashi in Ginza and, from the top of the bridge, threw their

books on the prineiples of bookkeeping “into the that severed onr ties with

eeonomies once and

entered the Kaenlh’ of Letters.”^®

It

for all

series of short essays in

upon

work to

I

in talking

from

his return

at

and

in

and with

high

spirits

similar aeeonnts.

left

Iran, Izntsn

Keio Unixersih'. Kor

began

a

a

man who was

about himself, these form an interesting hod}’ of

that frankly retraced the course of his

Idyll” (deaehers, eolleagnes

and

leagnes. As for friends, however, the is

river,

Saushokuki (dVieolenr), the journal of the eor-

respondence eonrse division guarded

hea\'\’ text-

was no donht quite an exhilarating

and unforgettable moment; Ikeda and Katd both Korty-five years later,

muddy

to Snkiy-

life.

friends), first

to

In

one of

these, “Shi

he said he had no

eome

to

mind, he

Vasahnrd Ikeda. In the Analeets, the word translated here

leagne” means a seholarly eompanion, and “friend”

21

is

eol-

writes,

as “eol-

a elose friend.

CHAPTER ONE

When

Izutsu and Ikeda

met, the two of them “for some reason

first

were erazy about plnlosophy.'’‘Yasabnro Ikeda, who wonld himself

lish

as

an authority on Japanese folklore, was so passionate

about philosophy that he to ereate

left

Izntsn

mute with amazement;

an Ikeda philosophy one day,” he said

deeided on an Ikeda philosophy.”^' But of Professor

later estab-

after

am

“1

the time. “Yes,

at

making the

Shinobn Oriknehi, Ikeda suddenly turned

going I

have

aecjiiaintanee

his attention to

Japanese literature.

Yasabnro Ikeda and Morio Kato wonld both position his

among Shinobn

entourage as

at the

if

a

it,

is

something

a solitary oecnpation. d’hat

an early

age.”^“

a path that

a speeial

and Izntsn alone knoeked

door of Jnnzabnro Nishiwaki and beeame his student.

must he was

oeenpy

Oriknehi’s students. Baek then, they entered

being swallowed np by

groups. “Seholarsinp

at

later

He

hated

be praetieed by oneself alone;

to

was something

I

deeided

for

it

myself

As these words suggest, the eonvietion that seholarsinp

must be

travelled alone

and ought not

to

be pursued

in

group grew even stronger within him onee he met Nishiwaki. The

reason he did not

beeome

a follower of

“rigid collegial structure of

he had no

interest in

Oriknehi

Oriknehi

idolaters.”

Shinobn Oriknehi.

“I felt

s

was because of the

But that did not mean an indescribable awe

and fascination with Shinobn Oriknehi himself and the uncanny anra surrounded him.

that

...

He was

dangerous,” Izntsn believed, and

were dragged into Oriknehi’s “magic extricate himself.’^ ti\

circle,”

colloquy with haiku scholar Kenkichi

The

Shi no kokoro (1969;

even

after

becoming

Shinobn Oriknehi Oriknehi had

he wonld never be able

to

s

and became

Yamamoto

heart of poetry),

a “friend.” In a

(1907-1988) entitled

Jnnzabnro Nishiwaki said

his student, Izntsn not

lectures,

their respec-

he even continued

only kept on attending to tell

Nishiwaki what

said.

Izntsn had his

he

Thus, when the two of them had chosen

e paths, Ikeda ceased to he a “colleague”

that,

if

become aware

of Jnnzabnro Nishiw aki the poet during

middle school days. He loved reading Shi

poetics), the poetry

magazine

to

to shiron (Poetrv

which Nishiwaki contributed the

and dis-

cussions of poetry that were later published as Chogenjitsushugi shiron (1929;

On

surrealist poetry).

work makes one

feel

one

is

A

passage in the introduction to this

reading this poet’s confession, as

7?

it

were.

THE BIR H OE A POE -PIIIEOSOPIIEK

SIIINPI TETSIIGAKU;

“Discussing poetry

is

dangerous

as

I

I

as cliseussing Ciod.

l^’or all

eon-

eerned, poetics arc dogina.”'’^ riie \'arions sages

known

as the pre-Soeratie

philosophers arc not

the sole occupants of center stage in Sliiupi tetsugakii.

Cirecce

presented

first

of the h

rie

BCK.

w

clear ])rohlein heginning

itself as a

poets in the sixth eentur\’

“'I

.

.

None

.

of the

( wrecks

heodiev ith

the lyric

before the time

poets thought about” the fundamental problems of

As

existence.

this

passage makes clear,

it

human

was the poets Sapj)ho and

Pindar whose appearance proclaimed the dawn of philosophy. As

Xenophanes, who was prohahlv not

Izutsn’s favorite of all the ancient

might e\en be ealled

poets, he

mean someone who

a

]:)rediets

“poet-prophet.”

making

Ckeek

Izutsn does

it

If

oxereoming the limitations of

universal

and then fashioning

it

the beginning of philosoj^hy, then philosophx’

sub specie aeteruitatis

is

can certainly trace

origins to

its

B\- this

for

the future. Poets are nothing less than

those entrusted with the word of C^od. one’s indi\ idual experience,

in

Greek

lyric

poetrw Greek

Ivric

poems

were the “songs of realih.” Unlike the poets before them who sang of the gods and the polis, the lyric poets sang about the indix idnal realities

of “love,

pleasure, pain, agony and

joy,

phy, or, to put

it

anger.’’^”^

another w ay, poetry and transcendence

it.

Poetic theorv

The instant such theories are dogma. And vet, people still write them. theologx’:

to

If,

for

spirit

of this poet was passed

Fhe passage that follows Weather)

famous

at the

first

“like

an

*

poems

far

from perfect,

would achieve

its

pur-

directly to his student.

entitled “I’enki” (Fine

(1933), Junzabiiro Nishiwaki’s

gcin”

someone by

ith •

•

the day of the god’s nativih

d he group of

poem

were possible

poetry.

iij)tnrn’d

People are whispering w It is

the

down

beginning of Amhan^alia

book of Japanese

A morning

is

Izutsn, that

it

example,

praver, the ontological proof of transcendence,

The

one were

put into words, they lapse into

produee an image, even only an afterimage, though

pose.

if

with the same potential dangers as

filled

is

—

on dbshihiko

to deseribe Junzabiiro Nisbiwaki’s influence

would be

Poetry and philoso-

the door

'“8

.^

that follows Nishiw^aki entitled “Gjrecian lyrics.”

One cannot help feeling that, while

Izutsn was writing Shiupi tetsugaku.

2^

1

CHAPTER ONE

he was thinking of Nishiwaki

God

through words; put

Henri Bremond, that the nltimate

of letters,

this

who

at

the time. Poetry links

also a Catholie priest,

had

inflnenee on

a strong

a prayer with the flesh of logic in the

of use to

people. Such a person

posing

poetr\', ho\\ ever. If his

h

“The countless

everywhere

kinds of flowers that root.”^^^

ITe

first

all

is

hope

someone

is

that

he

will

it

not necessarily limited to com-

him a and philosophers who sprang up

destiny was to rnie, histor\’ called

tyrants, poets

in [ancient]

and man

prayer. This philosopher

is

who endows

rant.

it.

wrote about poesie pure, “pure poetry,” said

Poshihiko Izntsn. According to Bremond, the true “poet”

all

beings to

way, Izntsn wonld probably not deny

form of poetry

who was

human

Greece,” Izntsn writes, “were three different

blossomed

forth with the identical spirit at their

half of Shinpi tetsugaku, in addition to being a history

of thought, also contains outstanding discussions of poets and poetry.

“The

true successor to the spirit of Plotinus was not Proclns or

lamblichns but Saint Augustine,” Izntsn writes.

he

spirituality of

Plotinns did not end with the history of Neoplatonism;

onto the tree of

Ghristianit}',

he

was grafted

it

and flourished even more

says,

but these

d’his obseiA’ation accords with the facts of intellectual historv,

words also convey as follows. “I

merely

tion in

a different truth. Before this passage, Izntsn writes

myself

a Platonist, a

W^estern mysticism

Greece

greatly,

am

not a Ghristian; in terms of world view,

pure Hellenist, but

I

after all. Instead,

it

am

believe that, at least as far as

concerned. Platonism did not reach

is

I

attained

its

culmina-

its

nltimate state in Ghris-

The time when he was writing Shinpi tetsugaku period in which Izutsu came closest to Ghristian

tian contemplation.”^’

overlapped with the

thought, and, in particular, to Gatholie thought; so great was

ence that he had

to

denv

it

y

and sav

“I

j

am

influ-

its

not a Ghristian.”

ddie influence of Plotinus was not passed on to Proclns in

its

perfect

form, Izutsu says. Although he hardly ever mentions Proclns, the

latter’s

thought entered deeply into the thought of John Eriugena, the medie\al Ghristian

theologian to

whom

Izutsu frequently refers. Izntsn

course, aware of this fact. But were

we

to take his

and pass over Proclns, we would be overlooking the

words

at face

role that

is,

of

value

philosoplw

played in his time. Plotinns lived in the third centim’, a period of steady

24

SHINPI

I

THK RIR

K rSlIGAKU;

Christian expansion, and has

and

h\ ed in the fifth eentnr\’, eliaotie. In

ment

Oh A POK

I

-IM

works refuting

left

h\' this

1

1

1.OSOPI KK I

Cliristianih'. I^roehis

time the situation

to proteet C^reek jiliilosophv

As we ean see simjily from these the time

phil()S()]ih\’ at

In Procliis, or life

II

liad

heeoine more

from the eneroaeh-

of Christianity, he wrote I'hc Elements of Iheology and PIcitonie

I'heology.

of

an attempt

I

On

figure

da}’, his

was

emanated from

seemed

like falling

in

when

sax’

One

a halo of light it

is

lix'ing

is

had

died.

that eorreet?

he

as

more than an academic

not, a

if

It xx

ranseendent

xxas the d

xx

rote this hiograjihv the

discipline;

not

as

it

xx

ho

x

ear

onld hax e passed

xx

such an extent. Kxen

philosophy

as

is

Not enough time

he distorted

to

for his

around Proelns’ head

man. But

for the facts to xx

and sometimes e\en

simplx’ allegorieal, or,

through Proelns. Marinns

after his teaeher, Proelns,

that

written that he worshijijied Proelns.

Proelns xxhom the statesman xxorshipped; Itself

and the words

day the statesman Ilnfinns, know n

that the storx’

ease of the deification of a

manifested

sa\’s,

sjiread out like waxes,

the leetnre ended,

People todax’ might

about the

medieval monk/’“

that of a

with light, Marinns

month snow.

rites

jmhlie during a eelehration of Plato’s birth-

noble-minded eharaeter, saw spoke;

was synom inons with theologw

it

way reminiseent of

filled

his

they eonvey the status

Happiness, Marinns of Samaria w

of his teaeher in a

Wdien Proelns spoke

— that

titles,

in Proelns’ time,

it xx

as the study of a

praxis that prepares for the manifestation of the Intellect in the xxorld in xvhieh

xx

e live, d’he ])hiloso]:)her xxas also a

Shinpi tetsugaku ends

xx

ith a

shaman,

after

Not

just

begun. After

medium.

chapter on the mystic philosophx’ of

Plotinus. Blit the relationshij) betxxeen this sage

had only

a holy

Ishiki to houshitsu,

and d’oshihiko Izntsn

and more than forh

Shinpi tetsugaku, he xvonld once again discuss Plotinus that

he did not speak about Plotinus

in the interim, lie

haxe mentioned Plotinus by name, but he sj^oke about

x

ears

directly.

may

not

his thought,

d’oshihiko Izntsn’s interest in Plotinus xxonld continue right

np

until

his death.

Mitsuo Ueda and

Soctsii Yanagi

“Chrishia no shizenshinpishngi: Cirishia tetsugaku no tanjd” (CTreek

nature mysticism: I'he birth of (ircck philosophy), a discussion of the

25

CHAPTER ONE V

pre-Socratic philosophers, the sages

who

Greek natural

are ealleci the

philosophers, was inelucled aS'an appendix to Shinpi tetsugaku. originally hilt

when

supposed it

was

to

have been published

as a separate

It

was

monograph,

hpe-setting stage, the publishing eoinpany went

at the

who seooped

bankrupt. The person

it

up was Mitsuo Ueda, the

presi-

dent of Hikari no Shobo.

— being in

d’hc writing of the present book was not originally iny idea ill

my own

on

as this?

have contemplated undertaking

— blit spurred

fortune, this

Mr

work should

in

I

young people burning with

Dcda’s cnthusiastie

proceeded with the

some sense

Mr

for the entire

If,

by good

companion

metaphysics, and

able to continue this work in good health and bring

then credit

task.

ser\e as a useful

a passion for

I

work such

a large-scale

on from the outset by

support and encouragement,

to

how could

health and only too aware of iny ovmi incompetence,

achievement must go not

it

to

if

I

am

completion,

myself but

to

to

Ueda.^^

Izutsu’s gratitude to,

and reliance on, Ueda implicit

that “credit for the entire

achievement must go not

Ueda” probably ought

to

be taken

tence that precedes

that his

it

at face value.

It is

to

in the

statement

myself but

clear

to

Mr

from the sen-

encounter with Ueda was an important

turning point in the birth of Shinpi tetsugaku. Despite his

ill

health,

Izutsu set aside the parts that he had already written and began to write

the text afresh.

and the

wrote the section on pre-Socratic mystic philosophy

parts that discussed the mystical philosophies of Plato, Aristotle

and Plotinus

at this time.

Now adays, Ueda.

He

All that

few

if an\’

we have

works he brought out

people are likelv to

as the

to ha\'e ever

heard of Mitsuo

go on are Shinpi tetsugaku and the other

head of a publishing house; the books

he himself w rote or translated; and the few sentences Inagaki (1900-1977) discusses him. Nothing

background, when or where he was born, or

he translated include Kant’s Critique

of

losophy of Revelation^^ and Fechner’s also the author of Hariitonian

in

that

which Ibriiho

known of his personal when he died. I’he works is

Pure Reason,^'^ Schell ing’s Phi-

On

Life after Death.^^

He was

no nniishiki no tetsugaku (Hartmann’s

Philosophy of the Unconscious),

a

guide

26

to

Eduard von Hartmann.

rKTSUGAKU;

SIIINPI

t

ranslation

HK

RIR

II

I

OP A POK -PH l

on the part

tell

I.OSOi’l

I

KK

ot the translator. If a translator

and snhjeetively with the work s/he

tion” ean

I

the offspring of the marriage of eritieisin and a passion-

is

ate aet of reading

aetively

I

ns about the j^ersonalitv^ of

its

engages

translating, a “transla-

is

translator as effeetively as

an “original” work ean. Ueda’s Kant

most

limits of

a

is

philosopher

hnman

who

thoroughly explored the outer-

reason without denying the existenee of a tran-

seendental world. Sehelling was a nnstie philosopher

who was horn in nineteenth-eentnr\ physieist and later heeame a j^hilosopher.

Keehner,

a theor\- of re\ elation.

Cjermanv, started out

as a

The hook Lleda translated uas

his

most important work;

ing philosojdiieal study on the dead, \\orld. agi,

Feehner had an inflnenee

and

his

name

“imeonseions”

appears

differs

a reelnsix e thinker

who developed

many

it

groundbreak-

was widely read thronghont the

as well

on the young Sdetsn Yan-

times in '^anagi’s works. Hartmann’s

from the nneonseions

who

a

He was

in ])svehoanal\’sis.

taught that eonseionsness and nneonseionsness

existed even in the eosmos.

Ueda’s publishing

aetix ities

ean he ronghlv divided into two peri-

managing the )apanese Assoeiation of Seienee and Philosophy (Nihon Kagakn Yetsiigakkai), whieh he began shortly after the war ended in Nagano, to whieh he had evaeiiated for safety reasons; and managing Hikari no Shobd between 1947 and 1949 after his return to

ods:

dbkvo. His relationship w

ith Izntsn,

of eonrse,

eame

after the latter

started up. Before that, aeeording to ’Parnho Inagaki in k)'oku (1968;

dbkyo

fiigne),

Ueda

had

Tokyo tonso-

ran a small flying sehool on reelaimed

land at Snsaki.^’^

On

the eolophon to Shinpi tetsugaku, in addition to tlikari no

Shobo, whieh was

entities responsible for

Kyodan-Shinpido), the “Philosoj^hy Alonasterx

and the “Logos Free University” these

as the

“planning and pnblieation” were the “Reli-

gions Order of the Philosophie Way/Mystie

for all three

names given

listed as the distributor, the

was identieal

(L.ogos

to that of

somewhat puzzling names,

order. First, the “Religious

I

Jiyfi

likari

Way”

” (

(d’etsngakiido

Petsiigakn Shfidoin)

Daigakn).

I'he

address

no Shobo. do understand

a bit of explanation

is

perhaps

in

Order of the Philosophie Way/Mystie Way.”

Phis organization was formally registered as a “religious order,” or

27

what

CHAPTER ONE

today would be called a “religious corporation.” To

belonged the

it

“Philosophy Monastery” and’ the “Logos Free Uni\ersity.” entity tie

was clearly the “Religions Order of the Philosophic Way/Mys-

Way.” The other two were educational

among them might he and

Phe relationship

facilities.

easier to understand by analogy to the relation

between Sophia Uniyersity Jesus,

The main

in

Tokyo

to

its

founders, the Society of

that of the Jesuits as a religions order to the

Roman

Catholic

Church. Mitsno Ueda did not use these specific names

Phe

first to

be founded was

right

no Shoho. Phe

Ilikari

from the

entity responsible

planning and publication can he ascertained from the

for

start.

first

yolnme

came

of Sekai Tetsngakn Koza (Lectures on world philosophy), which

out in

December

name

of the Japanese Association of Science and Philosophy, which

1947. At

Nagano

dated from the

first,

the planning department used only the

period. Phe Logos Free Uniyersih’ was added

the following year, although Ueda’s plans for

wartime stay

in

were supposed \yas

begun

ume.

as a

Nagano. Mitsno

PJeda’s

it

also date

achieyements

planned nineteen-volnme

In the end, however, the

set pins a

to his

as a publisher

converge on the Sekai d’etsngakn Koza

to

hack

series,

which

snpplementarv’

v

ol-

volumes were published out of seqnenee

and ended with volume fourteen, Shinpi tetsugaku. Only about half the planned works were published.

The

first v

olume of

Fnsho Kanaknra’s Indo

Tsntomn

Iwasaki

s

the series was a composite work containing

tetsiigakushi (Flistory of Indian philosophy)

and

Girisha tetsiigakushi (Historv’ of Creek philosophy).

Paisho Kanaknra (1896-1987) was an anthoritv' on ancient Indian philosophy, and "Psntomn Iwasaki (1900-1975) was an outstanding scholar

of

Creek philosophy,

Tetsugaku

iii

philosophy). it

was

much

okeru sukui no mondai (1982;

Although loved by

its

to

The

his historv' of Creek

author, and

important hook. Toshihiko Izntsn

hack

A posthumous

especially Aristotle.

s

sometime before May 1948

philosophy

many people the

latest.

his

is

question of salvation in

He

is

a short work,

consider

relation with Hikari at

work of

it

his

most

no Shoho dates

contributed Arabia

tetsugaku (Arabic philosophy) for volnine five of the series, which was

another composite work that included Bukkyd tetsugaku (Buddhist philosophy) written by Ilaknjn Ui etal.~'

28

SHINPI iKTSUGAKU; TIIK BIRTH

was

It

just

around

this

Kagaku

began. At one time d’arnho lodged

him

as the

head of the

larnho would

later

w

difficult to

it

1

1

1.OSOPI KR

Philos()])hy

(

Ueda

journal that llcda published, lie sent

Since he was finding

A POT, T-IM

I

time that daruho luagaki hv chance

across a co]dv of retsugaku to

shi])

()!'

nniversitv’s

a letter,

came

and Science), the and

a close friend-

the Logos k'ree Universih’.

at

make

Ueda

a living,

em]:)loved

Astronomy Department. Of Ueda,

rite that a ])ereci)ti\c

gentleman coexisted w

ith a

charlatan and a boorish h rant. larnho was slow to get started on the

work he promised, however, and Ueda short time later, kicked

him

lost

patience with

him and,

seem

let

out. 'rarnho docs not

to

have

a

him-

selt

be carried awav hv emotion when speaking about Ueda, however,

and

his

aeconnt of him appears

May

In

1949,

when

the second

the Critique of Pure Reason ph\- Monaster\’, \\^a\’”

an

he impartial.

to

affiliate

came

volume of Ueda’s

out,

suddenly the

translation of

name

“Philoso-

of the Religions Order of the Philosophic

(dAtsngakndo Kvodan Shozokn Petsiigakn Shnddin) began

to

be

used alongside the Logos Free Universih’. d’he ]:)nhlieation of Shinpi tetsugaku occurred four

phy

series

months

was not published

later,

d’he lectures on world philoso-

for the general public.

“seminar teaching aids” suggests, they were meant rials for

an exception. To he more precise,

no Shobd and the other

which was this

for the

covers were slightly different. T his fact

mind

to

he teaching mate-

the Logos Free Univ’ersih* and meditation guides for the Philos-

ophv’ Monasterv. Shiupi tetsugaku,

Uikari

As the description

also sold as a book,

book had two

editions,

one

was for

Philosophy Monasterv, and the tells

ns not only that in Ueda’s

there was a clear distinction between the two but also suggests

the strong feelings he had for this work. File original

might seem that

to

works and translations by Mitsno lleda cited above

be the

were distributed

sum

total of his

output, but there arc also writings

free of charge or available only to students attending

seminars on the world philosophy lectures. “‘Jnnsni shnkyo’: tetsngakndo

What other

is is

a

that

1

have, one

is

shinpido wa nani ka?” (“Pure religion”;

the Religions Order of the Philosophic

Way/Mv stie WAv?

the

“Sekai d etsngakn Roza i4kan, i5kan, shfido shidoshn” (Lectures

on world philosophy, is

•

Of the two

pamphlet

filling

vol. 14

and

15, a

practical guide.” “‘Jnnsni shnkyo’”

up around seventv pages of fine

29

print that

might well

CHAPTER ONE

be called the religious corporation’s manifesto. In

it,

under the headings

“Rules of the ‘Religions Order of the Philosophic Way/Mystic Way’” (six is

chapters and

and “Structure of the Religions Order,”

21 articles)

a discussion of

its

system of spiritual practices; the teaching of the

Hmayana and Mahayana schools of Buddhism and a guide to practical training in the mysteries. The latter work is a guidebook hv Mitsno Ueda to dbshihiko Izntsn’s Shmpi tetsugaku and Eijiro Inatomi’s Purotinos no shinpi tetsugaku (Plotinus’ philosophy of mysticism).^* More than nineh’ percent, however,

This

is

is

given over to an examination of Shinpi tetsugaku.

not a simple summary. Although

detailed discussion of

it

He

act of truly “reading” ancient

and passionately

states positively

Greek philosophy

is

is

both

that the

in itself directly linked

philosophic way.

Ueda

In “‘Jnnsni shnkyo,’” gion.”

impossible to go into a

here, Ueda’s reading of Shinpi tetsugaku

accurate and existential.

to the

is

it

It is

“the effort by which

defines what he

God, who

he God, who

is

in

pure experience,”

arable from “God.” Religion

is

means by

is

an absolutely apophatie also the “I”

who

is

is

insep-

the act of affirming oneself through an

absolute negation while attempting to return to one’s pure

statement

“reli-

pure experience, ‘attempts

is

himself by affirming himself

to return to

way.’” “1

first

state.

Ueda’s

hard to understand without presupposing his firm con-

viction that, in a

fundamental sense, there

is

no separation between

God and humankind, that human beings exist within God. Greation for God is always an internal act. People are not horn from God and exist in a world somehow external to him; human beings always remain within God. Gonseqnently, thing that

is

humankind an

instinct,

An used is

in

finally is

Ueda

believes that, rather than being some-

achieved as the result of

effort, a “religions” act for

Aristotle’s act of oreksis, discussed earlier, in other

an innate cra\

ing.

“absolute apophatie affirmation”

Shinpi tetsugaku.^'^

also cited in Ueda’s

words,

The

is

an expression that Izntsn

relevant passage from Shinpi tetsugaku

account of

it.

That

is

not

all,

however; a single

reading will clearly confirm that hook’s influence everywhere in this

pamphlet.

When

defining “pure religion”

Ueda

writes that

it is

“the act

of experiencing the pure essence of religion and worshipping the pure

essence of

God and Buddha.” Running

through

this small

booklet

is

SHINPI TF/rSlK’.AKU: rilK hiri n of a pof/i -piiii.osoimifr

both the extraorclinan lament of a

j^ersoii

w ho had w itnessed firsthand

the moral deeay of existing religions and the profound reverence and

longing for the Absolute of a “I'Vom the time

1

has seen the light of salvation.

began middle sehool, m\' heart was ablaze with

Ueda

the quest for Ood,”

man w ho

writes in ‘“)^msni shfikyd’”; he studied at a

Buddhist uni\ ersit\- hut was unsatisfied, attended

and

knoeked

later

at the

door of Shinto.

“1

a Christian uni\ersih-

also studied the esoterie reli-

gions of India, Persia, Arabia and Creeee, read thousands of xohnnes

on

philoso])h\-

and

from Japan and abroad, undertook

religion

other austerities, and for these past fortv long years [did

all

1

and

fasts

eould

to

aehie\e] true belief.” d'he “religion” that he finalK' found was “philos-

ophy”

in the true

seeker of sanetify.

opens the wa\'

to

sense of the word. Isn’t it

our own day, lleda

it,

religious person

is

not the only

rather, the philosopher in the true sense

people?

for ordinar\’ says,

A

it

will

manifest

phy” that seeks an awareness of

If

“j^ure religion”

itself in

is

who

possible in

the form of a “])hiloso-

“jMire essenee.” Setting aside his

of expression, Ueda’s \’iews on the diseonneet between vation shed light on a fundamental problem that

mode

dogma and

sal-

irtually all religions

\

ine\ itahly share e\’en today.

W

hat ought truK' to he helie\ed, rather,

explains the transeendent unity of

W hat

by that primal unity.

ophy”

in

its

losophers

makes

all

religions

this clear

is

“dVadition,”

is

and

is

nothing

true sense, philosopliia pereiiuis. d’here

who made

just

such

a claim.

whieh

direetly re\'ealed less is

than “philos-

group of phi-

a

Called the Perennial sehool,

it

included such key figures as Rene CAienon, Frithjof Schuon and Ananda

Cuenon, died in 1951 not too far removed from the period in which Ueda was acti\’c. Of course, there was no eommunication between Ueda and the Perennial school. But would like to

Coomaraswamy.

Its

founder,

,

I

think here.

it is

possible to recognize a manifestation of the Zeitgeist at w ork

Among

one who,

the adherents of the Perennial school,

like

Mitsuo Ueda, formed

a faith-based

Schuon was someeommunity hound

together not just by religion hut by true philosophy,

i.e.

metaphysics,

d ’his sehool of thought has not yet been adequately studied in Japan, hut

today

its

ideas have spread throughout the world, permeating not only

the three major religions hut also the realms of psychology and the

Seen

in this light, the significance of

Ueda’s

efforts

is

arts.

worth discussing

CHAPTER ONE

as

one current of thought

happened Mystic

is

Way

what

in the intelleetual history of Japan. Just

Way/

unclear, hut the 'Religious Order of the Philosophic

ceased

acti\ ities

its

not long after the distribution of these

pamphlets. It

should he obvious even from external circumstances

time, Ibshihiko Izutsu was strongly sympathetic to Mitsuo ities. It

was Ueda

of scholarship,

s

Ueda

s acti\’-

firm belief that, before “philosophy” was a branch

was

it

that, at the

toward the noumenal

a spiritual practice directed

world and inseparable from the problem of salvation. I’hese ideas also

comprise Izutsu It

was mentioned

tery religions to the

core values as expressed in Shinpi tetsiigaku.

s

and

earlier that

philosophy had

origins in the mys-

its

from “C)rphism-P\’thagorism” and Plato down

that,

time of Plotinus, philosophy was

form of

a

spirituality rather

than an academic pursuit. Around the year 528, the emperor Justinian expelled pagans from public office. In the following year, he banned the teaching of philosophy, and the

Academy, which had carried on

Kven before

the Platonic tradition, was forced to close.

Pheodosius

I

promulgated an imperial

this

it is

time.

was

it

was banning Cbristianih ’s greatest

perhaps possible

Greek philosophy

to

in his

in those days

was not

biography of Plotinus

opher that we have today; he w isdom.

is

a sacred

What Mitsuo Ueda was

spiritualih'.

It

was not

to

be a

or doctrinaire way. Wliat he

not merely

threat.

surmise the status of “philosophy”

a “religion” in the highest sense of the

Porphyry gives

had become

Roman Empire. The empire was

the state religion of the

suppressing thought;

edict, Christianih'

392, the year

revix al

the

The

it

description that

not the image of a philos-

medium,

attempting

at

a scholarly subject;

word. is

Erom

a

shaman

do was

to

filled

to re\’ive

w

ith

Greek

of Greek philosophy in a nostalgic

wanted was

modern worlds

to repair the

severed relation between salvation and the intellect. d’oshihiko Izutsu wrote Shinpi tetsiigaku while literally “coughing

up

blood.”^"^ d’he

that this

author and the publisher were both presumably aware

might be Izutsu

s last

work. Nevertheless, “an

announcement

of forthcoming publications” has survived that attempted to deny this possibility Shinpi tetsiigaku

had been planned

\blume one was

part”;

part,”

“d'he

Greek

volume

tw o

as a

was

three-volume

to

set.

be ‘“Phe Hebrew

namely the w orld of Judaism; and volume three was supposed

to

SHINI’I

I

KTSUGAKU:

be on Christian mysticism. that Izntsn

I

TIIF,

BIRI

11

OF

A

I’OF'I'-IMI

hc annonneement

I

FOSOPI FR I

c|n()tccl

below indicates

had not only begun writing but bad already composed

mannseript of considerable length.

wording

I’lie

is

likely to

a

be Mitsno

Ueda’s.

author has comj^lctcd noIhiuc one (d'hc (ircck part) and

I'hc

is

braych’ denoting himself, despite his ailing body, to writing an enor-

mous mannseript some thousand pages long

for

Hebrew

gem

part).

Vbhnne

tv\o

promises

to

be

a

volume two

(d’he

of a work in an

unexplored realm of seholarshi|), depleting the majestie landseape of the spiritual histor\’ of

w

the

ith

this

Hebrew nwstie philosophy. The work begins

Old I'estament

belief in a personal Ch)d

powerful strain of Hebraie mystie thought e\entnalK’

eonfliet with the

and

finalh’

im stieism

in the

beeame reeoneiled w ith

it,

gi\

deeisi\’el\’

vi\ idly

him

reveals his

own experienees

and the passionate

as a mystieal existenee,

eall

and never

sophica.

A

third

volume

of

in

commen-

the author of this work, however, through his superb

stv le

loftv’,

of

exis-

of the soul that blazes stops until

the reader, unawares, enter the eestatie realm that

The

unified

mvstieism of St Augustine. Most of the hooks on philosophy

tential self-awareness ithin

it

of Philo of Alexandria and in Christianih' to the mystieism

seholarly exposition,

w

in

ing rise in Judaism to the

eonntry are merely philologieal studies or impersonal

taries;

eame

Coeek thought of volnine one, struggled against

of the Apostle Paul, until the\' are nltimately and

this

and deseribes how

is

he has made

the via philo-

to follow.

many

contents of this blurb were probably passionately disenssed

times by

Ueda and

Izntsn. d bat does not

mean

that the author’s “ailing

body” was the only hurdle facing the publication of the second voliime. As was mentioned

earlier, shortly after the publication of

sugaku, flikari no Shobo went bankrupt, but the

was the intellectual starting point the twentieth century

PAen

if

is

for a

verv’ hict that this

philosopher

proof of the snreness of

Shiupi

who would

tet-

work

define

this publisher’s eye.

the activities of the Philosophy Monasterv’ had continued,

however, the honeymoon between Izntsn and Ueda seems unlikely

have lasted long. Izntsn did not approach religions

in a synerctie

to

way;

CHAPTER ONE

thought would deepen and evolve

his

in the direetion of finding

mean-

ing in their differenees ratherihan seeking their primal unity. “Right

work [Shinpi tetsugaku] an imexpeeted

after the pnblieation of this

event oeenrred, and the publisher went bankrupt,” Izntsn would later write in the foreword to the revised edition. “For that reason, fortunately or unfortunately,

my

plans sadly

fell

throngh”^^ Idle expression

“fortunately or unfortunately” indieates that in the not-too-distant future the differenees between the two

obvious to ignore. Yet even

if

that

is

men would

true, the faet

have beeome too

remains

that, with-

out Ueda, Shinpi tetsugaku would not have seen the light of day. the ailing Izntsn had not

met

this

remarkable person and told him

If

his

dreams, he might never have taken up his pen.

When

Shinpi tetsugaku was published, an authority

losophy said that the work overly “mystieized” Greeee.

been written,

speeialists

works, too, eontained tion.

Idle

I

in

Greek

phi-

lad the sequels

might similarly have eonelnded that these

many

misinterpretations and leaps of imagina-

unpublished mannseripts of the sequels have not yet been

found. But fragments of them ean be seen in sneh works as “Shinpishngi no erosnteki keitai: Sei Bernnarn-ron” (1951; d’he mystieism of St Bernard),"^ the disenssion of the

Qabbalah

and “Ghnsei Yndaya tetsngaknshi

okern

ni

in Ishiki to honshitsu,

(Reason and

keiji to risei”

revelation in the history of medieval Jndaie philosophy) in Choetsu no

kotoba (1991; Traiiseendental

WORDs),^^

the last work to be printed in

his lifetime.

In Shinpi tetsugaku, Toshihiko Izntsn ealls the philosophers’ jour-

ney the via mystica. key term and

I

he

first

to distinguish

it

modern Japanese elearly

thinker to use this as a

from “mystieism” was,

I

believe,

Soetsn Yanagi. In a work from his earliest period entitled “Soknnyo” (Implieitness), Yanagi alluded to the evils that “isms”

have given enrrency for the

the ill

For Yanagi, “implieitness” was another

name

transeendently Absolute. “Ideology has been the dow nfall of

arts.

its

to.

— ideologies —

For religion as well, seets have led

Form

ways.

break dow

11

“and come

restricts

x

italih.”

We

it

to

beeome

must “go beyond

rigid

all

and

set

mediaries,

the obstacles that interpose themselves,” Yanagi writes, in direct

contact with implicitness.”^^

>4

Yhe

disenssion in

SIIINPI

explieit. I’here

“inystieism”

in

KTSU(;AKII: TIIK HlR'I

no beninci” (Apologia

“Sliinpiclo e

teinpt with

I

is

il

POF/I’-I’IIII.OSOPIIFR

for the via luystica)

even more

is

ean be no doubt, Yanagi argues, that the expression

bv nature a “w ord that shows signs of the feelings of eon-

whieb

scoffers

its

have endowed

the true nature he was born with, be

words,

OF A

we must be

“einanei])ated” from

is

“When

it.”'^‘^

person

a

naturally a inystie”;^° in other

all

the restrictions that pnll one

person away from another and impose a separation from Ck)d. this

path the

A

list

“v/c/

has been compiled of roshibiko Izntsn

its

le calls

truth),

souo

to

which contains the two works

God)^“ and Shukyo no

three volumes are

all

rikai (1929;

as a religions

in the early twentieth-eentnrv literary

(White Birch School) and before

we

and which

just cited

Kami

Understanding

ni tsuite (1923;

religion).

'These

in

which Soetsn

a

man

philosopher and

group known

it

shiiiri (ic)2o; Reli-

works that date from the period

Yanagi was recognized

From

librarw^'

s

Izntsn seems to have read in his youth, as well as

On

1

mystica.”

ean confirm the presence there of Shukyo gion and

lives

as the

of letters

Shirakahaha

his disco\ery of mingei, folk art, for

w hich he has since become well known. Izutsn, who moved frequently across national borders, eidled his hooks from time to time.

record in the

list

even

for

many of the works he

There

is

no

reportedlv loved reading

by the Catholic philosopher Soichi Iwashita (1899-1940), Thomistic scholar Yoshihiko Yoshimitsn (1904-1945), poet Akiko Yosano (1878-

and novelist Nohiihiko Murakami (1909-1983). The works of Soetsn Yanagi probably had a special significance for Izntsn. The three 1942)

volumes mentioned above were In the entire

all

old hooks published in the 1920s.

works of Toshihiko Izntsn, the

appears only once. But

I

name

of Soetsn Yanagi

believe that the infliienee of Yanagi’s early

works on Izntsn should not he overlooked. The two

men were

to a

surprising degree closely akin, beginning with the assertion running

throughout Shiiipi tetsugaku that philosophy and the pursuit of truth are inseparable,

and extending

to their intellcetiial outlook, subject

matter and terminology. This “kinship” does not

mean

“similarih” but a resonance that occurs between peers.

what 'Thomas Aquinas

analogia

entis,

It is

not unlike

an analogy of being.

Namuamidahutsu (1928) and his works on Ippen Pure Land saints known as mydkdniu (1955 and 1950),^'^ Soetsn

As can he seen

and the

calls

a superficial

in

35

CHAPTER ONE

Yanagi was also an outstanding interpreter of Bucldhisin

— so

inueh

so that Daisetz Suzuki tried to entrust the eolleetion of his personal library

and

writings, the

Matsugaoka Bunko,

understanding of religion was not limited

was the ease with Izutsu, Yanagi was

to Yanagi’s eare. Yanagi’s

Buddhism, however. As

to

who

a thinker

had

also

a

understanding of the thought of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu,

i.e.

ism, and Confueianism. Speaking of the Confueian elassie,

Yung

mean), Yanagi writes that

(d’he doetrine of the

We

religion rather than morality.

it

is

can find the same view

unique Tao-

Chung

hook on

a

in Izutsu’s

major English-language work, Sufism and Taoism (1966-1967). Yanagi, too,

up

to

discussed Sufism, or what he called “the via mystica of Islam,”

and including the Persian mystic poets

essay,

“Shujunaru shukyoteki

Rfiiiu

1

He

who

s

existential interest in

German

the medieval

mystic Mcister Eckhart and

Suso and Tauler, and concludes with John of the Cross,

when Shinpi

new foreword

in

was meant

part.”

tetsiigaku

was republished, Izutsu wrote

which he reminisced about

to follow

cited earlier, was

volume two, which,

supposed

He planned

as described in the blurb

have been published

to

to write that

ment, reaching ticism of love,

its

and

culmination

“Greek mysticism

in

Our

its

such had not true develop-

especially.”

Looking hack from

time he had been “possessed by a highly tendentious

interest, rather,

is

is

not whether the notion was “tenden-

in his

mind

admission, he describes his younger self significance to

as

“Llebrew

howe\ er, he could not help thinking, he

iew.”^^ d’he issue for us here

tious.”

as the

Spanish Carmelite Order’s mys-

John of the Cross

his present-day \'antage point,

said, that at the

in the

a

his plans for the sequel

ended, but had entered Christianity and undergone

\

his

carried out the reform of the Carmelite Order.

In 1978,

that

And

begins with Augustine, touches upon John Eriugena,

homas Aquinas,

his disciples

JaiuT.

hitei” (1920; d’he varieties of religious

negation ),”^^ personally conveys Soetsii Yanagi Christianity.

and

shamanism

at the

time when, by his

who had

own

attributed a positive

as “possessed.”

Only the name of John of the Cross

is

cited in the sentence above,

but d’homas Aqui nas and Eckhart are mentioned se\eral times in

Shinpi tetsiigaku, and there are also

^6

many

references to Eriugena.

SHINPI

I'K/rSlIGAKlI: IHF,

BIR

OF

II

I

A POF'l -l’lllI.OSOI’IIFR

Soetsu Vanagi uas also fond of Ifriugcna; his discussion of

this thinker

dates hack to thirh' years before Sliiiipi tetsugciku was published. Philos()j)hy

not a matter of understanding universal truths by

is

arguments.” \Miat must he examined, Yanagi

perament,” is

it

mental disposition that cannot

casil}’

personality Rather,

is

a

it is

a

nnahle

do

to

that reason,

so.

It is,

to spirituality

as Aristotle explains, a

temperament

danagi believes that

not

kAcn

kind of instinct,

it

is

easts

its

whole world

f or

d’he h\ o

he considered

men

colored by the

not logieal thought that turns into light and

flame. These words of Yanagi’s also

is

ow n eoloring on the w orld.

illuminates the four eorners of the earth;

a

seem

to

group

it is

temperament

that

is

the

be discussing Shiiipi tetsugciku,

portrait of

temperaments.

are also similar in their eireumstances. Sdetsii d'anagi

was both an outstanding religious philosopher and art,

is

w hile logic does not define temperament, temperament

eolor of a flame,

of folk

It

seeking the d ranseendent, s/he

to stojD

requires logie. Moreoxer, “just as the

which can

i.e.

he changed from within.

term that comes close

person u ould prefer

kisliitsu

inelndes the meaning of an ingrained

nature or character, for Yanagi

though

an understanding of the

to

Usually translated into Jaj)anese as

'^’anagi.

“individual tem-

is

an individuars nature or disposition.^” “d’em|)crament”

i.e.

an expression that would become key

young

says,

way of “logical

a thinker in the area

but he was also a praetieing sage in the sense Izntsu

dis-

eussed in Shinpi tetsugaku, namely a kind of mystic. “Thinking about

God

is

the

same

as

God

thinking.

“God hungers

Yanagi writes.

of an overflowing

spirit

is

tieal

experienee for him

than

God

seeing God.

for

see

God

in

God’s own heart,”

man; man hungers

the eall by is

We

whieh God

for

ealls God.”’"^'^

not a person seeing God;

What Yanagi

God. d1ie

it is

The mys-

nothing

eonsistently emphasizes

eall

is

less

the true

siibjeet of the mystieal experienee.

“Shizen shinpishugi no eism), w'hieh

is

the

tetsugaku, was the

most profound was

title

first

shiitai” (d

of the

theme

first

he subject

in

nature mysti-

ehapter in the appendix to Shinpi

in Iziitsii’s study of CTeek philosophy,

truth that Iziitsn discovered in Sdetsn Yanagi,

I

khe

beliexe,

his discussion of the snbjeet of the mystieal experience, d'he true

experienee of the mysteries

is

not a unique ex]:)erienee of the

intellect; rather, Izntsn wTites, “it

is

human

the self-awareness of the absolutely

CHAPTER ONE

rranscendent suddenly manifesting is

human

not

view

The its

following

source

Tea.”

I

is

cite

is

clearly

when

its

subject,

found

it is

at the

same abbreviated form

in the

d’hey saw; before

all else,

he

asserts,

itself.

This

Izntsn deals with Islam.

from Yanagi that Izntsn

a passage

not mentioned, it

and

beings but rather'the absolutely Transcendent

emerge more

will

itself,”^®

they saw.

cites.

Although

beginning of “The

Way of

as Izntsn did.

They were

able to see. Ancient

mysteries flow out of this spring of seeing. F.ver\ one sees things. But all

people do not see them

not perceive the same thing.

in the .

.

.

same manner;

therefore, they

[EJveryone says he sees things,

do

how

few can see things properly.

Without pausing, Izntsn continues, “Every time words of Soetsn Yanagi, This passage occurs

work not included

in

I

I

read these charming

can’t help recalling the eyes of the Arabs.”^^^

an essay entitled “Alahometto” (AInhammad), a

in Izntsn’s selected works.

CHAP

I

rWO

KR

Tlie Encounter with Islam

The Children

of Shein: Setsuzo Kotsuji

inza tenkin, m)' family home, was the seeond building from the eorner in

Ginza 4-eh6me, where the road turns toward

Snki)'abashi,” writes \ asabnro Ikeda at the beginning of “Tenkin

monogatari” (The d’enkin ehapters).’ Ikeda

lished

Ginza junisho (Ginza

was the son of the owner of Tenkin, an

tempura restaurant patronized by

earlier that Izntsn,

of

story) in

Eeonomies

at

and transferred

on

his father’s orders,

Izntsn’s father.

had enrolled

1

in

old, estab-

mentioned

in the F’aenlh'

Keio Universih but found his time there unbearable

may when

to the Faenlh' of Letters, d’here ,

relationship between the two fathers beeanse,

vyell

j

haye been

the switeh, his father,

who had opposed

saying, then, in that ease,

ary

his

it

making

the mo\e, strangely relented

eonldn’t be helped.

undergraduate days, Yasabnro Ikeda published a

magazine ealled

a

Izntsn presented

the argument that he was not the only one, “Tenkin,” too, was

During

twehe

llito (People) ostensibly as

pnbheity

for

liter-

Tenkin.

Adyertising for the family business was merely a pretext; Ikeda and the

young men

in his eirele

eontribnted their work to the magazine. In an

essay entitled “Izntsn d’oshihiko-knn to

no kdsai”

(1981;

My

friendship

with dbshihiko Izntsn), Ikeda introdnees “Philosophia haikdn,” the prose

poem

that Izntsn wrote for llito.

39

CHAPTER

The sea grew dark. As

I

lay

I'WO

on the sandy shore one day looking upward eaine erawling slowly

in a gently falling rain, a efralk-white native

toward to

me

beeome

and

said these words.

\\’ant to

1

named

who had

a follower ealled

Basho?

truth in “all things are in flux”? d’here are

hear,

who do

not understand

horn. Don’t they say I’he sea replied,

I,

a

too,

huge

if

this.

is

no

use.

Ah,

ean see the horizon. But

I

I

in

yonr eonntry,

I

from the time we are

end up

like learns?

long for the horizon.

long for the

sea.

Oh,

.Ah,

1

thalatta,

looked, and the ehalk-white native had vanished,

I

albatross

many it

olden times

there an element of

Isn’t

We know

dream,

Loshi, or something

you’re not earefnl, you’ll

use; the sky

Suddenly

thalattal

and

no

is

butterfly

a bird flying serenely to the east, to the west. In

wasn’t there a person in your eomitr\’ like that,

dream the

was eireling around and around

in the sky.

And

it

laughed the laugh of Mallarme. (“On Truth or Falsehood”)^

Even

his fellow students,

might be exceptionally literature, Ikeda writes,

and were forced

handed Ikeda

to

bis

half-jealously

gifted in languages but

grumbled

that Izutsu

had no appreciation

were clearly astonished when they read

change

their minds.

is

this

Around the same time,

complete translation of T.S.

Since the manuscript it is

who had

lost, its literary stvle

is

Eliot’s

for

poem Izutsu

The Waste Land.

impossible to gauge, but

additional proof of Toshihiko Izutsn’s love of poetry. This took place

some twenU’

years before Professor Junzaburo Nishiwaki’s translation,

Ikeda writes.

poem

In Izntsu’s

cited above,

it is

perhaps not sufficient merely to

recognize the surrealist influence of Junzaburo Nishiwaki. sages Lao-tzu

the

latter’s

and Chuang-tzh, who saw the

Taoist

dream; Basho,

Japanese heir; ancient Greek ontology and theories about

the soul are linked together with itual

butterfly

The

Mallarme

to

form

genealogy that presages the world of Ishiki

Consciousness and essence) nearly worth noting, however,

is

fifh’

that, rather

a

to

mental and

spir-

honshitsu (1983;

What is even more poem being a projection

years later.

than

this

of the future, Izutsu would go on to formulate his thought in ways that

remained true

to the

end

to the poetic intuition of his youth.

In the colloquies with Ryotaro Shiba

hiko Izutsu

left

statements that, even

40

if

and Shotaro Aasnoka,^ Tosbi-

spoken

in jest,

make one aware

I

of his astonishing genius

IIK

KNCOUN'I KR

— that

WI'I

II

ISLAM

he was able

most languages

to read

few months and that Knglish, Kreneh and C»erman eame so

after a

he didn’t eonsider them “foreign languages.” But until

effortlessly

an ineident

in

middle sehool, Izntsn had been

hated studying Knglish.

One

the

is

title

My

of an essay that looks haek on that time. Not that

between singnlar and

enough

ple fact alone was

who

person

young man,

bring out his sensiti\

\onng man thought.

my mind

e\ en' single

to

plural. Kor that

it\-

to

makes this

a

sim-

languages.

A

uses a different language must surely exj^erienec the world

differently, the

through

to

initiation into the mysteries of

the ineident was aiwthing special. Unlike )apanese, Knglish distinction

who

day that student’s eyes were opened

language. “Gogakn kaigen” (1981; language)

student”

a “])oor

that

I

The absurd notion kept miming

would master

one of them.”'^

w as the “internal leap”

“

all

the languages in the world,

d’his experience, as

he w ould

that resembles the experience of

sa\'

years later,

enlightenment

known as kensho (seeing one’s true nature) in Zen or kenhutsu (seeing the Buddha) in the Pure Land sect. “As a result of that momentar\’ experience,

I

stepped into the scholarly world,” Izntsn writes, “d’hc

cination of that mysterious thing called scholarship took hold of if

in

fas-

me

as

premonition of what lay ahead.”’

What

is

acquiring a

more,

his

new world

raw insight that learning

a

language means

agrees in ])rineiple with Cjerman linguist

Leo

Weisgerber’s Menschheitsgetsetz der Sprache (hnmanistic law of lan-

guage) and Gesetz der Sprachgemeinschaft (law of lingnistie nity), w’hicb

wonld snbseqiiently

would, of course, be

When

mneb

exert a strong influence

later before Izntsn

He it

to read,

was more than

that

I

became aware

did.”^^ If

he would learn the language

didn’t know’ the exact

(1993;

on him. of

Shiba says he has heard that Izntsn read the classics

original languages, Izntsn answers, “Yes,

wanted

commu-

Mourning

thirU’.

number

According

in

It

this.

in their

there was a book he

which

it

was written.

of languages be knew, but guessed to “Izntsn 'Koshihiko-sensei

o itamn”

the death of Professor dbshihiko Izntsn), the tribute

Iwao I’akahashi (1928-

)

nniyersity students that Izntsn

learned Cireek and

among

his

200 languages.^

He

wrote, a joke even eirenlated

knew

as

many

became acquainted with

41

as

Plato and Aristotle; then

CHAP K R nVO I

he mastered Russian and encountered Dostoevsky. The next language he studied was Hebrew. in

It

shoirld not pass unnoticed that, after

eoming

contaet with the Oriental mentalities of Greeee and Russia, he went

on

to learn

Hebrew and became deeply involved with Jewish

through the Old Testament. Indeed,

aliU'

spiritn-

believe that studying these

I

languages prepared the way for his eneonnter with Islam.

Aecording

to “Izntsn

Toshihiko no koto” (1991; About Toshihiko

Izntsn), an essay Alasao Sekine wrote for an insert that Izntsn’s selected works,^

he became aecjnainted with Izntsn

the Institute of Biblieal Research (the Institute of

Hebrew Culture) run by

name was

whieh

large

later

It

was Kotsnji

who

to the

ratber Kotsnji’s

introduced Izntsn to Sekine. At

the Institute of Biblieal Research, the “Bible” in the

New

changed

1937 at

was not an organization

it

numbers of researchers belonged but

private study group.

in

Protestant pastor Setsnzo Kotsnji

(1899-1973). Although called an “Institute,” to

accompanied

title

was not the

Testament but the Old Testament — not that Judaism recognizes

the expression

Old Testament, whieh

is

merely

a

term applied from the

Christian perspeetive. For the Jewish people, the saered text that begins

witb the five Mosaic books including Cenesis and Exodus has been the

one and only Bible from ancient times and remains day; there

is

nothing “old” about

example, the term “Bible”

Kotsnji's

ment, the original

my

“To “the

it.

first

text written in

In the present chapter, following refers to the so-ealled

to

in those days, that

out of a desire to

in his

convert to Jndaism.”^^

he would have preferred

to

become

a

was not possible.

come

Old

Testa-

Hebrew.

knowledge,” Kotsnji writes

Japanese

so to the present

autobiography, he was

Had he been

Jew from tbe

He was

able to do so,

outset, but in Japan,

baptized a Christian only

a little bit closer to the

Cod

of the Jews. Christi-

him was nothing more than a new’ religion that acknowledged significance of the Old Testament. Kotsnji was born on 3 Febrnarv

anih' for

the

1899,

and

on setsubun, the

so

he was

“three.”

The

mogamo in the

first

gi\’en the

day of spring in the old Japanese calendar,

name

Setsnzo, setsu from setsuhun and zd for

family he was born into had been chief priests at the Shi-

Shrine

in Kyoto.

I

use the past perfect tense because early

Meiji period (1868-1912), during Kotsnji’s grandfather’s time,

the position ceased to be bereditarv. d 1 ie

42

Shimogamo Shrine

is

said

rHK KNCOUN’I KR

to trace

VVl

HI ISLAM

One

history hack to before the eoninion era.

its

shrines in Jajxin and a designated to the tutelary

hindrance

1

leritagc Site,

deih of Kyoto, d’he Shinto tradition,

to Kotsnji’s

Wdth Shinto

World

conversion

as his starting point,

to jndaisin,

he writes

of the greatest

at

it

is

dedicated

from being

far

prepared the wav for

a it.

the beginning of his auto-

biography, he went in search of “a religions resting j)laee,” a spiritual

home

in the true sense,

and

his

eonehision was that

this

was Judaism.

Setsnzo Kotsuji’s book on Hebrew grammar, Wihurugo

iiyumon

was published

book

this

have

at

in the

Deeemher

in

19^6,*°

that Iziitsii learned

hand

is

of course,

and

in all probabilih'

about the

is,

in

Institute. In the

Institute’s

Hebrew, the language of the

Bible.

Hebrew, Izntsn made astonishing progress. left

I

1

door

for that ver\’ reason;

When

he began studying

In a eolloqiiy with Shilsakn

when he

also a truly fervent [Protestant]

read a text of the Old Testament out loud in

lebrew, his voiee would tremble w

ten in his

eopv that

the follow ing statement about those days.

That man [Setsuzo Kotsuji] was believer;

was through

other words, the Hebrew Bible. And,

knoeked on the

Iziitsii

Endo, Izutsn

it

a flyer inviting students to enroll, d’he “original text

Hebrew^ language”

to learn

Hebrew language),

Introdiietion to the original text in the

(

geiiteii

e)’es. d’his, too,

was

a

ith

emotion, and

tears

tremendous experienee

would

for

glis-

me."

1 he reason Kotsuji cried while reading the Bible was beeause he

saw^

the persecution of the Jew ish people recorded there as a contempo-

Time

rary event. this

is

passes, but that perseeution

was by no means over;

the harsh reality of religious time that Kotsuji reeoimts in his

autobiography.

“Are the Jews an ethnic group or a religious group?” Kotsuji writes at the

beginning ofYudaya minzoku no

ter of the

anything, an existential question, one on wdiieh he had

if

staked his

life

name

him. But the

(194T khe true eharae-

Jewish nation ).‘‘ Although a historieal issue, for Kotsuji, this

topic was,

another

siigata

if

— eould

he or could he not beeome

a

Jew?

If

“Jew” was

member of an ethnic group, there was no plaee for was a member of a faith-based religious group, then

for a

a Jew'

way was open

for

him

as well, d’he

apparent from his formal eonversion

4?

to

eonehision Kotsuji reached

Judaism

in 1959.

is

CHAPTKR

Someone who

loved the Old d’estament and eonld not hold haek

while reading

tears

WO

was nn’Hkely

it

to

fit

easily within the fold of the

Christian ehnreh in Japan. At Aoyaina Gaknin University, the dbkyo

Theologieal Seminary, wherever he went, Kotsnji was treated almost like a heretie.

Even

after

founding the

Institute of Biblieal Research,

obstacles continued. Perhaps since he eonld not expect anyone to

understand him

in Japan,

jeriisalem, in English

conversion,

Abraham

he wrote

under the name he had taken Kotsnji. d’his spiritual journey

lasting repercussions since his

anese Protestantism; onlv rekishi (2007;

his autobiography.

in

name

works

Japan and Judea:

A

is

like

hard

From Tokyo

time of his

at the

seems

to

have had

to find in histories of Jap-

Nihon

to Yudciva:

souo viiko no

history of their friendship) by

Ami Shillony and Kaznmitsn Kawai to him and his relation to Judaism.'^

to

Ben-

are there several chapters devoted

By 1940, the Nazi persecution of the Jews had already begun, d’he wave of attacks reached from Poland into nearby Lithuania; for the Jews there,

remaining

in

Europe meant imminent

arrest.

One

day a group of

Jews gathered outside the Japanese consulate in Lathnania seeking

The

only route

and Japan

to

left for

them was

some place beyond

normallv issued onlv

to those

to

proceed through the Soviet Union

the reach of Nazi

who have

coimtr\- of their intended destination.

It

of these Jews had any such guarantee.

2000

visas to these

Chinne

hegemony. Visas are

alreadv been accepted bv the

was, of course, unlikely that most

The man who

issued

more than

Jewish refugees and helped 6000 of them escape was

Siigihara (1900-1986).

Not that the Japanese government

readily

many

supported his decision; the Foreign Ministry was opposed, dbday

people are aware of what Sngihara did, but after the

visas.

war before

his existence

Phc Jews who made

their

their eventual destinations

Because they had arrived

it

would be many decades

became widely known

way to Japan

visa in

in Japan.

hand did not set

off for

without encountering obstacles there as well. as a result of a

loophole in the law, Japan did

not readily allow them into the conntrv. Setsiizo Kotsnji repeatedly asked the immigration office to admit the Jews, even conferring on the matter

with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yosnke Matsnoka (1880-1946), and

he

finally

succeeded

in getting

them allowed

44

into the conntrv. Phat

|

was not

KNCOUN'I'KK \VH

he pcrsonallv borrowed

all;

them during in

UK

their stay there. Kotsuji

Mauehuria. kVom Oetober

II

ISI.AM

huge sum of luouev

a

to

support

had ouee worked under Matsuoka

19:^9 to

the following ]ulv, he served as a

eousultaut on )ewish matters for the South Mauehuria Railwav'.

Matsuoka who had asked him had stubbornly refused. But

eome

eouviueed Kotsuji

Sometime

to aeeept.

he had

set

up house

Mauehuria. At

oj^positioii to

later, after

to japan,

Kamakura, Kotsuji

in

first,

Kotsuji

anti-Semitism

he had resigned

and

shows, ordeals seem to await him, almost as

writes,

Around the time the Jews had deelared war.

all left for

Ouee again he had

to

if

his

mere two weeks

a

he learned that

Jews arrivaug in Jaj^au were being refused admission. As a glauee life

was

perseeutiou of the Jews drew eloser

as the

Mauehuria and returned

position in

to

osuke Matsuoka ’s elear

to the Far Fast,

after

to

It

he were being

at his

tested.

their various destinations, Japan

hght against auti-Semitie forees. But

the Jewish people did not forget what Kotsuji had done. In Israel, the

name

of Setsuzo Kotsuji

is

honored

to this verv' day.

For Kotsuji, teaehiug the Flebrew language was not a matter of giving lessons on

grammar

into reading the Bible,

dvuamie between Fhere the Bible

is

a

a

work

or the writing svstem;

do do

so

is

to

whieh Izutsu

— “Shiupishugi

was an

is still

s])eaks of his

no erosuteki

keitai: sei

alive todav'.

own experieuee Beruuaru-rou”

d he mystieism of St Bernard). As eau be seen from the is

a study of the tvvelfth-eeutury Father of the Christian

faet,

it

deals with

partieular, with tiauitv.

God

title,

with

(1951;

the essav'

Chureh,

but, in

Helleuie and Hebraie traditions and, in

in the

Hebrew

initiation

experieuee first-hand a primordial

people and a religion that

in

it

mystie philosophy, whieh

is

a

souree of Chris-

d he Old destameut as translated into the Latin of the Catholie

Chureh, Izutsu translation

writes,

is

no longer

from which the noxious

read the Bible in the original seribably powerfid

human

I

“intelligible in a air

lebrevv',

neutered and

has been remov ed.” But

from the

seent suddenly

verv' first ])age

eomes wafting

you, leaving yon nnexpeetedly trembling and

sterile

when yon “an inde-

direetly out at

transfixed.”''^

As he reads

Hebrew Bible, be witnesses in vivid detail the speetaele of the “living Cod” interv ening in the human w orld, d'his is the Ciod who smashes the the

45

CHAPTER TWO

norms

ethical

mo\ ing

bv modern

man

and, with his stern demeanor,

is

the

force behind a people’ and their history.

What edge of than a

set

Izntsn learned from Kotsnji was something

a language;

sy

it

was how

to “read” Scripture.

nchronic dialogue with

more than knowl-

It

was nothing

response to the call from the

history, a

Transcendent. Izutsu’s exceptional genius, moreover, lay not guistic abilih^ to read the Bible in the original capacity^ to perceive

its

less

in his lin-

Hebrew, hut rather

staggeringly great mystical aura.

It is

worth

in his recall-

ing that the sequel to Shinpi tetsugakii (Philosophy of mysticism) was

supposed

to

have been “The Hebrew

to discuss the judges

ism

and prophets who are the

way down

the

all

part,” in

to the Apostle Paul. “I

previous work [Shinpi tetsugakii, part one, edition] that

seems

like

God

behind the

some

of

spiritual

attempted

“The Greek

heroes of Judato

show

in

part,” the

Greek philosophy, which

inanimate object,

abstract,

which Izntsn intended

at first

1949

glance

concealed a

in fact, lay

my

God

of unbroken belief.”’^ As can be inferred from this statement, “Shinpishugi no erosuteki keitai” was consciously written as a continuation of

Shinpi tetsugakii. Wdiat

it

inherited from the earlier

book was the “God

of unbroken belief,” namely the issue of a personal god. I1ie

“God”

was not,

as

that constitutes the

Supreme Being

of Greek metaphysics

people often mistakenly believe, the abstract, inanimate

objeet that, as a rational requirement of philosophical thought, was

assumed a

to

he

at

the apex of

its

ontological system.

Nor was

it

simply

product of the imagination, the blind, meehanieal forces of nature

conjured up to the

in

humanized form. This was

hidden depths of the

ken personal relation with

human

soul

a

God of life

and entered

that appealed

into

an unbro-

it.*^

Human beings can only represent God in human terms. This is a human limitation. But “God is not human” Izutsu says. “God is personal.” It may be

easier to understand “person” by substituting for

— God

it

the con-

human; God is “noumenal.” And so, “Although ‘human’ and ‘personal’ seem close to one another, the difference between them is actually so vast as to percept of nous (Intellect) in Shinpi tetsugakii

is

not

mit absolutely no comparison,” he writes in “Shinpishugi no erosuteki keitai.”

“Thus,

if

we were

to

apply

human

46

form, which has meaning only

KNCOIINTKK WMII

niK.

as

an outward sign, not symbolically but

would

this

be

if

When God the it

human

Cmd

is

the

eei\ e

mode

soul, d’his

of being

that,

for the

human

in the

guise of

as a “person”;

beings, d’he origin of “person”

meaning “mask”

we perAnd vet

suggests, the world Intellect.

it

w ithout the interposition of persona, human li\e,

or he eapahle of having real existenee,

transeendental world beyond the mask surpasses the power of understanding.

Persona

is

also indwelling in peoples, periods

oeeurs.

Human

by sharing

for IzAitsu

a

and

eultiires.

That

is

Cmd and

the llehraie

beings are no exception to this rule.

We heeome

the reason “the distinetion between the tlellenie

human

phenom-

eonforming on the

j

beings woidd he unable to

sona

a

merely the mask-like world of the absolute

might well he said

God”

known

is

hut only

human

to the limitations of its

what

is

in the

(lod aj^pears

live,

a di\ ine limitation

word persona. As is

were, to (^od, wbat

it

from the transecndental world appears

does not indieate

part of

directly, as

not a dreadful blaspbciny against Cjod?”'"

which human beings

enal world in

ISI.AM

persona with and from God. But the theor\' of per-

was also

a

suhjeet that breaks through and overeomes

the snperfieial differenees betw een the Greeks and the Hebrews. differences, he believed, offer eonntere\'idenee for the

1

hese

One God and

the singular nature of divinih'. W^iy, one wonders,

is

the ereatix e agent of eternal

the entire nnix erse, the Lord different

among

the Greeks

God

of

and the

I

all

life

tliroughont

things in heax en and earth,

lehrexxs?

I

lere, too, disputations

theologians haxe brought the pettx distinctions of their hninan

gence into the nature of divinih itself— as

if

intelli-

the itemization of differ-

ences that haxe great xahie for their scholarship xxould naturally haxe

enormous Hellenic

significance for

God and

tion hut, in fact, a

God

the Hebraic

man-made

as xvcll. d

God,

he distinetion hetxxeen the

hoxxex er,

is

not a

dix ine distinc-

one. d1ie differenees are not in God;

they are, instead, fundamental differences in the attitudes of

human

beings toxxard God.’^

rhe differences between the Hellenic

God and

the Hebraic

God

can-

not exist in the Llltimate One. Lhese are not differences in God,

Iz.iitsn

who

argue

says; are

they not, rather, differences

47

among

theologians

CHAPTER rWO

about such matters? Yet even though we iutuitively recognize

overcome before

there are problems that must* he fleshed out into a philosophy

One

this insight.

birth of

and help

of these problems

every

one

it

can he rationally

every where understand

language. As the Bible

is

this fact,

tells ns,

the

language has a direct bearing on cultural differences.

Kotsnji’s English-language

work

lire Origin

and Evolution

Kyohnnkwan) was published

Semitic Alphabets (Tokyo:

the time that Izntsn was attending the that the greatest contributions

made

Irrstitnte. In

to the

in 1937,

it,

of the

around

Kotsnji writes

world by the Jews and other

Semitic-speaking peoples were the Bible, the alphabet and the Koran.

Language may have been the beginning of the ples,

hut

In

all

it

w ould

means of restoring them

also he a

cultures or ethnicities, language

and

one another. Indeed, language

tb borrow

a

feel

is

to nnih’.

— an attitude

spiritnalih

when

they encounter the t ranscendent,

formulation from Shinpi tetsugaku, language

Toshihiko Izntsn

s

peo-

regarded as the origin of that primal

other than the expression of the enlightened realih’.”''^

among

— exist inseparably from

of reverence toward the transcendental world

awe which human beings

divisions

embodiment

is

nothing

of a “spiritual

nr-experience might well he said to he his

recognition of this inextricabilih' of language and spiritnalih’. t he lan-

guage that played was not language deeply across

to follow

a decisive role in the

as ergon, a

human

making of Izntsn

code representing

affairs,

human

it

cuts

form,

come in contact with the “WORD.”“° WORD in this sense

his journey to this recognition call

philosophy

a finished product;

often manifesting itself in

source of what Izntsn would later

s

is

to

transcends linguistic codes and signifies the origin of all things.

When, toward to the

the end of his

Izntsn was asked

life,

what led him

world of Islam, he said he didn’t really know, hut one event that

had probably prepared the way

for

it

was

“Yndaya minzokn no kobo”

Kotsnji. In

encounter with Setsnzo

his

The many

(1942;

Jewish people), Kotsnji states that there are

rise

and

fall

of the

theories about the

origin of the Semites, but he believes they can be traced hack to Arabia.”'

Izntsn

lectures. At

may have heard him any

rate,

studying Arabic. Not

group

say

one day Izntsn

modern

Arabic.

in classical Arabic.

48

something similar during

his

Masao Sekine, let’s start The two of them began a study

said to

IIK

I

hilt

who

as historical entities, there

inherited their

formed

by,

and

in that historw

siigata that

still

When

to

peo]:)le,

were countless, nameless

on today

who

in, jx'ople

still

who arose

in

southwest Asia and

com-

in existing studies

en

e\

toda\'

adhere

Japanese

fact that the

limited to nneritieal direct translations of Western works. 1 he

“Asian”

to tell their true histor\’. Kotsnji’s

is

indi\'idnals

of Judaism, he

Jews, too, are an Asian people; as a fellow’ Asian, he said,

Izntsn.

or

no names behind

left

own account

developing his

an Asiatic religion, and he deeph’ lamented the

were

Abraham

Kotsnji recognized that jewish history was

spirit.

lives

of

tribes. Inde]:>endently

plained about the flagrant and glaring anachronisms of the Jewish

Ahrahani

and jaeoh were not simply the names of individuals

Isaac

generic c])onyms for elans or

Moses

m ISLAM

Yudaya niinzoku no

Kotsuji speculates in

and Moses,

KNCOUNTKR WI

He would

call

spirit

would

I

like

would he passed on

to

“Oriental.” Kotsnji’s Asia, like Izntsn’s Orient,

it

not a word that designates a geographical area onh’.

nothing

It is

less

than the place where “eternal” creation takes place, beginning with the

book of Cxenesis and continuing on dow n Izntsn’s interest in his life. Indeed,

Hebrew newer waned;

along with Buddhism,

him

intensely biseinated

on “the

di\

Derrida

ine

example, “d’he

is,

as

twenh’-two

I

e\ ol\’cd

is

work on the

his-

in point, ““

and

an obvious case

in Ishiki to Iionshitsu

and ultimately realizing just

end of

lasted to the

was the subject that most

WORD of Cmd, starting from

have

it

da\’.

out of Derrida’s Jewishness."" I'he

Hebrew language”

‘aleph,’ evolving

form,

it

present

in his later years. Izntsn’s

tory of medieval Judaic philosophy his studies of

to the

explained, the

letters,” Izntsn writes. “It

is

essa\’

\et another

is

the ultimate root sound

itself in its

and perfect

true

Hebrew language made up of tbe Hebrew language, yet it is

tbe

Hebrew language and fnndamentallv different from human Hebrew language.”"'^ he basic thesis in hhiki to honshitsii

a

“depth-eonseionsness philosophy of language,” the mystical phi-

strictly

is

the divine

\

losophy of

WORD.""

Central to the discussion there

language, including the esoteric Judaism.

It

letter

seems

likely,

“divine

truly

the

mysticism of the Oabbalah,

does

it

not, that Izntsn

ing Kotsuji as he was writing this? Perhaps

meeting with Kotsuji can

is

be described

Hebrew language.”

49

we might as his

a

Hebrew form of

was

recall-

say that Izntsn’s

eneonntcr w

ith

the

CHAP K R I’WO I

I

he I wo «

Tatars

«k

whose native

I’oshihiko IzAitsu had hvo teachers of Arabic, both Tatars

One

was Abdur-Rasheed Ibrahim (1857-1944), the other was Alusa Jarullah (1875-1949). In many reference works language was Turkish.

Musa

today the two are called follows

of his

yami

I

them

will refer to

life,

as

Bigiev and AbdiirresTd Ibrahim. In what

Ibrahim and Nlusa. Toward the very end

in the colloc|uy with

Ryotaro Shiba, “Nijisseikimatsu no

Darkness and

to hikari” (1993;

end of the twentieth

light at the

century), dbshihiko Izutsu spoke about the two

men. Had

this

colloquy

we might not have been aware today of Itziisu s relatwo Tatars. Yet even earlier than these comments, there by Izutsu entitled AVngya hydhaku no shi; Musa” (1983;

never taken place, tion to these

was an essay Alusa:

The wandering

lections of Alusa,

pilgrim teacher), in which he wrote his recol-

though hardly anyone has noticed

In addition, a

it.“^

Japanese translation of Ibrahims autobiography has been published.

rhere are also references

to the

two Ihtars

in the

novella by doshi-

hiko Izutsu’s wife, Toyoko, “Bafurunnuru monogatari” (1959; d he tale of Bahr-un-Noor),”"^ and in Surutan Gariefu no

yume

(1986; Sultan

Galievs dream) by Alasayiiki Yamauchiy^ and the Orientalist Shinji

Maejima mentions Ibrahim e

no

inichi (1982;

attracted

On

much

The

in his

autobiographical essay, Arahiagaku

road to Arabic studies).

attention to the relationship

But none of these works

among

these three

men.

the other hand, however, the fact that there was a time

no one knew much about Ibrahim

indicates the extent to

when

which Islamic

modern Japan, and Islam as a religion, have been overlooked. And yet no discussion of the vicissitudes of Islam in Japan would be conceivable without mentioning this man. dbday research by Ilisao Komatsu, lAutomu Sakamoto, Akira Matsunaga and others is well studies in

advanced, and attention

is

focusing not only on the two dbtars’ relation-

ship with dbshihiko Izutsu but on their role as exemplars of a special late-nineteenth-century spirit that animated Islamic culture. sible to discuss Islam in

but, rather, that his

open

a

new

it is

pos-

Japan not as beginning with dbshihiko Izutsu

appearance marked the end an

chapter in

If

modern

Japan’s intellectual

50

era,

and

it is

likely to

spiritual histon'.

i

Judging from what after 1937

when

iii*:

i

heeome

wrm

isi.am

he met Ihrahim sometime

Iziitsii says,

the \\ar with

the time he had

KNCouN KK

China had already hegnn and

just

in or

around

Keio Universih’. After

a teaeliing assistant at

repeated requests for an interview, the aged Ihrahim finally agreed

meet

Izntsn, hnt at

first

him

stiibhornly refused to teaeh

to the

vonng man

1

wonder?)

been

One wonders what the ex]:)ression

at that

later, to

moment.

It

was

a

on

“tremendous

Do von

to Izntsn

s

request,

him

to

eome onee

a

Ihrahim said

to

Muslim from

to

to

Japan

in 1933. history, a

itself to

the time of vonr birth,

in 1909.

Ihrahim

Me is

stayed a few

on are

ever\' dav.

who

months

who

hpified

serxed as an

modern

imam — a

m\ son.”^‘ aim of his

the

Me had

stav in

first

eome

at that time,

and returned

An

eyewitness to

sum

np.

first

and

Islam, but he was also a

reli-

position held

b\’

was

someone w ho

to

be more than

I

think. In fact,

hundred vears

we now know he was

mean Ibrahim was lying. Me young man. The story of him handing does not

old.

I

xvell

probably

ox er

an F-nglish translation of first

have purposely ordered

just teasing the

met — that, it

read an English translation.

Me

xxas

too, xxas

and agreed

meeting onee the preparations were eomplete. d’here

51

eight}, d’hat

w'as

the Prophet’s biography to Izntsn xvhen they

no aeeident; he may

a

Izntsn said in the eolloqny w ith Shiha, hnt he

far,

ninet\-fi\'e,

to

a

the holv books.

wouldn’t go that

Ihrahim

d’wo

world of Islam that

in the

injnstiee to the heavens, Ihrahim

Ibrahim himself elaimed

for

in study-

Ibrahim’s plan was

it.

Nor was

not an easy person to

denonneer of

memorized

was over

\

a teaeher of Arabie.

foremost a journalist

has

man heeanse he

the old

week, hnt Izntsn eame almost

immersed

mneh

he would say

disseminate knowledge of Islamie enltnre.

gions leader

might have

him, “Yon are a natnral-born Muslim. Sinee \on were

Ibrahim was not Japan

Aiiierika.

on one eondition: d’here was no point

vears later, Itznsn had beeorne so

in his

to learn aetnally spoken."^'

ing only Arabie; he should study Islam along with for

a

understand,

Izntsn’s faee

thrill,”

hear the elassieal y\rahie he so wanted

That exeitement may ha\ e eonveyed agreed

min

in y\rahie, haza-l-kitah jaa

Afaliimta? (d’his hook has just arri\ed from America.

With

Muhammad

eopy of the English translation of the biograplu’ of hand, he said

;\rahie.

to

xxas

to the

no need

an imam; he had

CHAPTER TWO

committed

to

memory

and conld

cal texts,

Ibrahim had Russia, its

wav

The

all

the important liturgi-

heart.

one time made Russia the base of

at

becoming

a

in the

his operations.

process of annexing Islamic countries on

Great Power, had a history of persecuting Islam.

half of Ibrahim

first

them by

recite

which was then to

danger

not only the Koran, but

was devoted

s life

in his capaeih' as a

speaker and

brethren from

to saving his

acti\'ist.

Russia was not alone,

however; the countries of Europe were also oppressing the Muslims

aim of Ibrahim

their colonies, d’he

an alliance with Japanese

Toyama

Japan was to

militarists, the right-wing activist

Muslims break

(1855-1944) and others to help

to build

tr\’

Mitsnrn

free of imperi-

domination and promote the fonnding of an Islamic empire.

alist

him presumably regarded Japan

in

In

buried in the foreigners’ plot in

1944

dbyoko

Izutsn’s novella,

man who

ing and affable proverbs.

One

and took

Iziitsii

nation said.’^

a

as

an engag-

penehant

day, Ibrabim said that a remarkable scholar

had arrived

Muhammadan

a voice reciting the

this

person

— whom

we neared

Koran out loud with

of Oriental emotion.” “That

was

School. “As

is

a

memory

that

Musa’s recitation,” Ibrahim

Izutsu called “Professor

astonishing enough, but Musa’s

is

the

a special into-

Musa” — who

truly a genius. Ibrahim, wiio knew' all the sacred scriptures

had

for

with

heard

full It

warmly depicted

is

died in

dhma Cemetery.

spoke fluent Japanese and had

Jamee Mosque with the I

Ibrahim

He

War

him to the mosque. Located in Yoyogi Uehara in mosque combined a place of worship known as the I’okyo

d’okyo, the

mosque,

Ibra-

Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese

miracnlons achievement: the defeat of the oppressor.

as a

w as

to

s visits

in

by heart,

memorv was

another order of magnitude altogether. Not only had he memorized the holy books as well as works peripheral to them, “he had in his head

almost

all

the important texts, not just those on theologv, philosophy,

prosody and grammar.’’’'^

law, poetrv, sical

Arabic that he

knew by

heart;

of commentaries and had his

When

Izntsu

first

front entrance but

visited

around

appeared from out of the greeting for

welcoming

And

it

as well.

went not

to the

garden and called his name,

Musa

closet, saying,

guests.

in clas-

he had memorized several volumes

own opinions Musa and, as

to tlie

w as not onlv works

instructed,

Ahlan wa

sahiciu, the

Arabic

11ns distinguished scholar did not have

KNCOUNTKK

TliF,

ISLAM

\VH'II

the wherewithal to rent a single room, iniieh less an entire house, and

was

foreecl to rent the

Izntsn was

Mnsa

ill,

hooks

at all the

upper half of

him bringing some Arab

\'isited

in Iz.ntsn

s

wall-enphoard.

a

One

sweets.

and took them with him — just

amwhere emph-handed.

In

said, unless

few days

later

Mnsa e

it

like

texts in

Ibrahim was

a Tatar

horn

no tahi (2008; Ibrahim’s journey

to the

his

meeting between the two

first

(seholar).

Arahie to the plaee where

Mfisa had memorized them

per-

he eonld do seholarship

had been

methods of an Islamie ulamCi

brought some

A

an interview toward the end of his

Izntsn reealled those da\^s and said

the teaehing

basket

in a

Mfisa laughed.

like a snail, then,

Mnsa

a true seholar,

looked

le

1

study and asked, what do yon do with vonr

hooks when yon move? Izntsn said that he packed them

son wasn’t

when

day,

life

ex])erienee with

One

day Izntsn

Mnsa was

staving.

A

all.

in Russia. In Ihurahimii,

to Jaj^an), llisao

Nihon

Komatsu alludes founding

men.'^^ At the time of the

of Vlfet, the journal for whieh Ibrahim serxed as editor-in-ehief, there

was

a

growing movement toward Muslim

1906, the formation of a Russian

solidarih’ within Russia. In

Muslim League

\x

as

annonneed

in

Saint Petersburg, d’he author of the manifesto was Mnsa. lie was both

and

a seholar

the in

imam

Meeea

after the

a revolntionar\- as well as a religions leader

at the

Great Mosque

served as

in Saint Petersburg. Later, after living

he opened

for three years,

who

a

publishing house

in Russia, hiit

Rexohition he experieneed perseention from the Russian go\-

ernment and was foreed

to

and China and staved there

go abroad. for

two

He eame

years;

to

Japan

\

most of his time

ia

dVirkistan

in

Japan was

spent with Izntsn. As Izntsn writes in “Ang\a no hyohakii no shi,”

snhseqnently wandered through the Islamie world, traveling

Mnsa

to Iran,

Egypt, India, Iraq and elsewhere before dying in Cairo in 1949, aged 74. I’he

model

was dbshihiko Izntsn. at the

Aoki

for the eharaeter of d’atsno

Some

time

after

in

Mnsa

To}'oko Izntsn’s novella

left

Japan, a fnnetionarx'

Foreign Ministry eonveys Mfisa’s w'ords to Aoki. ‘‘Do yon

datsno Aoki,

my one

message from Mnsa,

and only student his eyes

fill

in

Jajxm?” Wlien Aoki hears

him

planted

in Arahie, “'To

— what a boring

this

with tears as he reealls “the days of his

youth that had sailed so swiftly by,” and onee again he hears ing to

know

beeome

like a tree rotting in the

life, d'atsno.”^^^

5^

Mnsa

plaee

it

say-

was

CHAPTER

The world

is

filled

WO

with the glory of the Absolute. Seeing with one’s

own eyes the diversih’ of God’^'creation, revering it, maintaining it and making it known — this workh iew is the unwritten law that underlies Islam. That was the reason Ibrahim and Mnsa ended their lives on their travels. If eternih' exists, human beings are always able to come in direet eontaet with its primal life foree. Ibrahim and Mnsa are the embodiment this idea. And that is how Ibshihiko Izntsn encountered Islam.

Shuinei

Okawa and

At the dawn of Islamie studies

the Origins of Japanese Islam in Japan, tw

o organizations were doing

Eeonomic

researeh on Islam and Islamie enltnre, the East Asian

Researeh Bureau, formerly

way Company, and the

Institute of the Islamie Area.

of these was founded, the person

mei Okawa. Since,

with the South Manehnria Rail-

affiliated

who

for all extents

served as

school. d 1 ie state supported

the Islamic Area headed by Koji

Okawa,

it

who was

was even called the

albeit indirectly,

Ajici

magazine, Kaikyoken (Islamic Area). According (1910-1977),

first

direetor was Shn-

(New Asia), d’lie Oknbo also published

hnrean published the journal Shin

the

and purposes, the hnrean func-

tioned as Shninei Okawa’s private think tank,

Okawa

its

When

at the Institute

to

and the

Institute of a

monthly

Yoshimi Takenchi

of the Islamic Area in those days,

even though the two organizations were not openly antagonistic

to

mean

they held the same views.

In 1940, Izntsn contributed articles to both

Kaikyoken and Shin Ajia.

one another, According

to

that did not necessarily

Takehiro Otsnka’s

Okawa

Okawa school.^' Shilmei Okawa spared no expense

Arabic

Shuinei (1995), Izntsn taught

at the

Islamic documents.

Under

to

amass

a collection of important

the pretext of having

him

“organize” Arabica

mammoth

series

he had purchased from the Neth-

erlands, he allowed Izntsn to use

them

freely.

and

to

Islainica, the

Mnsa was one

two

The hook

of these works. Without these tw o compendia, Izntsn’s

maiden work, Arabia

shisdshi (Histor)' of Arabic thought),

have been written. That work, which came out

in 1941

World War

in

II

Izntsn brought

was, howexer, published as a

54

\

ohime

might never

on the eve of

Koa Zensho

(.\sian

1

IIK

KNCOUNTKR \VH II

ISI.AM

i^c\’clopnicnt scries) edited by Koji Okiibo."^'^ Iziitsu bad close relations

witb both organizations and w as warmly regarded by both of them.

Shnmei Okawa bad been im])lieated in tbe attempted coup d’etat in 19:52, known as the Ma\' i^tb incident, having supplied guns and money to the eons])irators. le Altbongb not informed of tbe

plot,

I

was imprisoned but released on parole

was published

he was released from

j^rison,

completed half of

It

Okawa

’s \

it.

October

Okawa

Ibsbihiko Izntsn and Ibrahim met. tion to Islam)

in

’s

1937, the \ear that

Kaikyd gairou (Introdnebefore

in 1942.*^° I^nt fixe years earlier, just

be notes

would be

in his diar\- that

sav that

fair to

b\'

he had already

that time Shfimci

iews on Islam were already mature.

moxement to reexalnatc Shfimci Okawa, not only World War II or for his eccentric behavior at the dbkxo

Recently the in relation to

War Crimes

d’ribnnal, but also as a thinker, has

ground even

in Japan.

I

add the qualifier “exen

assessment of Okaxva

in India has alxx ax's

end of Okaxva ’s

hen he

life, xx

Prime Minister Nehru,

suddenly been gaining

xx

ho

xx

on

as

xxas

on

Japan,” because tbe

in

been quite

his sickbed

different.

and unable

At the

to attend.

Japan after the

a state visit to

xxar,

him to a banquet to honor his support for Indian independence. Gandhi had once declared that, gixen a choice betxxecn coxxinxited

ardiee and perceix'ed

x

iolenee, he xvoiild choose

that

Gandhi

tion

and

xxas.

Yoshimi rakeuchi

man, but

still it,

he

xxas interested in

Ajia

exists, hoxx'ever,

and

sum up

A

it

I

Mahayana Buddhism and verses

j^eriod;

1969 lecture of his

kenkyu” (Shfimei Okaxva’s Asian contains the

believe,

the essence of this

been research on Nagarjuna

(Fundamental

him.

gist

of the proposed

“Okaxxa did not have the personal itx' of

as a scholar of religion,

chi’s xvords

sense

political rexolu-

Okaxxa from an early

a study of

Shnmei no

says,

behind

occur simultancoiislv.

he planned but nex er completed entitled “Okaxva

spirit

xxas a rex olntionary in the

Both of them shared the belief that

religions revolution

xvork. In

iolence, but Okaxxa correctly

and profoundly appreciated the rexolntionary

Gandhi’s nonviolence. Shnmei Okaxva

research)

x

man

he

a religions

xxas first-rate.”"^' ’Pakeii-

xvhosc starting point had

(ea 150-250), the greatest figure in early

the author of the

on the Middle Way).

Mulamadhycimakakdrika

CHAPTER TWO

At the time

I

[i.e.

Okavva]

the universit)- philosophy department,

left

my graduation

having eompleted a study of Nagarjnna as

baek of my mind tiee of

I

expeeted

Indian philosophy.

to

It

my life to the

dedieate

thesis, in the

reading and prae-

was the Upanishads, the understanding of

whieh has been refined by Buddhist monks and whieh explain the way experienee these insights through yoga, that was the inexhaustible

to

holy sonree whieh would qiieneh the

If

of

thirst

my sonl.'^

the mission of scholars of religion not to

it is

the study of dogma hut to rescue religion from

indeed

a scholar of religion.

he would display these

gifts,

What makes Kaikyo the writing sh le

is

was not

It

as a student of

seem dated

gairou

its

Muhammad

instruction, that

was

wrong

to see this

tianity

on Shumei Okawa’s

basis,

is

He

part.

it

Okawa argued

hostilih’ to all things

’s

writes."^’ It

would he

is

is

just frankly

pointing out that

which we encounter even today on an

nothing more than sheer prejudice.

dbshihiko Izutsu and Shumei nizing that Islam

publication,

.

statement as stereotypical animosity toward Chris-

the view' of Islam as intolerant,

almost daily

its

now

a pacifist in the true sense of the

always painted black,” he

is

choice of w ords;

earnest desire was not jihad hut moral

word. “Unfortunately, as a result of Christianih nou-Christian, Islam

its

today.

its title

that

a student of Islam.

have passed since

sixty years

Muhammad’s

only

Buddhism

point of view seems fresh even

contains material that would live up to repeatedly that

is

in

dogma, then Okawa w as

however, but rather as

vigorous and

Although more than

immerse themselves

Okawa

are in

agreement

in recog-

not a religion of purehlood Arabs which emerged

Muhammad

with the revelations to

hut that

nothing

it is

less

than a

richly diverse spiritual impulse forged in a melting pot of religions. As

Shumei Okawa cites the Kastern Christian John of Damascus long held the office

one example of the Islamic fact that the

of councilor under the

spirit

of tolerance,

Umayyad

caliphate (661-750) and his father,

Sergius, served as finance minister. In Arabia shisoshi, Izutsu sizes the historical process

cally its

embraced

by which

different traditions,

this

changing

Semitic bloodlines, Islam was heir

Christianih’, while for

its

ideas

it

new world

to

as

religion organi-

did so. d’hrough

Judaism and supplemented

revived ancient

S6

it

empha-

Creek thought. Nor

KNCOUNTKR

IHF,

was

this

\VH

ISI.AM

II

incompatible with accc])ting Muhaininacrs revelations. Izntsn

describes

how

this o])cnness

extended even

to

connections w

ith

ancient

Indian thought and Zoroastrianism.

who

During the time of the Ahhasids Nxad caliphate, religions pohe\’

in the Islamic

Uma-

followed the

world heeame even more

was an era that recognized freedom of thought and saw

tolerant. d1iis

the birth of Islamic ]:)hilosophy. Al-Karahl embodies the

sj^irit

of the age.

Called the “second teacher” of Islamic jdiilosophv (the

first

being Aris-

totle),

Farabi,

it

wonld be

fair to say, lay

helicxed to he true contradicted \

iews; his attitude

presence

in the

is

c\’cn

what he in his

these views eontradieted the

if

not a hook;

phenomenal world of the

If

it.

he remained steadfast

y\ristotle,

was unchanged

Koran. For Muslims the Koran

the foundations for

lix

it is

nothing

ing Ch)d.

l

than the

less

oshihiko Izntsn

devotes a ehapter in Arahia shisoslii to this philosopher,

who

no eompromise whatsoever

kind of person

k'arahl was,

it

may eome

as

in his love of truth. Gi\’en the

‘Adi, a Jaeobite Christian.

some of his followers were main’ Muslim students was Yaln'a Ihn

no surprise

not Muslims. In addition to his

Aeeording

that

to ^bshihisa

Yamamoto’s study

Ihn ‘Adi’s The Cultivation of Character,^ Yahva, too, was not

who made an

tolerated

issue of religions differenees

when

faced w

ot

someone

ith

the big

question, the seareh for truth. Sinee the two religions eaeh developed

own theolog\-, rapproehement is hard to achieve. When the two sides eome together cloaked in their respective theologies, it is diffienlt to open a dialogue or make any breakthroughs. Philosophical discusits

sions begin, however,

once the eloak of theology has been

east aside,

^’ahya was subsequently aeeepted as a scholar by the Islamic world even

though he was If

a Christian.

there had been

no Christians of the

seets, Islamie philosophy’

Yahya, Izntsn writes, tle

and espeeially

been much poorer than

worth noting

first

a

it is

today’.

for his translations of Aristo-

whom

they regarded as the supreme

human

wrote eommentaries on him and eonsidered him their

and blood. As the

“is truly

hav’e

for his eontrihiitions to the study of logie.”"^^ Islamie

sages read Aristotle, leet,

might

Sv rian Jaeobite or Nestorian

Muslim, Farabi was

to translate the

a

pioneer

own

in this regard,

intel-

flesh

and yet

works of Aristotle into Arabic were not Muslim

philosophers but Syrian Christians

in the

employ of Islamie

caliphs.

CHAPTER TWO

must not be overlooked

It

from the

start

and

that Islamie philosophy

mutant strand of

sense aspired to absorbing and inte-

in the highest

grating divergent views, d’here

is

spirituality that

detached from culture or

was syncretic

history,

tendency

a

to think of

Islam as a

appeared suddenly out of nowhere, hut

in realih'

it

might well he called

the expression of a religious impulse that synthesized the heritage of different eras It

was

Okawa

and

different cultures as

grew.

true, of course, in the case of Toshihiko Izutsu,

as well, Islam

hut for Shumei

was the consummation of the “Ahrahamic

reli-

Its

dynamic energy

find an analogue in the religious pilgrimage of

Shumei Okawa

gions” and akin to Christianih' in

would

it

himself,

who came

its

cultural origins.

to Islam via Christianih,

Buddhism, Confucianism,

Marxism, Creek philosophy, Indian philosophy, Emerson and the Cer-

man

mystic Jakob

Bohme. And

and Okawa was only

yet Islam for Izutsu

wav station, as it were. The eves of both were on the “Orient” hevond. It would he a mistake to tie Okawa too tightly to Islam; the same is true

a

of Izutsu. rhey both were always focused on what lay beyond “religion.” In

Anraku no mon

been taken

to a

(1951; "Ehe gate to paradise),

mental hospital

after his erratic

Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, writes

Okawa, who had

behavior during the

that he frequently

daydreamed

met Muhammad, and, as a result, this strongly revived my interest in the Koran. During nearly three long months of delirium, he writes, “Not (a single day) did spend without meeting my mother.”'^" And when asked why he had been living in paradise, he “that he

I

immediately mother.”

replies,

He even

goes so

the gate to paradise. religion,

my

“because

And

was

I

far as to say,

in

my

own

“Religion

is

nothing

is

less

my mother

Although Anraku no mon

gious autobiography, this book his

ing there and thinking of

case, thinking of

gate to paradise.

beginning and end of

li\

is

my

than

was

my

his reli-

also a clear confession that the

spirituality lay in

connection with

its

who bestrode the religions of the world and its philosophical circles and who left his mark so indelibly on his era, was always bonded to his mother mav not attract much attention in studies of his thought. Even those who deal with Shumei Okawa as a profound student of Islam do not treat this issue with the same degree of seriousness. But when think of Okawa, his

mother, d’he fact that the soul of

this intellectual,

I

58

1

I

recall

tine

1

IK

KNCOUN'I KR

Wmi

ISLAM

Augustine, one of the greatest of the Christian

and Okawa are

f athers.

alike in wholcheartedK' eoiifroutiug

\

Augus-

hpcs

arious

of spiritualih', in their intense intcraetion with the world in times of

imasions and nphcaxals and

in

having their mothers as the bedrock of

their faith.

No

discussion of Okawa’s and Izntsn’s relation to Islam

without considering nal, “/Mlah, the

the Koran

its

Of course,

tw o

(198:5;

at

and

jaldl,

would

We

religion of Islam

It is

come that

jamdl side

loses sight of the

to

— j^aternal

and intolerant — yet such

be deep-rooted and,

first,

as a

it is

we eonld not

exist.

prej-

part,

based on

jamdl rather than

jaldl that

for the

most

has the primar\’ fnnetion,” Izntsn says in Koran o yonni^'^

is

merev,

sheer prejudice to say that the monotheistic

denial. “In the Koranic Weltansluiiiung,

Koran

lo\'e,

expressing the powor of majesh’, awe, severih', and

is /ci/t7 /-like

udice can be said

in

Reading the Koran), d’hc (Aid of the Koran has

have already seen that both of them emphasize Islam

religion of tolerance.

did not

theme

later de\'clop this

dominion. Neither Izntsn nor Okawa ever of Islam.

j^ater-

the beginning of

main forms of self-manifestation — /cmic//, expressing

grace, etc.,

is

they are not two different gods; they

are two different personae. Izntsn

Koran o yomu

the Cxxl of Judgment

If

most gracious, the most mereifvd”

maternal.

is

maternal aspect.

]X)ssihle

is

If

God’s

lo\’e

I’hc per\'asi\’e worldview in the

merely acknowledging the greatness of the d Vanseendent

is

not enough; faith begins in experiencing with one’s w hole being God’s

all-embracing benex olenee. roshihiko Izntsn never went to the battlefront. During the war he

immersed himself beginning w ies

ith

in the study of linguistics

Arabia shisoshi. In 1943,

sponsored bv the Committee

and

in research

on Islam,

a socieh’ for philosophical stud-

for the

Development of Sciences

in

Japan met to discuss the topic “Building a Greater East Asian Gnltnre

and the Various Philosophical Disciplines.” d’he lecture Izntsn gave there, “Kaikyo ni okern keiji to risei” (Islamic revelation ing), nicely

occupied

conveys his wartime attitude.

a string of Islamic countries in

Japan

at the

and reason-

time had already

Southeast Asia. At the begin-

ning of his lecture, Izntsn stated that no government

in the true

sense

of the word was possible in those countries without a serious stnd\' of Islam. Actions taken out of ignorance as the result of a failure to

59

make

CHAPTER

lAVO

V

such an

was

effort

as far as

nothing

As soon

makes to

contempt, he

local peoples’

he would go, how’Cvcr,

single reading lutely

would incur the

to

accommodate

main point of

clear, the

do with understanding Islam

reason and revelation in Islam,

the sponsors. As a

Izntsn’s lecture has absoas

an administrative

on the

as the lecture starts, as if drawing a line

to discuss

That

said.

tool.

subject, he begins

the conflict between the-

i.e.

ology and philosophy. hor Toshihiko Izutsu, Shfimei

Okawa was

never either a spokesman

age or a right-wing giant.

for the spirit of the

“What

I

found

ing,” Izutsu says in his colloquy with Ryotaro Shiba, “is that

mei Okawa] was someone who

What he means by

“personal”

scendental

It is

realitv.

truly

had

nothing

less

he |Shu-

a personal interest in Islam.”

the attitude

is

interest-

someone has toward

tran-

than that person’s confrontation

with the Absolute in the search for salvation.

On

the other hand,

if this

“personal” experience does not go beyond the individual and aspire to

would be no reason

the salvation of the world, there

men

two as

again here. As long as

we remain

fixated

to discuss these

on Shumei Okawa

an ideologue of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperitv Sphere,

impossible to understand what for

him was

it is

the fundamental issue.

If

what Okawa had been seeking had not been the salvation of Asians rather than the liberation of Asia, there

him

would be no need

today. For Toshihiko Izutsu, philosophy

beings,

Okawa,

“rather than being a Japanese rightist,

nese

race.

concerned with the salvation of the

agreement seems

no hesitation whatsoever.

to

have

made

in a letter to Ken’ichi

a

is

Shumei Okawa’s deeper

Shumei

I'his

extremelv forthright

deep impression on Shiba since he

Matsumoto, the author of Okawa Shu-

mei (2004).^“ Considering that Shiba was assessment of Okawa

said that

may have been a JapaGerman romanticism.”’* Yes,

of uineteenth-ceutury

replied Izutsu, with

it

directly

During the colloquy, Shiba suddenly

embodiment

refers to

is

remember

was the primal activih of

human human

which

to

a harsh critic of the war, his

worth noting.

become significantly Tokvo War Crimes Tribu-

research on Islam would

after his eccentric

behavior

at the

Matsuzawa Hospital, psychological assessment and exemption from prosecution on the grounds of insauih'. Dr Vsunal, his

admission

to

neo Muramatsu, the

assistant director of

60

Matsuzawa Hospital who was

|HF,

KNCOUNI KR

W'l

HI ISLAM

responsible for Shfiinei (^kavva’s eare, was the father of eritie I’akeshi

Muramatsn reads,

(1929-1994).

showed the

“1

Kciikvo gairoii] to

An

Okawa

entr\' in

neeeinher 1946)

s cliar\' (2:^

niannseri])t of iny introdnetion to religion

Dr Mnrainatsn.” One

[i.e.

Dr Mnrainatsn gave Okawa’s

da\'

inannseript to his son dakeshi and asked his opinion. I’here are oeeasional signs of emotional exeiteinent, the son replied, hut the reasoning eonsistent. d ’he father said he, too,

is

a

miirmnr, “d 1 ien

I

suppose

was of the same opinion, adding

his illness

is

enred.”'’'^

matsn was writing these reeolleetions, he noted, role

ist’s

had ended. And w ith

had planned

to

it

Dialogue:

lia\

e returned to

l.lallaj

I'akeshi

as a it

vonng man

onee

“Knrni kotoha” (Old words)

tion Tohiiro no

and published

tsiiki

from the

Masa\aiki Kajima’s poetr\- eollee-

moon).

(1925; Anhiirn

When

the work was revised

as Isiirdnni sJusoslii (i97S)> the stanza

Bvgone words do not

Old words

in

again.”^*^

and Massignon

In the introdnetion to Arabia shisdslii, Izntsn eites a stanza

poem

Mnra-

Asian liheration-

I’lie

Slinmei Okawa, who,

study religion, seems to

Marh rdoin and

“

Wdien

in

was removed.

die.

sleep in hooks.

Let the prayers of onr Cjod-fearing days

Revi\e the old words. Let onr eves in our quiet times Penetrate into the old words’ depths

And

praise thein.’^

Masaynki

Kajiiira (1903-1966)

was

a mystieal poet

whom

people now-

adays not only don’t disenss hut have eonsigned to oblivion, llow' did

dbshihiko Izntsn read him? Wasn’t “Let the prayers of onr CAid-fearing days in

/

Revive the old words” Izntsn’s prayer as well? d'he oldest words

Islam are the Koran. As Tbshihiko Izntsn writes at the beginning of

the Arabia sliisoshi, everything began with the Koran, not just Islamie

theology but

all

the seeds of the development, disarray and transforma-

tion of Islamie philosophy are stored in that It

one hook.

took less than a hundred years from the appearanee of the Koran

for Islam to

heeome

a great spiritual

61

movement

that

shook the world.

CHAPTER

I'WO

Muhammad

I 1 ie period before fhe Prophet

and the

birth of Islam

is

ealled the jdhilnya, the state of ignoranee. I’he pre-Islamie Arabs, the

ehildren of Shem

who lived

during the jdhillyya, were not a sentimental

people; they were entirely reliant on their sense pereeptions. Izntsn sees it

as inevitable that Islam

the

phenomenal world, The Arabs

would

prefer Aristotle,

and

to Plato

whose

ideas

drew him

to

his theory of transeendental Ideas.

ancient times were extremely sense-oriented; as a result,

in

they were materialists; they were coneerned with disereet, indi\ idual things.

They were

unahle

utterly

to

imagine

thing of all, separately from the flesh.

rial

pletely formless

and

inx isihle soul

.

.

a soul, the

The

.

most immate-

existence of a

com-

would not have seemed helie\ahle

to them.^^^

Islam solidified, deepened and expanded the primal, sense-oriented nature of the aneient Arabs. are those

who

did not see

The words

and

of the

New Testament,

yet believed” (]n 20:29),

“Blessed

make no

sense to

Muslims. Frangois Mauriae, eiting Paseal, said that the greatest miraele of all

eonversion, hut for the aneient Arabs sueh words would probably

is

have seemed delusional. They wanted their miraeles

WTen

Jesus

began teaching

that gathered

in the

around him held him

many wondrous

to

be

utilitarian.

land of Judea, most of the crowd in

high esteem

things Jesus performed.

when

they saw the

These masses never stopped

asking Jesus for “a sign.” This finally caused Jesus to lament and say,

“A

v\

this

icked and unfaithful people seek a sign” [Matt 16:4]. But

mentalih' of persistently seeking “a sign” that

of the Semitic people.

A sign

is

tion, \’isihle to the eyes, of the

is

a miracle. In the very

is

not the only miracle.

human

things.

cause the

It is

moon

degree

the hearts of

impossible for to shine.

men.

In

limitations,

If a

miracle

is

something not

alone, then the fact that the world exists to

which the ancient Arabs sought

itarian “signs,” they excelled in finding the rial

the essential ethos

power of God.’^

defined as something that surpasses

human power

was

a miracle, in other words, a manifesta-

Curing an incurable disease achievable by

is

it

human

beings to

No one knows

an appeal

to their

62

workings of

make

God

in

util-

mate-

the sun or to

the depths of the oceans or

keen sense perceptions, the

rilK

Prophet Muhaiiiiiuicl said \oii

doubt

ENCOUN KK WI I

H ISLAM

I

Arab people: L.ook

to the

at

the world; eaii

that Ciod exists?

^es, they sought “a sign,” hut

ouee

were

the\' realized that signs

own powers

oiunipresent in the world, they began to use their

make

to

the visible manifest. 'lb do so was nothing other than to reveal Chxl’s

work even more

Phe most important

Islamie philosopher Ibn Snia were

e\'al

abridgement of being a

fully.

wav

it

entitled I'he

Book

treatises of the great

Book

llie

of Salvation.

learned pursuit, medieine in Islam was

a

to save the

shows, before

this

and foremost

first

world. 'Phis was the reason that seienee along with

made sneh

metaplw’sies

Wealing and an

of

As

medi-

under Islam.

great advanees

In the fields of

medicine, anatomy, physiology and pharmaeologv, medieval Islamie 'Winani medicine far surpassed eontem])orar\-

terms of empirical evidence. Phat was not

all.

le\’els in

Pairope

I'he Arabs were also

students of the practical sciences sneh as law and astronomy with close association with agrienltnre. In Islam there

between science and

conflict

is

God.

in

Izntsn freejnenth' notes that the Islamic sages were not thinkers

locked themseKes lived

among

On

a\\a\' in their ivor\’

acknow ledging

comes

is,

Sufism

this fact.

way of life were Islamic

to

mind, who,

is

said to have

hair,

w

ith a

Phose

it

was tbe way of

it is

the search

who made

it

clothing. John

according

to

Mark

(i:6),

leather belt around his

begun around the ninth

of course, an English term; in Arabic

of asceticism,

exists,

mystics, indigent ascetics

in the Cjospel

“wore clothing made of camel’s waist.”

w orld

meaning those who wear coarse woolen

as sufJs,

the Baptist

this

li\'e

a miracle that the

if it is

for truth consists in truly

known

towers but practitioners

who who

ordinar\' people.

the other hand,

their dnh’ to

its

no fundamental

Both are contained

religion.

in

eentnr\’.

Phat

A

form

called tasawwuf.

a holy person or, to borrow' a

Buddhist

expression, the flTnayana or lesser-vehicle path of ascetic practice that

sought the saKation of the indi\ idnal soul. Sufism woidd pass through the ninth-century Persians Bastaml I.Iallaj

it

would break through

and Jnnayd of Baghdad

this barrier

and reach

until with

religious heights,

bringing blessing to the entire world of being. I.Iallaj

was

a mystic

wbo

defined bis age, and not only for the

torv of Islam; 'Poshihiko Izutsu, too,

6^

had

a special affection for

his-

him.

CHAFFER 7’WO

First,

there was his intelleetual interest in

him

as the

forerunner

who

prepared the way for Islamie uiystie philosophy, whieh began with Ibn

Massignon

‘Arab! (1165-1240). d'hen, there was the inflnenee of Louis

(1885-1962), the leading twentieth-century French scholar of Islam,

who brought his

Hallaj out of historical obscurity.

aw e and respect

ment made

for the fate of this

Hallaj was born

western part of what

was spent

around 857

who

now

is

in travel

The experience

ing.

man, who,

finally there

was

as the result of a state-

the climax of a mystical experience, was executed and

at

marh r s

died what might well be called a

life

And

and

of

Iran,

death.

in Baida, a

and died

in

town

in Fars, in the south-

Baghdad

ascetic practices, in pilgrimages

God

filled his

A

every day.

His entire

in 922.

mystic

and preachis

someone

aspires to devote his/her life to the Transcendent, but in llallaj’s

God, he himself became “God.” One

case, rather than experiencing day, Hallaj said, ''Anal

he was God.

that

If

Haqq' — am \

the Truth. In other words, he said

words are taken

his

literallv,

“God” had become

incarnate in Hallaj. His statement wonld be exactly equivalent to Jesus

of Nazareth declaring himself to be God. In Islam, however, acknowl-

edging the incarnation of

God

is

not like

human

922, after

fate of a

not simply heresy; is

it

is

blasphemy.

only local;

God

is

the

One.

my stic judged

more than nine

to

have blasphemed

God was

death. In

years in prison, Hallaj was executed. Accord-

ing to Farid al-Dln ‘Attar’s

was confined

is

beings whose existence

absolntelv Transcendent

The

God

“Memorial of the

in prison, his captors

recanted what he had said.

A

intended

Saints,”^^

to free

when

flallaj

him provided he

follower begged his teacher to recant.

Whereupon flallaj opened his month and said, “Are yon telling God, who said this, to apologize?” He conld retract his own words, he said, hilt it was not he who said he was God, but God himself. How conld a human being stifle the words of the Absolute? In the past, Hallaj’s teachers

God was made

Jnnayd and Bastaml had said that

manifest through themselves. But thev had never said

without anv reservation, as Hallaj did, that thev themselves were God. flallaj

knew

that

instead was that flallaj, too,

he was not the Absolute One. What he was saying

God

is

omnipresent.

If

God

is

might become part of God. Since

64

absolntelv omnipresent, this

conld be said of

all

I

beings, they

HK KNCOUN'I’KK

eoiild sav that they

all

Some might

plete, of CtOcI.

eall this

\VI

I

ISl.AM

II

were expressions, though ineoinpantheism. But

ahle belief was something different. Pantheism notion that

One God

The all

things are divine,

all

he

things,

had

The one who l.lallaj. If

there

and

said, ''Anal llaqq^'

must transeend risked his

to

it,

it

poK theistie meant.

l.lallaj

insej^arahlv.

1

lenee,

who

was “C»od” existing dee]) inside

human

trnlv transeends

Absolute must not only he externally transeendent

people look up

nnshake-

he C^od.

to

an Absolute

is

the

was not what

hiit that

exists in all things universally

said,

is

Ijallaj’s

must

internally,

i.e.

also he dee])

w

beings, that

sense that

in the

ithin; in

other words,

immanently. Phe proposition that

it

l.lallaj

proelaim was that the nneonditionallv absolute tran-

life to

God was nothing less than Good’s true nature and human beings are inse])arahle and, what is more,

seendence of

in

whieh

CA)d

in

whieh

the world originally and inextrieahly exists with CA)d. Today,

eoncept of God

is

an aeeepted

mode

of thought ealled panentheism by

R.A. Nicholson and others to distinguish

no one thought

I.lallaj’s

it

from ])antheism,

hiit

almost

Panentheism wonld form the

that wa\' at the time.

ontological foundation of Islamic mystic philosophy.

Toshihiko Izntsn ohser\es that there Ghristian influence on Hallaj

s

mav ha\e been some

eh inolog}' of sufl derives from the woolen Moreover,

rites.

Hallaj’s father

spiritnalih' natnralh'

There

spiritnalih’.

was

is

dress of Ghristian ancho-

I.lallaj’s

sonl.

transcend religion in the narrow sense. The person I.lallaj’s

a theor\- that the

a Zoroastrian. d ims, a

coursed through

Syrian

spiritual legacy to the level of ])hiloso])hy

was

It

heterodox his lot to

who wonld

raise

was Ihn ‘Arahl;

thought wonld break free of the confines of Islam and

e\

his

en have an

influence on Dante. In the

verse tree

Old d’estament hook of Denterononw'

seems

is

to

prophesy Hallaj’s death:

“

(21:23),

The corpse that

is

following

hanged on

a

cursed by God.” These seem like ill-omened words, yet a person

hanged on

a tree for calling

himself the god of Jernsalem around the

year 30 was later hailed as the savior of the world, Jesns Cdirist.

have written here about sion de Ihisayn ihn

l.lallaj,

Mansur

brief

Jlalldj:

though

it

is,

depends on

What

1

l^a pas-

martyr mystique de I'lslam by Louis

Alassignon.^^ As not just dbshihiko Izntsn hut the ])eo])le of the Islamic

65

CHAPTER TWO

world acknowledge, never have been

if it

had not been

known todav./rhe reason behind Massignon’s choice

of the word “passion” in the capital a

P.

Massignon was

Melkite

homage

priest;

it is

a

was, of course, Christ’s Passion

title

who

devout Catholic

perhaps possible

in later years

to see this act as his

w itha

became

profound

to Hallaj.

Massignon was horn a friend of

experience

a

Val-de-Marne, France.

in 1883 in

Huysmans, and, on

Massignon met the

ter

Massignon, Hallaj would

for

I

lis

father

was

his father’s advice, the seventeen-year-old

novelist. Like this writer,

Massignon would

later

dramatic religions conversion. Massignon’s encoun-

with Hallaj took place in 1907,

Hallaj’s existence in

Persian poet ‘Attar.

when

twenty-four he learned of

at

“Memorials of the Saints” by the twelfth-century

The drama

of his

own conversion would

take plaee

the following year. His completed study of Flallaj was published in 1975,

many

years after his death;

In

Cihb

Edward

it

was

literally his life’s

Said’s Orientalism (1978),

work.

Massignon and Hamilton Europeans with

are singled out for extensive discussion as

a

superb

who was

personally

acquainted with Poshihiko Izutsu, wrote about Massignon’s

acti\ ities in

understanding of the Orient. Jacques Derrida,

his later vears. j

One wonders

w hether Derrida and Izutsu ever discussed

Massignon. Derrida was an Algerian. Massignon was deeply involved in the Algerian

A

War,

as a friend of Algiers rather

professor at the College de France

and one of the

Islam of his day, he was also an activist

aroused Derrida’s interest was the

than as a Erenchman.

who

finest scholars of

revered Candhi.

movement known

as Badallya,

What whieh

Massignon founded with the aim of bridging the gap between Islam and Christianih’. Derrida regarded

Massignon

as

someone who embodied

the possibility of a religious reconciliation on a completely different

dimension from syncretism — Derrida called

it

dbshihiko Izutsu was e\’en more forthright signon. Massignon’s influence led

him

the “prayer front.”^° in his s\

mpathv

for

Mas-

“to a strange world that goes far

beyond mere scholarship.” Massignon when discussing arship” as

we normally

Ilallaj

think of

it.

— that

It is

66

is

not what

is

called “schol-

a living record of the existential

I

encounter beh\een

IIK

KNCOUN'I’KR \VH

a tcnth-eentnrv sufl

ISLAM

II

who,

of an utterly

at the eliinax

transformative exj)crienec, called out, or could not helj) hut call out,

“Anc/V l.Uiqq"

(1

am

C»od)

dahle and mar\'elous

at

s])irit,

the risk of his

who

Massignon,

mid-twentieth century.

in the

It

death, and that formi-

personally receixed

evokes enduring interest and

ns to a strange world that goes far heyond

In terms of his

own

mere

him

in\ ites

scholarship.^’'

depth of knowledge and breadth of vision

in the

area of niystie philosophy as a whole and, in partienlar, for the originalih' of his study of Cniosis in the Sln’a sehool of Islam, there

member

of his generation eomparahle

high praise from Izntsu was a

member

whom

of the

I

Ienr\'

same generation

— the

Corbin

ohjeet of these words of

(190:^-1978).

as l/.ntsn

was

literally

Izntsn aeknowledged. But even Corbin “must he said to he infe-

when

it

eomes

tential profundih' of his reading in Oriental thought.”

was Massignon.

blit

le

1

and one of the few thinkers

rior to his teaeher,” Izntsn wrote, “espeeially

it is

no

is

When

one thinks of Massignon,

not just his extensix e knowledge and the

Corbin’s teaeher goes on to

Iziitsu

fruits

to the exis-

sa\

,

of his seholarship

“the intensit}’ of his passion that strikes the reader’s heart.”^" Hallaj was undoubtedly a heretie.

He was

judged and exeeuted

as

sueh. But sometimes a heretie appears, leads a revolution and prepares for the

appearanee of true orthodoxy.

We

hax e seen o\ er and ox er again

the historieal proof that such peo])le are not destructive subversives hut

who have been branded as heretics are erased from history. Their memory is prcser\'cd in the testimonies of the side that condemned them. It is in these documents, Massignon writes, that we must find the fragments of truth. His was a spirit that gloried not in relating his own views hut in breaking through the enemies of delusion and h\ poerisv. lliose

the silence imposed by time and bringing back to

long been suppressed. This fact that ical

in

Massignon staked

oblivion

is

for

him was indeed

his life

on

re\'iving a

is

“a sacred duty.”

The

person buried in histor-

What

is

clear

not that he discovered Hallaj hut rather his

firm conviction that Hallaj had chosen Hallaj was not a person from the past. alive in

views that had

not simply a matter of scholarly interest.

Massignon’s account

one

life

him

do

so.

He was nothing

another world, the living dead,

67

to

as

it

For Massignon, less

than some-

were, d’hc dialogue

CHAPTER TWO

between the two of them oeeurs on the “synehronie” dimension of what Izntsn

ealls the

“synehromc strnetnralization” of philosophy.

Aside from his existential fellow feeling, there are other points of eontaet between Izutsn and Massignon: an exeeptional genius for lan-

guages and the Eranos Conferenee. Massignon was in

no way

inferior to Toshihiko Izntsn.

He

a lingnistie

genius

spoke more than ten lan-

guages and read fluently more than twiee that nmnher. Herbert Mason

wrote his reeolleetions of Massignon.^’ In his youth, as

if

something. Mason met Massignon toward the end of the

into English. For Alassignon learning a language

not eonfined to aeqiiiring a the eyes of the sonl.

beyond

his

What was

in the dust

read and understood It

means of

seholarship;

trnly astonishing,

outstanding lingnistie

found doeiiments meaning.

latter’s life,

him and was nltimately entrusted

enltivated an aeqnaintanee with

with translating

drawn by

abilities.

and ashes of

them and, what

is

it

\\

as

meant opening

however, above and

Mason

history,

was that he

says,

deeiphered them,

more, nneovered

hidden

their

almost seemed as though Massignon ''were himself person-

ally [their] old interpreter restored

similar statements from people

momentarily

who had been

The Eranos Conferenee began

in 1933

to

life.”^*^

I

have heard

taught by Izntsn.

under the leadership of

Carl Cnstav Jung (1875-1961) and Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) with the

aim of overeoming the fragmentation of spirituality, whieh had been split

between East and West. Sinee Massignon

first

took part in Era-

nos in 1937, would he fair to say he was one of the partieipants at its beginning stage. His topie at that time was Cnosis in Islam. The time he attended Eranos was in 1955; he eontinued to he a eentral member up until then. His final leeture was on Fatima, Muhammad’s last

daughter, the wife of of his two sons.^^

'Ali,

Women

founder of the

Sln’ite seet,

have tended

he hidden

to

and the mother

in Islam.

Despite

the indispensahilit}' of their aetivities, they lurk in the shadows of history.

The

greatest of these,

Massignon

said,

was Fatima. In

this

woman,

reminiseent of Mary in Christianity, he saw the manifestation of the maternal aspeet of religion, whose role

harmony. Izutsu participated

in

is

Eranos

leading figure along with Corbin.

68

to effeet

an undifferentiated

in 1967.

He soon heeame

a

KNCOUN TF.R Wl

rilK

Karlicr

I

Massignon,

wrote that

who was

he heeame

liis

ISl.AM

II

Massignon heeaine

later years

Roman

married, eonld not heeoine a

vow s of eelihaey. And

priest sinee they take olie,

in

I

a priest

not of the

Roman

so,

a j^riest.

Catholie

though himself

Cath-

a

Catholie Chnreh but of the

Melkite Chnreh. The Melkite Chnreh (more aeenrately, the Melkite

Creek Catholie Chnreh) haek

said to date

virtually

is

s]:)iritnahC,

today. In order to

beeome

the Melkite seet.

He

II, it

it

eontinnes

a priest,

to live

Its

on

in

Arab

Massignon did not have

history

is

soeiet\-

even

eonvert to

to

reeeived speeial dis])ensation from Pope Pins XII.

was not easy

own

exeept their

gap between

to find w'a)'s to bridge the

Islam and the Christian world. Phat was a time an\^ faith

)apan.

in

imic|ne form of Christianity,

time of Jesus.

to the

nurtured by Arab

Before Vatiean

unknown

a heresy.

when

Catholies ealled

Massignon aimed

to

beeome

a

l^eaeemaker between the two major religions by h\ing

as a Christian

of the Melkite Chnreh, whieh integrated the

of Christianih’

with Arabic spiritnalih'.

Vatican take,

As

II.

if

On

ii

October

1962,

s]:)iritnahh'

Pope John XXIII convened

affirming the direction the Council wonld eventnallv

Massignon died

at the

end of

same month.

that

After Vatican

Catholics initiated a dialogue with Islam. 1 his dramatic change,

been

said,

later, at

the beginning of Sufism

quotes Henrv Corbin’s words “nn dialogue dans

in

has

it

wonld never have occurred without Massignon.

Four years

says that

II,

he

is

writing this work not only for

its

la

and Taoism,

IzAitsn

metahistoire,”^^

academic

and

interest but

response to the needs of the times, d hrongh his dialogue between

Christianih'

and Islam on

and through

religions issues

behalf of peace in Islamic soeieh’, Massignon spent his scholarly study but in ‘hm dialogue dans ical” or “transhistorical” are

toward scholarship, but

la

his activities

life

on

not simply in

metahistoire.” “Metahistor-

words that clearlv eonvev Corbin’s attitude j

j

this attitude also

proclaims Corbin

to

be the

student of Massignon. Idle term “dialogue” w ould late period.

beeome

a

key w ord

in

Religions dialogue can never achieve

Toshihiko Izntsn’s

its

objective

if

it

is

constantly concerned with identihing areas of agreement in dogma, cer-

emonies or

rituals.

“Religions” dialogue must be practiced on a

“religions” dimension. At the social level, Izntsn notes,

69

strictly

no deepening

CHAPTER TWO

of fundamental understanding ean be expeeted despite repeated dialogues. But the “religious” diiu'ension ineludes

diinensiou. Despite ueeessarily

its

inextrieahle relation to existing soeieties,

dependent on them. The death of

an exeeution

in the soeial

dimension, hut

a

dimension. In other words, the study of the nothing

less

and trauseends the

Hallaj, for

marU rdom life

of

soeial

it is

not

example, was

in the religious

I.Iallaj

the inarU

r is

than an elueidation of the realih’ of the “religious” dimen-

sion. For Izutsii, the person tieal activities,

who, through

his seholarship

and

his prae-

illuminated the “religious” dimension was Massignon.

70

CHAP

Russia;

The

I

NOT OUT

Russia.

The

mere

of

K R rilRKK

Night

Spirituality of

Hie r IS

I

Writer’s Mission

intelleetual interest

one speaks about

tliat

cpiestious posed by uiueteeiith-eeuturv Russian

of letters, Izutsu writes at the begiuuiug of Roshiciteki

Roshia hungakushi (Russian luuuauitv: literature), are “the big issues

that will go

A

histor\’

eoueeruiug the

on being asked by people

life

iiiiigen:

men

Kindai

modern Russian

of

and death of the soul”

and

living in other countries

in

subsequent centuries.' Nineteenth-centur}' Russian literature has been a passion of mine since

my student days. My eneonnter with

Russian literature drew

extraordinarv' world of spiritual experiences

time

I

really

shocked life

my

immersed myself soul to

and revealed

to

in

and

visions.

Russian literature.

very foundations, changed

its

me

.

.

.

\

it

in

that

certainly

iew of

an unknown dimension lurking

an

into

Around

And

mv

me

human

the depths

of existence. In that sense, the works of ninetceuth-ceutury Russian literature taught

me,

could ever do, what

might he

Reading

in a

form no teehnieal

a living philosojihy

treatise

might he, or

on philosophy rather,

what

it

to live philosophy.^

literature

is

not a matter of acquiring information. I’hc reader

accompanies the writer on

a journey, gets lost,

71

eueouuters fundamental

CHAPTER THREE

which even the author was unaware and ultimately proceeds

issues of

onward

all

was

for

gil \

ision

alone. At that time; -the writer

Dante. But

Dante who

is

it

The

by the Lord of Heaven.

becomes sees,

who

is

w rites about

is

its

entrusted with a

reader, too, witnesses

— that

pates in the vision that the author has experienced

of Roshiciteki ningen and

guide such as Ver-

a

present-day significance.

not Russia as a time-bound

phenomenon;

and

partici-

the

charm

What

Izntsn

is

it is

the “eter-

nal Russia” that has persisted through the ages.

As 3

is

mentioned

Afterword written

in the

accompany volume

to

of his selected works, there was an earlier version of Roshiateki nin-

gen, a textbook used in a Keio Universih’ correspondence course entitled

Roshia hungaku (Russian

teaching material to

its

size,

Given

It

began

to

he distributed as

textbook nature, there were limits

its

and so Roshia hungaku was only seven chapters long. Roshi-

ateki ningen It

in 1951.

literature).^

was fourteen chapters, twice the length of

was published two years

its

predecessor.

later in 1953.

These are not the only works

in

which Toshihiko Izntsn deals

with Russian literature, however. There are two others, “Ibrnsntoi ni

okern

ishiki

no mnjnnsei

On

ni tsnite” (1952;

nature of consciousness in dblstoy), which

is

found

the paradoxical in the collection

of his miscellaneous essays, Yoinii to kaku (Reading and writing), and

“Roshia no naimenteki seikatsn: jnkynseiki hungaku no seishinshiteki

tenbo” (1948; Interior

nineteenth-century

life in

Russia:

A

The

literature).'^

spiritual history perspective latter

work was not only never

included in his published works; no reference

been made, even by Izntsn himself.

It

to

it

seems ever

to

magazine Kosei (Individnalih

In the

same

issue, the

name

contents. This was Izntsn’s

of

first

),

have

v\as written in 1948, three years

before the publication of Roshia hungaku, and appeared in the ary

on

liter-

which was put out by Shisaknsha.

Osamn Dazai

appears in the table of

study of Russian literature.

The

poet

Pushkin’s true nature was that of a revolntionarv in the cause of spirituality;

Lermontov was an angelic poet who had

tchev was a poet writer, ih’;

who

fallen to earth;

Tvn-

wrote about “Being” not beings; before being a

who sought the sah ation of all hnmanprophet who had renounced religion. By the time

Dostoevsky was a mystic

Chekhov was

ot this essay,

it

a

would be

fair to say,

72

the views that

would be expressed

RUSSIA:

in Roshiateki

pages,

niugeu had already

rilAl.I

OF NIGU

I-^

I

A work

solidified.

of around seventy

hungaku

eloser to Rosliiateki iiiugen than to Roshia

it is

strnetnre as well, in that it

SPIRI

I'llK

deals with Russian spiritnalih’

it

eonprehensively from Pushkin

to

way do not

— the

Russian people

neeessarilv have

tion.^ In Rosliiateki iiiiigeu,

that denies religion.”

was reeeived

mneh

he

“When

and disensses

manner with whieh

whom

deserihes

l/.ntsn

they

in this

use for religion as a soeial institu-

writes,

“Communism

new

a

is

religion

think of the form in w hieh Marxism

1

he

in late-nineteenth-eentnrv Russia,”

help hut reeall that Marx was

its

Chekhov.

“Russians are religions even in the very rejeet religion”

in

and

a )ew',

his father

eannot

savs, “I

had onee been

a

de\x)ut believer in |ndaism. Marx’s rex’olntionarv worldvicwv was apoe-

and extremely Jew ish in its essential from within such an anomalous atmosphere

alyptie

Izutsn,

Marxism,

far

from being unrelated

strnetnre. that

to

It

was preeisely

Leninism

Jewish esehatologv, was

the most austere expression of that S])iritnalitv to a]:)pear in times.

Communism

ing less than the

Of course,

was not

in Russia

embodiment

Izntsu was well aware

northern nation;

realm of the

it

it

it

was noth-

this that

Marx was

a political ideology;

when he wrote

in the case of the “Orient,”

“Russia” for

the geographical region occupied by a great

signified another world,

spirit.” In Izntsu’s eyes,

a citizen of that says,

mean

did not only

“realm of the

w ould be impossible

Lenin and the Russians of

what Berdyaev called “the

the Cjerman-born

spirit.”

Had

that not

Marx was

understand the reception of Marxism by

to

his era. I’he Jewish strain that rims

name, but

through in short,

messianism which preaches that the proletariat

the messiah of the age to

come — Izutsn does

his influence here

also

been the ease, he

Marx; the eschatological mentality that pervades Marxism; a proletarian

modern

of messianic thought.

not Russian. But, as was true

him

Lor

arose.”^^

is

will

he

not mention Berdyaev’s

clear, d’hese ideas

alone, how^ever. d’he question of “religiosih” in

were not Berdyaev’s

Marxism had

also

noted by Merezhkovsky; though not Russian, Bertrand Russell

been

among

others saw an archeh’pal spiritual/mental congruence between Lenin’s

eommnnist

state

and Augustine’s

d he following

is

a passage

(1923). “[SJoeialism has

Cit\'

of Cod.

from Berdyaev’s Dostoevsky's Worldview

sprouted in Jewash

7^

soil.

It is

the secular form of

CHAPTER THREE

Hebrew niillenarianisni, Israels hope in the iniraeulous earthly kingdom and temporal bliss. was not by ehanee that Karl Marx was a the old

It-

He

Jew.

eherished the hope for the future appearance of a messiah, the

whom

inverse of the Jesus elect of

the

God, the messianic people, was the

that class with

and

rejected; but for him, the

proletariat

and he invested

the attributes of the chosen raee.”^ In the passage

all

cited earlier, Izntsn said, “\

Jew,

Hebrews had

cannot help but

had once been

his father

a

in

Marx was a Judaism.” He

name

of Berdyaev, a

recall that

devout believer

conld well have added, “as Berdyaev w rites.” d he

leading twentieth-centnry Russian intellectual, does, of course, appear several times in Roshiateki ningen. Izntsn lets the reader

familiar with him. At the time Roshiateki ningen

had already begun

to

came

know he

is

Berdyaev

out,

be read in Japan. There were several translations

of his w orks, including Dostoevsk}''s Worldview,^ and critical studies by

Nobnhiko Miyazaki^ and Bernard Schnltze had

also

Izntsn was not concealing Berdyaev’s influence.

The

is

what Izntsn believed

the discussion of

so strongly that

Marx and begin with

visions.”

me

The

into

felt

an extraordinary world of

litera-

spiritual experiences

and

a cataclysmic

change

in

resembled a religions reformation. Perhaps while read-

ing Berdyaev’s books, Izntsn saw

it

not take his eyes off Marx’s father

was

likely the resnlt of his

ited

from is

“I.”

process by which the idea of revolution, conceived by

spiritnalih’ that

As

to personalize

encounter wath Russian

Marx, had been put into practice by Lenin was

his

issue here, rather,

compelled

the word

“My

Recall the words cited earlier: ture drew’

he

been published.

own

own

father that

as a “vision.”

when

The

fact that

he could

considering Marx’s spiritnalih'

acute aw areness of what he had inher-

was

still

true in the case of Rilke

and

flowing through him. Sartre in Shinpi tetsugaku (1949;

when a person or a book had a fundamental many instances, the name of that person or book

Philosophy of mysticism),

impact on Izntsn,

in

does not appear in his works. That snbconscionsly, as

it

is

because the influence occurred

were, rather than conscionslv.

When

Berdyaev’s influence on Roshiateki ningen, the “religiosih is

a topic that

cannot be overlooked, but

heart of the matter

means

a

is

it is

”

considering of Marxism

not the primarv issue. I’he

Berdyae\’’s personalism, the spirit o^sohomost,

coinmnnih’ of “persons”

in the true sense, citizens

74

which

not of the

RUSSIA:

MF. SPIRI TUAI.I'IT

I

world hut of the Kingdom of C»od.

no naiinenteki e\’ent that

a

oeeurred elose

synonym

for “s])irit.”

(1949). “CH)d

Moreover, “C^od

its

own

free

w

is

of the Spirit .

not a eoneept,

(19:^6),*“ too,

it is

he

Russia.*^

CF)d

.

.

were

But Izutsu does not

restriet the

a

who

his efforts bring

itself

realih that in

”

its

veil

behind the everyday

some way

this

realih’

— between

ith

realities

\

idea.

the arrival of this poet.

might he ealled Russian

as Izutsu

whieh

iolentlv

it

saw

it,

the spirit

for

refleet that true realih’.

haek and forth between aj^pearabout the phenomenal

heaven. Just

It is

is

as

Daisetz Suzuki

a Russian spiritualih’.

both a historieal entih’ embod-

and manifested symholieally

in

geniuses of every

walk of life, Pushkin, L>ermontov, Pyutehev, Dostoevsky, L.enin, yet also a “synehronie”

one

is

suhsumes. d’hey pereeive

radieal skeptieism

the “eternal Russia.”*’^

ied by Peter the CTeat

new

Push-

about the dawn of Russian

speaks of a Japanese spiritualih’, in Russia there it

literature with

in

of flesh. I’hose eyes reeognize the “true

world and an insatiable longing

Izutsu ealls

thus,

reeeives a revelation, in

world does not eompletely

“Russian humanitv” swings

anees and

I’he

through that poet’s mouth.

To the eyes of “Russian humanitv,” always visible beneath

wav around;

a partieularly

literature, Izutsu says; a eultural universal that

announeed

of

suhjeet of his statement to Pushkin the

nineteenth-eentuiw Russia, literature began w

spiritualih’

a ])erson.”"

is

“world literature” was horn

Just as religion begins with a j^rophet

Not only did Pushkin by

Realm

nineteenth eentur\-, Izutsu

would not have been

it

the

of the ultimate Reality.

in the

without warning,

all,

and

in the

saws that all beings inelud-

Everyone begins the history of Russian

kin. If that

man.

name

the

Wdth Pushkin’s appearanee writes, suddenly,

he writes

Spirit,”

is

ing the eosmos exist within ])ersonalih, not the other is

“Persona”

Problem of Man: Towards the Constrnetion

of a Christian Anthro])olog\'”

personalih

may have been an

a spiritual realih, mauifestiug itself personally

In “d 1 ie

ill.

Realm

I'he

and kVeedom.

Spirit

is

it

For Berdyaev, personal ih’

to in the ]:)reeeding ehapter.

transeendentlv Absolute of

reeall that the writing of “Koshia

to Iziitsus intellectual starting point.

posthumously puhlished work, Caesar

we

I

seikatsu” preeeded Shiiipi tetsugaku,

was also alluded is

If

OF NIGH

it is

that transeends the harriers of time.

In his dynamic' writing shle, Ibshihiko Izntsu describes the process

by which the Russian people, freed from 300 years of 'latar oppression.

75

CHAPTER THREE

experienced the awakening of the sleeping Russian

formed

into “Russian

work

nothing

is

been

so, the

in the true sense.

trans-

At the same time,

this

than an attempt to find the gateway to the universal

less

— in

in the local

hninanih ”

and were

spirit

this case,

nineteenth-century Russia.

If

had not

that

following words would lose their credibilih': “Just as today

there are those

who

Communist Russia the Motherland are others who just as fer\’ently love it on a from this and feel that Russia is the home-

fanatically call

in a political sense, there

completely different

level

land of the

the subject of Shinpi tetsiigakii had been nous, in

soiil.”*^ If

What

Izntsu has portrayed

the manifestation of persona in the

phenomenal world,

Roshiateki ningen in this

work

is

it is

“spirit” or “persona.”

by nineteenth-centurv Russian

as revealed

men

of

letters.

71 ie earliest person to observe that the central thesis in Berdyaev is

the concept of sohornost was Keisuke

standing translator of Berdyaev lier,

among others. Noguchi

who

from

it.

(1913-1975), the out-

translated two of his works cited ear-

did not translate sohomost in the sense of a

commonalitv of mentalih' and/or results

Noguchi

spiritualitv, or the

Perhaps he was hesitant

to

do

eommunalih’

so. Instead,

he translates

passage from Berdyaev’s Eschatological Metaphysics (1947) as

Heaven beeoines one

possible for

among

single person

suffering. People

all

me

only

when

living things

there

who

is

a

follow's.

no longer even

experienees eternal

eannot be saved by themselves alone apart from

other people. Salvation beeoines a realih’ only

out exeeption

is

that

when evervone

with-

freed from suffering.

Here, clearly, Noguchi writes, the traditional mentality of making the salvation of

all

humankind

Berdyaev inherited from flows

on

in

one’s earnest prayer

his predecessors,

help thinking so

— in

when

mentalitv that

Dostoevskv and Solovvov,-

unbroken succession. Presumably

tological Metaphysics

—a

Izntsu, too, read Escha-

the original Russian, of course.

One

cannot

reading the following passage: “Russian

liter-

ature, even, or especially, in the case of nonreligious or antireligious writers,

is

strikingly eschatological.

Apocalypse.’ Phere literary

men

in the

is

Berdyaev

calls this the ‘Russian

an extraordinary prophetic fervor

way they go about

76

their

among

Russian

work thinking thev must

RUSSIA: I'HE SPIRi

rUAM

IT Ol' NK'.ll

l

save the world, they must reveal to their suffering fellow

the

way

to salvation.”'^

It

d'he eoneept of so/x;r/?os/ le diseusses

it

strange-sounding term

Moseow was on

is

is

one another.

also alive in Izutsn

terms of Dostoevskv

in

beings

not only the eouteuts of the passages that

is

are similar; the earnest j^rayer in both eehoes

1

humau

s

studv of Dostoevsky.

“Moseow-orientedness.”'^ hhis

s

not the idea of an

the Russian periphery.

It

might rather he ealled the

who

idea of a kind of a])ostolate. khe Apostles

Dostoevsky’s day

elite; in

a])])ear in the

New

'I'es-

tament, having been ehosen by Christ, dispersed throughout the world

and ended

marhrdom.

their lives in

d ims, Moseow-orientedness

is

the

idea that the Russian people ha\'e been ehosen as puhlie servants to the

world and endowed with

unique mission: “Russia

a

on earth whose people uphold in 1

due eonrse be

he Dostoevsky

when

sa\'ed

whom

‘the highest truth’;

Russia

heeomes

the onlv nation

is

henee, the world w

ill

the eenter of the world.”'^^

dbshihiko Izutsn deseribes

is

a soul

who

per-

humankind.

sistently seeks the salvation of

For Dostoevsky, whose ultimate desire was the religious salvation of the

whole human or lepers

raee,

— who

if

only a

had been

present” were saved,

\

\'ery

ouehsafed

would

it

few speeial people

all

be

a direet

for

naught

\

— he they mysties

ision of the “eternal

if

the remaining tens

who were unable to have this experienee No matter how preeious the experienee of raj^turous

of millions of the masses

were

left

hehind.

eestasy might be,

if

only ended there,

it

it

would be

ineffeetive

and

powerless.

This statement— reminiscent of the Bodhisath a Path

in

Buddhism, the

belief that those v\’ho are saved should remain in the world of suffering for the sake of all sentient beings

prayers.

And

yet,

in Dostoevsky,

it

although

woidd

— truly conveys

this idea

also

Dostoevsky’s earnest

was imeompromisingly expressed

become

the spiritual basso continuo, as

it

were, in the w’orks of all the wTiters discussed in Roshiateki uingen. In

Old Testament

who became

times,

prophets.

it

Amos,

was not

whom

just

people

Izutsn frequently mentions, was

a farmer. In Cliristianih- there are saints like

though day.

in

no position of

When Muhammad

powder,

like the priest Ezekiel

Catherine of Siena, w ho,

had an influenee on the pope of her

received his revelations, he was a prominent

77

CHAPTER THREE

merchant. In the eighteenth-century German-speaking countries,

it

was

who were charged with a similar destiny. That is the reason refers to Bach when discussing Dostoevsky and the poet d’yu-

musicians Izutsu

tchev.^‘ In

nineteenth-century Russia, this role was entrusted to literary

figures, dlie “ultimate objective” of

“the search for the highest the

human

against

Russian literature, Izutsu writes, was

harmony

that

must be hiding somewhere,

soul or in the flesh or wherever soul

and

flesh

in

brush or beat

one another, one knows not where but somewhere.”"

It

was

for

that reason their lives recall the pilgrimage of seekers after truth.

And

yet

an officer

Chekhov was

to

Thereafter, he

made

put his precepts into practice.

Gogol sincerely believed

death,

ple rested

on

sky cursed

his shoulders

God

yutchev

a diplomat;

On

the other hand, after Pushkin’s

that the salvation of the Russian peo-

and made

a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Belin-

yet never stopped seeking the truth. Iblstoy

tried to find true holiness

by going back

the spirit of the times.

What

and

it

men

They show no

self-stvled mystics do. it is

nothing

less

chose

to

to

for “philosophers” in this

sentence

applies perfectly to Roshiateki ningen.

ing their part, attempting to save

soK ed;

who

time that predated religion

Izutsu calls “mystics” are not world-weary misanthropes

in the world.

a

“They were mystics before they were philoso-

peace and quiet. They are doers of deeds

way

a heretic

maintaining strong connections

phers”— substitute “men of letters” tetsugakii

was not

world where each of them

in the secular

lived as ordinary citizens, while

from Shinpi

to a

for the origins of Being, d'hese literary

immerse themselves deeply

polit-

publishing his vocation and lived

preacher of Christian charih’, Izutsu believes, but rather

and searching

Lermonto\

Dostoevsky was almost executed for his

in the guards.

ical activities.

a doctor; d

all

who

li\

ing in

lead upright lives, play-

humankind while deeply involved

interest in solving the world’s

For them an enigma

than a hard fact

to

is

enigmas the

not a puzzle to be

be lived through.

Pbr the Russian people, suffering under the despotism and oppression that the curious fusion of tsarism and the

given di\’ine

rise to, literature

was more than an

message that told them how

art

to live.

Orthodox Church had

form;

it

was an oracle,

That does not mean they

regarded literature in the same light as religion. But

when

concern of the Church was no longer the sah ation of the

78

a

the primaiA’ faithful

but

RUSSIA:

its

own hegemony,

THK SIMRri’UAM

IT

OF

NIGil

I

there was no need to doubt that religions leaders

were no longer the ones entrusted with the words of heaven. against this haekgronnd that

What

this

man’s

life

monograph would Be Done? at a desk in his

not only to avoid the eensorship a le did

not w rite

was written

What

Is to

eritie llideo

was that of a

I’he reason Chernvshevskv ehose the noxel form

I

prison for

no legitimate reason.

his last words,

he began

gentsia hilt to the

When

to write,

narod—iUe

time was

inevitahlv inenr.

he

stndv. d

ing for real freedom and just before he was sent to Siberia.

men and

saint.

at this

had arrested him

in prison after the authorities

ent situation eontinned, eonntless

no\'el

for apjiealIf

the pres-

v\onien would he sent to

he thought that these might he

addressing his ideas not to the

]:)eople.

was

Be Done? (1863), the novel

Is to

by the social thinker Chernyshevsky, appeared. Literary Kohayashi (1902-1983) writes that

It

As

a result, his

intelli-

book was not only

read bv untold numbers of Russians, one of those readers was Lenin, riiis

long novel prepared the way for revolution.

In the last vear of his life, Dostoevskv, in his

famous “Pushkin

speech,” spoke of this poet as a prophet. Pushkin had, in

secuted merely for being a seeker after truth. kin’s life,

we

When we

Lict,

been per-

look at Push-

are astonished by his poetr\’ but also by the wa\' hardships

and deprivations appear

in

human form

and, one after another, press

upon him. Even his death in a duel can be likened to marhrdom. Wdien Dostoevsky, who regarded Pushkin as a prophet, ended his in

speech, he, too, was hailed as one by the people.

d’he Seer of Souls and the Mystie Poet: Dostoex'skv and d\ ntehev

Lhose

who

write about Dostoevsky struggle to find the right words to

describe him.

Some

say he was a prophet, a saint. Others, like Strakho\’,

him during death and called him

culti\’ated a friendship with

his lifetime but did a

complete

about face

a narcissistic fantasist.

Berdyaev

after his

wrote that he was not a psychologist but

Cneek word pneuma meaning “breath”

a

pnenmatologist from the

or “wind.” Pneunia signifies not

only the physical breath or wand but also the breath of C^od, the wind of Ck)d; with the rise of Christianit}’,

it

beeanie another

79

name

for the third

CHAPTER IHREE

person of the IVinih’, the Holy expressed his partial approval

Kobayashi

Spirit. Literary eritie Hicleo

-for

Berdyaev’s term pneumatologist, but

searehed desperately for a different word, without being able

to

come up

with anvthing better.^^ With no hesitation whatsoever, Ibshihiko Izutsu

anyone who overlooks

called Dostoevsky the “seer of souls,”""^ as

if

to say

know what this author

is

talking about, d’his

this qualih’ doesn’t

also suggests a special

something Izutsu found

one term

in this writer. In

Dosto-

evsky he perceived something important that cannot he encapsulated just

by the term “mystic” as

it

“The works of this hnere

Why

was used realist’

in

Shinpi tetsugaku.

seem

speak

to

shouldn’t philosophy and psychology

become

sword and pierce your heart?” writes Kobayashi Piinishment.~^ "khe

“mere

realist”

is

author.

What Kobayashi means by

ics that flows

a

in this

way:

double-edged

in a study of

Crime and

Dostoevsky; the quotation marks

indicate that Kobayashi was undecided about ist”

me

to

how

to redefine this “real-

“philosophy”

from Plato through Plotinus down

to

is

the metaphys-

Bergson, in other

him does what would

words, Izutsu’s “philosophy of mysticism.” “Psychologv” for

not refer to the science of treating mental disorders. In

become one of Kobayashi’s last works, a study of the novelist and critic Hakucho Masamune, he cites a passage from Vergil quoted on the title page of Lreud’s Interpretation of Dreams: “Fleetere

Acheronta movebo”

(If

I

si

nequeo Superos,

cannot bend the Gods above,

I

shall

move

the underworld).”^ For Kobayashi “psychology” was connected with the

other world, the land of souls.

Of

the works on Dostoevsky by English writers, the one that

Kobayashi called the most interesting and the most distinctive was

Middleton Murr\'’s Dostoevsky

(1916).

J.

This singular study also aroused

Izutsn’s interest. In his “Introduction to Linguistics” course, the lectures

he gave around the same time that he was lecturing on Russian ture, Izutsu referred to Murry’s views

other w orld. those

who

“1

do not know whether

read and are fascinated

b\'

on what

mv

it is

litera-

like to look into the

experience

is

common

to all

the works of Dostoevsky,” Murr\-

apologetically begins before weaving words that read like a confession.

There are times,

when thinking about

[Dostoevsky] has conjured up

—

I

the spirits

which he

use the word deliberatelv

80

— am I

RUSSIA:

I

UK

spiRi ruAi.ri'^

seized by a supraseiisiial terror. tilings

w

ith

the eye of eternih

,

I'br

ok

nicui

i

one awful nioinenl

and have

a

\

ision of

I

seem

to see

suns grow n eold,

and hear the eeho of voiees ealling without sound aeross the waste and frozen universe.

rememher

.

.

.

And

e\en

to

hod\’

and mo\e among men.“^

Raskolnikov, Sonva,

who have

people

am

I

that these spirits

afraid with a fear that ehills

should one day

facts;

it is

nothing

another world. In

less

a

mortal

hclicvcs, arc this reading,

toevsky hccorncs a kind of shaman. Literary eritieisin

enumerating

on

Mvshkin,

l\'an KarainazoN',

real existence in

j)nt

me

is

Oos-

not a matter of

than the act of entering into the

time and space that the subjects under discussion inhabit and bringing

them hack

to life in the present. In his

Uideo Kohayashi found

a rare

In their recognition of spirit

that

determination

and staunch

Dostoewskv

as

ally in

to

do

just that,

Mnrrv.

an author

who

inhahited the

world, Ilideo Kohayashi and doshihiko Izntsn deeph’ intersect.

If

were not the case, Izntsn would probably not have called Dosto-

ewsky the “seer of souls,” and Kohayashi,

who

would perhaps not have hesitated over how

loved the seer Rimbaud,

to describe this author. In a

lecture given a long time after he had put his study of Dostoevsky aside,

Kohayashi said he had done so because he did not understand Christi-

The

anit\'.“^

Christianih’ that Kohayashi was referring

not Catholicism or Protestantism.

Russian Orthodox

some denounced did to

spiritualih’.

Some

While

it is

for

being

however, was

say that Dostoevsky

embodied

eertainly true that Dostoevskv

extent have expeetations of the Orthodox it

to,

Chureh, he

also

removed from the dVue Chureh. Catholi-

far

cism, he believed, was Christianity that had yielded to the temptation

A

of the Devil. Read the entries in Dostoevsky’s

Writer's Dicir)^

He expresses his inexhaustible faith in Christ hut not in ChristianiW He believes in Christ and, for that reason, must not become like 1881

ordinarv Christians

was

in that

novels

other world, where, as

Murry

Dostoevsky’s “chureh,” too,

observes, the characters in his

live.

“[I]f it

— wasn’t that his creed?

really

someone proved

to

were that the truth

me

that Christ

were outside the

lay outside Christ,

w ith Christ rather than with the

truth.”^°

81

I

would prefer

truth, to

and

remain

doshihiko Izutsu cpiotes these

CHAPI KR THREE

words of Dostoevsky and says there

v\as

probably never a day that Dos-

toevskv did not think of CKrJst. Sbortlv after Hideo Kobavashi sns-

pended

be began work on the

his study of Dostoevsky,

who bad

Gogb.^^ Idiis painter, too, was someone

behind and fixed bieinating.

What be

yon know.

I’ll

all!

tell

left

Christianity

gaze solely on Christ, kbe seer of sonls

bis

sees

yon

is

no

illusion.

a seeret: all this

Van

letters of

is

not bal-

“Do

eertainly “real” to him.

It is

might not have been

dream

a

For something happened here, something so horribly true that

at it

may ridienle Dostoevsky’s “Dream of

conldn’t have been dreamed np.”^" Even though others it

phantasm,

as a

a Ridicnlons

cup

Man”

in front of

something.

It

for the “ridicnlons

(1877),

The

him.

lies in

in

real to

him than touching

greatness of Dostoevsky

the fact that he dedicated his

world his visions revealed

to

him

is

wonid unhesitatingly

not that he “saw”

life to try to

make

the

a realih’.

cite

“Chapter

authors in that book, this chapter

one can

fail to

recognize

it

is

and tragedy of this

9;

poet,

le

whose

Of the

d’yntchev.”

ten studies of

and fate

work by Toshihiko Izntsn on his dazzling

w as

to live in

treatment of the

what Izntsn

the Real World, are, of course, particnlarly fine. But finer Izntsn vividly describes

how

I

not only the most outstanding, no

as a brilliant

the topic of Being. His writing sh

way

the

asked to choose one distinctive chapter of Roshiateki uingen,

If

glory

more

feels

it

man”

calls

still is

the

nineteenth-centiiiy Russian literature

entered the metaphysical world, assigning a central place in his study to this

poet as a kind of watershed figure.

on nineteenth-eentnry Russian

literature,

considered Iw passing Tyutchev. gciku,

where space was

d ’he

name

He

When it is

developing his views

unlikely that Izntsn ever

also discusses

him

in Roshici

bun-

limited.

of Tyutchev

is

not as familiar to ns as that of Dostoevskw

Russia, too, Izntsn writes, has long forgotten this poet,

who

“deser\’es to

he called a genius.”’’ A contemporar}- of Pushkin, Tyutchev was over

fiftv

when he published his first collection of poetrv. Bv that time Pushkin, who died at the age of tlhrh-seven, was no longer alive. It was Nekrasov who gave him his chance: Russia’s first revolntionarv poet discovered Russia’s

first

mystic poet. I’here

is

a

dimension

in

which the

intellectual

distance between idealism and materialism ceases to he an issue

82

— a truth

RUSSIA:

conveyed

to ns

Russian ln)r

HF, spiKi riiAi.rn'

sometimes events oeeiir

as these.

these poets and elairvoyants,

were eonsidered mad,

the so-ealled “realih

that

”

is

who were

it is

merely

were

sereen that

Someone

fragile

d’his

a

is

strange

w

hom

was rather

,” it

of ordinar\' people that was the illusion, a world

phenomenal world mav

heanh

.

But, in the final anal-

a beautifully painted eiirtain, a \eil that eoneeals the

If

to reveal the

men.

ol:)sesse(l h\'

the one and only “realih

a sjDeetaele of ineffable

true realih.

I

work, I'wo Mysteries of

siek illusions In' peo]:)le for

of insubstantial appearanees. At times, this

perhaps present

a

to

tr\'

to

eompare

it,

I

might e\en

eall

it

a

smoke-

has suddenly east dow n from on high so as not

all-too-awesome true form of the Real Wdrld direetR

human

In the

cannot he fathomed hy

the cneonnter hetween these two

the world of e\ er\ day affairs

)sis,

Ni(;iri

Mcrczlikowskv denotes

Poetry' (191'^), to

visions that

OF

bv the inanv eneonnters that have oeenrrcd there.

history of the arts,

dogmas such

I

to

eyes.'"^

passage from IzAitsns stnd\’ of dVntchev. d'heir agreement

with the following words of OostoeNskv

is

no accident. “What the

majority calls fantastic and exceptional sometimes constitutes the very essenee of the real.”’^

depict

all

am only a realist in a higher sense, i.e., human sonl.”^^ The agreement lies in the

“I

the depths of the

I

nature of the two writers’ existential experience rather than in express

it.

how

thev

Tvutchev led the wav, and Dostoevskv followed. Although

Dostoevsky revered Pushkin,

in the predisposition of his soul,

he was

closer to dyutchev, Izntsn believes.

Izutsu was

one of the very

ously. Since Izutsu,

first

Japanese

to discuss this

poet

however, not man\' studies have dealt with

seriIVii-

tehev as a metaphysieal poet. For a full-scale analysis hy a Japanese, w e

would have It is

to wait until Atsnshi

Sakaniwa’s work

came out

in 2007."^

suggestive that, in addition to the relationship hetween Dostoevskv

and dVutchev, who met several times, Sakaniwa

cites the

influence

of Sehelling on Tyutchev and deals with the “World Soul,” the fun-

damental organizing principle of the world

as a personal realih’.

“For

to grasp intu-

dAutehev,” Izutsu writes, “the primarv' goal of poetry [was |

itively the basic

to express his

essenee of the universe, the deepest level of being, and

awareness of

it

symbolically through visual

8^

iinages.”'^^

On

CHAPTER THREE

the other hand, however, 'lyutehev

onee uttered

poetry; As he says in Silentium, “a thought

do

tr\'

saved

what eannot be

to say

it

in a

said; to try to save those

untrue.

is

who eannot he

— this eontradietory aetivih’ was what IVutehev eondneted

eosinie depths. Dostoevsky,

more

“realistie”

d’he lyutehev

When

“night.”

way

whom

who

earried

in the

own

statements rejeeting his

left

on

his mission,

“depths of the

human

in the

would attempt soul.”

eonsnmmate poet

Izutsu diseusses was a

Izutsu writes that the poet lived the night,

what the

means is not the absenee of light but rather its mate eonvergenee. Even though darkness is refleeted to human

darkness of night

as a lightless state,

no

light, there

not the ease that there

it is

is

no

light. If

would be no darkness. To witness the

begins to shine upon the earth; to be there transeendently Absolute

is

when

of

ulti-

eyes

there were

when light “Being” who is

instant

the

truly in eontaet with “beings”

— that

is

illu-

minatio. That experienee, whieh eountless prophets, saints and mysties

have had,

dazzling

light.

moment human eyes

is

not always a matter of being enveloped in a blaze of

“ITe

terrible instant of reeognition! In that tragie, fate-

the poet witnesses at

ful

first

hand the forbidden plaee

that

are normally not allowed to see, the primal blaekness of

the universe, fie stands transfixed, seeing before his very eyes ‘something’ that

the direet opposite of ‘God,’ the absolutely irrational bed-

is

roek lurking in the deepest layers of there

is

awe

rather than terror, and,

faseination” rather than

all

being.

In this

experienee

on the other hand, an “unbearable

joy."^'

Wdien speaking about the

true nature of the mystieal experienee,

Izutsu often uses the expression “faseination.” Like a stranger hiring

him away, tions.

It

it

leads

him

to plaees far

might be deseribed

to refuse.

Perhaps

it

as

beyond

his

an invitation that

thoughts or expeetais

utterly impossible

resembles the experienee religious people ha\’e of

being “ealled.” This poet’s penetrating eye

is

like the spring

WTen

he looks intently and foeuses

World

that until then

instantl)-

begins

that here

had formed

to dissolve,

and there open

sun melting

his gaze, the surfaee of tlie Real

a hard, beautiful, er\stalline faee,

and eventually, from the their

a glaeier.

terrible fissures

gaping mouths, the dark ab\ss

84

is

RUSSIA: TIIK SPIRirUAI.riT

OF

NICII

I

exposed, d he unbearable faseination of that iineanny instant \\iien

be

l)reaks the

taboo and eatebes

a briet gbin])se ot tlie nn-steries of

the eosinic de])tbs ne\ er ever rep ealed to the outside world! As

make

sessed, with tbongbts that

on the

in

It

on end, the

bis hair stand

terror.”

“wbetber he

’^'et

pos-

peers

roiling inner de])tbs of terror-filled blaekness.'^"

not that the ])oet desires siieb an experienee.

is

])oet

if

wills

unexpeetedK’, glides slow

Undoubtedly

ly

it

It

is

an “instant of

or not, this glittering enrtain, snddenlv,

upward

in front of

him

be looks

as

may

on.”'^'^

ba\e been

a

ba\ e regarded Dostoewsky with a resjK'et bordering on aw

e,

this

is

a ])ortrait of ryntebew. But

it

also

portrait ot Izntsu himself.

d he Poet

may

Izutsii

but

seems

it

means be

to

me

VMu) Sang of

be considered

felt a real affinih’ for

ences. In “Chapter

6:

L>ife

before Birth

Lermonbw a

him

that

Lermontov” of

fe]low-eonntr\ nian. That

went beyond personal

prefer-

Rosliiateki niiigen, Iziitsu quietlv

but firmly interweaves themes that Lermonto\' ne\er for an instant set aside during bis lifetime: the recollection of heaven and the realih of angels, in other words, bis

As

v

iews of heaven and beavenlv beings.

age

a rebel against the

in

which be

L.crmontov was a sueecs-

lived,

sor to Pushkin; as a seeker after holiness,

be prepared the way

and Dostoevsk)'. He had already begun

to write poetry

was seventeen. “Angel,” which be wrote

at that

works and

Here

is

known

have been

1 be angel earried the To a land of suffering

its

melody

and

.

.

.

/

Yet

.

.

.

to the

finest

poet himself.

translated into )apanese.

tears,

vonng

sonl forgot.

tears”

is

this life, the

being born on earth, “the young sonl forgot

.After

one of bis

clearly recalled.'^

rbc “land of suffering and song

dear

is

by the time be

unborn soid

dlie words of the song the Yet

j^artienlarK’

one stanza, which Izntsu

will cite

I

to

time,

for 'Iblstov’

clearly recalled” the

world, d’bis statement

is

melody

it

phenomenal world. .

.

.

the words of the

bad beard

in the

other

not metaphorical. In the ease of this poet,

85

it

CHAPTER THREE

is I

a

a

candid confession.

remember hearing

“I still

was three years old, and heii^g so mo\’ed that passage in Lermontov

s

notes that Izntsn

of this world. Lermontov did not believe

where he it

was

taken

lived with his

who

mother,

was

a

burst into tears,” reads

The

“song” was not

song of his birthplace,

when he was young. For him The poet’s confession must he

poems he wrote

In the

literally.

cites.

song when

died

melody from the other world.

a

it

I

a certain

an adult, however, he slums

as

socieh and in violent language constantly spews out his feelings of rage. His

contemporaries treated him

known

well

It is

that

Pushkin

But the truth, says Lermontov,

is

as a nuisance.

lost his life in a

that

duel over his wife.

had been nothing

it

than a

less

publicly conducted assassination, the equivalent of an official silencing.

When

he died, the world

Those poems ing,

that

fell

silent as

if it

had forgotten

his

poems.

had been so comforting, so encouraging, so sooth-

were intentionally forgotten. Pushkin’s poetry did not simply move

people’s hearts and minds.

awakened

It

Lermontov were

spiritnalih'. If

to

keep

their sonls

silent

and defined

now, Pushkin’s very

tence might he denied by the authorities and he reduced to

The

death of a great poet announced the

of the Poet” (1837), Lermontov’s

a

How

can he seen by the

army and sent the

same end

of Lermontov. “Death

poem which

asserted that Pushkin

who

does not

the poet

came

land

far, far

beyond the Izntsn saw

He,

sar

Nicholas

than salvation

lie in

too, died in a “duel.”

The

local

I

said,

“A

dog’s death for a dog!”"^^

human

— that was

beings and the ahsnr-

Lermontov. Bnt

“what” Lermontov wrote.

He

Izntsn’s

deals with “where”

from. “An exile aimlessly wandering the earth, longing

au ay,

homeland, a

his

body writhing with impatience

for

land of limpid light that surely exists somewhere

— that

distant horizon”

it."^^

a cavalry

Cancasns. Lermontov suffered

sang of the dark side of

for his soul’s eternal a

was

hnry him; the owner of the house he was renting per-

dih’ of reality rather

interest

it

he was conscripted into the regular

fact that

as his predecessor.

formed an exorcism; 1 poet

one handwritten poem by

to the battlefield in the

priest refused to

A

mvth.

than any printing press and circulated thronghont Russia.

faster

great was the impact of this

officer

exis-

arri\ al

did not die in a duel, he was murdered, was not published, hut

copied

their

The statement

that

was Lermontox

’s

true nature as

he came from “hevond the distant

86

RUSSIA:

horizon” brings ns back

bad called I^'roni

own

bis

rilF,

SPlRI'l'UAM IT

OK

NIGIl'l

passage in Shiiipi tetsugakii, winch Izntsn

to a

intellectual starting point.

bcN'ond a distant time tboiisaiids of years ago, the xoiee of some

gigantie thing

eame

eiremnambient

into this breast, tbimderonsl)^

noise.

uncanny sound, whose rexerberant echo

bis

I

oxerpowering the

almost deafens mx' ears, barely even grazes tbe heartstrings of most ]:)eople’s breasts

to take Blit 111)^

xx

but seems to

no notice of

hen

breast,

as

it

rceeixe this

I

my soul

j^ass

them

idly by.

I'lie)'

coolly apj^ear

tbey xxere ntteiiy insensible to that sound.

if

axx fiil

xoiee

xx

holeheartedly onto the strings of

responds to and harmonizes

xx

ith

it

xx

ith

an almost

heart-breaking resonance. diiis

is

the iir-landseape of Toshihiko

losophy begins with xxas likely

this

Iziitsii

the philosopher.

passage and alxxays returns to

it.

Ilis

phi-

Lermontov

not the only one to have memories from bevond a distant

time and space. the strings of

“When

my

receixe this awful xoiee wholeheartedly onto

I

breast,

my

soul responds to

and harmonizes with

with an almost heart-breaking resonanee.” Reading

this,

it

one cannot

help thinking that these were the reeolleetions of Izutsu himself:

Beeaiise Roshia hiingaku w'as for a

eorrespondenee

eoiirse

meant

to serve as

teaching materials

— eampiis publishing as

it

were — readers

other than the students in the eourse were naturally limited. Inevitably there are only a few references to this work. interesting allusion to Roshia

hungaku

in

One

of these

is

a

\’er\’

an essay by Kaziio Miiira

(d.

1994) entitled “Izutsu dbshihiko-seusei” (Professor dbshihiko Izutsu), xx

ritten at the

time of Izutsu’s death.

In his student days erature.

He

Miura audited

on Russian

Izutsu’s leetures

lit-

learned a great deal about the eharaeter and thought of the

Russian people and the distinctive features of the Russian language, but there was

he

said,

ter

what”

just

“I

eouldn’t go along with no mat-

— Professor IzutsiPs “tendency to try to explain

world’s various cultural in

one thing

terms of differenees

phenomena and in

things like the

the workings of j^eople’s minds

hpes of religious experience,

a

tendeney that

might be called overly idealized or even almost mystieal.” Moreover,

when

Vliura read Roshia hungaku and frankly told Izutsu his impressions

87

CHAPTER THREE

of the book, “his face surprisingly reddened, and in that distinctive tone

of \ oiee of liis,” he said. “Hiat^was a thing of the past that cast aside.

Fm

embarrassed even

“yon should write

a better

one

to think of

it,”

but

if it

yonrself.”^° Certainly,

myself have

I

wasn’t any good,

what he had

fin-

ished writing was already “a thing of the past that he himself had cast aside,” vet the \

embarrassment

alne of the work

itself.

its

author

may have

Izntsn

felt

bears no relation to the

regretted not having adequately

treated the topics in this book, hut that “embarrassment” was not the

only thing he

felt

should be clear from the

Roshiciteki uingen. Roshiateki ningen

Stalin died. As he

would

been

came

in 1953, the year

to

an end

at that time,

was coming into vogue.”’’

around the time of Roshia hungaku,

on what might be called

to write

say years later in the colloquy with Shotaro

as “a left-wing, socialist ideology that,

he went on

was published

Yasnoka, his lectures on Russian literature

be

fact that

Izntsn’s

aims

a historv of Russian spiritnalih’

It

may

well

in lecturing

would not have

readilv understood.

Among

the works of

of Marx’s Economic 1962.^^

His

last

Kazno Minra’s

early period

and Philosophic Manuscripts

was

a translation

(1844), translated in

work, published posthnmonsly in 1995, was a translation

of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (1807).^’

1

have read praise

for

each

of these translations, which are highly esteemed for their Japanese sh le.

d he author’s mastery of logical thinking short tribute to Izntsn.

If

we

Minra acknowledges

found

its

Izntsn’s is

way

also fully

conveyed

in the

see Alinra’s words as a criticism of Toshi-

hiko Izntsn from an ideological standpoint, udice.

is

we might be accused

that the mystical thought of

into Russia. In the

w ork on semantics, and

same

his

of prej-

Neoplatonism

essay he shows a high regard for

account of this subject

is

accurate.

It

clear that he also carefully read Izntsn’s other writings. His objections

lie

elsewhere.

political

It is

unreasonable, Minra observes,

problems that existed

to mystical philosophy.

in Russia at the

What he

to

be indifferent

to the

time and reduce them

all

seems

to

Roshia hungaku, Izntsn refers

to

also objected to in those days

ha\ e been Izntsn’s treatment of Lermontov. In the section

on Lermontov

the poet Claudel’s experience of

in

Rimhand. T

his section

was omitted

in

Roshiateki ningen. 'Fhe poet Paul Claudel was once a thoroughgoing materialist.

What

taught

him

that

even matter could not

88

exist

without

RUSSIA:

was the

Ciocl

riiereafter,

his

])oetr\'

I’llK Sl’IRI

rUAl.riT

of Rinihaiid. For Claudel,

he heeaine

a

devout heliever.

eueouuter with Rimbaud had been

that

Rimbaud was

temporal relationship,

What

irres])eeti\'e

imagine

it

more, Cdaudel said that

ou

d’he equally divided parts eall this a “latitudinal di\ ide

it

dimeusiou,

a different

Cdaudel eould not free

a sj^iritnal level

may draw

\\

ithont anv

the reader into the temporal

extending

as a reetangnlar solid

horizontally at set inter\als into ten ec|nal

it

now

is

literalh' a revelation,

of generation as a time-based system.”^'^

height of the solid as a hundred vears and

but

was

a thing as a spiritual generation

one effeeted on

exist,

'The term “generation”

Dix’ide

it

his S])iritual eontem])orarv.

might authoritatively

Let’s

NI(;il'l

]:)repared

himself from the “strangeness that sueh

dimension.

OK

its

lengthwise from

B\’

Regard the

])arts.

plane snrfaee as the world,

heeome deeades,

generation.”

i.e.

a “generation.” Let’s

same

solid

bottom into ten equal

verti-

eontrast, take the

to]) to

vertieally.

Assume that people uho li\e in eaeh hundred-year period somehow eonneeted to one another are eontained along this

eal parts.

and are

lengthwise

What hand

is

seKes

Izntsn

Iziitsn

it

hundred

vears.

If,

would he possible

woidd

and Rim-

referring to in his disenssion of Claudel

is

this longitudinal generation, d’here

to a

Creeee,

“longitudinal generation.”

axis. Let’s eall this a

for to

later deserihe his

of Oriental philosophy,” hut

it

is

no need

example, we were

to

as the

would be

eonfine onr-

go baek

expand the lengthwise

w ork

to

axis to

to

aneient

3000

\ears.

“svnehronie strnetnralization

fair to eall

it

the philosophieal

strnetnralization of longitudinal generations instead.

On

sneh

a grid,

Soerates, Plato, Confneins, Lao-tzh, the aneient Indian sages, Jewish mvsties, Islamie

dynasty, Sarte ieal

Zen monks, Basho, Motoori Norinaga, Malarmc,

would

all live as

Sung

Rilke and

“eontemporaries.” Just as there are “days” in phys-

time, “time” also exists on the axis of eternih'. Aneient

a distinetion

and

philosophers, Chinese Confneianists of the

Creek made

between quantitative time and qualitative time — c77ro/2os

kairos. d’he

former

is

external to the world; the latter

is

internal.

Augustine’s statement that a day ean he measured by a eloek, hut time is

measured by the “Yes,

Lermontov was

anywhere on where

sonl, probably refers to the

in the

same

thing.

who had no plaee he belonged, who had no one any-

truly a solitary figure

this earth wdiere

wide world who was elose

89

to

him,” Izntsn says

in Rosliia

CHARIER THREE

hiingaku.^^ Before 1 iis eneounter with said the

same

thing. If

Rimbarrd was

Rimbaud, Claudel might have

a person of Glanders ‘dime,” Izutsn

Lermontov’s “eontemporarv” would have been Baudelaire;

writes,

“L’Etranger” (The Stranger), the

poem

at

in

the beginning of Le Spleen

de Paris (1869; Paris Spleen), he would have heard the voice of someone else

homesick

which Izutsn

for the other world.

aimes-tu

mere,

was published

w'ork

ta soeiir

le

poem,

Baudelaire’s

is

hungaku hut which was

translated into Japanese for Roshia

removed w hen the

— Oui

Cited below

as Roshiateki ningen.

mieux, hominc enigniatique,

dis? ton pere, ta

ou ton here?

— je n’ai ni pcre, ni mere, ni soeur, ni here. — Tes amis? — Vous \’ous ser\ez la d’lme parole dont le sens m’est reste jiiscju’a ee Jonr ineonnu.

—da

patrie?

— J’ignore sous quelle latitude elle est situee. — Fdi! qu’aimes-tu done, extraordinaire etrauger? les linages qui passent — J’aime les uuages .

les

merx eilleux

— WToiii

.

.

.

.

la-bas

.

.

.

la-bas

.

.

.

linages!

do you love best? do

mother,

.

tell, )'ou

enigma: your father? your

brother?

sister,

— have no father, no mother, neither sister nor brother. — "ibur friends? — d hat a word I’ve ne\ er understood. — '^bur eonntry? — don’t know at what latitude to look for I

is

it.

1

— Wbll then, you puzzling stranger, what do you love? — love elouds elouds that go by out there over there 1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

niar\elous elouds!’^

Lermontov has ilar

a

resonance.^'

clouds

is

poem called “Tnchi” (1840; Clouds) that carries a simWhat the two poets are speaking about in the guise of

the gateway to the other world. Just as

90

Lermontov sang of the

RUSSIA: THK SPIRITUAI.rn'

OF

NIOII

“Angel,” the voice in Baudelaire’s “L’Alhatros” and “Corrcsj^ondances” (18157), too, \

ioiis

overflows w

ith

weariness for this

life

and nostalgia

for a pre-

existence. Perhaps the wings of Lermontov’s angel were visible to

Baudelaire

when he wrote

dcs hnees,

/

of the albatross, “Lxilc snr

Ic sol

an milieu

Ses ailes de geant I’empeehent dc marcher” (But on the

ground, amid the hooting crowds,

Ic

/

cannot walk,

his

wings are

in the

wav).^^ d’hose wings, indispensable in heaven, are not only useless in the earthlv’

view,

world, he laments; they simjily

Lermontov was

become

a nnisanee. In Izntsn’s

who had stnmhled

“a stranger

into this world hv

some mistake or throiigli some trick of malevolent fate, a wandering wavfarer who had no home anywhere on earth. d’he same eonld probably also he said of “the stranger” in Baudelaire’s ])ocm cited ahov'c. Izntsn takes note ot the fact that the two tions of a previous existence. But,

more than

]:)octs

that,

both had recollec-

he never

loses sight

of the fate of those who, having been born with such “recollections,”

speak of the reality of the other w orld as

Pushkin had

alreadv^

begun

if

somehow

to write ])octrv in

driven to do

so.

Lrcneh when he was

eleven years old. In the case of Rimbaud, not onlv’ did the writing of poetry begin in his teens, for well.

As was mentioned

when he began reason these

to write

men

intents

all

earlier,

and

pnr])oses,

Lermontov,

works that deserve

too, to

was

it

ended there

in his

as

mid-teens

he called poetry.

The

coidd not help but write poetry was that they never

stopped thinking of “home.” This was particnlarly true of Lermontov'. For

him

a

poem was

a prayer that

awakened the

feelings

he had had

in

his life before birth.

“Previous incarnation”

a

is

term associated with the transmigration

of sonls and indicates the cycle of death and rebirth in the framework

of this world and the present

realm where we

liv

life.

But “previous existence”

ed before being born, d’his other world

is

refers to a

the world

of the Intellect in Shiupi tetsugciku, what Rilke calls Realitcit, Plato the

world of Ideas, Swedenborg heaven.

He [Lermontov] was born rv'ing

with

him an image

for painting

into this world as an obvious misfit, ear-

of eternal beautv'.

A

person with a talent

and an extraordinarv' mnsieal genius, he symboliealR

depicted his vision of this eternal beauty as the sweet strains of a song

91

CHAPTER THREE

he had heard

in a pre\ ions existenee,

before he had been horn in this

\\orld.^°

And

sometimes the words of

yet

words of a eurse, railing be found

in this life.

Lermontov

is

Lermontov

man

self.”^"

to his death.

“One’s impression

man

wiis a

“Demon”

certainly conjures

difference.

And

yet

up

a sense of the

made no attempt sometimes

Izutsu says.

possessed. But instead of being

possessed by the Devil,” he goes on to say, “he

not Satanic. I’he public tal

could never

not that of a man, but that of a demon,

“Undoubtedly, Lermontov a

for

the

Nineteenth-eenturv Russian statesmen heard only

these outcries and drove of

what he longed

at the fact that

beeome

poet would also

this

demon him-

demonic, but

understand

to

a

is

this

it is

fundamen-

holy thing will appear with a deaf-

a

ening roar that shakes the very foundations of Being and stunningly awes people into submission, d’here the

“Demon

acter

King” confesses:

want

to pray.

work by Lermonto\’

a

King” (published posthmnonsly

who

not a being

is

is

I

“I

want

When Masami

seeks

want

w

to believe in

ith

goodness”

Ichijo’s translations of

introduction.^*^ Like

that

was

still

he

felt

Lermontov, Yokemura,

an unrealized dream. In

he had

to play his part

The Yoshitaro

I

want

(“Demon King”

“Demon to love.

I

X).^’

in the

Iwanami Bunko

series

Russian literature, Yoshitaro Yokemura, wrote the too, believed in a “eountrv”

how ever,

his case,

it

was not some-

appeared;

it

was something

and help bring

it

about.

thing he was willing to wait for until that

heaven.

the

Lermontov’s “Altsyiri” (1840;

rhe No\'ice) and “Demon” were published (1951), a scholar of

in 1842). d’he title char-

evil. In Izntsu’s translation,

to reconcile

entitled

it

real

Eternal Idea

Yokemura (1897-1975) began

a lecture

on Russian

literature

1947 by speaking about Dostoevsky, “When I went to the Soviet Union about ten years ago, experts didn’t much recommend that read-

in

ers read

Dostoex sk}-.”^^ I’here

and censure

is

as striking as

is

it is

no

writer for

whom

in the ease of

the range of praise

Dostoevskv.

Some

detect

a

kind of genius in his mystical and religious views and praise him as

a

prophet, an interpreter of the other world, but

92

Yokemura

did not

RUSSIA: rUK SPIRI UAI.I IT Ol' NI(;il T I

subscribe to such views, \\1iv not? Because “tbey eauuot bceoiue the

and blood of those who are advaneiug along the road

flesh

to a deni-

oeratic revolution.” Indeed, studies of this sort of idealistic nostoevsk\'

are an obstacle to

ainone

dexelopinent” and

niiist

The quote

ina\'

on the proper course of

“nio\’ing forward

be rejected.

be arbitrary but

I

do not think

it

distorts

its

author’s

intentions. Readers of ^’okeninra’s entire oeuvre will likelv find state-

ments even more scathing than \

iew's

of Dostoewskv that

make

Such oversimplified, leftwing

this.

dichotonn' betw een good and

a

would probabK’ have few subscribers todaw And son

who

introduced Ibsbibiko Izntsn

influence on Izntsn was ko\sk\', Berdvae\'

and

b\^

to

no means

Solov\o\',

who

il

was the per-

vet, this

Russian literature, ’^bkemnra’s less

than people like Merezb-

and

aj^pear in Roshiateki uingen

deserve to be called Dostoevsky’s snecessors. below' suggests that

e\

A

glance

Yokemnra was not someone who

fits

at the

words

the label of a

stereoh pieal leftwing writer. At the end of “Higuehi lehiyo,” reading from her diarv

comfort the this \essel

human

— “I am

world

its

does not break and

behind, and so long as shall

in

become

the

life

social responsibility-

this

a in()\ ie

saw reeentl}-, there was a

god of

a child of the

suffering

spill

and

m\- blood,

I

A

born

to

As long

as

poctr\',

despair.

.

.

.

beantv

shall leave this

world docs not cease

of the people.”

many

I

poems

to be, nw'

conscience and

a

sense of

times greater than that of Ichiyd’s must,

behe\ e, be demanded of writers and

critics in the politically

I

aware

times of today.^" “I its

am

a child of the

suffering

saw

earlier.

god of poetr\-, born

and despair” — this passage

Yokemnra never

teenth-eentnrv'

woman

to

comfort the

human

recalls the cry of

world

in

Lermontov we

loses sight of these words. In the late-nine-

poet and novelist, flignebi Ichiyo, he sees the

face of a saint.

d ’he is

number

of people w ho have ever beard of Yoshitard

no doubt diminishing, d'here have been

re])orts that a

Yokemnra

search

is

under

v\ay to find the as-yet-nnknown holder of copyright to bis works, d'his

student of Russian literature believed

expounded by Marx and Lenin,

d

in the

hrongbont

9^

democratic revolution bis

whole

life

he ne\'er

CHAPTER THREE

abandoned

conviction that art had an indispensable role to play

tlie

ideology he helie\’ed in has

in this process. "Fhat explains- why, as the

waned,

and original writings have trickled

his translations

number

were, and disappeared, and the

him has

of people

it

who comment on

also declined.

After graduation from the Ibkyo School of Foreign

(now

off, as

I’okyo University of Foreign Studies)

and

Languages

a stint in the Investi-

Bank of Japan, Yokemnra worked for the Russian Embassy in Japan and became an assistant professor at his alma mater and a lecturer at Waseda Unix ersity. For two years beginning in 1935, gation Bureau of the

he studied have had

Union.

in the Soviet

at that

time

What

unknown.

is

But even

that there

Although

if

that

patronage Yokemnra

I’he fact that

by the Russian Embassy, albeit ad\'antage.

sort of

in Japan,

were the case,

it

he had been employed

may have worked

used the term “study,” the situation

those days was completely different than

it

to o\

in the Soviet

wonld he

professor going to study Russian literature there today.

imagine that

to his

can readily he conjectured

were one or two obstacles he wonld ha\ e had I

may

ercome.

Union

in

for a imiversih’ It is

not hard to

wonld have required some determination. Yokemnra

it

returned to Japan in 1938, the year in which the actress Yoshiko

Okada

(1902-1992) and Ryokichi Sngimoto defected to the Soviet Union. As

more information has become publicly available, we now know that when Sngimoto crossed into the Soviet Union, he was arrested and executed on suspicion of being a

“Being militarists

w

a leftist, ith

spy.

[Yokemnra] seems

extreme

disfa\ or.”^^

As

to

have been regarded by the

Iziitsn says,

Yokemnra was driven

out of the dbkyo School of Foreign Languages in 1940 because of his political beliefs

and was detained

in 1945 for

being in contravention

of the Public Security Preservation Law. After the war, he

member

became

a

Communist Parh' in 1946 and the following vear stood for election to the House of Councillors. When a Russian language school, the So\ iet Academy (now the Russian Academv of Tokyo), opened in 1934, he became its first principal. of the

Shortly after entering Keio Universitv, Izntsii also began attending night school at the dbkyo School of Foreign Languages with the

aim of learning Russian.

All the classes

94

were

“like eating sand;

I

almost

spiRnuAi.m ok

RUSSIA: riiK

wondered whether Russian eonld There

\\as

one exeeption:

"t

nicii

r

possihly he sneh a boring language.

oshitaro Vokeinnra. The view that what

Izntsn learned from ^bkeinnra was the Russian language not Russian literature in

is

own

refuted h\ his

w hat might be ealled the elosing years of his

Shotard ^ asnoka, he

sav

Russian tem])erament

s,

“When one

in his

about Yokeinnra

testiinonv’. Izntsn talked

own

all

of the Russian language w as alive in that man.

The language

ous.

in the essay

of the right teaeher)

had passed,

IziitsiTs

is

is

as “the

being, and this

marv el-

when he

fifty v'ears

speaks of meeting

dbkemnra.

unfathomable depths of the Russian

uuderstaud

trnlv

“Shdshi o motomete” (1980; In seareh

strikingly viv id

"ibkemnra. d he “he,” of eonrse, I’lie

w as

It

The

in Russia.

even more passionate. Rven though

words are

beeomes

of a sudden Russian

understandable. Simply put, he himself was immersed spirit

eolloquy with

In his

w ith someone who has the

studies

body,

life.

soul,

somehow

Russian ehaos,”

moved me tremendously,

whieh

jDulsed

lie, too,

later

I

eanie

to

through his verv

was someone who

lived his seholarship existentially."'

Nihilism and atheism fostered in politieal and religious eonfusion; souls in seareh of salvation

and the Absolute

in a godless plaee; the

mystieism

of night; a unique biith eultivated by a love of Christ that bordered on

madness — this ity

for Izntsn

was the “Russian ehaos,” Russian

that eonld not rest eontent

Izutsu learned

how

to

w

ith

spiritual-

any religion or ideology. Ibshihiko

eateh a glimpse of the innermost reeesses of the

Russian soul from the leftvving writer Yoshitaro Yokemnra.

The

expression “He, too, was

someone who

lived

.

.

.

existentiallv”

ean be eonsidered the highest praise Toshihiko Izutsu eonld

Among the other people signon,

who

studied

give.

of whom he spoke in similar terms, Louis Mas-

f lallaj,

eomes

to

mind,

as

does Mireea Lliade, the

historian of religion, d’he former determined IzutsiTs attitude toward

seholarship; the latter he regarded as a guide pioneering the

way

for

thinkers in seareh of truth. Although Islamie mystieism and the history

of religion oeeupy different realms, these two seholars tury.

who were

Among

men

were both

first-rate

the leading lights of their time in the tw entieth een-

Japanese, Izutsu used the expression for the philosopher

Keiji Nishitani. “Kxistential” in this context

95

does not simply

im])lv'

CHAFI'ER THREE

outstanding. less

And

it is

utterly different

from being correct.

life.

But before

know what state

their entire

than staking one’s whole-self on one’s mission in

anyone can stake body and truly

have

their

life,

they

spirit are in.

It is

not possible to

know.

A

first

to

nothing

It is

risk

something one does not

scholar knows this through his/lier scholarship; a painter

acquires mastery by painting, a writer by writing. For a religions person, it is

prayer; for the sick, the role

a laborer

it is

work. Those

who

is

For

just to survive in that condition.

are able to master their roles completely

Izntsn calls “existential.”

And

yet,

it is

not easy to detect Yoshitaro Yokemnra’s influence in

Roshiateki ningen.

It is

clear from that

work

feeling for thinkers like Solovyov, Berdyaev

lowed

that Izntsn

had

and Merezhkovsky who

in Dostoevsky’s footsteps. Dostoevsky’s basic thesis that

a struggle heh\

een

light

a fellow fol-

“heanh^

is

and darkness, the eongrnenee of contradictor}-

polar opposites,” Izntsn writes, can be said to ha\ e been inherited from

d yntehev and flows through Dostoevsky into Solovyov.^" But Yoshitaro

Yokemnra denonneed these men qualitatively

changing Russian

misrepresenting Dostoevsky and

for

Even though

literature for the worse.

these three men’s attitude toward

life

may have been

sincere, he criti-

cized their idea of ascribing a mystic origin to existence on the grounds that

it

distorted Dostoevsky’s truth, per\'erted his legacy

a tradition that

readily agree.

was detrimental

did,

it is

and Yokemnra do not

Whether Yokemnra read Roshiateki ningen

since he died in 1975, there

he

to Russia. Izntsn

and established

unlikely that he

SolovvoN’ was the

is

not known;

every possibilih’ that he did. But even

is

if

would have unreservedly approved.

model

for Ivan

and Aloysha

zov (1880), and the words of Amhrosins,

Optina Monaster\-, which he

\

isited

whom

in Brothers

Karama-

Dostoevsky met

the

at

with SoIovtov, were passed on to

ns through the character of Father Zosima.

Yokemnra frequently

cussed Dostoevsky and often referred to Solovvov. But he called

dis-

this

story a total “fallacy.”

Yokemnra sums np Solovyov’s philosophy as follows: “T he ideal world is the w orld of God, and the actual world is the world on earth. Inman beings play the role of intermediaries between these two 1

worlds, rhrongh

human

intervention, the

kingdom

established on earth.” In order to bring this about,

96

of

first,

God

will

“we must

be

relv

RUSSIA: TIIK SPIRi rUAl.rn-

on Cod”; moreover,

OF

NIGII

I

attainment “ean only be aehieved hv

its

a the-

oeraey eentered on the Clmreh [the rennified Kastern and Western ehnrehes].”^'^ d’his

abridged. But

Not only

it

is

only an outline so there

does not seem

are there

to

no mistakes,

it

highly

he the aeeonnt of a biased

eritie.

faithfnllv

human

For there to he true j^eaee, he says, spiritnalitv as the ehildren of

Clmreh

many

that has for so

Fhere

^bkemnra eomplains; it

is

ean a

ill

afford to

The

it is

ideas.

in the

world

and

this eternal

nothing more than

a

mystie

s

in

sneh dire

Nature:

I'he Ge/?-

is

fantasies. in

whieh has been

translated by Riehio

translation was pid:>lished in 1928, just

translator’s

aeeompanied

all

— Solovyov ealls

he swayed by empty

time that Solovyov’s works were Japan.

s

sehism

to the

work by Solovyov entitled Beauty

The

Solovyov

beings must regain their

in realitv, the

eral Significance of the Arts (1889),

dakamnra."'^

it

years served as the matrix of wars

idea “Sophia.” But these words are

straits that

eom eys

God, put an end

eonfnsion, and usher in the work of CF)d

dav'dream,

no denying

is

is

around the

being seriously introdneed into

first

eommentary on

Solovyov’s aestheties that

aeenrate even by today’s standards, writes the fore-

most Japanese expert on Solovyov’s

studies,

Miehio Mikoshiha. The

writing style eonveys to ns that the translation was written with an

underlying sympathy and enthusiasm for Solovwov and that the translator

was keeping

inal

his overflowing

emotions

author does the translator get

he patient and rational,

we would

weaves are Solovyov’s or the in Nature,” the leetnre

in

that, if

this

he had not foreed himself

know whether

not

translator’s.

on whieh

eheek. So elose to the orig-

poems by Tyntehev eommentary on poetry. Riehio d’akamiira

is

hook was based, Solovyov quotes

are eited; the

another

he subsequently stopped using

name

it.

the w ords the pen

At the beginning of “Beaiitv'

Dostoevsky’s words, “Beauty will save the world. several

to

work

In the itself

for Yoshitaro

When

later

is

same work

almost

like a

Ybkemnra, though

asked by a publisher for

permission to reprint his translation of Solovyov, he refused saying that

he no longer believed those

ideas.

And

yet the hiet remains that

Yokemnra was the Japanese who was most aentely sensitiv'e to the spiritual pilgrimage of dViitehev, Dostoevsky and Solovyov. Izutsn most likely read this translation.

Not only

97

that, Izutsu’s

study of ryntehev

is

CHAPTER THREE

such close accord with

in

which Izutsu

came

first

to

it

him

to

it

seems

literary career,

Solovyoy s thought, hut

“Knowing” the

well to this thinker.

likely this

hook was the one by

kug\y dVutchey.

At the beginning of his that led

that

Yokemura saw

at a certain

truth

a ray of light

point he bade fare-

was no longer

his goal in

life.

He came to want not just to knovy the truth but to make it a realih’. dlie person who drew' Yokemura away from Soloyyoy s metaphysical world and brought him back to the phenomenal world was Belinsky. Russian intellectuals, if

only

life

it

be they religions or

existed, all

who

seek “a liying truth by which,

problems would be completely solved, and

would immediately become

trust in those

socialist,

just

human

and righteous,” and they place

their

profess such a truth. Belinsky was “the earliest

and

the most representatiye expression of this fundamentally Russian intellectual tendency.” His spiritual journey, to” Schelling, Fichte, Hegel, a

mere

which “led him successively

Feuerbach and then

to socialism,

repetition of ideological conyersions, Izutsu says. “It

was not

was noth-

ing less than an itinerary in pursuit of an all-encompassing truth. riiis

statement

Yokemura

An

true not only of Belinsky;

is

teller

anthology of Belinsky’s Russian

literary criticism

in a t\yo-\'olume edition for the

was translated

Iwanami Bunko

The commentary that accompanies it is in the voice of a storypassing down an oral tradition. For Yokemura, Belinsky can fairly

be said

have determined the canon of nineteenth-century Russian

to

Yokemura considered it his on foreyer. Yokemura translated many

literature,

and one has the feeling

mission to

make

things, but

such

feels that,

be

applicable to Yoshitaro

as well.

by Yoshitaro Yokemura series.

it is

lost,

even

this critic live

the passion that emanates from this work one almost

is

if

that

most of them

he wouldn’t care

as

as w'ell as his original writings

w ere

to

long as these two yolumes suryiyed along

with their accompanying short biography of Belinsky and detailed

commentary. Yokemura when discussing Belinsky transcends the confines of

time and space and seems

to

be living

in

nineteenth-century

Russia. His study of Belinsky poses questions to the reader that fresh

of the

even now' despite the break-up of the So\

Communist

eommunism

Partv'

iet

Union, the collapse

and the other enormous changes

has undergone.

What

98

seem

that Russian

fully justifies reading

Yokemura

RUSSIA: rUF. SRIRI UAI.riT l

today is

that

is

he writes

in a

way

that goes

OK NIGin

beyond mere

historiea! time,

it

unlikely that Japan will ever ])roduee anyone w ho ean suipass Yoshi-

\bkemura

taro

in the

depth of his ])ersonal interest

in Belinsky.

lake the follow ing passages in ^bkemura’s brief “I’he uni\'erse, the whole world,

eountless manifestations. ...

It

is

is

of Belinsky.

life

‘the breath of a single idee' in

its

the mission of ])eople, eitizens, as

human raee, to manifest in themselves this single idee human values.” And, “art is the expression of the universes

well as the

and

its

\ast single idee in

tenee

is

phenomena.”"^ d’he

infinitely diverse

its

Yokemura’s; the seeond are the words of Belinsky

'^bkemnra. d’he reason the differenee between the two is

that

Yokemura was determined

also astonishing that

sen-

as

quoted by

so

nehulons

to aet as Belinskv’s spokes])erson.

Yokemura’s language

words with whieh Solovyov expresses are also reminiseent of

is

first

is

It is

virtuallv identieal to the

his thoughts.

Not onh’

that,

what the Islamie mystie philosopher Ihn

they

‘/\rahT

about the unih’ of existenee.

said

Belinsky, w

person

who

ho has earved out

a plaee in history for

laid the eornerstone of revolutionary thought,

eourse later rejeet the theory of Ideas. But he never “single idee" within

it

shedding one ideology

from what

after another.

an all-eneompassing truth” is

hold of them.

An

it

is

free

to

the

themselves

be ealled their

not a different aetivih' from

earnest desire

woidd be more aeeurate

fundamental meaning

lost sight of

Izutsn deseribes as Belinsky’s “pursuit of

not something that

person desires

But they eannot

them, that whieh deserxes

What Toshiko

woidd of

People are eapable of

as the basis of salvation.

truly motivates

deepest desire.

haps

himself as the

is

the)'

this.

ean freely determine.

Wbat It

a

grabs

not egotistieal or self-interested. Per-

to eall

in the life that

is

it

a

meaningful existenee, the

granted to a person.

who read Dostoevsky’s Poor F'olk (1846), immediately the new writer’s genius and made him widely known to

Belinsky,

appreeiated

the world. But Belinsky did not feel the vx’hieh

eame out

next.

same way about The Double,

Although he acknowledged the ineomparable

“independenee” of Dostoevsky’s genius when world around tieal

us, the

works

in

j^robed deeply into the

whieh Dostoevsky made

views were not to his liking. Belinsky,

of eonrse,

it

know Crime and Punishment

99

who

elear his mys-

died in 1848, did not,

(1866) or the works that

eame

CHAPTER THREE

Yokemuras opinion of Dostoevsky was inherited from Belinsky. Although Yokeinnra s study of Dostoevsky seems to be disenssing this after

it.

writer,

it

was, in faet, a praetienl, pragmatic' extension of the literature

Yokemura s views

that Belinsky regarded as ideal.

own

below reveal

eited

his

attitude toward re\’olution rather than that of Dostoevsky.

Although Dostoevsky saw these

revolutionar\',

of the sixties and sex enties with his

own

democratic movements

eyes,

he did not proceed

in

the direction of the people. Because he was only thinking about the suffering in his sistically,

own

head, because he tried to sol\e everx thing solip-

he was unable

least half of

him was on

to find

any

real

way

out. In the forties, at

the side of the revolution, but from the sixties

on, one could say he had lost faith in revolution.

hand,

to

.

.

.

On

the one

cease beliex ing in the rexolution, on the other, to maintain

the ideals of ec|uahh- and

harmony— that

is

the contradiction.

As can be understood from the critieism implied

in the

words “to

eease believing in the revolution,” for Yokemura the revolution was

something

When

“to believe in,”

was

a “faith”

worth dedicating himself

Izntsn was disenssing the “religiositv” of Russian

in Roshiateki ningen,

mind.

it

It is

not the

it is

dogma

to.

communism

hard to imagine he didn’t have Yokemura in of

communism

that

was

religions.

What was

“religions”

was the instinctive idea that the masses would transcend the

individual

and seek

communities and

to

bring about truth, justice and love in their

in the world.

necessarilv limited to the

God

As Izntsn

says, “In Russia,

of the Bible.”^°

100

‘God’

own

is

not

CHAP'I'KR

FOUR

A Contemporary and

the

Biography of the Prophet

Religious Pliilosoplicr '^bshinori Moroi

T

he role rHAr

d enri-kvo

Japanese studies of Islam has not,

before now. Worth noting the

and Fenri Universitv

number

first is its

I

believe,

])lavcd in ])ost\var

been inncb disenssed

bbrarv acquisitions policy and then

of distinguished scholars the nniversih' has ])roduced. I1ie

Islam-related materials amassed

b\’

Economic Research Bureau were war, and their whereabouts are

Sbnmei Okawa

confiscated by the

now unknown. By

at the

US

East Asian

Arm\'

after the

contrast, the dbnri

Central Eibrar\- collected important works related to Islam

in the post-

war period, "khe person who strongly urged the second Shinhashira,

Shozen Nakayama (1909-1967), to do so was Yoshinori Moroi (19191961). Nakayama had the utmost confidence in Moroi, who was not only a kenri-kyo theologian but also held important leadership positions as a professor at kenri UniversiU'

and

in

organizations related to

denrikyology. Tenrikyolog}', the theology oEI enri-kyo

Whsdom, begins with Yoshinori Moroi. Eor gion, which, like Islam

imparted

to

to construct

its

itself,

founder, Miki

traces

its

Nakayama

,

the Religion of the Di\dne

this

monotheistic

new

reli-

origins to divine revelations

(1798-1887), Moroi attempted

both a theology and a dogmatic theology that would

rival

those of the Semitic world religions of Judaism, ChristianiE and Islam.

101

CHAPf’ER FOUR

Because such

a task

that could be

such

resembles building a temple,

it

was not something

completed by Moroi alone. But the core concepts

a project are already etfdent in his “I'enri-kyo

for

shingaku josho”

(Introduction to d'enri-kyo theology) and “Tenri-k\ o kyogigaku shiron”

(A preliminary essay on d’enri-kyo dogmatic theology).' Alluding to I

homas Aquinas, Yoshinori Moroi

tainly

on

“is

their hands,

not the useless theorizing of people with too

nor

People inside the

is it

an

idle response to vain

realities

of

nothing

ones whole

A

less,

he

says,

time

and emph' speculations.

life

pressing in on them.”" Theology

not an intellectual attempt to understand God.

It is

much

spurred on to take this step by the

faith are naturally

immediate and urgent is

cer-

developed under Christianih’, Christians have no monopoly on

d’heology

it.

had

says that, while theology

than an act of

faith

he soul desires

I

it.

on which one must stake

life.

distinction

between theology and philosophy can he made on

conceptual grounds, since theology seeks

its

origins in revelation

and

deals with the Absolute whereas philosophy does not presuppose that

And yet what really exists is a blending of the two, as in the case of Thomism, where theologv’ and philosophy are inextricably intertwined. Phat is the reason why Islamic philosophers always the Absolute

exists.

praise Allah before they begin to speak.

and unalloyed monotheism ceases to he a religion,

phy, hut turn

it

it is

the other

diately an absolute

“Greek philosophy

nothing more than philosophy.

way around

in religious terms,

erosuteki keitai: Sei Berunaru-ron” (1951;

s

words

in

The mysticism

it

philoso-

it is

imme-

of St Bernard)

who

followed

wrote Platonic Theology.

d’he writings of Christians like Augustine and like

pure

“Shinpishugi no

certainh’ are consonant with the historical facts. Proehis,

Muslims

It is

and

a

when

in religious terms. But, in fact,

monotheism.”^ Izutsu

in Plotinus’ footsteps,

is

Thomas

Aquinas,

A\icenna (Ihn Slna), Averroes (Ihn Rushd) and Ibn

‘Arahl,

Jews like Gahirol and Maimonides, and Buddhists like Nagarjuna and

Asvaghosa, are revered as classic cles,

hut their readers are not limited

them the

texts in their respective religious cir-

feel

under pressure

human

to

to believers

convert to the

faith.

nor do those

They

race, capable of being read as philosophy

dbshihiko Izutsu,

in fact, did. d’he

same can

102

who

studv

are the legacy of

by evervone

also he said

— as

about sacred

AND

A C()N rF,MP()R.‘\RV

texts. If

truth,

BIOGRAPHY OF

I'HK

I

IIF i’ROPMF’l'

nonbelievers read them and are unable to eateb a glimpse of the

sneh works do not deserve

preeisely for the salvation of those

gion worthv of

its

name

be ealled saered

to

who do

exists? d’here

to Paid to see that Cliristianih has

is

texts.

Indeed,

isn’t

not yet believe that any

no need

to

been sustained

go

h\’ its

all

the

it

reli-

wav haek

eonverts: Before

turning to Christianitv, Augustine renoimeed Maniehaeism, k’raneis of

Claudel materialism, Jaecpies Maritain mod-

Assisi a life of dehaneher\-,

ern rationalism. In his\’onth, the d’ihetan Buddhist saint, Milarepa, had killed people.

rhe aehie\'ements of Yoshinori Moroi are not limited kvologw As

he inelnded

a historian of religions,

in his

onlv the world religions hut even shamanism, while, his

forth

He was

on these

a first-rate religions ])hilosopher

siihjeets with a personal passion.

he devoted most of his “faith,”

was

pnr\ iew not

in philoso])hv,

range extended from Greeee, of eoiirse, and aneient India

ern thought.

and mystieism

also,

one

realizes

intelleetiial energies

as the

when

Phe

lenri-

to

to

who eonld toj^ies to

modhold

whieh

were the religions aet of

apogee of the religions experienee. But he reading the tributes written after his death,

someone who thoroughly put

his beliefs into praetiee as

preaeher and administrator. 1 his

faet

an edneator,

must not he overlooked. Instead

of simplv adding another essav to his resume, he preferred to gi\e his ideas eonerete expression, even left

if it

meant

that those ideas

would he

only partially eomplete. d’he reason

we have

forgotten Moroi toda}'

is

that

he died pre-

maturely. Although he attraeted attention in religions studies eireles

through the niimeroiis works he published and through his eleetion at

age thirh-six as a director of the Japanese Association for Religions

Studies,

he snccumbed

to illness

and

at forh-six

made

his departure to

the other world. Phe day before he died, he received his Doctor of Literature degree from the Universih' of dbkyo, se\’en and a half years after

he had submitted during

his lifetime

rian of religion

become

he

his dissertation.

by the left this

Penri-kyo

Apart from the hooks brought out publishing department, as

a histo-

world behind without know ing what would

of his remaining works in the history of religion. His doctoral

dissertation, SJiukyo shinpishugi hassei no kenkyu: tokii

choetsushinkyd o chushiu

to

sum

iii

Semu-kei

shilkydgakuteki kdsatsu (1966;

103

A study

CHAPTER FOUR

of the development of religious mystieism:

A

religious-studies perspee-

eeuteriug ou Semitic monotheism), was published

tive

his death

by the Teuri Uuiversit}' publishing department;’^ what might

he called his unfinished

The

(1991;

(1951-

)

five years after

magnum

opus, Shukyoteki shutaisei no ronri

logic of religious ideutih

and other members of

),

was revised by Yoshitsugu Sawai

younger generation of scholars and

a

published thirh’ years after his death. ^

If

he

is

remembered

as a scholar,

'^bshiuori Moroi, the religious philosopher, the original thinker,

gotten today.

on 4

May

I

Me was born on

30

March

the year before. I'hey w ere,

shall

for-

Ibshihiko Izutsu was horn

1915;

it is

is

fair to say,

contemporaries.

never forget the day when, quite by accident,

I

spotted a

copy of Moroi’s study of the development of religious mysticism a

second-hand bookstore;

I

in

had never even heard of Moroi’s name

before. In this octavo volume, nearly 1,000 pages long, were systematically

dealt

drawn up themes

w ith. Let

Part

1;

Part

3:

me

cite a

riie basic

that dbshihiko Izntsu had, or

might well have,

few examples from the table of contents.

elements of religious mystieism

d he development of mystieism in early Islam and the

eircumstanees surrounding

Chapter

it

Phe blossoming and eoming

1:

mystieism with al-Hallaj as

to fruition of Islamie

its

turning point

Chapter

2:

1 he unique experienees and ideas in Ilallaj mystieism

Chapter

3:

I'he question of the Prophet

Muhammad’s

mystieal

experienee

Chapter

4:

I’he transeendentalizing of

Muhammad’s

nr-experienee in early Islam and Part 4: "Pile de\

elopment of mystieism

onr information about

Chapter

1:

The

its

significanee

in primitix e Christianitx’

and

it

distinetix e eonfessions of the

Apostle Paul as

preeedents for mystieism in Christianitx’ and their

main Chapter

2:

points

Researeh into the reeords of mystieal experienees

at

the time ot Paul’s eonversion

Chapter

3:

Phe semantie struetnre of the mvstieal experienee Paul’s eonversion

104

in

A

While

CONTKMPORARV AND

I

IIK RKK'.RAIMIV

clearly revealing their

men

works of these two

own

OF

TIIK RROPlIF/r

clistinetive eharaeteristies, the

eoinplenient each other, almost as though

Shamanism,

there had been a profound eonneetion between them.

nnsticism,

one of these Paid

is

Mid.iammad, the Koran, Paid — there

Ijallaj,

which Izntsn did not show enormous

to])ics in

no exception.

not a single

is

It

had been

interest.

Izntsn’s ]dan for the sec|nel to

tetsugaku (1949; Philosoph}' of mysticism), the “llehrew

Shinpi

])art,” to

end

with a study of Paid. In his study of the

development of religions mystieism, Moroi deals

with the differences between shamanism and what he calls

first

gions mysticism.” In other words,

thought;

it

it

is

a study of the subject in mystical

who

deals with the question of

is

the true protagonist of

the mystical experience. For Moroi, mystieism

corresponds

to a specific ideology;

tential attitude, a

way of

\al Islamic mystic

modern

world.

We

life.

whom saw

it

is

word

a

is

not a concept that

that

Next, he moves on to

denotes an

exis-

the medic-

flallaj,

Louis Massignon brought hack

earlier how’

“reli-

to life in the

Massignon’s attitude toward schol-

arship had had a decisive influence on Izntsn. Ijallaj,

who

fully lived

the via mystica, one day began to say that the one speaking through his

month was not himself but God, and

declare, ''Anal Haqq''

same

Moroi

thing,

—

says,

\

am

ultimately went so far as to

the j'rnth/God.

Muhammad

and the record of that experience

In the descent of the divine

word — in other words,

had said the is

the Koran.

in the spirituality

of Ijallaj in the grips of a revelation- Moroi saw a revival of

mad.

Ijallaj did

not revive the spiritnalih' of

the Koran; he brought fact,

By

it

about through

an astonishing thing, Moroi

Ijallaj s

his

Muhammad

own

ex])erienee.

who could

Muhammad’s

vivid experience of divine revelation.

was branded

blasphemer and ended

Ijallaj,

up

to the

Muhammad’s

his life

It

was, in

on the

As

call to

mind

a result, Ijallajj

scaffold.

ex])erienees of revelation, the events leading

Koran — Moroi recounts them

in time. lie turns the

studying

writes, but therein lav Ijallaj’s tragedy.

time, there was no longer anyone

a

b\^

Muham-

all

as

though going backward

clock back even further and goes on to discuss

the pre-Islamic period and the mystieism of Paul.

He would

later

seek

out even older voices, although not in the work on the development of religious mystieism, and write about the Jewish prophets. Phe fact

CHAPTER FOUR

he deals with these topies retrospeetively, by moving further and

that

beyond

blit,

that,

it

may perhaps he

a

matter of seholarly method,

likely alsd+ias a direet

hearing on what, for Moroi,

further haek into time,

was the existential question. In himself, living in the

eonnected

to the

modern

times

lies

it

era far

the basie problem of

removed from

fdallaj,

when prophets appeared, and

how he

ean also be

to the ultimate

Souree of their prophecy.

Roman

who called the proselytizer Paul “the man who carried Christ.”^ Though in different forms, Hallaj and Muhammad, too, carried God and dedicated was the

It

Catholic priest Ynji Inoue (1927-

their entire lives to proselvtizing.

Not

all

of them were thinkers, yet their

“thoughP’ lived after them. Perhaps that

who

live their lives in this

way

is

the reason

What

enon and about the is

saint

who

definition

Remarking on the theme of Mahometto,

his

is

a

“about the sub-

forms the core of the Semitic prophetic phenom-

structure of the descent of the divine

as the topos for

it

s

people

dis-

called ‘revelation’), the unique verbal

within

call

genius

biography of the Prophet, Izutsu writes that the book ject of possession that

we

apostles. Recall Kierkegaard

of the difference between a genius and an apostle: cusses, an apostle lives.

),

phenomenon

word (what

that takes place

T he Hallaj he discusses was also an Islamic

it.”^

revived the spiritualih' of Muhammad as well as a mystic

who

prepared the wav for Ibn ‘Arabl.

Japan has been unable

who

produce anyone since Moroi and Izutsu

to

has not only been deeply

insights

about him. The two

moved by

men

I.Iallaj

but able to add fresh

describe the true nature of Hallaj’s

antecedent by the word “unique,” but the manner

Muhammad

cuss

is

also unique.

founder of a religious sect or

They

a prophet,

perceive

in

which they

Muhammad

dis-

not as the

hut as a mystic of a higher order.

when Toshihiko Izutsu used the word “mystic,” he endowed it with his own personal meaning. Recluses who spend all their time in prayer and contemplation; ascetics who subject their bodies to religious austerities; visionaries and those who lose have said

I

themselves

in

it

before, but

ecstasy— such people he does not

earnestly desire the annihilation of

aim

is

itself.

self.

Phat

is

call “mvstics.”

Mvstics

because their ultimate

become the pathway through which the Absolute manifests They hate inflated ideas and do not limit themselves to being to

106

A

CONTEMPORARY AND

contemplative ascetics, just to reflect

'HIE

upon the

truth hnt to put

is

not

into practice. Since invsties

it

way of

dutv”

their

life,

oeenpation or social

Moreover, they have no direct relation

irrelevant.

is

'HIE PROI’ilE'l

for they believe that their “sacred

reveal themselves through their status

RIOGRAPHY OE

to

any

reli-

gion or ideologv'. Religions figures arc not neeessarilv invsties, nor does

being It

a materialist

prevent

was mentioned

who

Cdvcn

a

mystic as well.

most of the C^reek and Islamic sages

earlier that

w ho influenced d’oshihiko ple

someone from being

were thinkers, but they were

Izaitsii

put their ])recepts into practice, activists

Izntsn’s definition of invsties, kir

also peo-

in various spheres.

from being surprising,

it

seems

almost inevitable that Dante, Bernard, CToethc, lliimholdt, Clandel

and the other religions

admired were

There close in

is

all,

leaders, artists

on the other hand,

no evidence

other’s works.

It is

their

two eontemj)oraries,

who were

so

inconceivable that Moroi w as unaware of Arabia

Arabic philosophy), the

between 1957 and 1958; full-scale

it is

and Arabia

tetsugakii (1948;

studies of Islamic thought bv a )apanese

first

writer. Izntsii’s translation of the

first

Izntsn

eommonalitv of interests, read each

shisoshi (1941; History of Arabic thought)

of the

whom

also outstanding statesmen.

that these

what might he called

and scholars

Koran was published

in three

volumes

unlikely that Yoshinori Moroi took no notice

Japanese translation of that work from the original

Arabic. Izntsn had never heard of Moroi, however. Yoshitsngn Sawai

confirmed

this fact

with Izntsn himself. Sawai

is

a

philosophy of whom Izntsn thought highly; not only the

same

faith as

scholar of Indian

member

of

Moroi, he also inherited Moroi’s scholastic mantle

in

is

he

a

Tenri-kyo theological studies. If

they had

that thev

known one

would have seen

another,

it is

ev^e to eve.

impossible to state for certain

d1ie similarities and differences

between them are clear simply from reading

known

of each other

been able

to ignore

s

existence, there

is

their works.

no doubt they would not have

one another. Both excelled

dozens of languages, and yet even their reading of the classics, they

poraneity, never losing sight of

phy was not the study of the

as they

in their fluent use of

pursued studies based on

were close

as w^ell in their

modern thought. For

past;

it

wtis

107

But had thev

nothing

less

contem-

both, philoso-

than a direct and

CHAPTER FOUR

way

substantive

his sickbed not

(1929latest

),

to

overcome the confusions of the

long before he died, Yoshinori Moroi asked Ternaki lida

a d’enri

colleague \Vho was going to France, to hny him the

hook by Merlean-Ponh

.

How many people

in

reading Merlean-Ponty in i960? Merlean-Pontv several times in Ishiki to honshitsu (1983;

Ibshihiko Izntsn was interested

in the

s

Japan were actively

name

also appears

Consciousness and essence).

thought of Jacques Derrida,

wrote essays about him and was personally acquainted w his interest in

While on

present.

Merlean-Ponh' was bv no means j

him, hut

ith

than his interest

less

in

Derrida.

Ternaki lida writes that

consider hiring

degree

tells

promise

the

one time the Universitv of Kyoto

tried

The verv fact that Kvoto Universitv would someone who had neither publications nor a doctoral

Yoshinori Moroi.

to hire

1942)

at

ns something about Yoshinori Moroi’s standing

as a scholar.

once

When

its

sinologist

his

then president Kokichi Kano (1862-

tried nnsnecessfnlly to get

eminent

and

Konan Naito

Kyoto Imperial Universitv

to hire

(1866-1934), w ho was then a high-

school teacher in Akita Prefecture, he complained that Kyoto Universit\'

if

was

a place that

would not accept

Jesus or the

they didn’t have an advanced degree.

versity

was also extended

An

invitation

Both Moroi and Izutsu declined the

they considered going to Kyoto, those close to in the to

from Kyoto Uni-

Toshihiko Izutsu. In 1962, the linguistics

to

him

scholar Hisanosuke Izui {1903-1983) tried to hire linguistics.

Buddha themselves

hopes that they would become leading

as a professor of

invitations.

Although

them would not allow

it

lights at the institutions

which each belonged.

Shamanism and Mysticism Just as the search for truth for a scholar of a

is

what constitutes

higher order the way to truth

than the agreement of their interests, what

is

daily is

life for

thinking

an ascetic,

itself.

worth ohser\ ing

Rather in the

case of Yoshinori Moroi and Toshihiko Izutsu are the similarities and differences in their spiritualih'.

Whereas the

w ith the

Creator.

self,

the spirit seeks

spirituality; they already

its

have

it.

soul

Human

Spiritualitv

108

is

is

always synon\ inous

beings cannot acquire

nothing

less

than an

A

CON TKMPOFMRV AND

IIK

HIOCRAPIIV OF

inherent in beings

instinct, a desire sal\

I

to return to their origins. y\ncl isn’t

dormant

ation the effloreseenec of a

TIIF I’ROPIIF/r

instinct for spiritual ih'

help of the light from beyond? vSahation

both a

is

human

\\

aspiration

and the desire of the One w ho endowed human beings with

Some

people become aware of

ness. Vet

ewen w hen the

And sometimes,

flesh

instead,

it

in

a spirit.

of a serious

this instinct as the result

is

ith tlie

agony, sometimes the

ill-

spirit rejoices.

soothes the pain and heals the

illness.

At the beginning of his major work, \oshinori Moroi asserts that

mvstieism really is

something

exists.

“We acknow ledge,

first

of

all,

that mysticism

and we recognize

that exists as an aetnal faet,

that

is

it

not simply a product of the imagination,” he writes in his study of the

de\’elopment of religious mwstieism.^ that

“\W must

would suhsuine ])henoiuena regarded

not adopt an attitude

as mwstieal into other ordi-

nary ps\ehologieal phenomena, and conclude that nnsticism as

phenomenon does

imic|ue

enees are not

a

not

exist.”'^

a

M\sticism and mystieal experi-

matter of altered states of consciousness, nor

is

what

a

person thinks or feels during a mystical experience the primar\' issue; the limitations of the

human

senses, he says, have

no hearing on the

mystieal realih'. This passage might well be called Moroi’s manifesto.

WTat

is

beings? ar’s

the true intention of the subject

— this

is

who

speaks through

the c|uestion that ought to he raised, and

responsibilih’ to elucidate that purj^ose.

experienee of God, he

says, the scholar

And

if

mystieism

begins the discussion

drawn up by human ageney.

cr\ stalhzation

of one’s present

life

the schol-

it is

acknowledging the existence of God. For Moroi, religion in doctrines

It is

backed by

nothing

faith

human

is

an

h\’ first

not found

less

and the

is

than the

traditions of

that faith.

Maying made tic skills to

this

assumption, Moroi puts his outstanding linguis-

use and conseientiously assembles texts in their original lan-

Anyone who deals with “religious nnstieism,” he says, must never become removed from historical fact. Scholarly proof was an inflexible iron law for him. What is recpiired of a scholar is not guages

to

\'erif\- it.

a mystical interpretation hut a

hard look

at history,

reading between

the lines to discover the “mystery” within. Moreoxer, he tries to see j

God’s

will in the

phenomena

j

that suryi\’e as historical facts. Far

impeding Moroi’s scholarship, by eliminating the mere play of

109

from

ideas.

CHAPTER FOUR

this principle

might well be said

sion and the

power of imagination

have further strengthened the pas-

to

that

he invests

his hvpotheses. Mysties often^say that the present

Moroi attempts word, of the

to find the

pathway

in substantiating

joined to eternih';

is

to eternih^ in every passage, every

texts.

d’he subjeet of the mystieal experienee

is

a topie that Ibshihiko

Shinpi tetsugakii. Me, too, sees only

Izutsu also dealt with,

first in

seeondary signifieanee

in the mystieal

phenomena

that present

a

them-

human beings. That is because the subjeet/agent of the action the human being; it is nothing less than the transcendentally

selves in is

not

Absolute.

Human

beings are only passive recipients, lb speak of an

“active mystical experience’'

ence

is

altogether passive.

only with the impressions

makes no

Anyone who

human

to notice the manifestation of

manifests

itself

beings receive, Moroi believes,

It

may be

human

that the

make

a

god

beings

who

are

awed by tbe to fall

to save the life

woman. is

a key

term

He

for iVIoroi.

used

sharp distinction between primitive shamanism, on the one

hand, and the mysticism found

in

world religions. Although he does

not disavow shamanism, he does not regard

The

fails

subject, d’he dragon

god appeared and caused rain

’The phrase “religious mysticism” to

is its

not to bring about an abundant harvest but

of a single sick

it

about mysticism and deals

along with the rain, but the god’s true purpose cannot

forces of nature. a village

talks

God, who

be explained by discussing the

on

sense; the true mystical experi-

subject in

shamanism

is

it

as the

same

not necessarily the Absolute;

as mysticism. it

may be

workings not of the One, but of the souls of the dead or a genius

the

loci,

the protective spirit of a place. Rudolf Steiner called the surge of spiritual

power

that informs an era a Zeitgeist, a

“Time

Spirit” or a “Spirit

may e\’en have been times when such entities spoke, other gods who appear in Greek mytholog}’ may have

of the Age.” d'here l^ionysus and the

been the names given

would probably have inasmuch

to just this sort of spiritual being.

said that this

is

true even of the

Setsuzo Kotsnji

name Moses. But

as they are also creatures, they are not the subject of tbe “reli-

gious mysticism” that Yoshinori Moroi

Mircea Fdiade

They must,

first,

is

talking about.

said this in reference to the definition of a

be a “specialist

in the sacred,”^°

110

but that

shaman:

is

not

all;

A CONTIiMPORARV

they must

whieh ism

know how

TIIK

HIOCRAPIIY OF 'HIK PROrilK

use eestasy for the good of

to

tlie

I

eoiuiuuuitv to

belong. Kliade does not reeoguize as legitimate shaman-

the\'

shaman repeats a personal experienee for ends and heeomes the ohjeet of fear and trem-

whieh

a situation in

arbitrary or ohstrneti\ e

bling.

AND

a

Shamanism must always be

a s]:)iritnal exereise that

transeends

the indi\’idnal.

Moroi seems

have had

to

aim

a speeial

mind when he

in

word “religious” before mystieism

tionally plaeed the

inten-

to ereate the

term “religious nnstieism.” His use of the word “religions” does not, of eonrse, signify a partienlar religions seet nor does

Wdiat he

aeti\ ities.

is

probing into

is

an

it

denote religions

essenee that ought

intrinsic'

to

he ealled the areheh pe of religion. “1

wish these legends eonld also he heard,

for

they would

.

.

.

make

those of us w ho live in the lowlands shudder,” reads the prefaee to the

Tono moiiogatari

(1910;

Legends

of

Tono, 1975)." d’he only ones

who ean

speak about a different dimension of realih', no longer visible even to the e\ es of religions leaders or literarx’ figures,

statement

is

nothing

less

it

says, are the folklorists, khis

than the proelamation of the birth of a

aeademie diseipline and an expression of

his

eoneern

new

for the times

on

the part of Kiinio ^anagita (1875-1962), the father of Japanese folklore studies. Eliade, the

author of Le ehamanisme

had

Fhe xarions

a similar idea.

Ckid, but

if

“religion”

is

(1951;

may be

all tr\' to

pigeonhole

it

“to present a

able to disenss religion, but beeause they

and understand

gies, inevitably the results

eomprehensive view,”

borrow Eliade’s word, It

will

come

as

is

it

using their

own methodolo])artial.

d’he only

in the true sense, of “religions

genuinely able

to disenss

hierophany,

“the historian of religions.”*' that Yoshinori

Moroi has written

in

his fervent belief that, in the present day, only

“the historian of religions”

dogma and

is

no surprise

similar terms. Wasn’t

it

always end up being only

phenomena,” the only one who to

humankind loves, modern world has long

of religion. Historians, philosophers, ethnologists, psyeholosoeiologists

one

own

regarded as the w ay by whieh

and

gists

1964),

religions are busy diseiissing their

worships and obeys the dVanseendent, then the lost sight

Shamanism,

is

capable of removing the enernstations of

elucidating the inner workings of mystieism? khe historian

CHAPTER FOUR

of religions that he

is

speaking of here

is

the seholar who, before regard-

ing religion as an dbjeet of seientifie study, holds bly in

mind

as a “pressing

Aeeording 2007),

when

problem of the

it

deeply and indeli-

sonl.”

Moroi’s Tenri colleague, Tadamasa Fnkaya (1912-

to

Gabriel Marcel visited Tenri and met Yoshinori Moroi, he

someone in the Far East who had read his works so carefnllv. One wonders whether Moroi met Eliade when the latter visited Japan. Toshihiko Izntsn and Eliade met twice at the Eranos Conference. It took no time for the two of them to understand each was astonished

other;

it

was

to find

though they had been close friends

as

w rote. Eliade came

to

Japan in August 1958

Congress of the International Association Yoshinori Moroi

s

attendance

photographs taken

nothing

like

what

it is

fame

for the History of Religions.

had met him

Japan

in

in

Chicago the

in those days was, of course,

two of them had met, the encounter

today. If the

with Moroi would likely have

Ninth World

Mori (1910-1974), whose transla-

tions later introduced Eliade to Japan, s

to attend the

conference can be confirmed from

at this

at the time. Ichiro

previous year, but Eliade

for ten years, Izntsn

left as

deep an impression on Eliade

as

the one with dbshihiko Izutsii did.

Shamanism his

theme

a central

for

Toshihiko Izutsu that runs through

works from Shinpi tetsugaku (1949)

to Ishiki to honshitsu (1983).

major English-language book, Sufism and Taoism

subtitle of his is

is

“A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts,” but

just as

w ell have been

subtitled

The

(1983),

it

might

“A Study of Oriental Shamanism.” At

the beginning of the section on Taoist thought in that work, Izutsu deals

w ith the evidence

the historical realitv of Li

(Book of but

IIistor\

)

man and Chuang-tzu the man, i.e. for Er and Chuang Chou, relying on Shih Chi

for Cio-tzu the

as well as records

at a certain point, as if

handed down by the Confueianists,

disavow ing these efforts to veriR their exis-

tence, he says that, as long as the w ritings attributed to “Lao-tzu” and

“Chuang-tzu” figures

is

human

whether or not they themselves existed

only a secondary matter.

Tao; a person a

exist,

is

only a channel for

The it.

Insofar as the

is

what Lao-tzh

one w ho speaks

One who transcends human beings, men is probably not a primarv concern.

being, but

identih’ of these

true subject

112

as historical calls is

not

tbe personal

A

I

CONTEMPORARY AND IHK BIOCRAPIIV OF IHK

coincys Ibshihiko I/utsu’s intellectual outlook.

his insight truly

Unlike Moroi, Izutsu does not make

a

sharp distinction between sha-

inanisin

and

spirits

quite capable of transmitting a

On

is

PROPIIK'I'

higher order of

inystieisin. lie takes the attitude that a

this point,

of the rransecndent.

gliin]:)se

Yoshinori Moroi and doshihiko Izntsn do not agree.

Indeed, Ibshihiko Izntsn docs not agree with anyone on

cpioted earlier, his \icw that ancient Cnecec, while having a istic spiritnalih’,

essentially tended toward

As

this matter.

monotheism,

shaman-

attests to the

originalih’ of Izntsn’s experience of CTrccec.

“ddie mystical experience

is

not a

human

C»od,” Izntsn sa\s in his stnd\' of St Bernard.

“It

being’s experience of is,

rather. Clod’s experi-

God seeing Cjod is regarded as the nnstieal ex]:)crienee, then the human being is somewhere in between, forced to sec God with God’s eyes and at the same time with his/her own hnman eyes. Properly speaking, this is beyond the power ot hnman endnranec. In Greek mythology, the hnman Semele, who asked Zens to show himence of

himself.”*" If

self in his true form, lost

can be bestowed on not is

know

only

a

her

hnman

life.

But

this

is

also the highest favor that

being. In tbe nature of tilings, people can-

the Vrgnind of their being throngb tbeir

at the instigation

own pow er

alone.

of the Transcendent that they arc able to do

It

so.

God and human is asymmetric and irrexersihle. ‘^Urgruucl" would become a key concejit in Yoshinori Moroi’s thought, d'he German prefix “Ur,” meaning “primal,” is affixed to the

d’he relation between

word “Grn/iJ” and used

as a single

word

to

emphasize onr primordial

nature.

“On

hnman

beings are essentially capable of doing. OriginalK’,

reflection,

knowing

this

Vrgruud was not something

thing that was absolutely impossible for tbem to do.

knows the Vrgruud of

made known

creatures.

Vrgruud

is

jicrhaps

only by being told or taught by the

.

.

.

it

that

was some-

d’be Greator

something

that

One w ho knows

is

the

origin of its formation. [People] are able to know' [the truth of their Vrgr-

uud] only by being informed of it.”*'^ d’his passage vation;

it

perhaps ought

to

be read

a

w ay of cultivating

dichotomy between

not a seholarU' obser-

as a profession of faitb

Moroi, tbe student oUPenri-kyo. But inasmneh

was also

is

faith, there

is

him make a

as scholarship for

probably no need

his existential positions as a scholar

11^

by ^bsbinori

and

to

as a believer.

CHAPTER FOUR

Why do

people need

How can

to believe in a religion?

they catch a

glimpse of the truth of religion without delving deeply into the inevita-

problem of the subject ohfaith? Nowadays

ble

more than

humanistic concept, and yet

a

people do not fear being included it

comes

to the position of

reduced

to a

obvious that religions

“it is

That

in this term.

an inexhaustible subject

the pressing problem of their

own

may be nothing

religion

is

it is

because when

intolerable that

sonls shonld he flattened out

simple objective concept.” Religion

is,

after all,

nothing other than the “locus of the individual subject.”'^

wrong ers

It

can discuss religion.

The

ver\'

wonld he

idea of a person converting to

the “locus of the individual subject,”

which

in a particnlar religion

were asked whether

it is

is

faith.

not a problem. But

is

someone who

impossible for

some

and ignores

religion or other already relati\ izes or standardizes religion

is

if

Moroi

not a seeker

transcendental RealiN to discuss religion, he wonld probably say

after

“Such being the

yes.

says,

statement the narrow-minded view that only believ-

to see in this

Membership

he

and

they

case,

how wonld

try to discuss religion, to

reflecting life?”

on the

Moroi

li\

have

ing whole of

it

he possible

it

a grasp of in

its

its

true nature

w

ith

them, when

true essence without

conformih’ with their subjectixe

writes. “Serious inquiry into religion

approaching

for

must he attempted by

profound sympathy.”’^

At the time Shukyoteki shutaisei no ronri was published, there w^ere

no authorial

revisions;

development of this

w as

He was

a

posthumous w ork.

religious mysticism

posthumous hook proves

thinker.

and

it

his scholarly

Moroi was

that Yoshinori

also a philosopher

ahilih’ to construct

was

If his

wTo had

study of the

magnum

opus,

a rare individual

the requisite background

an ideological system rare

for Japan.

In-depth discussions of mysticism, or what Izutsu calls the “mystical experience,” inevitably delve into the origins of religion.

such discussions

is

human beings are capable God without the mediation

the question of whether

of encountering and achieving union with of dogma,

commandments,

rituals,

holy scriptures or faith-based com-

munities such as churches and temples. This, in turn, to the

Latent in

is

connected

fundamental question of whether people can come

contact with the IVanscendent without religion

114

at all.

When

in direct

Christian

CON TKMPORARY AND

A

1

1

IK

BIOdRAPlIV OK

I

I

IK

PROPIIK

I

scholastic theology entered a blind alley, Mekhart appeared

the

way

German

for

interpretation of

and

its

became inflexible in its and eommandments, I.lallaj a])peared

inystieisin.

doctrines

re\’ived the S]:)iritnality of

degree of agreement

When

Islam

Muhammad. Massignon two men.

in the sj^iritiialiH' of these

death Kckhart was accused of being a heretic; criminal.

I.lallaj

and met imfortimate ends. Both spoke words confusion of their times and ushered

tomed

to darkness, the light

a

high

was exceiited in their

as a

day

through the

that broke

in the light,

saw

Just before his

was no accident that they both were shunned

It

and cleared

hut for those accus-

may sometimes seem more

like a threat

than the bestowal of grace. Snhrawardl, the twclfth-centiirv Persian

who spoke

of the metaphysics of light, was assassinated,

japanesc

llis

contemporary Monen, the founder of the )ddo (Pure Land) school, in his later years

w as exiled

to

an island, the

\

irtiial

ec|nivalent of the

death penalh’. Jesns was crucified, and most of his disciples ended their

marhrs.

lives as

Moroi was

"ibshinori a mystic

who

Izntsn was a

Penri-kyd; dbshihiko Iziitsn was

a helie\er in

did not heliexe in any particnlar religion, d’he idea that

Muslim

is

nothing more than

a

myth.

He was

He

not.

did,

howe\'er, have an ineontrovertible experienee of C^od. Philosophy for

wonld be nothing

Izntsn

That

is

less

than the way

to \erif\’ this

the reason he was able to find traces of religion,

experience. faith, in

i.e.

ancient Greek philosophy. For Moroi and Izntsn, “mysticism”

word

that signifies a particnlar ideology or set of beliefs;

road, an attitude toward

life

it is

is

not a

a straight

that regards the mysteries as the

main

source of righteousness. Mysticism does not reject faith-based eommiinities.

Rather, true mysticism serves as a matrix for them, dbward the

end of

his life,

Bergson saw Catholicism

Judaism and eonfessed were the mystics et

de

whom

la religion (1932;

For Bergson, a

Jew',

his belief in

he discussed

What

it.

in

Ihe Two Sources

as the perfect

led

him

complement

to Christianity

Les deux sources de

of Moralih’

and

to

la

morale

Religion, 19^5).

Christianih' w'as not a newv religion. Wasn’t

what he

discovered in Catholicism, rather, a w'ay of returning to the Ihreligion? In

Shukyoteki shutaisei no ronri, Yoshinori Moroi discusses the

topic of Urreligion. Lhreligion does not

primitive religion.

It

does not belong

115

mean

the oldest religion or

to a particular time,

hut exists

CHAPTER FOUR

in

“time”

in a qualitative sense.

surable temporal

axis.

in

than the existenee of

which Eliade

homo

s

in time; LJrreligion, too, implies

kind of “time.”

this

dogma;

will

it

The

to

come

he realized

is

it is

and prophet,

its

sacred

site

If a

will likely not

of nr-revelation, in

true dialogue

among

occur by haggling over

in the silence of the mystics.

a

monotheism, the position and

role of

its

founder

holy land, and the details surrounding the origin of

texts, their revelation

Tenri-kyo

Catholicism, hut

and systematic compilation — a mere

shows that d’enri-kyo

at this list

to Christianity.

is

it

dimension

not unrelated to his being a believer in Tenri-kyo.

d’he fact that

glance

about,

nothing

reason Yoshinori Moroi was able to have such a superb feel-

ing for Islam

its

mea-

Mysticism breaks through spa-

religiosus Vwes.

other words, to the “now-ness” of Vrreligion. is

also the

It is

tio-temporal limitations and leads people to the

religions

a

J.M. Mitfry said that what Dostoevsky depieted

was beyond time rather than less

“Time” does not belong on

if it

apt to discover a

is

were

is

far closer to

now engaged attempt

to

new dimension

in

it

it is

an active dialogue with

a similar

that

Islam than

dialogue with Islam,

would he unable

to find in

it

its

exchanges with Christianih’. s

speculations on the persona of Cod, which he developed

in his essay

on Tenri-kyo dogmatic theology, could well be called an

Moroi

go beyond the

of the denominations of world religions

attempt

to

such

Judaism, Christianity and Islam and trace religions hack to

as

veil

their divine origin. Yoshinori

Moroi develops

his

argument using not

only terms such as Creator and Savior for Cod’s persona, but also Manifester, Protector, Revealer, Designator, Beginning of the World,

All-Embracing

One and

Inspirer.

As he describes

it,

d’enri-kyo

is

a

monotheism pure and simple. As the works of Yoshinori Moroi make abundantly that

is

clear, the thesis that

Japan

is

incompatible with monotheism

been able

to

proceed further with

rooted in a polvtheistie culture is

specious and naive.

Had he

his systematic construction of a

Ten-

rikyology and a dogmatic theology of Tenri-kyo, he might have sh.own

analogies that transcend time and space between the

Cod

revealed in

Japan and Jerusalem respectively.

WTat he

never

lost sight

An analphenomena

of was the relation of “analogv.”

ogy basically connotes comparable phenomena. But these

116

A CON'rF.MPORARY AND IHK BIOGRAPHY OF 'PHF PROPIIF

are not nicrel}’ similar.

need

to diseiiss

ilar cinalih'

them

If

that

were

further. Analog)- signifies that operations of a sim-

among

different entities.

and

Ibshihiko Izntsn thoroughly ex])lored in Sufism these h\'o philosophieal

The

to

workh iew's

a

nothing

It is

monotheism

is

not that

is

Koran

Some paternal Ood

many

and foremost,

first

is,

a

prinei]:)le

times.

embod-

eanses fear and trembling. But seeing oidy fatherhood, the

iment of sternness and judgment,

God

denies God’s perfeetion.

in the

I’lns is

omniseient, omnipotent one

not the true nature of

Old)- a graphic' refleetion of the limitations of the

human

eontemplate God. d’he following passage

in

Tenri-kyo dogmatic' theolog\-: beings from their

than to

less

based on a paternal

maternal one has been heard

say that the Ck:)d of the

who

are similar.

I'aoism

What

manifest Oriental spiritual it\- analogieallv.

suggestion that

and poKtheism on

would he no

there probably

all,

are unfolding dynamieally

eause them both

I'

many

“(md

found

is

God

beings

Moroi’s

but

who

essa\-

the Parent wished to save

on

human

eares and sufferings and bestowed the merit

of salvation by graeiously appearing before them.”’”

God

lo\ es ns as

parents love their ehildren; this view of God runs throughout Yoshinori

Moroi’s theology.

It is

perhaps

for that reason that

Tenri-kyo

ealls the

IVanseendent “God the Parent.”

“A is

the eonverse

esis to .

God of merey’s eonntenanee of bright light, whieh of the God of wrath and outwardly a eomplete antith-

belief in the

it,

is

a

fundamental eharaeteristie of Judaie personal theism.

d’he Koran deseribes the

time attempts

to

eonvey

terrifv

ing Lord of judgment yet at the

flis jo\fid

message

boundless merey and loving kindness of

where

in the

Mahometto}^

God

are

Paseal,

the

If

God

willed

it,

Ibshihiko Izntsn diseovered in Islam

of

the world woidd

now

exists

God manifested in the Koran being a (md of judgment. Phis is at

he diseovered w'hat he had already known.

Cmd

emphasized ever)-

ing kindness. T he

maternal merey before alih’ that

same

as ‘good news.’ In faet, the

disappear in an instant. ’Phe faet that the world lo\

.

Koran.” These are not the words of Yoshinori Moroi but

of doshihiko Izntsn in

God’s

.

merey and loving kindness was,

Ibshihiko Izntsn himself.

117

is

is

a

the

due

to

God

of

s])iritu-

an earlv date. Like

It is

fair to

think that

in faet, the spiritnalitv of

CHAPTER FOUR

Biography of the Prophet *

Hie

use of

Prophet’s as

“Muhammado”

name

^

as the

Japanese approximation of the

relatively reeent. Japanese formerly referred to

is

“Mahometto,” perhaps following Freneh usage, dbshihiko

him

Izntsn’s

Mahometto eame out in 1952, a year after Eliade’s Chamanisme was published. In that same year, Yoshinori Moroi wrote a monograph enti-

“Mnhamaddo

tled

no

tassawiiffu”

flowering of nori sei

ni

okern shinpi taiken no mondai: genshi Isnramn

(The question of Muhammad’s mystical experience: I’he

tammmt

Moroi submitted

in early Islam).

this essay, to the University of

the dissertation was published in 1966, the

“The question of the Prophet Muhammad’s rhe question In the

name

setting star.

in point

found

is

in

acquired

53 of the Koran. I

swear by the

Your companion was not mistaken nor was he led of self-indulgent emotions.

The one who

skill.

approached from

It is,

The one

of

has strength (taught him).

And he was on

to

mystical experience.”

Chapter

ing other than a revelation that he reveals.

dbkyo.

was changed

title

of Allah the Mereiful, the Compassionate,

Nor does he speak out

taught him.

year, 1953, Yoshi-

his doctoral dissertation, Shuky^o shinpishugi has-

no kenkyu, which includes

When

Vhe following

astray.

indeed, noth-

mighW power

And

so he truly

the highest level of the horizon and

And he bowed. Thus, he was the distance even nearer than that. Then he turned to his

there.

of two bow-lengths or

servant and revealed w hat he revealed.

represent what he saw.

Do

you, then,

The

latter’s

try to

heart did not mis-

dispute with

him about

what he saw?’^

“This passage “In

all

is

extremely suggestive,” Yoshinori Moroi writes.

the chapters of the Qur’an [Moroi’s spelling], there like

ence.”^®

TTese are strong words. Considering

that conveys

probably

such subtle information about the experi-

nothing

it

is

that the context in

which

we must read them as innermost heart. The key

they were written was a doctoral dissertation,

even further emphasizing what he to a basic

felt in his

understanding of the Koran

would perhaps

say,

is

hidden

and those who overlook

thing important.

118

it

in this passage,

have

lost sight

Moroi

of some-

A CON'I'KMF’ORARV

AND IHK HIOCRAPIIV OF THK

I’ROI’UK'I

Ibshihiko Iziitsu translated the Koran twiee. d he passage eited

below

is

taken from volume

2

of the

whieh Yoshinori Moroi might have

eame

Moroi was already

out,

In the

name

read.

in the

same

Izntsn’s translation of the

.

.

the seeond translation

other world. Mere

loshihiko

is

passage.

not misguided; he

is

babbling baseless faneies. These are rexealed. In the is

When

.

Vonr eolleagne

man

version, ]:)nhlished in 1958,

of the ])rofonndly inereifnl, all-eompassionate Allah. By

the setting star

that

first

first

plaee, the

is

not mistaken, lie

all di\’ine

one who

first

is

not

oraeles that are being

taught (the rexelation) to

the possessor of terrih ing power, a lord exeelling in intel-

ligenee. His shaj^e clistinetly

eame

into

\

ie\\

far off

bexond the high

horizon, and, as he looked on, he effortlessly, effortlessly deseended

and

near; his nearness xxas almost that of txxo boxxs, no, ])erha])s

drexx'

exen eloser than

that,

d’ben

it

rex

ealed the main pnr]:)ose of the ora-

ele to the manserxant.

\MiX’ xx’onld the heart lie about xvhat

eyes?

trnly saxx

It

yonr intention

Is it

to

make

probably not enough

fine translation faithfnlly

objeetion about

his oxx n xx

hat he

translation

And

nniqne.

is

is,

in

rienees of Islam.

The

sense only a differenee in tone here.

A

in their

other xvords, the differenee in their personal expeI

shall deal xvith this topie later

issue here

is

in fact see Allah?” or xvas

came

when

I

disenss the

a different one.

As Yoshinori Aloroi points out, the question

[that] distinctly

yet

an exeellent eommentarv. Both translations

alxvays

is

to

Iziitsii s

eonvey the “readings” of the two men. d ’he differenee

translations

Koran.

this or that

saxx- xx ith

?*’

has to be said that dbshihiko

it is

be eertainlv

it

is,

“did

an angel that the Prophet

into viexv far off

Toshihiko Izntsn’s translation, he wonld

Midiammad

saxv.

dlie “shape

beyond the high horizon”

come

to say,

in

was the archangel

Gabriel. Having reviewed the interpretations of B. Shricke and Josef Horovitz, Yoshinori Aloroi

mad saw was

eame

to the

eonchision that xvhat

not Allah, as they had said, nor was

it

Mnham-

an angel.

“It xxas

Allah as the snbjeet of the Allah nature.”’’^ dlie technical term “Allah nature”

is

nniqne

to Yoshinori

Moroi. Allah does not ap|)car qua Allah;

119

CHAPTER FOUR

luiman beings are iileapable of pereeiving him through

Even the Prophet

When

no

is

was knoeked

to the

The

“Why

and unknowable.

are

you perseeuting me?” and

saw nothing, and he

mean

heard Jesus’ voiee. For Paul,

w'as

was not God. God,

light that Paul saw

hut that does not

light,

invisible

ground. Led by the hand, he entered the

for the next three days, his eyes

is

is

Paul was on the road to Damaseus, he eneountered a light,

heard the voiee of Jesns saying,

or drink.

God

exeeptifui.

their senses.

that light

God and

is

unable

who

God. Paul saw

and

eit\’,

to eat

infinite,

is

and

a light

Ghrist are synonymous. I’he

do borrow Yoshinori mvsterv of Ghristianih' resides in that svnonvmv. J V

j

-

^

^

Moroi’s words, one might say that this light was not Ghrist;

was

it

his

“Ghrist nature.”

One wonders whether

dbshihiko Izutsu might not have seen an

“Allah nature” in Ghapter 53 of the Koran. In later years, in the series of lectures published as Koran o yoiini (1983; Reading the Koran), he deals with this chapter as the classic

example of Muhammad’s vision

experience."^ Although in his translations he regards the one

appeared is

room

as the

archangel Gabriel, he adds the reservation that there

for scholarlv debate.

being saw Allah, he perspective.

He

says,

left

gone on and done of angels.

so,

and

But

if it

was not Gabriel, then

that causes

problems from

no further comments on

Phomas. Herein

nature,

lies

to

respond

to the call of the it

he had

a theory

Western

head-on was St

the profound historical significance of his spec-

on angels.”^ “The solution i.e.

a theological

he might have developed an angelology,

“The only person able

human

a

this subject. If

philosophical tradition and approach a solution to

ulations

who

to it”

is

the question of the divine

the existence of an “Allah nature” that Yoshinori Moroi

noted. Ever since the time of Shinpi tetsugaku, the problem of angels

was on

Izntsn’s

What

mind.

are angels?

in Gbristianih’

who

fact that angels are a vibrant realih'

but also in Islam

for Japanese, they

sattvas,

The

may be

is

not only

evident from the preceding quotes;

easier to understand

if

we

think of the Bodhi-

are the attendants of Nyorai. Angels have

own. d’hey are messengers who convey God’s Izutsu, real angels always express “Ghrist nature”

will.

no

will of their

For Poshihiko

and “Allah nature.”

Indeed, Izutsu would probablv say they cannot be called “angels”

120

if

A CON'ri'.MI’ORARV

they do not do

W^ORD” and The

first

I'llK

HIOGRAPIIV OF

I'hc subject of angels

so.

main

his later \’cars as

AND

IIK PROF’IIK'I

would

once again

arise

in

topics in his discussion of “the angelology of

WORD”

“the angel aspect of

work

I

in Ishiki to honshitsiir'’

loshihiko Izutsii after he returned from Iran

h\'

in

Part One, the he birth ot Islam 1979 was Isurcimu seitcin (1979; biography of Muhammad, was a rew orking of the older hook MahoniI

etto,

which modified

“extravagantly figiirati\c” expression. Phe

its

\crsion contained in his selected works (1990)

which he further rc\ised and enlarged.

is

In 1989,

newer one,

also the

howexer, loshihiko

Izutsu republished the original xersion of Mahoinetto. The reason for

doing

so,

he

xxrote, xxas “that, despite

heliexe that there

is,

many

flaxxs,

haxe

I

on the xvholc, an interesting qualih and

flaxor in the original xxork,

When

its

and

come

to

a special

onl)- in the original xxork.”“~

he republished Shiiipi tetsugaku

1978 and eomhined

in

Arabia shisoshi and Arabia tetsugaku and published them as Isurcimu shisdshi (1975; History of Islamic thought)

commented on xxere xxorks

have been

xvritten as a

xxritten at to

hile

he

xxas

still

in Iran,

he

the significance of their repuhlieation, saying that these

he had

he xentured

xx

such

republish

young man and

a time.

them

did in the ease of Klahometto.

I

that they coidd onlx’

hat does not

mean,

hoxx'exer, that

in xersions faithful to the original, as

An

oxerviexx of intelleetual historx’

he

and

a

biography of the Prophet are different genres, and yet the significance

he placed on the repuhlieation of Mahoinetto that

it

is

profound

in the

sense

xxas a return to his starting point.

Reading Mahoinetto

calls to

mind

Rimbaud. Not because they are both they describe the

God

Ilidco Kohayashi xxorks by

s

writings

young men

on

in xvhieh

of their youth, hut hceause they are candid snap-

shots of their authors’ entrance into the other xvorld. Morcoxer, like

Kohayashi, Ibshihiko Izutsu’s biography of the Prophet and his other xxorks of this period, rather than being scholarly

an element of higher

lexel.

glance

at

a

literary criticism, xvhat

That

is

not just

my

the chronology of his w'ritings,

and the other

xxorks

Baudelaire called poetry

oxvu impressionistic opinion.

glimpse of d'oshihiko Izutsu the

del

monographs, contain

it is

011 a

From

a

certainly possible to catch

literary critic in the essays

on Clau-

around the time of Roshia hungaku (Russian

121

CHAPTER FOUR

literature)

and Roshiateki ningen

written just before or after

Goethe

s

Ihr naht

Die

euch

were

eites a

passage from the beginning

schwankende Gestaltcn!

vviecler,

dem

triiben Blick gezeigt.

Versuch’ ich wohl euch diesnial

fest

Fiihr ich mein Herz noch jenem

euch

Ihr drangt

zu!

nun

gut, so

zu halten?

Wahn

mogt

Mein Busen

geneigt?

ihr walten,

Dunst und Nebel uin mich

ihr aus

Vom

that

Faust.

friih sich einst

Wie

humaniK)

Mahometto.

Mahometto

'The introcluetion to of

(1953; Russian

steigt;

sich jugendlich erschiittert

fiihlt

Zauberhauch, der euren Zug umwittert.

(Once more you near me, wavering apparitions showed before the turbid gaze.

1 hat early

Will

now

I

seek to grant you definition.

My heart essay again You As

press

all

What Is

me! Well,

around, you

the former daze? I

yield to your petition.

rise

from mist and haze;

wafts about your train with

quickening

my

magic glamor

breast to youthful tremor.)”^

Faust was not a product of Goethe

s

imagination.

actual existence of the other world, that real

Had

seven seals to ing

it.

was loeated there.

case,

Izutsu also alludes to

sage from J.R

believed in the

Goethe would not have needed to apply the container in which he placed Faust after complet-

been the

that not

life

He

Eckermann

Goiiversations with

J.P.

s

Goethe

in

Shinpi tetsugaku. Giting a pas-

Cyesprdche mit Goethe (1836-1848; Goethe's

Eckermann,

ihrem Dunstkreise gleiehnisweise

1850), “Ich

denke mir die Erde mit

als ein grosses

im ewigen Ein- und Ausatmen begriffen

ist” (I

lebendiges Wesen, das

compare the

earth

and

her atmosphere to a great living being, perpetually inhaling and exhaling),

he

calls

Goethe “the

enced the World

Soul.”“'^

classic

example of someone who has experi-

Standing alone before the universe, detached

from time and space, liberated from religion and from ideological

122

CON rKMF()R.\RV AND

A

dogmas, the mind the other world. hly say,

he

is

suddenly eonneeted

When

Izntsn thinks of

deserihes. Izntsu ealled

lIK PROF’UK'I

form,” then led to

“life

its

Muhammad,

he would proha-

Wahometto

is

a strange

read

I

Muhammad

“the hero of the spiritual world.”

the “s])iritnal world” that eonstitutes “real it}’.”

is

it

every time

to

l

always led before the gate to the other world that Cioethe

is

f or Izntsn,

OK

I'HK BI()GRy\PHV

is

it

and wonderful work. What

not the merehant

who

is

elearly remains

transformed into the

Prophet, hut rather the vast Arabian landsca])e expectantly awaiting

What

the Prophet’s arrival. Perhaps that was the author’s intention. th

Izntsn attem])ted to write,

irt\ '-eight-year-old

would he

it

the

fair to sa\',

was not an objeetive biography of the Prophet, but rather the reeolleetions of

someone w ho had aecompanied

does not deal with the “Prophet ieallv to follow the

and an

path that

apostle.

As

for the

brief biography,

he

says,

own

“legends”; his

the author’s hero. Izntsn

Muhammad”;

Muhammad

instead he tries empir-

took to

Midiammad

works on

beeome

a

prophet

written prior to this

most of them are not “biographies” but merely

objective, he declares,

is

dcmythologization.

On

the other hand, however, he does not eonecal the passionate emotion

Muhammad

welling up

v\

own

blood doesn’t directly flow would be impossible

heart’s

portray,” histoi}' in

he

he

ithin

writes.

him: “A depiction of

into

my me to

which for

But does an empirical mind that would elucidate

the true sense nourish ])assion, he wonders. “Por that reason,”

writes, “I will take the

plunge and gi\e myself

o\'er

completely

the call of the chaotic and confused forms swarming in

then goes on to

its

breast,”

say:

Forget that you are in the dush’ and

proud of

my

to

culture and

civ ilization

dirt-filled streets

and

let voiir

of a major eih’

thoughts go where

your imagination leads yon thousands of miles beyond the sea

to

the desolate and lonely Arabian desert. 1 he scorching snn burning relentlessly in the boundless sky,

and the

vast

on earth the blistering rocky crags

expanses of sand upon sand as

was

in this strange

was

born.'^°

and uncanny world

Phe Arabian landscape described imagination, d'he writing

tells

in

ns that.

far as the

that the

eye can sec.

Prophet

Mcihometto

He would

is

It

Muhammad

not the author’s

probably say that he

CHAP K R FOUR I

“saw”

it.

hard

It is

he would have had any other reason than

to believe

this for reviving the original version. f1ie reeolleetions of

and heard are

meaning but

just to their

also to the shle

he aehieved here.

Half of

biography

this critical

devoted

is

to a discussion of the

Muhammad.

Arab mind during the jdhillyya before the appearanee of

Where he is

Read

also indelibly inseribed in the passages eited below.

them, paying attention not that

what he saw

finds evidence for

it is

in the

poems

of this era. So frequently

poetry cited that this biography can be read as a poetry anthology or

an essay on the poems of the jdhillyya period. “The only thing these

handed down to posterity,” Izutsu says, “were the desert, which truly deserve to be called Arabic literature.

pre-Islamic Arabs

songs of the

Ah, enjoy

this

moment eome

For in the end death will In the

have

to the bodv.^“ j

background of this poem by

believe in

life after

Kulthum

who

are a people

realists

who

did not

death.

For them eternal

world other than

life in a

the question. Eternity, everlasting

enjoyed

Ibn

They were by nature

of eternity.

lost sight

Amr

in the flesh.

.

.

.

life in this

Existenee by

its

this

one was out of

world, had to be one

very nature

essentially

is

ephemeral — having been mereilessly dashed against the eold iron wall of to

realit)-,

people had

he relied on and

not to spend pleasure.

human

at least

And

to

aeeept

life

the short

so people

this.

And

if

this

world sadly

but a brief sojourn, then life

it is

we have been granted

immersed themselves

in

is

not

a waste

in intense

immorality and

dehaueher\' and the seareh for transient intoxieation.^^

For those for ral

conclusion

tenee.

is

whom

that the

What confirmed

was the

tribe to

laws, traditions

only the phenomenal world

is

real,

the natu-

bonds of kinship are proof of

their

own

this for the

exis-

people of the desert, the Bedouin,

which they belonged,

in other words,

blood

ties.

and customs determined individual behavior.

If a

Tribal

mem-

ber of one tribe met an untimely end at the hands of another tribe, for the

remaining members revenge was “a sacred — quite

sacred— solemn duh .” But

Muhammad,

1

24

literallv a

“with a pih ing smile for their

ANH HK HIOCRAPHV OP

A CON'I'KMPORARV

I

I

lIK PROPIIK'I

haughtiness and arrogance, took no account whatsoever of the signih-

eanec of blood preached was

ties

just

and the preeminence of family

one

thing:

“A

j^erson’s nobilih’

measured

one’s birth or famiK^ line;

it

is

pious fear of CA)d.”'^’ Islam

is,

in fact,

cc|nalih’ in the sight of CA)d. d'here

solely

does not deri\e from

h\’

thoroughgoing

was c\en

a sect

he

lineagc.”^^ Wliat

the depth of one’s in

on

insistence

its

which took the

])osi-

someone who had been the object of discrimination in the could become caliph, the leader of the theocracy, if the profnndih

tion that past

of that person’s faith were recognized. )nst as

people are ahsolntclv dependent on (^od, time belongs

eternih’. Eternih’

is

attainment of saKation. People

He

God,

Muhammad,

said

On

to

of their tribe rather than the

the

ery ones that prepared the

this time, “If [the

Arab people]

been nothing

than

less

more and more

it

s]:)iritnal

xx

existing

\ ir-

xxas the j^lcasnre-secking realists,

transcendence and

laxx's x

and wor-

in

and enstoms and e\en the

the other hand, howexer,

people oblivions

order to helicxe

exist in

])reaehing the absolute nature of pietw

rejected the existing \alnes

tnes.

of family lineage, which prom-

real. Snperioritv

world, has no S])ceial significance whatsoexer for the

ises glor\' in this

shi]3

to

laxx s

cternitx’,

of

Cod,

those xvho obeyed the

Izntsn

xx

rites,

xx

ho

xx

cre

coming of Muhammad. At

ay for the

somehoxv

it xx

onld haxc

ruin, d’hc situation xxas trnlx'

becoming

xxere not

sax ed,

urgent.’’

Above and beyond tbe

relationshijDs of need, hope, sn])plieation

and reliance, the reason people seek

God

is

the residt of the xvorkings

of oreksis, the instinctix e desire to seek the dVanseendent that Aristotle discussed. Wdiat Izntsn xxas looking for in xvere the vestiges of oreksis.

Phe urge that

poems of the humans hax e to

tlie

jCihillyya

return to

their ontological origins triggered a chain reaction, Izntsn beliexed,

that resonated

and

inx ited the

Prophet. But xvhat

necessarily appear in the desired form. ’Fhe

exceed

human

xx

is

desired does not

orkings of

God

alxxaxs

expectations. Before they could obtain tbe salxation

tbey sought, the Bedouin had to give up the blood

ties

they had prex

i-

onsly considered most important.

At

first,

Miihammad had no

Muhammad whom an admonisher,

intention of founding a religion, d he

Izntsn describes

is

not the founder of a religion but

a spiritual rexolntionary.

12S

“Mabomet, xxho

xxas sent as

CHAPTER FOUR

Gods

apostle to deliver the

to the world,

was

a

nadhlr (admon-

His mission as Prophet was spent in giving warnings!'^^ As

isher). ... Izntsii’s

Koran

words suggest, the reason Islam became

a religion

beeanse these warnings went unheeded. Vhe Koran of admonitions. tion in the

If

Koran were

rhe reason the Koran had

that

trnly mystical experiences, the

spoken conld not have been those of

Mnhammad

Mnhammad

the experienees of

is

Mnhammad

holy scripture

a part to play in

it,

a

is

was only

compendium came to frui-

words that were

the

human

being,

not because the Prophet

is

but rather because

Mnhammad

annihilated himself to the point that even his afterimage disappeared

and thereby became the passageway It

was

Mnhammad’s

for the

WORD of God.

insight as Prophet that

it

the Ghristians, but he himself who had inherited in ituality of Abraham

It

had

to

be

and

a religion that

Israelite religion

religions that

had gone

It

astray.

history, truly the direct

An

.

.

in Islam.

from

its

A study

is

Urgnind, but

it

God

transcended religions. is

to

be

The

identical to Yoshinori

a

than those historical

a religion that

transcended

of “eternal religion” {ad-dm

religion;

it

uas essentially an old

perhaps the original nature of Islam also clearly expresses

that transcends sects

only be articulated by someone

here

new

— this

of

had

embodiment

Islam was not a

“eternal religion”

that flows

entireh' the spir-

was neither Judaism nor Christianity,

more authentic

.

its

Jesus.

far purer, far

al-qaiyim).

was not the Jews or

who

what Izutsu saw

and denominations can

has had an experience of God that

“eternal religion” of

Morois

126

LJrreligion.

which Izutsu speaks

CHAP

I

K R FIVK

Catliolicisni

I’lie

N ruE FiRsr CHAPTER

I

1

Saint and the Poet

mentioned

when

tliat,

Izntsn was writing

Sliinpi tetsiigaku (1949; Philosophy of inystieism),

Ckeek

inystie

he believed that

philosophy had not been brought to eompletion by Plotinus,

but rather had flourished under, and reaehed perfeetion inystieism. d'he follow ing passage

is

in,

Christian

from the prefaee written

in 197(8 at

the time a re\ ised \ersion of Shinpi tetsugaku was published. Perhaps as a reaction against sively rigid Oriental

tlie

atmosphere

mental ih prexailcd,

1

at lioine, wiiere

was

the W^est than with the Hast. In particular,

I

far

more

an exces-

fascinated with

was deeply atfectcd by

ancient Greek philosophy and Greek literature. But that was not

all;

I

was possessed by the highly tendentious view that Greek mysticism

as

such had not ended, but had entered Gliristianih’ and undergone

its

true

development, reaching

its

enhnination

in the

Spanish Garmelite

Order’s mysticism of lo\ c and in john of the Gross especially.' If Izutsii

descent

is

was saying that mystic philosophy’s only legitimate line of the one that leads to John of the Cross, then he must aeeept

the critieism that this was indeed a “tendentious” notion. Yet

be no one other than Izntsn himself who, clearly

show

that not only Islam

it

in his later years,

would w ould

and Buddhism but the other Oriental

127

CHAPTER FIVE

thought systems of Confucianism and Taoism also belonged on mysphilosophy’s family tree. Nevertheless,

tic

hiko

Izutsii,

who

note that dbshi-

regarded shamanism as the archeh pe of religion and

ascribed a positive significance to

Inasmuch

fair to

it is

it,

described himself as '‘possessed.”

he was “possessed,” that was presumably because, inde-

as

pendent of his own cool consideration, an idea had seized hold of him that

might even be called an uncontrollable impulse. As

shamans, when someone that speaks, but the

possessed,

is

it is

who

is

possessed

one who does the possessing.

“Shinpishugi no erosuteki

Berunaru-ron”

keitai: Sei

mysticism of St Bernard) was written as In

not the one

in the case of

a sequel to

(1951; d

Shinpi tetsiigaku.^

developing his arguments there, Izutsu took over some of the

work’s key concepts, beginning with theoria,

i.e.

he

latter

philosophical con-

templation, the metaphysical activih' that might be called intellectual prayer.

The

relation to that

in writing this study

about

Church, he engaged

in a

and Hebraic gods. What

book

is

further attested to by the fact that,

a twelfth-century

doctor of the Christian

deep and thorough discussion of the Hellenic is

more, he made the superficial correspon-

dences between the two works

explicit

by referring

to

Shinpi tetsugaku

The main topic of the essay is not merely a Bernard the man or his thought. It is rather Izutsu’s trea-

as the “previous book.”

discussion of tise

on Cod,

One who

in other words, a study of the unitary nature of

lies

Bernard posed

is

this

Creek was

still

whom

different religions

different

names. For Izutsu,

hidden within the many gods

and culture have divided up and called by nothing

problem theoria,

confined

less

in

than the classic example of someone

its

all

the

way down

“faith

has

to Plotinus,

“purely metaphysical contemplation”; “there was

no awareness of the persona-nature of Cod.” There was no persona, d’he

who

acute form.

beginning with Plato

to a

Cod, the

discox ery of a

and meditation,” he

a

“Cod” who would become

says,

For Izutsu, “mystics” are those

was “entrusted

who

to

presence but the object of

Christian mystics.”^

discover the “face,”

i.e.

the per-

sona, of the dVanscendent. That persona changes along with the times,

the culture, environment, tradition and circumstances. Izutsu sees

no

contradiction between the singular realih' of the Transcendent and the

phiraliC of religions.

128

CA'I'HOI.ICISM

Chureh was faeing erises on within the Chnreh — two popes

In the twelfth eenturv, tlie Cliristinn

several fronts.

Confronted hv sehisin

eontending

hegeinonv — on more than one oeeasion over the eonrse

for

of h is lifetime, Bernard was foreed to work strennonslv to bring about reeoneiliation.

Not only

the Chnreh; he

met

did he have aeeess to deeision-makers within

faee to kiee with several kings as well

and

told

what he heliewed. Betw een the sovereign might of the State and the tnating inflnenee of the

Chnreh, there was always

o\er w ho shonld have dominion, the

x

them flne-

a tense relationship

isihle or the

im

isihle

powers,

d’hen Islam emerged as a threat, d heologieal erises and eonfnsion the metaphysieal realm shook spiritual soeieh'. And, as the

demands

of erisis”

response to

of historv, Bernard appeared. “A twelfth-eentnr\’ theolog\'

what Izntsn

is

if in

in

ealls Bernard’s theologv.'^

Perhaps he was here

reealling Karl Barth, the twentieth-eentnrv erisis theologian. In Shiiipi

tetsugaku he paraphrases Barth’s words: d'he world that reason. this

world

Cod

to

alone ean

God; there

an absolute

is

eannot be applied direetly

the world, d’here

sa\'e

Bernard, there

to

a destrnetive erisis of the sonl in ])eople

From

who

the middle of his

ahvss.'’

life

is

is

CA)d’s world. For

is

no eontinnih from

Although these words

no doubt

who had

that he, too,

forgotten

onward, Bernard w as

praetieed what he ])reaehed, foreed to live at the

saw

God.

a religions leader \'ery

eenter of his

age in religions, politieal and spiritual terms, and yet what historv has

reeognized him for

is

his mystieal theologv.

signifieanee” in his aetions, but “what

We

wonld

see the “eontemporarv

his eternal signifieanee

he,” Izntsn writes, “if not the intrinsic' signifieanee of his mvstieism itself?”*^

The God whom Bernard

and through, and the nltimate eloseness to

human

instead of the alih’

beings

is

disensses

is

state of faith

a

Cod

of love through

is

one

in

whieh Cod’s

expressed by the term uiiptiae (marriage)

Greek eoneept of henosis (union), d he Christian

spiritn-

nurtured by Bernard led to the mystieism of the Carmelite Order

in sixteenth-eentnry

lyrieism and, at the

Spain, where

“it

flowered into an infiniteh' elegant

same time, was thoroughly

orous logie of John of the Cross,” Izntsn

rationalized by the

rig-

says, until a perfeet “logie of

the formation of the transeendental snbjeet” w as established.^ d’he eor-

respondenee between

this

statement and the one

revised version of Shinpi tetsugaku eited above

129

is

in the prefaee to the

obvious.

CHAPTER FIVE

Bernard has been ealled “the

Middle Ages,

greatest inystie of the ffigh

own unique

his

theology

in his

who wonld

eternal love,

tlie

Chnreh

a theologian

hathers.” As the

who

it

was Bernard, not Beatriee, Dan-

lead the poet to heaven at the

Divine Comedy. Bernard was not a eontemplative living a

and

qniet.

He

Chnreh

of the day. As his importanee in the

reform wonld eventually

in

move Chnreh

phorus and headed it

to take

man who

this

Mareh

baek the Holy Land

— erossed

the Bos-

main theme, “the mystieism of St Bernard,”

deviated from his

had eompleted 1,1

in the pol-

holy eitv of Jerusalem. Perhaps beeaiise he

for the

mention Bernard’s involvement

On

put his

grew, his appeals for

a leading role

Izntsn does not

it.

of peaee

administrators.

Seeond Crusade — the eampaign

whose genesis Bernard had played

thought

life

and did not begrudge beeoming involved

ideas into aetion

d he

end of the

established a Catholie monastie order to serve as a sys-

tematie base for the seareh for truth; he was also a

ities

eonstrneted

sermons on the Old Testament Song

of Songs, whieh are songs of “love,” te’s

of

last

in the

Crusades.

If

he

unfinished work, he wonld surely have mentioned

Cood

1146, the

Franee seated next

to the

Friday before Easter, with the king of

abbot

at

Vezelay Abbey, Bernard preaehed

the signifieanee of the Crusade before a eongregation of nobles and

The masses

eonntless soldiers. spell of Bernard’s

spilling out of the

sermon. So powerful was

eonvietion his tone of voiee, ing through Bernard.

The new

army of

evil in

Bernard “did not so “as seatter

he tore

out,

erosses

strips

Of eourse, as

\

the heavens.”^

of

heaven was speak-

When

flesh

and blood and against

When

the

sermon was

over,

the erosses that had been prepared ran

own

to distribute

vestments, fashioned

them

until the

day was

the figure at the eenter of this seene

is

them

into

over.'^

that of a hero

iewed from the perspeetive of the Christian Chnreh. kTr CathoBernard would

lies,

ha\’e

seemed

later

beeome

that a seourge

had

St Bernard.

risen

aeeorded Bernard the highest rank

was

that

fnll

out” erosses as tokens of the Crusade

of eloth from his

and eontinued

under the

Christian knight “wages a two-fold war,”

mneh hand

them around.”

fell

language and so

some even thought

Bernard had onee written, “both against a spiritual

his

abbey

literally

the

enemy

But

for

Muslims,

it

must

up against them. To Dante, who

among human

beings,

Muhammad

of heaven. In Mahometto, his 1952 biographv

CA'I'HOMCISM

of the Prophet, Izutsu eites

tlie

follow ing j^assage from the Divine

Comedy. Gia veggia, per inezzul pcrdcrc n

dVa

com’

io

rotto

clal

un,

vicli

gambe pcnclevan

le

la

And

missing

As tbe

man

I

tristo

ehe

saxx’ split

his organs,

We arrival of

’1

end-pieee

its

rnnk tbe spilled saw

si triilla.

saeeo si

trangiigia.

barrel staxed-in

to tbe farting-plaec, I

The

I

pertugia,

miniigia;

fa di ciiiel

(No

Doxx n

le

si

clove

infiii

corata pare\a e

ehe merda

non

cos'i

nicnto

lulla,

gaped

open from

bis

as xvide

chin

and from the splayed entrails

dangled betxxcen

and the sack

sxxalloxx’

Muhammad

ex er

was

turn to

that

makes the bread

sbit.)'°

startling.

also for the Arabs xxho xvorshipped

his thighs

Not

pagan gods,

just for it

xxas

ing event. In the eyes of Christians, he probably even

Europe but

an earth-shak-

seemed

like the

Devil. As Izutsu says, from today’s perspeetive, Dante’s description

sounds

a hit

eomieal, but during Bernard’s lifetime, the

raxv hostilitx'

against Islam was so deep-seated and tenaeions that the xvords eited

above seem If a

totally inadequate.

saint

is

someone xvho

is

refined, eonrageous, dex'out,

humble,

loving and eompassionate, Bernard has ev ery one of these attributes,

and

vet he does not at all

fit

the mold. Rather than xvarm-hearted,

Bernard was passionate, “a fervent,

burned with

No

a

terrifying,

hot-blooded

man who

blazing flame that would seoreh even heax^en

itself.”"

matter what sort of front someone might present to the world, Ber-

nard “with

a single

glanee woidd immediately lay bare the baseness of

the hidden delusions writhing in that person’s innermost heart”

— not

beeause some supernatural power resided within him, but beeanse he

more than anvone “was keenlv aware

1^1

of the sins” in his oxvn heart that

CHAFIER FIVE

he could not readily disavow/^ an object of \ eneration that

was not the “St Bernard”

It

was interested

b.ntsii

whom,

called Bernard of Clairvanx, from

would pour

forth

from

body and

his

Muhammad

the land of the Arabs was a spiritual

a

but

wounded,

his soul. In fact,

a person, Izntsn believed, that true sanctih’

For Izntsn, w ho called

if

in,

who became rather a man fresh blood

was only

it

in

such

would appear.

“hero of the spiritual world,”

homeland and Alnslims

his broth-

Bernard reviled his hero, sent knights against his homeland and

ers.

was responsible

deaths of untold numbers of his brethren.

for the

w ould not have been strange

out of commiseration for Arabs and

if,

Muslims, Izntsn had been highly

for

It

critical

of Bernard. Although the

Catholic Church’s invasions of the Islamic world, the inhuman violence inflicted on those of

a different faith,

more than 800

appalling massacres, today,

judgment on the age of the Crusades. And

w hat

ing all

we

lived

years later, yet

who

is

it is

as

easy to pass

capable of decid-

Cod? When confronting history, ourselves frankly how would have

true or false in the sight of

is

are allowed to do

had

may he condemned

I

been born

to ask

is

I

in those times, in that

place and under those

cireumstances. In 1939,

when he was

twenty-five, Izntsn wrote a long review of

Francesco Gabrieli’s “Correnti e figure della letteratura araba contem-

poranea” (Currents and figures Francesco Gabrieli was at issue

here

is

a

in the

contemporary Arabic

literature).'^

leading Italian scholar of Islam. But what

not found in Gabrieli but in a book to which he

La escatologia musuhnana en ogy

in

la

is

refers.

Divina Comedia (Islamic eschatol-

Divine Comedy).^'^ As the

title

suggests, this work,

which was

published in Spain in 1919, argues that the thought of the Islamic mystic

Ibn ‘Arab! entered the Divine

Comedy through

certain theological

works and that the structure of heaven, purgatory and hell are Islamic.

Even the poet Dante himself was unaware

spirituality

deeply underlay his

own

in this

that

an Islamic

thought, d’he influence

have been indirect, the author writes, but,

for that very reason,

unavoidable. Miguel Asin Palacios, a Spaniard, was a professor Universih’ of

poem

it

mav was

at the

Madrid and an outstanding scholar of medieval Islamic

thought, but he was also a

Roman

132

Catholic

priest. In this

work, he

ca'hioi.icism

\

iviclly

bow

describes

tbc restoration of the divine world will take place,

transcending religions differences and beyond historical differences

dans

la metahistoire.

be Divine Coniedv may be

'I

And

who were

vet those

though

way

its

it

merely

\\cre

it

is

not

sacred

a

text.

able to discuss the matter dispassionately, as

a cnltnral matter that

into the Divine

but

a classic,

an alien cnltnre bad found

Comedy, were not tbc only ones

to

respond

Asfn Palacios’s thesis. Particnlarly within tbc Catholic Cbiireb, as

d'bomas Aquinas’ Siiinina theologica

Catholicism, tbc Divine poetic expression of the

Comedy Snmma,

which had repeatedly excited on both

had found

sides,

accepted.

A

its

and defended

read, discussed

in

other words, as the poetic expres-

had once led

into the Divine

division of opinion

be expected, but Asfn Palacios’s

just

is

hostilities that

way

to

laid tbc theological basis for

sion of the pure Catholic faith, d’he \acw that an Islamic

ily

—

S]:)iritiiahh',

to

Comedy was

among Dante

as a

massacres not read-

scholars was only to

iews caused an even greater sensation

\

within intellectual and religious circles. Although nearly loo vears have

passed since

its

publication, a final \erdiet on this book has yet to be

reached.

Noting that the work had been neglected by tbe European scholarly world, the twent} -five-year-old Izutsu

was positive

in his appraisal

of the questions Asfn Palacios raised rather than of the theor\’

He

When

never changed that assessment.

Comedy,

it

must never be forgotten

someone who had been exposed

Izutsu refers to the Divine

that the

to,

Dante he had

musulmana en

la

in

mind was

and inevitably had come

tact with, a non-Christian mentalit}'. Izutsu’s

logia

itself.

in

con-

encounter with La escato-

Divina Comedia took place more than ten years

before be wrote his works on

Muhammad

and Bernard. For Izutsu,

discussing Dante w'as not just a matter of exploring the Christian dition; rather,

who had been tions.

Hence,

it

it

was an act of restoring

many

divided up into

who

context of a study on Bernard,

esteem. Let us look once again

rises

whom at a

its

original state the

gods by various religious

was perhaps only natural

nature of the "Pranscendent

to

for

him

One tradi-

to discuss the uuitarv

above religious differences

Dante describes w

passage cited earlier.

1^^

tra-

ith

in the

tbe bighest

CHAPTER FIVE

Why, one

woiideVs,

is

the creative agent of eternal

the entire universe, the LorclJCjOcl of different

among

life

things in heaven and earth,

all

the Greeks and the Hebrews? Here, too, disputations

theologians have brought the peth' distinctions of their

gence

throughout

into the nature of divinitv itself— as

intelli-

the itemization of differ-

if

,

human

ences that have great value for their scholarship would naturally have

enormous

significance for

God

as well.‘^

The Hebrew God is the God of the Old Testament, d he Greek God is the Supreme Being of Plato and Aristotle and Plotinus’ One. meet

d’hese two gods

When human

in Ghristianity.

beings, seeing

God’s different personae, eonelnde that only their own experience of

God

is

And when

the truth, a clash of cultures begins.

cultures clash,

today as in the past, great conflicts ensue. History teaches

was the encounter, and the

conflict,

how

fierce

between the two cultures and the

two “gods” of Hellenism and Hebraism, d’hen Islam entered the

An

intensification of the conflict It is

ment

wrong

God and

What he

divine personae.

God, w hich

was inevitable.

to see a belief in religions

that the Hellenic

is

the

pluralism in Izntsu’s state-

Hebrew God

speaking of there

beyond the

exists

fray.

pluralit)'

is

are merely different

the unitary nature of

of gods. His efforts to discover a

deep-level agreement beyond the superficial differences of Hellenism

and Hebraism must be evaluated separately from being the

first

person

in

Japan

to deal

man-made

one.

to say,

The

damental differences

W hat

is

“was not

in the attitudes of is

the Greeks’ and Hebrews’ sense of

“li\

to sa)’ that the

ing God,”

i.e.

God; they

human

the Hebraic

are, instead, fun-

beings toward God.”’^

God.

God

a personal

Old Testament and the

that ])redate the hooks of the prophets.

134

could not he an\ thing

God. But

Greeks were poh theistic, the

they should read the

God and

not found in God, he adds, but in

For both the Greeks and the Hebrews, other than a

in

a divine distinction but, in fact, a

differences are not in

fundamentally different

achievement

with a giant of medieval mysti-

cism. “[T]he distinction between the Hellenic

God,” he goes on

his

I

if

someone were

lebrews monotheistic,

earliest historical records

They would then perhaps

CAI'HOI.ICISM

god of

realize that Vainveli, tlie tribe, just a single

Moah,

merely the god of one small

is

war god eoexisting and eontending with the god of

the god ot the Philistines, the god of

]xigan gods.

One among

tribe,

heeame

ets;

was

it

Israel,

])eriod of

and many other

these many, the god of this one insigniheant

and only Ciod through the

the one

a eonrse of

Ammon

development

that

faith

of the j)ro|)h-

would take plaee over

a

long

time before aeqniring that grand and imposing singularity

of a world religion. ... In the final analysis, the philosophieal god of

and

Plato

Aristotle

ing Absolute, limits

whieh had been pushed

by the abstraetive proeess of a rigorous, ruthless

“Hebrew

rejeets the

the one

singularih’,

i.e. its

This one passage in the

was nothing other than the absoluteness of the

may

to

its

li\’-

utmost

/ogos.'^

suggest what \^ould have been the eentral topie

Part,” the

unfinished sequel to Sliiupi tetsugaku. Izutsn

view that the Hebrew god was from the very beginning

God. VUe one out of many heeame “the one and only God”

through the prophets.

1

know of no

clearer statement of the differenee

heh\een poK theism and monotheism than

this.

Nor have

I

e\'er

before

read a sentence that deals so directlv with the fact that the mission of the

prophets was nothing

When his abbot.

lower of

less

than to

the one and onU’

And when he

Muhammad

discusses

horn

in the

he spoke of

who

Muhammad

Muhammad,

God.

monk

following

he speaks

like a fol-

Izutsn discusses Bernard, he speaks like a

spoke of Bernard the mystic, just as

make manifest

He

seventh-century Arabian desert.

gave sermons on the Song of Songs,

advancing through the desert on

jihad.

Ibshihiko Izutsn wrote two studies on Paul Glaudel, one entitled “Shi to shfikyoteki jitsuzon: Kuroderu-ron” (1949; Poetr\ and religious existence:

On

Claudel),” and the other, “Knroderu no shiteki sonzai-

ron” (1953; ClaudePs poetic ontology).’^

Roshia hungaku (Russian (1953; Russian

humanitv ),

guage and Magic

(1956).

He

also refers to

Glaudel

literature), the precursor to Roshiateki iiingeu

as well as in his

English-language work Lan-

prominent twentieth-century French poet,

Paul Claudel was also a playwright and an outstanding literary

A

literary light in the

mind speaking

in

France of his day

as well as a

out, even occasionally in situations

critic.

diplomat, he didn’t

where

religion

and

CHAPI'KR FIVE

politics

mixed. Although Izutsu never compared Bernard and Clandel,

somehow similar. As was true of Bernard, Clandel, too, was too human. )nst as the Old Testament prophets were poets as well men

the two are all

entrusted with the word of God, Clandel, too, Izntsn writes, was “a poet and a prophet”“° and “a philosopher as well as a poet.”"’ In his essay

on Clandel, he deseribes the

relation of “Being”

dent

is

poet’s mission; in the second, the

and “beings” — the mystery by whieh the TVanseen-

transformed into

phenomena, incTuding humankind.

all

hope

also puts into writing his prayer-like

he “may be able

first

to solve the

that,

by discussing

Izntsn

this poet,

mystery of those strange and secret work-

ings of the spirit” that pnlsate in poetry."

“When with

read Claudel’s

I

my whole body

somehow

to resonate

imexpeetedly

I

poems

quietly out loud to myself,

feel

I

snblime and weighty rhythms that seem

their

up from the deep, deep bowels of the

and

earth,

tremble,” Izntsn writes at the beginning of his essay on

poetry and religions existenee."^ Clandel was probably not the only

who made him feel that way. Izntsn read poetry out loud. When he did so, a poem was not just a work of literature; it became a tribute

poet

offered

np

to

heaven. In

it

he

felt

an evocation of Being, the divine

mystery of language that prompts the birth of

poems

to di\ nlge their

innermost

feelings.

life.

Poets do not write

Clandel never

eonviction that through the

medium

in the creation of the world.

But he himself does not

only speaks

He

is

when

inspired by the

hidden

of language he was taking part

nature of

God

in fact,

himself Clandel

nneanny thing

that

fountainhead of

all

is

histor\-.

poet

And

its

clearly aware that the voice of that

things and assumes the guise of is

his cre-

nothing other than the original

comes bubbling np from the deep and

by passing through his tongue,

The

and secluded subterranean,

metaphysical depths that predate the beginning of is,

ereate.

and yet the source of

in the solitar\-

primordial, original nature

the firm

w orkings of ereation.

truly a creative huiiian being,

ative activiU' lies

lost

the

\

oice of

God.

eternal

human speech In this way, the

poet takes part in the great task of the creation of the nnix erse and

becomes

a co-operator of

God’s providence.^

136

CA'IHOl.ICISM

More importantly than

subjects like joy and anger, birth, old age,

sickness and death, or even heantw Claudel writes of “Being.”

“gods”

became “C^od” hv speaking through

sion

to

it

is

bring about the

in their

Claudel,

poems. Claudel was

it is

a

poet

when

the ]:)rophets, the poets’ mis-

who was

Although the “he”

no longer Claudel the man.

ual identitv ceases

as

of a hidden holiness hv w riting about

rev ival

responsihilih', Izntsn says.

)iist

strongly aware of this

in the

above quotation

is

Just as the ]:)rophcts’ individ-

become

they utter j^ropheey, poets, too,

the

channel that links the metaphysical world with the ]:)hcnomenal world.

He

Claudel has no need of extravagant miracles.

secs a miracle in

the blooming of a single flower. “[PJonr le simple envoi d’lm ]:)apillon ciel tout entier est neeessairc. \A)iis

dans I’herbe,

tere

si

ne ponvez eomprendre nne paqnct-

vons ne eomprenez

j^armi les etoiles.”

])as le solcil

Yon cannot

(For the siinj)le flight of a butterfly von need a whole skv.

understand

a daisv in the grass if

the

VVe are

stars.

Claudel s/lie

the

liv

word meaning

“lb know”

“to

know”

conuaitre,

“To know something is

a

ger be possible to call aetivitv' is

it

hv'

a

among

moment,

is

to

themselves.

metaphysical

French

which contains

co-iuutre, “to

he horn with

Izutsu says.“^

If

it,”

human

thev could,

beings are

would uo

it

For Claudel,

activitv.

a

meta-

i.e.

human

the supernatural,

beings

— in

— the world that transcends

the mysterious sense that Henrv'

Corbin understood metaphysics, and called what was beyond the torical

dimension metahistoire, meta-historv. Ib come

an invitation from the meta-physica

The meta-physica undoubtedly

make contact with the touch with someone else’s

is is

also the

in

soul, the

If

it is

soul.

When

holine.ss to

possible

one who does

does not doubt the soul’s existence. But the one It is

touch with

it,

human to come

dimeusiou where

souls of others.

s/he has a soul.

in

his-

indispensable.

beings

knows

lon-

not simplv a matter of dealing with invisible things;

means meta-physica,

nature, including

it

erv

v

In Claudel’s native

metaphysical form of cognition, and

incapable of achieving

phvsical

is

siin

the manifestation of an invisible realitv,

must hav e an accurate knowledge of it.

he horn wi

it

yon do not understand the

ing in the midst of a miracle at this

says. If someone desires

le

who

so is

presumahlv

touched

also

not oidy a matter of the existence of the

the world mutnallv

knows one another,

blossom.

1^7

it

causes internal

CHAPTER FIVE

The poet opens

when he does

eyes and faces the world;

liTs

very act alone, the world occurs in

hy that

so,

analogical nature. All beings,

its

despite their eye-decei\ ing diversih’, sense that they nltiinately are

hound together by

danders

profound

a

affinitv;

is

the source of

poetry and philosophy.”^

“The world occurs

in

the attention to

the order inherent in

entis.

this that

it is

is

The concept

its

analogical nature”

— what this passage directs

Thomas

that the created world by

Aquinas’ analogia

very existence provides

its

analogies whereby creatures can understand their Creator occupies a central position in Catholic Christian theology even today.

Although

it

certainly forms the theological basis of Catholicism, Izntsn believes that

the analogia entis Claudel perceives

is

not a

theological truth hut

strict

an existential one that was supported by his own nnshakeable experience. Claudel did not learn

was

a natural feeling,

guides his thinking; itself.”“‘^

To be

and

even an

it

first

theologically;

instinct.

he

his intuition

it

of Izntsn himself?

verified the anthenticih’

ing them.

For him,

“It

and

his vision

words clearly express the basis of Claudel’s

Above and beyond being was

a student of the mysteries of Being, Izntsn, too,

He

it.

independently of this poet, don’t they describe the soul

his recollections of

being.

“felt”

not just a basic principle that

It is

fundamentally colors

sure, these

spiritnalih', but,

it

and depth of these

human

a feeling

feelings by study-

legitime de dire qn’il y a dans I’Ange spiritnellement qnelqne chose qni correspond a notre organisation physique. Ainsi, “II est

.

il

est

.

permis de dire dans nn sens non pas pnrement metaphoriqne

qne I’Ange is

.

voit, qn’il sent, qn’il parle, qn’il respire,

.

.

.

.

ment.”

qn’il se

.

.

(It

legitimate to say that something that corresponds to our fleshy frame

exists in a spiritual

form

in angels, therefore,

it is

not purely metaphorical sense that angels see,

move.)^° likely

The words

are Claudel’s but

he translated the

poet’s

it is

permissible to say in a

feel,

Izntsn

speak, breathe and

who

cites

words here instead of stating

them.

his

It is

own view

of angels. In the earlier of his

Curtins. Curtins was a

two studies of Claudel, Izntsn

Cerman who

than the French did. That was not as

much

as

refers to E.R.

loved French literature even all;

more

he loved an eternal Europe

he loved his own country. \Mien Curtins writes that he

138

C/vmoi.icisM

perceives a Gescliiclitslosigkeit, an “absence of history” in Claiiclel, he is

profound and awfnl primordial nature of ver\’

ctcrnih’,

means

which, while

the

in the

midst of time and history, breaks through the limitations and ren-

and

ders time

histor\- ecjnal to nothing.”"^'

who

etcrnih,” Iziitsn says, a poet

which It

“1 le

not noting a lack of historical j^erspeetive in this poet.

exists

on

is

“a poet of

directly linked to “qnalitatiyc time,”

dimension from the physical tcmj^oral

a different

was mentioned

is

Claudel, rather,

axis.

earlier that, in reference to Bernard, Izntsn S]:)oke

of his “eternal significance.” Claudel wrote poetry the way Bernard

preached. But what

and

of interest here

is

the

wind

that blows

Ibshihiko Izntsn himself,

from the world beyond, but, rather, that

who

felt this

wind keenh’ and gazed

on the other world. He did not hclievc leader, or

ophy

not that the words of a saint

poet broke through the harriers of the ])hcnomcnal w orld and

a

let in

is

poems

for a poet,

for a philosopher.

before

we know

that

sermons

intently

for a religions

were fundamentally different from philos-

Fhat

is

the reason in the study of St Bernard,

the philosophers Plato and Aristotle have

it,

it is

changed

into prophets.

In the

Slimmer of

1922,

Curtins visited the abbey of Vezelay, where

Bernard had given his sermon on the Crusade.

he

visited the

A few weeks

abbey of Braiiw eiler, where Bernard had

later,

also

v\

hen

preached

on the obligation of undertaking the Crusade, he saw the gold brocade \'estments the saint visited

had worn when he gave

his

And when he

sermon.

Cologne and saw the painting of the Aladonna and Child with

St Bernard by the Meister des Alarienlehens,

he could not help

hiit feel

“die geschiehtliche Einheit,” the historical nnih' of Europe, welling in his heart,

he

said.

Curtins was German; Bernard was Erench. Phe

two countries repeatedly fought one another.

many and Eranee

existed

Germany and Eranee was

A

breach betw een Ger-

from ancient times. During the

War, Henri Bergson had gone so a

far as to say that the

spirit

and

and the

Valer)'

is

well

are

its

known.

World

war between

still

German, loved Eranee and believed

revival of

Eirst

w ar betw een brute force and moral

Memories of the tragedy of the Second World War Curtins, though a

up

force.

fresh today.

in a

European

“historical unih.” His friendship with

Chde

CHAPTKR FIVK

\Vli ere

Curtins 'refers

At Pontigny,

is

the essay ealled “Pontigny.”^^

Burgundy region of Franee, there

small village in^the

a

had onee been belonged.

Bernard

to

abbey of the Cistereian order

a great

The monastie

to

whieh Bernard

buildings were destroyed at the time of the

Kreneh Revolution, and only the abbey ehnreh remains today.

abbey was dissolved, and

shortly after the revolution, the

Chnrehes and

the law on the Separation of off and

was anetioned

Normale Snperiore Curtins

eritie,

to reunite

says.

abbey

site as a

He was

plaee to

to a divided

Living together

far

in the natural heant\',

two

split in

Eeole

seholar and la

Verite

politieally, soeially

and

Desjardins did not buy the

affair.

he intended

live;

first-rate

at the

founder of PUnion pour

also the

time of the Dreyfus

eenmenieal nnih'

State was enaeted, the site

Desjardins was a

Franee, whieh had been

spiritually at the

in 1906, after

bought by Paul Desjardins. Professor

in Sevres,

In 1793,

to use

it

to

bring politieal and

Europe.

from the noise and eonfnsion of eities, lingering

sometimes going

for walks, the participants at

one another and deepened

tigny talked individually to

Pon-

their aeqnain-

tanee, then held disenssions in the afternoon. Desjardins held the

first

of these “entretiens” there in 1910. T hese symposia eontinned until 1914,

resumed dins’s

in 1922,

and were held nninterrnptedly thereafter

until Desjar-

death in 1939. Curtins attended the seeond Pontigny from 1922

Whether yon were a seholar, a statesman, a writer or a businessman, Curtins says, at Pontigny yon were expeeted to partieipate as just

on.

human being. German writers sneh

an individual

Participants inelnded

eonrse,

as

religions philosophers

were Jaeqnes

figures

sneh

as

Ri\ iere,

Gide and

Valery, of

Thomas Mann and Heinrieh Mann and

Max

Seheler.

Among the

Freneh

literary

Roger Martin dn Card, Charles dn Bos,

Frangois Manriae and even Louis Massignon. Philosophers inelnded

Gaston Baehelard, Gabriel Mareel and Vladimir Jankeleviteh. T here were also participants from the English-speaking world sneh Eliot. Le\’ Shestov, the

Russian

who

as T’.S.

wrote Dostoevsky and Nietzsche:

Philosophy of Tragedy (1903), Berdyaev and Clandel also attended. In

its

tnres to

eoneeption and implementation

meet

faee to faee

as a plaee for

opposing enl-

and break through the prevailing eonfnsion,

Pontigny served as the forernnner for the PTanos Conferenee, in whieh Izntsn

would

later partieipate

and play an important

140

role.

Ernesto

CA'IIIOI.ICISM

ho was

Biionaiuti, w

ticipant at Pontigny. lie

of Kranos from

j^art I

its

inception, was also a par-

perhaps ha\’c occasion

shall

to refer to

him

was the teacher of the Christian thinker, Prnst Benz, with

later,

whom

Izntsn

hceamc

friendly at Kranos, as well as being a spiritual hero of the

young

Kliadc.

It

magnum

is

no accident

that the Knglish translation of Curtins’

opus, Kurofxiisclie Literatiir

uticl

Lateiuisclies Mittclalter

liuropean lAteratiire and the Latin Middle Ages, 1953), was published by the Bollingen hbnndation, which

Kranos

first

started in 1933, hnt

\

its

irtnallv ran the

Kranos Conferences.

founder, Olga kVoebe-Kaptevn, had

had the experience that might he ealled the inspiration earlier. alih',

1

Kranos shared the same heliewe, as that

for

Zeitgeist, the rcwix al of the

whieh manifested

it

maiw \’ears

same

s]:)iritn-

Pontigiw.

itself at

I’he Praxis of Proceeding toward IVuth:

Slulzo Kuki and Yoshihiko Yoshiinitsn )iist

as Izutsii took part in Kranos, a

Japanese also participated

tigny— the philosopher Shnzo Knki (1888-1941), author of (1930; d’he Strnetnre of

1997).^^

Iki,

Since the publication of

Sakabe’s gronnd-hreaking book, Fuzai no (1990;

utci:

Pon-

no kozo

Megumi

Kuki Shuzo no sekai

Song of non-being: d’he world of Shnzo

Kvrihim lanaka and others have

Iki

in

Knki),"'^ studies h\-

ap]:)eared, hnt, like Izntsn, Knki, too,

has been unable to seeiire his rightful plaee in the histor\ of thought.

Knki was

heeame

a elose friend of Sdiehi Iwashita (1889-1949),

a priest. Iwashita

Catholicism

who

with Iwashita’s

and

ex

had

erities,

a lasting

who

Chureh

at that time. In the

hold Kuki

I

le

in

high esteem, think ha])tisni

believe, rather, that his romantie

closer to Catholicism, it

end, she, too, like her

and nothing eame of

impact on Kuki, hut that

mentalih’. But

person in modern Japanese

en thought of marrx ing her; he was baptized

brother, entered the Chiireh,

Some

first

and

were deeply impressed

it is

in

death

in the

their relationship.

this

unrequited loxe

had no

effect

on

his

attaehment drew him

precisely for that reason that vestiges of

him. Kven though he writes

temps (1928; “Considerations on time,” 1997),

in a life after

later

deser\es to be ealled a theologian. Knki was in love

sister

into the Catholie

was also the

who

“I

in

Fropos sur

do not heliewe

.

.

.

Christian sense,”^^ the intelleetual issue of

141

CHAPTER FIVE

Kiiki

s

relationship to Catholicism should be reconsidered,

dmiot

the fruits of that encounter

necessarily take the form of a direct

Even

discussion of a Catholic worldview.

metaphysical events physics. Here, too,

in the life of a philosopher,

may occur independently

believe, the

I

think, for

I

words of

of the study of meta-

“Metaphysics

Iziitsu are true:

come after a metaphysical experience.”^^ The hvo lectures that Kuki gave at Pontignv in

should

temps

et la reprise sur le

1928,

temps en orient” (ITe notion of time and rep-

etition in Oriental time)

and “L’expression de

I’infiniti

onais” (Tlie expression of the infinite in Japanese in

France

who

as

praised

Propos sur it

“La notion du

le

art),

dans Tart jap-

were published

temps. Kuki sent a copy to Kitaro Nishida,

highly in a letter to Hajime Tanahe (1889-1962), another

philosopher of the Kyoto School. This was gives expression to his

own

interests in a

work

a

in

which

language that

is

its

not his own,

presenting content with worldwide appeal. In that sense,

Sakahe

says,

its

significance

is

author

Megnmi

equal to the works of Kanzo Uehimura,

Inazo Nitobe and Tenshin Okakura,

who were

influential in introduc-

ing Japan to the West in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Sakahe also regards Propos sur

the special place

it

occupies

le

temps highly, and not

in Kuki’s oeiure;

he considers

it

just for

his

most

important work. Kuki and Izutsu are on the same scholarly plane having books that deserve (or

to

be called their main works

French) and Japanese and

in

aware of Heidegger

Heidegger

s

existence. Izutsu

as the quintessential

in “Existentialism

both English

being active internationally as

Knki studied with Heidegger; indeed, tre

in

would

a result.

who made

Sar-

later cite Sartre

and

was Kuki

it

in

philosophers of the

modern

era and,

East and West,” he discussed both their differences

from SabzawarT, the nineteenth-century Islamic mystic philosopher, as well as

space.

an intellectual closeness

On

this point, too, there

is

to

him

that transcends time

a strand of intellectual historv that

connects Shnzo Knki with I'oshihiko Izutsu. studied philosophers that,

under

who

and

dealt with “Being”

that influence, they both

It is

not that the two

men

and “existence,” but rather

went on

to

construct philosophies

of their own. d1ie two are also close to one another in their awareness of a realm called the Orient. At the beginning of “La notion du temps et la reprise snr le

temps en

orient,”

142

Kuki savs

his discussion will

be

CA'IHOI.ICISM

about “Oriental time,” and writes

that

time whieli repeats

is

it

itself

and transeends physical time. As was

(the time of transmigration)

the ease for Izntsn, the Orient Knki

ered semantic' eonstrnct that

is

both

S])eaking of here

is

a

also

a mnlti-la\'-

is

geographical region and a

spiri-

dimension.

tual

temporal dimension capable of measurement, “time has

In the

modes of ‘ecstasis,’ of being

three

Time

the past.”^^

‘outside itself: the future, the present,

occurs by developing eestatieallv,

i.e.

outside

each of these directions. But future, present and past are

all

the coordinate axis of time, and an ecstasis that does not

make

sional leap

merely

is

a

itself, in

confined a

to

dimen-

“horizontal” ecstasis. fluis, in addition to this

horizontal ecstasis, Knki posits a

an atemporal or trans-temporal pheiioineiiological, rather

\'crtical ecstasis that

ecstasis. “[ I’Jhis ecstasis

mystical.

it is

should he called

.

.

.

[d

is

no longer

]he horizontal plane rep-

resents the ontologico-phenomenologieal ecstasis, the xertieal plane

Knki seems

the metaphysico-mystieal ecstasis. to

to

he the

first

person

have thoroughly digested the Hcideggerian concept of ecstatic time

and

he able

to

what

is

to

speak about

also worth noting

it

that

is

in his

own

words.

On

the other hand,

he recognizes the place where

ecstasis

occurs on what he calls the mystical plane that goes beyond the phe-

nomenological realm

We

ha\’e already

key terms

snmahlv

in

in

seen that ekstasis along with enthousiasmos are

response to Heidegger’s Sein uud Zeit (1927; Being and

neant (1943; Being and Nothing1956), hut the reason his usage differs from that of both Heideg-

ger and Sartre

is

Sartre’s L'Etre ct Ic

that

he

same thing oeenrs

.

A

ment,”

empirical,

recommences

eontinuih' of

mystical

own

ith ecstatic i.e.

ascetic, practices, d’he

self]

is

its life

anew

a continuity

in

order to finish anew.

which

reveals itself only in

moments, the profound moments of a “profound enlighten-

moments

in

w hich the

self takes recognition of itself

astonishing shudder, “d’he self exists” at the

does not

sensations as personal

in Knki.

[d’he self] always .

dealing w

is

expressions based on his

.

narrow sense.

Shinpi tetusgakii. Izntsn, too, uses the word ekstasis pre-

Time, 1962) and nesSy

in the

exist.

143

same time

w ith an

that the “self

CHAPTER FIVE

“[C)]nly in mystical

moments

in

whieh the

ishing shudder”

know

it,

moments ...

— this

but of what

of a ‘profound enlightenment,’

self hikes reeognition of itself with

an aston-

not the mental state of a philosopher as

is

Iziitsn ealls a mystie. “If

philosophy

is

we

the praxis of

proeeeding toward the dVnth and the praxis of eoming haek from the dVnth, only the genuine mystie has the qiialiheations to he a genuine philosopher,” he says in Shinpi tetsugaku^' d he “praxis of proeeeding

toward the Truth,”

in

other words,

eestasy in a dimension in

nothing

is

whieh one has aeeess

ing haek from the d’rnth.”

If

existential experienees,

and only

then Knki and Izntsn are

than experieneing

to the “praxis

philosophy ean he defined

pro\ ides a logieal system for one’s

first

less

among

as that

own fundamental

after that deals

of

eom-

whieh

issues

and

with ohjeetive matters,

the few philosophers, in the true sense

of the word, in the tradition of Kitaro Nishida.

Izntsn said in a eolloqny with Shfisakn

the works of Yoshihiko Yoshimitsn.

A

Endo

that

he had often read

“forgotten” thinker today, Yoshi-

hiko Yoshimitsn (1904-1945) was a philosopher

who played an

aetive part

not only in prewar religions eireles but also in the worlds of literature and

He

journalism.

ing Modernih'

represented Catholie intelleetiials at the 1942

sy

mposium, attended by

Yoshihiko Yoshimitsn was born

Kagoshima Prefeeture. ehi Iwashita after

In 1927,

and was baptized

ehanged dramatieally.

the leading thinkers of the day.*^

1904 in what

in

0 \’ereom-

is

now lbkimoshima,

he beeame aeqnainted with Father Soi-

into the Catholie

Chnreh. His

In the following year, 1928,

life

there-

he translated

Jaeqnes Maritain’s Elements de philosophie (1920; Introduction

to Phi-

losophy, 1950).'^^ Yoshimitsn was twenh-foiir at the time, d’he next year

he went

to

Franee and studied under Maritain himself. As

a leading

neo-Phomist adyoeating the renaseenee oCPhomas Aquinas’ thought, Maritain had enormous infliienee in Freneh intelleetiial eireles as well as within the Catholie

Chnreh

itself.

After Yoshimitsn returned to

Japan, he spoke widely, introdueing the traditions and eurrent state of

European Catholieisni

Not and

just

erities

to a

Japanese audienee.

Shfisakn Endo, but the poet Hideo

sueh

as

1957), Shin’iehiro

Nomura

(1917-1948)

Yasuo Oehi (1911-1961), Hisanori Tsujino (1909-

Nakamura

(1918-1997) and Shfiiehi Kato (1919-2008)

144

C/vmoiJCisM

were strongly influeneecl by Voshihiko shi])s

with writers

katsuo

siieli as

1

Yosiiimitsii.

le also liad friencl-

I

Kobayashi

lori (i904-i9'53), llicleo

and Kazno Wdtanabe (1901-197$). Contributors

magazine Creation (Kdzd), where be served

to the

Catbolie

literar\'

inelnded

as editior-in-ebief,

Kawakaini (1902-19(80), Ibsbibiko Katavania (1898-1961) and

I’etsiitard

Sboinn Nobori

wbieb be was

(187(8-1958). d’be ])eriod in

aeti\e lasted

troin 1950 until bis illness in 1944, not c|nite fifteen years, but

it

ean be

ealled Ja])an’s Catbolie Renaissanee. Izntsn’s in 1941;

it

bistorieal

Arabia shisoshi

seems unlikely

(nistor\- of y\rabie

that '\oshimitsn

thought) was ]:)nblisbed

would not ba\e read

o\erview of Islamie theology and philosophy, the

first

this

be

to

written bv a Japanese, '^bshimitsn bad a personal interest in Ijallaj, the legendar\- symbol of Sufism. In faet, the

person in japan

first

to disenss

the latent intelleetnal signifieanee of this extraordinar\ nnstie was not Izntsn blit Yoshimitsn,

who,

in 194$, referred to Ijallaj in “Sbinpisluigi

no keijijdgakn” (Ybe metapbysies of later, in 1948, that

hlystik).'^

It

would be

Toshihiko Izntsn would disenss him

in

siigaku (Arabie pbiloso]Db\ j. ^bsbinori Moroi’s stnd\’ of the

five years

Arabia

tet-

development

of religions nnstieism, wbieb likewise disenssed Ijallaj, was published in 1966, the last

work

rank with theirs have

to

do

so to the present day.

eome

out sinee.

Ifarlier

I

No

studies of Ijallaj to

mentioned

Ijallaj

Massignon. Izntsn never met Massignon, but Yoshimitsn did

se\ eral

times while be was stnd\’ing in Franee. Maritain hosted a salon

home

Mendon, wbieb Massignon

in

the time was impressed by Massignon est in bis

on Massignon and

at bis

attended, d'bongb Yoshimitsn at s

ebaraeter, be bad

seholarship or in the non-Catholie

years after his return to Japan

and

Ijallaj,

he

no deep said,

inter-

riiirteen

would pass before ’^bshimitsn eommented

Ijallaj.

In “Sbinpisluigi

no keijijogakn,” Yoshimitsn deals with

Plotinus,

aneient esoterie Indian thought as represented by Sankara and the \oga of Patanjali, Ijallaj and Sufism, as well as Christian mystieism

John of the Cross. Few' studies sinee ean surpass

and impartialib' of

bis grasp of

mystieism

in

it

in

Shinpi tetsugaku are devoted

to the

nus. dosbibiko Izutsn’s interest in Plotinus

14S

to

in the fiirsightedness

Fastern and Wbstern spir-

itualih’ or in the subjectivity of his disenssion. 'I'be largest

pages

down

number

of

mystie pbiloso])by of Ploti-

grew

steadily over the \ears.

CHAPTER FIVE

I hat Patanjali, Sankara and other ancient Indian thinkers had long

been the objects of

Izntsn’s hiterest

And

Consciousness and essence).

(1983;

The

study of John of the Cross.

also clear in Ishiki to tetsugaku

is

Iziitsii

had planned

and

interests of Izntsii

to

make

a

were

Yoshirnitsii

surprisingly similar.

But even more important than the congruence of the topics they discussed

is

the attitude of the two

men

toward mysticism. Yoshirnitsii

alludes to the impossibility of defining mysticism in “Shinpishngi to nijisseki shiso’'

(Mystik and twentieth-century thought). “Beginning a

discussion by asking what

the precise definition

is

cism,’ the translations of shinpishngi,

When

defining mysticism,

answer” and seek

logical

may attempt

to offer

is

'Mystik' or ‘mysti-

not particularly meaningful.”'^’

someone may grope

nominal ehino-

for “a

origins in ancient Greece.

its

Someone

else

an “aceonnt of the phenomenological essence”

of mystical thought or of mystical experiences past and present. East

and West. But “the former does not explain anything Yoshirnitsii says, and, “given the ter

cannot avoid arriving

the

same

at

overabundance of phenomena, the

an arbitrary conclusion.

Iziitsii

all

deals with

to

begin

first

all

more

the

likely to

end np becoming

addicted from the outset to this childish, meaningless game. For

belongs

to the

ely refuse to

What nify-

Iziitsii

is

popularly

answer the logical question:

may have

feared

known

as

is

dogma.

What

is it?'^'

hax ing the word “mysticism” I

le

considers

it

is

clearly

sig-

appropriate to call

And yet, “despite of human beings,

mysticism a via mystica.

the fact that [the via mystica] it is

it

essence of mysticism to transcend absolutely and posi-

a particular ideology or

w hat

of

by giving a definition of the terms “mystical philosophy” or “mysti-

cism” themsehes, people are

tix

lat-

topic at the beginning of Shinpi tetsugaku.

books entitled “The Philosophy of Mysticism” hax e

If

as to content,”

an experience

human experience,” he says. “Rather, somehuman being takes possession of the human soul

by no means a purely

thing greater than a

and comes uses the

to pass.”"^^ Just as Izutsii speaks of the via mystica, Yoshirnitsii

German word

\lvstik to avoid the term “mysticism.” /

Iziitsii’s

«

Shinpi tetsugaku has a chapter entitled

“

Shizen shinpishngi no

shiitai”

(d’he subject of hlaturmystik); the topic of the subject in Mystik

146

is

one

CA'I'HOI.ICISM

dcKcs

that Yoshiniitsu

cleeplv into in his study of the nietaj^hysics of

mysticism. Yoshimitsn’s “mystical j^ersoiY’ or Mystik

“mystie” or the via mystica “

IVne Mystik

is

'\oshimitsn believes;

And

of ereati\e

human

not the self-eontemplation of an ideal

must

“it

al\va\’s

tz be an

spiritnalih’.”'^"^

(sonl) posits his it

"Fhe nnstieal experienee

know themsebes;

is

it

an event

in

of the sold, the dVanscendent himself, re\'eals his

workings of what deserv es it,

he

to

self,”

existential ex])erience

there must also be “an atfirmation in

beings

identical to the

Shinpi tetsiigaku.

which the Source of oiir mind

(eognition) in tence.”

in

is

own

exis-

of the highest love

is

not one in which

whieh the Sonree

own

existence; the

be called snblime love must overflow

in

savs.

“The most profoundly

mystical person

is

also the

most profoundly

active person,” Yoshimitsn wrote at the eonehision of “Shinpishiigi keijijogakn.”^°

found

It

in Izntsn

shonld s

come

as

no

No

how

matter

him, he

is

surprise that similar words are also

Shinpi tetsiigaku. Reeall

sugaku that deals with the mvstie’s blissful the

no

this

passage in Shinpi

tet-

truth.

contemplation of the Ideas mav' be

for

not allowed to remain forever in the peace and tranqnilitv

of this transcendental world. After he has mastered the hidden depths

of nltimate Being, he

down once

is

again to the

charged with the sacred duty

mundane world and

to

come back

serve his fellow

human

beings.’’

Father Joseph Roggendorf,

who was

a close friend of Izntsii,

indireet relationship with Yoshimitsn through Father vers. flad

had

a

Hermann Hen-

Yoshimitsn lived longer, perhaps he and Izutsu would have

had friendly eonversations about Massignon and

Hallaj.

on Christians: Shusaku Eaido, Yoji Inoue and d’akako dhkahashi IzutsiFs Influence

Izutsu

s

personal bistory

is

not the only reason for thinking that the

issue of his relation to Christianitv

cannot be overlooked, d here

is

also

the fact that people with deep connections to Catholicism —Yasiio

Ochi, Shusakn Fndo, Yuji Inoue and I’akako d'akahashi

147

— responded

CHAPTER FIVE

extremely strongly

and

Izutsu’s writings

l:o

Many

translations.

people

in the fields of philosophy, rehgions studies, linguisties, Islamie studies,

Buddhist studies and literature were also deeply moved by him. Nor

were they eonfined

to

Japan; even today there are readers of Izntsu

all

over the world. Even so, the faet that the abovementioned group of

people with deep

ties to

Catholieism reaeted so strongly

speeial significanee sinee

Yasuo Oehi

is

he was horn

in 1911

his

and died

in 1961 at the

eame out during

posthumous work, Koshoku

his death, a

philosopher

to

A

poet and

and moved not only sueh 1988) and Kenkichi

two years

after

hand Sensual ih’ and

flow-

his lifetime,

alive,

and Yoji itsu;

literary figures as

Yamamoto

a

age of forty-nine.

(

was published by Chikuma Shoho with the support of

ers),

his

this

probably not very well known today.

Although nothing of

was

sheds light on an aspeet of

been mueh diseussed.

that has not

eritie,

it

to Izntsu has a

(1907-1988),

his friends

Mitsuo Nakamura (1911-

who knew him

while he

but also Ken Hirano (1907-1978), Ibshio Shimao (1917-1986) Inoiie.^"

he was,

I

Oehi followed

Yoshihiko Yoshim-

in the footsteps of

believe, an outstanding literary eritie

who,

in addition to

superb study of Hideo Kobayashi, deser\'es speeial mention even

now

for the

eel that are

works of

permeated with Catholie

started out as a eritie,

on Claudel and Gabriel Mar-

his early period

spiritualih’.^^

Shusaku Endo, who

thought highly of Yasuo Oehi

as his predeeessor.

Oehi made an in-depth study of Martin D’Arey’s The Alind and Heart of Love, whieh Izntsu translated. (A eolleague of Iziitsu’s at Keio Uni\ersit\’, Masao Matsumoto [1910-1998], also diseussed

this

work, but dealt with the original rather than Izutsu’s translation of Oehi’s ‘“Are ka kore ka’ to ‘Are

mo

it.)

kore mo’: Dashl no Ai no rogosii

to

yomu” (‘lliis or that’ and ‘this and that’: Reading D’Arey’s The Alind and Heart of Love) is the only example of what eould be called

patosii o

a critique of the

Japanese translation, although in

it

Oehi

is

discussing

D’Arcy’s ideas and shows no direct interest in the translator.’’ Presum-

ably

Oehi was unaware of Toshihiko

Izntsu the philosopher. Martin

D’Arcy was

a leading twentieth-centurv

lic eapacit}-,

he bore the heavy responsibility of being Pro\

English thinker; in his pubincial of the

English Province of the Society of Jesus, one of the largest religious orders in the Catholic Church. Izntsu

148

met D’Arcy

in 1953,

when

the

CATHOLICISM

came

latter

Japan

to

at the invitation

leetnal Intcrehangc,

hook.

this

y\s

and personally asked

might be expected

One

such passage

Committee

permission

his

as follows.

is

its

new

eneoiinter eanie a

this

or philosophie religion. earth;

to translate

that could he mistaken for Izntsn’s

[I’jhc mystery religions of the Hast eiieountered the

Greeee, and out of

for Intel-

of this personal rec|nest, there

in light

work

are se\’cral passages in this

own.

of the Japan

.

.

religions jdiilosojdi)'

Greek w isdoin had no eontaets w

d’he

.

philosophy of

haj^piness was in reason

and thought and the

ith

of these,

trnits

d’he mystery religion, on the other hand, was the ehild of passion

and

it

from

li\ed

on passion, d’he madness whieh an

a brutal jDassion into

was ehanged

eestas}', a di\'ine frenzy.

D’Arcy believes that Greek philosophy was or philosophic religion” rather than the

Had

lo\'e exeites

a

“new

religions philosophv

academic study

that

it is

todav.

these words been found in Shiiipi tetsugaku, not onl}’ would there

have been no inconsistency, they clearly express the key theme of that work, .

.

that

.

the relation between philosophy and

i.e.

many

find the true

enanted mysticism,” D’Arcy

and was made

at a

time

God

bv becoming

says.^^

well be

initiates of this

nneov-

“[I]t

This statement predates Vatican

when Gatholicism

gions heresies. D’Arey deserves

may

God.

publicly called other

full credit for

such

fair

II

reli-

and impartial

views.

The Mind and Heart siigaku this

came out

of

Love was

pid:)lished in 1945;

four years later in 1949. Izntsn

book by then. Seeing

ticed but responds to

it,

that

it

Oehi does not

seems

fair to

the central idea of Shinpi tetsugaku, e\'en

an

inx isible intersection

may have

let this

Shinpi

tet-

alrcadv read

passage go unno-

think that Oehi’s allusion to if it is \ ia

D’Arcy, establishes

between these two Japanese contemporaries.

D’Arev’s book should be read not only as a philosophical work on the

changing nature of ogv,”

love, but as “an extremely bold attempt at ontol-

whicb pursues the basic principle of Being,

in his translator’s introduction.^^

beings;

it is

to reflect

Koshoku

to

Love does not emanate from human

born from Being alone, khe idea that

on Being

itself

is

in

love, Izntsii writes

to reflect

on love

is

keeping with the theme of Oehi’s book,

hana.

149

CHAPTER FIVE

The Mind and'Heart was Jung

w'lio brouglit

of

Love

a study of

is

word anima back

the

anima, Ochi

writes.

It

into contemporar}’ usage.

n’Arcy deals with anima and often mentions Jung, but the anima that Jung

about

talks

a

is

form of the hninan

translator dbshihiko Izuisu

— anima,

is

soul.

Anima

is

a

rather,

human

basic principle that animates the

mus

soul. For

soul.

fond he [Animus] knows well

Anima, and

that

he

is

Anima

is

to

spirit

a beggar,

.

and

.

.

partially possesses

he the

and

ani-

would probably

say.

it.

“[F]or

that all the fortune belongs to

on what she

lives

To he Oehi and

D’Arcy, citing the words of Claudel. grace, Claudel

understood

for his

persona or manifestation of the Transcendent;

animus symbolizes the human being who ail

is

D’Arey — and

is

gives him,” writes

already an act of

itself

Izutsu intersect with

one

another through Claudel.

Perhaps as a result of

this

work, in 1952, D’Arcy took part in the

Eranos Conference when Jung was time,

it

required considerable resolve for a Catholic priest to participate

in Eranos. cial

Ibday the Catholic Church has criticized Eranos

statement.^®

It

would be

at

Eranos.

in

fifteen years after this that Izutsu

the Eranos Conference. D’Arcy

been

leadership position. At the

in a

came

One wonders whether

to

an

offi-

attended

Japan the year after he had

he talked about that gathering

with Toshihiko Izutsu.

When

indignation that Izutsu had not

Endo openly expressed his been given his due. He seems to have

begun reading Izutsu

around the time of Isurdrnu tetsugaku

Toshihiko Izutsu died, Shusaku

in earnest

no genzd (1980; Phe original image of Islamic philosophy) or Ishiki to

honshitsu (1983; Consciousness and essence). His encounter with

the latter work, in particular, seems to have

was sorry

to finish

reading

it,

made

a great impact;

he wrote. Endo’s long

he

essay, Watakiishi

no aishita shosetsu (1985; A novel I have loved), is ostensibly about Erangois Mauriac’s Therese Desqueyroux,^^ hut when it first came out in serialized

form,

it

was called “Shukyo

(Between religion and

literature),

to the original title. In this essay,

Koran o yomu literary

(1983;

archehpes.

and the

bungaku no tauima de” work’s contents seem closer to

aided by his reflections on Izutsu’s

Reading the Koran), Endo discusses the theorv of

What

Izutsu calls an

150

archehpe

is

not unrelated to

CATHOLICISM

the archeh'pe in Jiingian psychology, hut

An archetype for Izntsu is not ])syehologieal phenomena; rather,

domain

its

far

is

broader and

category with which to clas-

deeper.

a

sify

it is

the

way hy which human

beings return to their origin, the path that the soul takes to he trans-

formed Spirit exist

and vice

versa,

i.e.

appearance

in the

phenomenal world. No holy hooks

into spirit

makes

its

the passageway through

which

without passing through areheKpes nor are there any myths with-

(md

out them. Although stories about

been revealed through archetypes, the passing through arehehpes that

transcendent realih' that scripture

— or the site of

Another concept

its

kiet

is,

rather, that

only hy

access to the incorporeal,

Arehehpes

are the birthplace of holy

manifestation.

moved Endo deeply was

that

it is

we can have

Ciod.

is

or the gods can be said to have

that of “linguistie

depths even deeper than

alaya-vijndna' in hhiki

to honshitsu. In the

alaya-vijndua, which

the bottom of consciousness in the Yogaeara

is

Mahayana Buddhism,

(consciousness-only) school of

Izutsn presup-

poses the existence of a deep layer that he calls the “linguistie dlaya-cou-

means “storehouse consciousness,”

sciousness.” A/dVd-consciousness

hut Izntsu sees house. This

is

in

it

an even greater function than that of a simple

w here the

birth of

meaning occurs;

it is

nothing

store-

less

than

the point of contact between consciousness and Being.

Endo refers to linguistic memory of Elideo Kobayashi.

c/Zr/ycz-consciousness in a tribute to the

In

it

has seen firsthand the realm of linguistic describes

it

in his/her

own

someone who dlaya-consciousness and

he defines

a writer as

words. At that time,

Endo only used

the

key words “linguistic u/uyu-consciousness” w’ithout mentioning that the

term was derived from Toshihiko Izntsu, but by purposefully referring to linguistic

u/uyu-consciousuess wdiile discussing Kobayashi

on Motoori Norinaga, he

is

s

work

minds of I lideo

clearly suggesting that the

Kobayashi and dbshihiko Izntsu have some invisible but high degree of agreement and resonance.

I

mentioned

earlier that

Shusaku Endo

thought highly of Yasuo Oehi. Oehi’s most important wT)rk was on I

lideo Kobayashi. Although Toshihiko Izutsu’s

there,

what becomes clear

in reading Oehi’s

Elideo Kobayashi and dbshihiko Izntsu meet.

names

name

work

On

is

does not ap])ear the place where

this level, the

Ilideo Kobayashi and 'Ibshihiko Izntsu cease to be

15

]

proper

names

of

CHAPTKR

indi\'icluals

with their

own

FIVP:

personal histories and beeoine synonyms for

a spirit that inquires into the jnysteries of realih’, sanetih’

and being.

1 he Catliolie priest, Yoji Inoiie, read the works of Izntsii at the ree-

oinniendation of

a friend.

easy to guess that the friend in question

It is

was Shusaku Endo. d 1 ie two of them had been elose friends and kindred

On

spirits

ever sinee their student days in Franee shortly after the war.

the impaet of his encounter with Izutsu, Inoue wrote the following

in his study of the

man who

carried Christ).

lie very elearly explained, as

why, ever sinee tress

to

The

Apostle Paul, Kirisuto o hakonda otoko (1987;

my

student

if

pointing ont iny loeation on a map,

da)'S in

Franee,

I

had always

felt a dis-

when

akin to a sense of spiritual pressure or suffoeation

aecept Ehiropean Christianity or why, for some reason,

interest in the

thought of Motoori Norinaga and had so

foreed felt

I

much

s\

an

inpa-

thv for Basho.^"

“By coming to say, “it

in

contact with the theologv of Ibn ‘ArabT,” he goes on

seemed

as

though

I

had been given

direction of the Japanese Christian theology

searching for up until now.”^^ Izutsu

s

guarantee

a sure

and

spiritual ih'

influence on Inoue

is

I

to the

had been

remarkably

strong.

What Inoue found

was

in Izutsu

Panentheism was mentioned

ism.

a view' that goes

beyond panthe-

earlier in the discussion of flallaj.

Izutsu dynamically develops this topic in his English-language

num

and Taoism. There

opus, Sufism

theism— the

\'iew that

present in the world possible to li\

know

Cod

— and

is

is

both transcendent and immanentlv

the three persons of the Trinitv.

it.

When

says,

d’he

and steam are

same metaphor

Dissatisfaction

w

ith

is

all

also

it

is

made

It is

not

clear by

explaining the mysterv of the Trinity

Inoue often uses the metaphor of w ater ice

connection between panen-

the Trinity, Augustine said, but

ing and believing in

Hot water,

a

mag-

as a

svmbol

for the Absolute.

water that has changed

found

in Izutsu’s

152

form, he

its

doctrines

work.

medieval Christian theologv and

centered on a paternal Cod; the discoverv of

its

Cod s

maternal nature in

C/vmoi.icisM

the

life

of Christ; and finding the eore of the CTOspel in the rapproehe-

inent l)et\\een these two natures - that

is

the spiritnalih’ of Shnsakn

haido and Voji Inone. d'akako dakahashi (19:52tries to

go haek

to a

medieval Knropean

would ])rodnee differenees between and Inone, on the different

As

a

reader ot

spiritnalitv. Inevitably, this

on the one hand, and

I/.ntsn,

k’aido

d'akako d’akahashi has a

image of the philosopher than Mndo and Inone had.

W hat she ment

other.

her,

on the other hand,

),

responded most sensitivelv

to

is

Ibshihiko

Iziitsu’s treat-

ot eonseionsness. In hhiki to souzai 110 iiazo (1996; 'The riddle of

when she

eonseioiisness and existenee),

s]:)eaks

d eresa of Avila, her words evolve through a tion into a disenssion of salv ation.

Creen, and her

)iilien

Ibshihiko Izntsn’s .\tter

I

name

appears

deepening of eontempla-

d’akahashi

diary, like that of

of the Christian mvstie

Ch een,

partienlarly fond of

is is

work of art

a

in the entrv for 2

November

had studied the eomplexities and subtleties of the

in itself.

2002.

de]:)ths

of

liuiuau eonseionsness from the Christian mysties in kreneh during the 1980s, these matters were reinforeed after mv’ return to Japan by the works of Ibshihiko Izntsn, and around the time that

pen again, of

its

I

had the feeling

that

what

I

1

took

ii])

mv

was writing about was ahead

time.^’^

At one time she had stopped writing and gone to kVanee with the intention of

beeoming

a

mm. Wdien

she started writing again, what sup-

ported her w ere the Christian mvsties. d 1 ie voiees of those mvsties were

deepened and strengthened through her reading of Ibshihiko Izntsn and

flnallv led

As we saw

her beyond the phenomenal world. earlier, there

Fmdo and Ibshihiko

had been

Izutsu. dry to

a eolloqu}’

imagine what

a

between Shnsakn eolloquy between

Ibshihiko Izutsu and I'akako lakahashi might have been Izutsu

would have

told lakahashi,

who had

like.

Perhaps

spent time in a eonvent,

the thoughts on Christian mystieism that he had never put in writing.

A

passage in her diarv reads,

out of the librarv and read

- what

a

it

“I

took a splendid biography of St Bernard

through

wonderful man!” (entrv

for

in a single sitting. ... St

30 Oec'ember

2002).^’^’

and Izntsn would have exchanged ideas about Bernard.

153

Bernard

Perhaps she

V

Mfl"--


S

his thinking. I'his

was the

AND

which he was

in

j:)eriocl

WORi:)

a linguist; thereafter,

inetainoqihosecl into a lingiiistie philosopher.

lie

Kven

ply the fruits of his

Koran

and 1964) were not simstudy of Islam, d’hev \\ ere imec|nivoeall\' works of

his translations of the

(19157/8

jihilosophical semanties, attempts to put his ideas

language into practice.

is

1

Knglish-langnage work, Ihe Structure of the

Ethical 'terms in the Koran:

A

Study

Semantics

in

out the year after the jiiihlication of his

more an experiment with

the background of the Koran than

is

it

first

not intended to he a work on Islamic

ject

is,

translated into )apanesc

under the

title

hunseki (dlic

concepts

cal

b\'

which came

translation of the Koran,

a treatment of

It is

“A Study

{\l)^c)},

in

lingiiistie

key Koranic terms.

philosophy;

Semanties.” Wlicn

Shinha Makino

in 1972,

it

this

sub-

its

work was

was published

Imi no kdzo: Koran ni okerii shfikyd dotoku gaiuen no

An

of meaning:

striietiirc

in the Koran).*

analysis of religions

The Japanese

clearer

title is a

and

ethi-

and more

straightforward description of the hook’s contents than the Knglish is.

Perhaps Izntsn had an emotional attachment

when first

was included

it

in his selected works,

On

four chapters.

come

concepts life,

done

monograph,

for

he extensi\ely rewrote the

aim

in writing

so “as part of an cffeetiyc

way

with dealing semantically with the ethical and moral

in the

Koran.”" In this passage, written toward the end of his able to get a clear reading of his intentions from the

he specifically emphasized the word “semantically.”

The following passage

was written

in 1979, less

Around the time

1

is

from the foreword

to

Isuramu

about trying

wrote

to devise

this

Man

book \God and

more

outline

little

by

making use of the CTcrman

method — which

little

in the I

Koran:

was thinking

generally, a semantic

at first

was beginning

1

S7

to

hcrmcncn-

linguistic tradition of

semanties as represented by Weisgerber and others. elarifv the analytic

which

methodologically something that might be

ealled semantic' sociology or,

of eiyilization,

seitan,

than half a year after his return from Iran.

Semantics of the Koranic Weltanschauung (1964)!,

ties

title

to grips

we should be

fact that

to this

that occasion, he alluded to his

the work and added that he had to

is

semantic study jilayed out against

a fnll-seale

as the subtitle says,

on the philosophy of

was

still

appear

And

in

order to

hazy but whose

— by

a|:)plying

it

to

CHAPTER

specific material,'

took up as

I

my

hook of Islam. Such was the^iim short,

it

was

methodological range

for a

subject matter the Koran, for

a preliminary essay to

SIX

which

this

book

determine, after

for a

my own

fashion, a

semantic hermeneutics” should be taken

value. His scholarly focus was clearly

tics”

and not on Islam.

on

“a

at

semantic hermeneu-

however, that Toshihiko Izutsu

fact remains,

fashion, a

semantic hermeneutics.^

fiiee

The

holy

v\as written; in

my own

d’he words “a preliminary essay to determine, after

methodologieal range

tlie

s

achievements

in

the study of Islam are recognized not just domestically hut internationally as well.

Japanese research on Islam, led by Shilmei Okawa, Koji

Oknbo and

others at the

dawn

of Islamic studies in Japan, changed

greatly with the arrival of dbshihiko Izutsn. Izutsu was not the only

Japanese

who understood

read Arabic

texts,

an Oriental

hut

in close

As well

as

at that time.

But not only eonld he

he extensively read the works of Western scholars

their original languages as

Arabic

spiritual

and was the

first to

in

describe Islam in Japanese

impulse that had been formed subsequent

to

conjunction with Hellenism, Hebraism and Christianih'.

being the

first

Japanese

to write a

hook on the

history of

Islamic thought from the birth of the Koran to Averroes in the twelfth

century {Arabia shis^shi the

first

Japanese to

the original Arabic.

[1941; History

of Arabic thought]), he was also

make a complete translation of the Koran from He became a professor at iVIcGill University in

Montreal, Canada, an internationally renowned center for the study of Islamic thought, and, wdien to Iran at their request. In 1978,

it

opened

when

his

a

branch

in

Tehran, he went

Japanese translation of Mnlla

Sadra’s Kitah al-Klashair (Book of metaphysical penetrations) was published,"^

w ith the exception of Henry Corbin and

a

few others, even

the Islamic world had forgotten the existence of this seventeenth-century mystic philosopher. Izutsu wrote that, in the near future,

Sadra would attract worldwide attention, and these words Toshihiko Izutsu

left

Mulla

came

true.

original achievements in the field of Islamic

thought: his Fmglish-language research on Ibn ‘Arab! in Sufism and I'aoisiu

and

(1966-1967), of course, as well as such works as The Concept

Reality of Existence (1971) on SabzawarT, the nineteenth-century

158

WORDS AND WORD

who

mystic philosopher

tollowccl in Ihn ‘Arahl’s footsteps

he dealt with synehronieally, show ing how

w

intersected

ith

the existentialism of

tandem with these

In

lectures

and seminars

at

leidegger and Sartre.

1

during

activities,

prominent Islamic

an offshoot of the ShLite

whom

his ])hilosophy of existence

this period, Iziitsii

seet.

ga\e

institutions, including the

Institute of Ismaili Studies, the research center in Ismailis,

and

London rim by

Although he certainly

exceptional ability in his research on Islam, that

is

the

disj^layed

no reason

to limit

his area of expertise to that field. Ifyen in the studies that focused

and

Islam, his gaze was always directed to the “Orient” beyond. Sufism I'aoism

is

a

good example. Wdiile dealing w

sentati\ e thinker of Sufism, a oiislv

developed

and made

a

his ideas

on the daoism of Lao-tzh and Clmang-tzfi,

thorough examination of the ontological structures that

now. Ever\’ time

1

ith

have done a

my

work. But

1

lot

mv

of different things

scholarship,

have ne\er been

up

someone satisfied

the labels others ha\’e ap])lied to me,” he wrote. ^ I’he one label

he did receive

that

1

change the direction of

has tried to pin a label on

w

Ihn ‘Arab! as a repre-

form of Islamic mwsticism, he simnltanc-

permeated both. “Looking back, to

ith

on

his approval as

being most trnlv descriptive of his

seholarship was “philosophieal semanties.” In 1967,

when dbshihiko

Izutsn was invited to he an official lecturer at the Eranos Conference,

the organizers proposed listing his specialty as “philosophical semantics.”

up

Not onlv

his

did he accept this suggestion, nothing, he said,

work so well

as this

summed

one term.

d’here was a tacit understanding at Eranos that only one j^erson

whieh

each time would be invited

to attend

might include philosophy,

religion, psychology, hiologv, music,

from any

gi\’en discipline,

erature,

mathematics and physics. After Jung

his owai

reckoning and that of others, was the central figure

left, Ilenr\'

lit-

Corbin, by at

Era-

Eranos with Corbin from 1967 until the latter’s death in 1978. Cuven that Corbin was a leading twentieth-century scholar of Islamic mystic philosophy, it is clear from the external nos. Izutsu participated in

facts as well that d’oshihiko Izutsn

was not treated

as a specialist in

Islamic studies there. Izutsu gave lectures at Eranos twelve times over the course of fifteen years, and what he consistently dealt with was the possibilitv of

an “Oriental” philosophy; not once was Islam his main

159

CHAPTER

theme. I'oshihiko

Ixutsii

s

name was

SIX

also

on the

of offieial

list

members

of the Institnt International de Philosophie headquartered in Franee.

Raymond Klibanskv, who reeommended Izntsu, regarded him as a philosopher who was laying the groundwork for a renaseenee of Oriental philosophy, not as a seholar of Islam.

Let

me enumerate some

opus, Ishiki

to honsliitsu:

Islamic' philosophy,

of the

main

topies in Iziitsn’s

magnum

Japanese elassieal literature and thought,

Jewish mystieal thought,

thought, the

d’aoist

thought of Confueiiis, Chn-tzu, Neo-Confneianism

in the

Sung

period, Chinese Zen, Japanese Zen, aneient Indian philosophy, "Fibetan tantrism and Kfikai’s thought, aneient Rilke,

Mallarme and

alih’ that

Sartre.

Buddhism

or

In an artiele

s

was

sure, Islam

he found endlessly faseinating. But

ner of Toshihiko Izntsn as

To be

it

Greek philosophy, a tradition of spiritii-

oeenpied only one eor-

Oriental philosophy and had the same weight

Greek philosophy. on Toshihiko Izntsu and the Japanese understanding

of Islam, Satoshi Ikeuehi obser\’es that Izntsu

s

“Japanese.”^ As a single reading of this essay

pereeptions of Islam are

makes

not eritieizing Izntsu, but merely pointing out a

one and important

faet.

for Islamie studies in Japan; this

elear, Ikeiiehi

His is

\

iew

is

a fair

an outstanding

study that assesses the originaliR of Izntsu, who, in his seareh for a

Orient, read things into texts and aetively deviated from Islam.

Ikeuehi

}'et

s

observation that Izntsu

neeessarily eorreet

he was not set

a seholar of Islam.

s

thought with whieh

I

new And

understanding of Islam was not

also eounterproof of Izntsu

s

own contention

that

As he himself said, he had “from the out-

have had absolutely no interest

I

else

is

s

is

in

an objective study of someone

have no personal or existential relation”;'

from the very beginning, Izntsu

s

interest in a standard

understanding

of Islam was slight. Referring to eontemporaries sueh as Roland Barthes,

Jaeques L^errida and iVIiehel Foueault, Izntsu

the baekgrouncl from

whieh these

original thinkers

eomments

emerge, there are

often ereative “misunderstandings.” Barthes’s “readings”

not only ineorreet; they

we

may even seem

sometimes are

exeessively highhanded. But

single out only their clefieieneies or ineonsisteneies,

lose sight of the \'ein of ore this

that, in

if

we eompletelv

remarkable writer has diseovered.

160

WORDS AND WORD

“Misreadings” that arc

arhitrar\’ or arrived at aeeidcntly, l/iitsu says,

sometimes lead us instead It

is

to the de]:)ths of

not the aim of the present work to confine

study that corrects mistakes.

a tiger

What

mind,

d’his

the tiger

is

enh one must enter the

“mistakes,” the

aim

is

I

am

enh

I

am

my

ahil-

pursuing, and to catch

den. hAcn

tiger’s

and w hy he continued on down

trying to the best of

that

understand the

to

itself to a critical

and the development of dbshihiko

arc the changes in

ih’ to diseox’cr

Izntsu’s

meaning.

there arc scholarly

if

j)ath that led to

those mistakes

it.

Language and Semantics

One

day when Izutsn was

a

middle-school student, he was reading the

Bible. Wdiile casually leafing through the pages, quite hy chance, a pas-

sage at the beginning of the (L:)spel according to John caught his eye. “I

cannot forget even now how astonished

I

felt

when

I

read that,” the

seventy-year-old Izntsu said. In the Primal Origin of all things

WORD was with

God. Or

.

.

rather, the

e\ ery

thing eaine into being through

came

forth there

I’hese are the lation

first

was the

.

WORD. And

\\A)Rn was It,

and of

was not one single thing that came

Laeh and

G^od.

all

the

the things that

forth

w ithout

It.'^

few lines of the Gospel of John. Although the trans-

was made by Izutsn

the excitement he had

in his later years, the

felt as a

teenager.

words seem

Compare

the

to

convey

same passage

from the PAiglish Standard Version: In the

beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

Word was God. He was

in the

beginning with G»od.

made through him, and without him was

All things

not ain thing

made

were

that

was

made. pA'en from that

how

one passage alone

Izutsn “read” the

four Cm^spels the

completely

(meek

way he

new Japanese

it is

New

did that

possible to catch a glimpse of

one passage,

Bible just as

161

Had he translated all we would likely have a

d’estament.

we have

his Koran.

CHAPTER

He this

goes on to cleseribe

SIX

thoughts

liis

at

passage at the heginningof the Gospel aeeorcling to John. I

recall

being overwhelmed by

a

mysterious thing,

thought.

I

the time, of course.

somehow

away

its

for a long,

long

was God.” What

meant

at

meaning was unclear,

as

what

it

of unfathomable depth, this

full

lingering aftereffect deep in

left a

“WORD

didn’t understand

even though

Still,

mystical words that were

passage

I

some-

a truly extraordinary feeling,

where between surprise and excitement.

It

the time he eneountered

my

heart that did not fade

time.*^

was probably not long

after this incident that Izutsu

acquainted with Greek philosophy. As we saw

became

earlier, for the

young

Izutsn that encounter was an event that might almost he called a revelation.

The middle-school

years were the

mentalih’ nurtured during Izutsu

s

first

time that the unique

boyhood with

his father

came

into

direct conflict with the outside world.

After the lecture in as

“Gengo

which these statements were made was published

tetsiigaku toshite

no Shingon”

(1985;

Shingon:

A philosophy

of language) in the scholarly periodical Mikkyogakii kenkyu (Journal of Esoteric Buddhist Studies), Izutsu

hunsetsu riron

to

and published later

included

made

additions to

it,

renamed

it

“Imi

Knkai” (Kukai and the theory of semantic articulation)

it

in the

in the

magazine Shiso (Thought). ITis version was

When

book Imi no fukarni

it

was published

Shiso, however, the reference to the Gospel was removed.

The

in

relation-

ship between the Bible and Izutsii’s linguistic Vrelebnis could only he

confirmed

after the collection of his

(Reading and writing) came out

unpublished essays

in

in

Yomu

to

kaku

2009. This incident was virtually

unknown during his lifetime. “Gengo tetsugaku toshite no Shingon” was a lecture gi\’en at Mount Koya to monks of the Shingon sect. The expression “WORD,” which is used here casually, it

was not

is

Tbshihiko Izutsu

s

most important key term, hut

until after Ishiki to honshitsu that

losophy around

it.

Or, rather,

it

would he

he would structure

fair to

writing this work that conjured the expression

u as

in the

same

lecture at

Mount Koya

ulated the concept “Being

is

it

was the act of

WORD into existence.

that Izutsu for the

WORD.”

162

sav that

his phi-

“Being

is

first

time

It

artic-

WORD”— Toshihiko

WORDS AND WORD

Iziitsu’s ])liilosophy

would converge on

one

tins

j^hrase.

not refer to the existence of phenomena. “Being” here uses

it,

another

name

for the ahsolntelv

I

ranseendent.

“Being” docs

is

as Ihn ‘Arab!

“WORO”

is

not

eonfined to any lingnistie category such as laiigue or parole, siguifiaut different as well

or siguifie.

It is

“beings,”

undergoes

it

When

from ceritnre.

a proeess of self-expansion as

the d\'namic realih that calls

phenomena

“Being” “creates”

WORD. “WORD”

into existence,

i.e. it is

is

nothing

other that the “energ\’ form” that evokes being.

Wdien Izntsn wrote in

Sliinpi tetsiigakii,

when he wrote

seareh of nous;

he traversed ancient Cireeee

Rosluateki iiiugeu, he lived in nine-

teenth-eentnrv Russia and stared fixedly at the realih of piieunui. his

long journey with

tzh,

WORD

I’lien,

Islam began. Passing through Lao-

in

Chnang-tzh, Confneins, aneient Indian philosophv and japanese

elassieal literature,

he returned

Buddhism

to

at the

end of

his

eneonnter w ith Knkai (774-8315), the founder of the Shingon a fateful one. His last

work was

Ishiki

life.

His

seet,

was

no keijijogaku: “Daijo kishinron"

no tetsugaku (1993; Metaphysics of conscionsness: d’he philosophv of the Awakening of Faith in the hlahdydna),'^ in whieh he discussed the true form of “spiritual true likeness”

shin shinnyo). For Izntsn,

nous, pneuina and “spiritual true likeness”

all

of \\A)RD. doshihiko Izntsn’s

of color. For Jnng,

WORDs.

I’o

Islam

is

WORDs

of music; van

who drew mandala, images and

overlook the historical process that led

etrating examination of to ignore

in the guise

WORD embraces, yet transcends,

Bach used the

field of linguistics.

appeared

WORD and

treat

him only

the

Gogh, those

archetypes w ere to Izntsn’s

pen-

as a speeialist in

dbshihiko Izntsn the philosopher’s most important

speculation. For Izntsn, Islam was a fertile intellectual and spiritual field that

opened out

F.eo Weisgerher,

tim’ est.

German

into

who

linguist in

d’hongh well known

a very familiar

no means

w^as

mentioned

whom

earlier,

was a twentieth-een-

Ibshihiko Izntsn had a profound

in lingnisties eireles,

name among

in the

arly influence,

WORD.

may not he field. He is by

Weisgerher

those outside his special

mainstream of

inter-

lingnisties today. In terms of schol-

Weisgerher was an older eontemporary of Izntsn’s who,

along with ]nnzahnro Nishiwaki and Louis Massignon, had the most

\(A

CHAPTER

profound impact

oli

him.

And

though

yet, as

the profnndih' of their inflneiue, the

SIX

in inverse

names of these

proportion to

three

men

hardly

ever appear in Izntsn’s writings. This goes to prove that their influence

on Izntsn was not confined their

v

simple absorption or assimilation of

to the

iews and concepts: Izntsn tended to wrestle with the ideas of his

predecessors until

and which,

his

it

becomes impossible

determine which are

own. Weisgerber s influence

of linguistics in a narrow sense;

There

to

it

manifests

is

not limited to the sphere

itself ontologically.

are references to Weisgerber such as the

God and Man

theirs

one below

in the

Koran 1964 ). In Izntsn’s discussion of the “dynamic ontology” of the Koran as an expression of English-language work,

in the

(

the inextricable relation between words and the creation of a Koranic

worldview, his indebtedness to Weisgerber’s theories on the question

mind formation is extremely large. Moreover, Weisi.e. the “Hnmholdtian philosophy of language,” are

of language and gerher’s ideas,

consistent with the so-called Sapir-Whorf hy pothesis of linguistic relativih',

which

attracted considerable attention in linguistic circles in the

English-speaking world and which Izntsn himself regarded with considerable interest. “[T’Jhese two schools [Sapir-Whorf and the boldtian school] have long been developing the

same

ty

Hnm-

pe of linguistic

theory on both sides of the Atlantic without being acquainted with each other,”

he

says,

drawing attention

Just as Weisgerber’s influence

Koran,

it is

synchronic coincidence.**

to their

deeply colors

God and Man

in the

impossible to discuss The Structure of the Ethical Terms in

Koran (1959) without mentioning Sapir and Whorl. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf were American linguists active at the beginning the

Amerwords were something more

of the twentieth century. As a result of their studies of native ican languages, they too believed that

than tools for naming things; they were a reality that transcended the physical,

phenomenal world.

departed from the

In thinking about language, they actively

field of linguistics in the

and Sapir-Whorf are

in strong

closely connected to

guage

is

single

academic discipline

situation such as this

pondering these

it is

is

agreement all

narrow sense. Weisgerber

in their recognition that lan-

beings; that to confine oneself to a

to ignore this relationship;

impossible to

ideas.

164

come

and

that in a

close to one’s goal just bv

WORDS AND

WORi:)

Wtisgcrber called his linguistics nco-l liimboldtian.

Das

I

Ic

did so, be

Sprache (1964; d’be Innnanistie law of language), because the form in wbieh be inherited Ininboldt’s

writes in

Menschlieitsgesetz

cler

I

ideas was reminiscent of the nus,

who

manner

wbieh the thought of

in

Ploti-

carried on the Platonie tradition, was called Neoplatonism.

Although Wilhelm von Humboldt's name appears several times this

hook, that does not

eloek 150 years. Rather,

mean Weisgerher it is

“a sign of

working of time has now made

it

that

[I

— far ahead

Imnboldt]

advocates turning haek the

mv eom ietion

that the eeaseless

possible to mobilize the

of seientifie goal-setting and take up in of his dav

their diversitv the

all

— had

in

of Sliiiipi tetsugakiiD Hmnholdt, too, w

at the start

fnll

foree

problems

ingenious ways reeog-

beginning there was intuition,” dhshihiko

nized.”'^ “In the

in

Iziitsn states

human

rites that

beings ean reeover their primal eonneetion to the world through intu-

vonth dbshihiko

ition alone. Just as in his

heeame aware

Izntsii

of the

existenee of the noiimenal w orld through Plato, as a seholar he learned

through Hnmholdt’s of

heeoming

lingiiisties that the

mvsterv of

WORD was eapahle

a snhjeet of seholarly study.

Hmnholdt, who had

also

been an able diplomat engaged

in

heated

negotiations with the Napoleonie empire, w’as a remarkable linguist

and

a friend of

Goethe

s

and

Sehiller’s in private

In his Gespreiche

life.

mit Goethe (1836 and 1848; Gouversatious of Goethe with Eckermanii

and

Soret, 1850),

Eekermann

writes that he hopes

eheer np the melaneholy-prone Goethe.

Hmnholdt’s

say friend, though

1

visit will

Goethe

was eighteen years older than Humboldt. Humboldt observed early date that the study of language was a fertile hut field that

deserved to he established as a seholarlv

about doing last fifteen

so.

He

eontinued

years of his

many have

Both during

life.

and he

But partly due

and

after his death,

to the faet that all his writings

were published posthumously,

anyone regarded him

A word

is

it

was not

set

elassrooms for the

held Hiimholdt in high esteem as a diplomat and as a

ieal theorist.

that

his lifetime

an

undeveloped

diseij^line,

to leeture in universitv

at

on

polit-

lingiiisties

until the twentieth eenturv

as a linguist.

not a mere sign that represents an object; a word deter-

mines what

that object

holdt wrote;

“it is

ought

to he.

Language

euergeia” Ergon, w'hieh

165

is

“is

not ergonf'

Hnm-

translated as “])roduet,”

is

a

CHAPTER

Greek word

means

that

by whieh

aeti\'it\'

SIX

eompleted work. Energeia

a

spiritual

pou er

is

entelekheia, “the

eompletely manifested,”

is

as Izntsn

explains in Shinpi tetsugaku.^'^ Continuing his previous sentenee,

Hnmholdt goes on Arbeit des Geistes

spiritus,

— the

mind;

translated as

is

to say that

it

language

die sich ewig wiederholende

is

work of

eternally self-repeating

means

also

and

spirit

word used

to signih' the

Holy

Pneuma

Spirit.

than the physieal flow of air, “wind” here

power of God.

A

to

pneinna, a Greek

also refers to wind; rather

metaphor

a

is

related to the Latin

is

whieh means breath or breathing, and

Geist.^^ Geist

for the ereative

similar spiritual experienee lies behind

what Islamie

mysties eall the “breath of merey,” the divine aetivity that brings the

how

world into existenee. Words don’t know

haps be ealled an organie form of Geist, as that the true signifieanee of

phenomena but faee.

in

a field that

it

stand

were.

WORD lay not in

its

still;

this idea

Humboldt’s

he ealled

believed

fnnetion of expressing

and attempted

lingiiistie

they ean per-

Humboldt

eansing the existenee of all things to

Weisgerber inherited

In order to elariR

to

to

rise to

develop

it

the surfurther.

world, he strnetnrally designed

Zmschenwelt.

a

Between human beings and the external world there

exists a spra-

chliche Zwischenwelt, a lingnistie intermediary world. In the everyday

world,

it is

impossible to eognize not only material objeets but even

abstraet ideas without passing through this intermediary world, d’hat

beeanse the Zwischeuwelt

mental or

free

world

Orion, but

that a

is

it is

is

Nor

it is

also

different, naturally the is

even onr inner

real-

WORD.

Weisgerber eontinues his argu-

We

ean see the eonstellation known

to the stars.

not a nnixersal

realih’. It

is

only a enltnral universal

limited to speeifie eultnres; in a different enltnral zone, there

eompletely different way of “reading” the

and other eonstellations the people

who

“read”

exist

them

In eertain ethnie groups

ent names;

way

in the natural

Orion, Caneer, Pisees

in the sky.

what we

some ethnie groups, on

no “plant”

stars.

is

only in the sprachliche Zwischeuwelt of

that

hotanieal u orld in four words. is

language

also different.

is

from the workings of

ment with an analogy as

not simply lingnistie (sprachliche);

spiritual {geistliche). If the

spiritual intermediary it\’

is

is

eall a

palm

tree has sixty differ-

the other hand,

What

is

a

weed? Weisgerber

world ealled

166

sum np

a

the entire

asks.

There

weed. People only deeide

WORDS AND WORD

wlicthcr something it

in )apan, If

I

my

In front of

is.

e\’es

h ear that there

gnsa grow,

weed

a

is

in

is

a

One of the those who know

in

ever,

who

Knglish

is

see a

I

different

an edible plant.

as

names

nazuna liana saku

/

for the

same

j^lant,

how-

/

kakine ka na

nazuna blooming by the hedge), the plant

symbol of the mieroeosmos transmuted into

An

it

ealled shepherd’s purse, f or the poet Basho,

wrote, Yoku inireha

look earefnlly,

seven herbs of spring

where only penpenovergrown and desolate - even

lot,

though peiipeiigusa and nazuna are

what

useful they think

forgotten ])ieee of land

eonjnres np a xaeant

it

how

proportion to

a naziiua.

deeply loved by

is

it

is

a

gateway

(It

1

is

a

eosmos.

to the

edible plant, a medieinal herb, sometimes a useless weed, on the

one hand; on the other, an other w orld.

We

motif that serves

artist’s

as the ])ortal to the

we

eognize the world through the words

use.

Weisgerher also took note of the relationship betw een peojde and their

mother tongue. Onr mother tongue forms the

onr \Ve/^

basis of

anschauung, onr worldview, he asserted, and no one ean eseape the restrietions

it

imposes. In other words, the entire

eommnnities.

itably “artienlated” into linguistic'

the

eommnnih’

gnistie

eommnnih'.” He ealled

(hnv of lingnistie

eommnnih

(hiimanistie law of language)

of

human

human

that forms the basis of

existenee.

A

)

this the

human

It is

raee

is

inev-

nna\oidahle that

life is, first

of

all,

a “lin-

Gesetz der Sprachgemeinschaft

or the Menschheitsgetsetz der Sprache

and believed

Japanese hears

a

it

to

be an ineseapable truth

poem from

the

Manydshu,

the earliest eolleetion of Japanese poetr\' from the eighth eentnr\', or

from the Kokinshu, an anthology from two eentiiries onr hearts are moved by

even before we understand

it

beeanse onr mother tongue leads ns

“Mother tongue”

Rimbaud wrote

is

to

later.

to

its

The

reason

meaning

an nr-landseape of the

is

spirit.

not limited to language in the narrow sense. As

Demeny

even sounds, eolors, smells.

in bis

Onr

eombination of mnltiple senses.

famous

lettre

du voyant,

it

inehides

sense of language innately eonsists of a In

an

essay,

dbshihiko Izntsn said that

— the sound of birds, the biologieal aetivih' of plants, the reaetions of eells — are eapable of being language.'^ even biosemiotie

It is

aetivities

impossible to overlook the assoeiation with linguists and phi-

losophers of language in the formation of Ibshihiko Izntsn’s thought I

—

Inmboldt, Weisgerher, Sapir, Whorf, Jakobson and the reevahiation of

167

;

CHAPTKR

SIX

the later Saussure. In partieular, the eoneept of “artieiilation,” whieh

Humboldt hiinselt and was snbseqnently deepened by Weisgerber, wonld beeoine a key term that forms the basis of Izntsids thongbt. Language artienoriginated in the Hnmholdtiiiji sehool beginning with

world semantieally.

lates the

beeomes ontologieal “meaning”

is

And

semantic' artienlation antomatieally

not a sign attaehed to a

hold of the phenomenon. Izntsn in his study of Plotinus in

simply mentioned

his

phenomenon; “meaning”

grabs

refers to lingiiistie artienlation

but with eaeh sneeessive work,

magnum

opus, Ishiki to honshitsn,

most important key terms.

that “philosophieal semanties,”

WORD,

first

Izntsn believes that

Shinpi tetsngakn. At that time, the term was

in passing,

ing deepened. In his

one of

Why? Beeanse

artienlation.

i.e.

It

was

in Ishiki to

Toshihiko Izntsn

passed beyond the existing field of

lingiiistie

s

its

it

mean-

beeomes

honshitsu

philosophy of

philosophy and

took the ereative leap to beeoine an ontology and a study of eonseionsness, a mystieal

distinetion

philosophy of WORD. After

between words and

The

made

field, naturally

lingiiisties,

proeeeded

iny interests, onee

I

in the direetion of lingnis-

beeaine Professor Nishivvaki’s teaehing assistant

and eventually sneeeeded

to his ehair in lingiiisties,

more and more deeply engrossed

in

and beeaine

philosophieal semanties.

professor” refers to Junzaburo Nishiwaki, the “chair in lin-

guistics,” to his Introduction to Linguistics lectures; Shin’ya )

mentions these lectures

selected works.

The

in

an

insert in

Makino

volume four of Izutstii

lecture notes that the poet Hiroko

faithfully took also exist;

to

although Makino wrote that these notes were

Hiroko Alurakami was born

she was also active as an

s

Murakami

be published in the near future, they remain unpublished

day.

I

and the seinantie development of a philosophy of language.

After graduation,

(1930-

a elear

“Introduction to Linguistics’’ Lectures

had entered that

“The

work, he

WORD.

Sparked by the professors leetures on

tie theor\-

this

in

1930 and

illustrator.

“Tiinai” (Illness).

168

Here

is

left six

a

to this

\olumes of poetr\

passage from her

poem

WORDS AND WORD

"Ibn will conic

Yon,

who kne

"lour

\

as

isit is

tocla)’,

to

\

isit

cjiiict

think,

1

the sick.

as a painted jiictnrc.

d'hc chattering w ind.

comes and

Rustling gaily,

The “you” jiresuniahlv

is

a

20

goes.*

reference to Cdirist, and

nietaphorieallv, jierhaps the Holy Spirit

mind. Murakami was

a

is

for

its

we

take “wind”

what the author had

devout Catholic; she eontrihnted

theology to a maga/ane put out by the Carmelites,

renowned

if

ansterih’. In the brief

kamishihai (Cellophane paper pietnre-play), her

last

any of her jireceding w orks. She died

came

out.

According

to

is

order

to Serofaii

poetry collection,

she wrote that she had “studied with Professor dbshihiko Izntsn Pacnlh’ of Letters, Keio Ihiiversih'.”'* llierc

on

articles

a religions

biography appended

in

in the

no similar comment

in 2000, shortly after that

in

book

an obituary written by her friend and fellow

Masako ranignehi (1931- ), for several years after graduation Murakami came to Keio just to attend these lectures. Though apparently urged to publish her notes, she adaCatholic, Frencli literature specialist

mantly refused

to

do so on the grounds

that they

convey what the lecturer had intended. So taker, Daijiro

sponded on It is

Kawashima {1927-

this

),

with

1

was

might not aecnrately told

whom Murakami

not possible here to cover

would require

all

a separate work.

Toshihiko Izntsn wrote his

Magic

(1956).

the contents of the “Introdnetion

first

The

but through

English-language book. Language and

this

must have generated.

unpublished material

is,

English-language work we can get a w'ell as

In this chapter,

I

the excitement these will refer to

both

this

— Kawashi mas and Murakami’s notes — as well as

“Sarntorn o koenasai” (1996; Siiq^ass Sartre), the posthnmons tribute

to Izntsn that I

a half years;

year after these lectures ended,

sense of IzntsiPs linguistic worldview’ as

to

and

rhe likelihood of the lecture notes being published

at present, slim,

lectures

had corre-

matter."

to Linguistics” lectures that lasted for a total of six

that

by another note-

Kawashima wrote

for a literary magazine.^'^ In

will call the records of the lectures given

169

what

follows,

betw een 1949 and 1950 that

^ CHAFI ER

Kawashima attended the

“early notes”

SIX

and those between

Murakami attended the ‘.‘Jater notes.” when it first appears and when it eoines out that

rough

in the early notes

nings of an idea welling

and have

Just as

1951

an essay

different

book form, ideas

in

one-time-only qiialih

a

is

and 1955 that are

— the

np— show signs of deepening in the later notes.

The leetnres of the early period were originally supposed

been given by Professor Jnnzahnro Nishiwaki, but sometime middle of the

in the

first

in April], that abruptly

fessor in

Nishiwaki

eharge of the

ehanged. Kawashima

name being eorreeted eonrse may have been

s

tetsugaku, a period, he reealled, in

bed eonghing np blood I

as

I

s

May,

signs of Pro-

to

dbshihiko Izntsn. Being put

a

sudden event. I’he year the

whieh

he finished wTiting Shinpi “I

was aetnally on

“Around

wrote.

show

notes

my

that time, as a

wrote

when he was

in his seventies. “1

with how' casually the conventional linguistics that 1

in

have

siek-

young

leetnred on linguistics in the Faculty of Letters at Keio Uni-

versity,” Izntsn

that

to

semester [the Japanese aeademie year begins

leetnres began, 1949, was also the year that

man,

begin-

myself was teaching treated the

self-evident,

commonsense

w ell, he spoke of

fact.”^^

his distrust of

1

phenomenon

was

dissatisfied

had studied and of ‘meaning’ as a

At the beginning of the lectures, as

language and the still-embryonic

state

of linguistics as a scholarly discipline. Students of language must question in

each and every premise of language and

an

effort to

change

their attitude

linguistics,

he explained,

toward scholarship. T hese words

certainly convey the state of linguistics at the time. But,

hand, they were also lecturer Toshihiko

Iziitsn’s

on the other

declaration of his

intention to construct a lingnistics/philosophy of language the likes of

which no one had ever seen the expression to

is

slightly

before.

Valery, to the effect that tics

the blackboard, according

a passage in

French, perhaps from Paul

refined.

one must never believe conventional

can completely fathom

all

much

the

same meaning.

reading the notes to “Introduction to Linguistics,”

and Richards’ The Meaning deceive us”

is

not only

of

linguis-

the problems that language presents.

The words that Kawashima heard had

When

later notes,

On

more

Murakami’s notes, he wrote

By the beginning of the

Meaning

Ogden and

is

Ogden

impossible to ignore. “Words

Richards’ basic proposition in that

170

WORDS AND WORD

book;

it is

also the underlying thesis of “Introdnetion to

“Words,” Izntsn said, “do not guarantee that a thing

Kawashima. Not only do words

jird

in question;

hy words,

exists,” writes

“['hjliere

no longer any exense

is

vague

for

ohsenred

Ogden and

ns,”

khe words “no longer any exense” give

Richards write.

is

about Mean-

talk

which words deecix e

in

Oai-

to adec|nately express the thing

fail

people are misled hy them, d'rne “meaning”

and ignorance of the way

ing,

angnisties.”

1

sense of the

a

authors’ strong intent.

Although we can speak of possibly exist.

“a

round square,” no sneh thing can

Even wathont being

so obvious, words in the strict sense

nsnally do not represent realitv eomplctclv.

sense that words are

somehow incomplete,

And

in

yet,

though people

order to

commimieatc

they simply disregard this distinctive feature of language. the case of “God,” for example, Izntsn asks. lA en

capable of correctly cognizing

one term

carries with

it,

all

if

What about

luiman beings were

the historical implications that this

“God” would not he

aspects of the transcendently Absolute.

A

a

word

that expresses all

Giod cajaahle of being know n

would no longer be transcendent, d’he word “Cmd” contains mental paradox:

If

human

beings were able to cognize

God

a

funda-

wholly and

God would cease to he transcendent. We know' only the “God” created hy human beings, and that is what w e regard as God/the transcendently Absolute. I’he charge atheists make that hnman beings invented “God” may even he nearer to the truth. Toshihiko Izntsn calls completely,

impasse “linguistic nihilism.”

this

d’he

first

was published

sic,

out in 1936.

same

that

first

The Meaning

in 1923,

The Japanese

year.’^

introdnetion.

the

edition of

of

Meaning, w hich

and the fourth and

is

now' a clas-

definitive edition

translation hy Kotaro Ishihashi

came

was published

Yoshisahnro Okaknra (1868-1936) contributed the

Okaknra

edition of the

w'as a scholar of the

English language, editor of

Kenkynsha English-Japanese Dictionarv,

a close

acquaintance of novelist Soseki Natsnme and the younger brother of d’enshin Okaknra. At the beginning of the introdnetion,

Okaknra

cites

the passage at the heginning of the Ciospcl according to John: “In the

beginning was the Way, and the

Cmd.” d

’ll

is is,

Way

of course, Okaknra ’s

in this chapter, the

was with Chid, and the

own

translation.

W4iy was

As we saw earlier

English Standard Version reads, “In the heginning

171

CHAPTER

SIX

w as the Word.” The' meaning of the Greek word

logos,

whieh

is

compre-

lated into English as “word,” .cannot possibly be eoinpletely

hended by a as

term, Okaknra w

this

rites.

it

to say that logos implies

combination of “reason” and “word,” and that

is

why he

translated

“Way.” “A term that expresses both ‘reason’ and ‘word’

entities,”

he goes on

words “to signify

Someone feel these

Japanese word]

to say, “is [the

the question of w hether

it

and

sentences by Yoshisabnro Okaknra are

And

to the

chapter

raises

dawm

w^as

somehow incompat-

yet this passage clearly conveys the spirit

real state of

Two

of T/ie

Meaning

to

of

deals w ith the spiritual

confusion that

is

produced

introduction to the second edition, in the

deemed

Ogden Meaning

of linguistics, including the spirit of

“The Power of Words” and

language and the

this

and he

spiritual intensih'.”"^^

and Richards themselves. Chapter

According

as spiritual

w'ho picked np this book as a work on linguistics might

that prevailed at the

entitled

koto,''

it

might not have been the original mission of

spiritual ify'

ible with that snhject.

is

Suffice

trans-

power of

as a result. first

edition,

have been exceptionally long. Yet even so

Ogden

did not feel he had been able to treat the snhject adequately

and

one time planned

at

Linder the

to

Word Magic. It the same word in

title

unrelated to

With the appearance

publish the chapter as a separate hook is

unlikely that the word “magic” here

Izntsn’s

is

Language and Magic.

in the twentieth

century of Frend, Jnng and

Adler, a current of thought arose that sought to explicate scientifically

the depths of

human

consciousness which had previously been the

exclusive purview of religion, mystic thought and ancient philosophy.

which psychology took

Phis was a period in

and was reborn

a creative leap

forward

as literally the study {logos) of the sonl (psvche). All

other scholarly disciplines thereafter conld no longer overlook the fact that consciousness

is

a mnltilayered real ify.

along with psychology,

made

of the disciplines that,

the greatest strides in the twentieth cen-

tury was linguistics. As talented indi\ idnals linguistics, they

One

were not afraid

from various

fields

to establish close relations

entered

with other

Ogden was a psychologist and a philosopher; critic. Ogden was a polymath in the true sense of

scholarly disciplines. Richards, a literary

the word; there were virtnallv

one w ho had

a

good

no

command

limits to his expertise, fie

of

WORDs

172

that

was some-

would break through

WORDS AND WORD

He was also the c|nintcssential outsider w ho from academia. An outstanding editor and series plan-

the confusion of the times.

kept his distance ner,

he drewv up proposals

as lung, Russell

for the pnhlieation of

works hv authors such

and Malinowski and was friendly with Russell and

Wittgenstein. Yoshiko Aizawa’s hook

ui

mkenireta tensai: C.K.

Ogudeu (C.K. Ogden: d'hc genius fascinated hv 8t^o words) frankly describes him as not only naturally gifted in many fields hut also as a man of conscience who fought against the prewailing orthodoxies of Psyche, the journal he edited, covered fields ranging from

his times.

parapsychology, as can he deduced from gion, literature, art and social issues. But

mind

that

even topics related

he considered

to the

it

was

to

education,

a reflection of

reli-

Ogden’s

transcendental world must never

from the phenomenal world. Ogden loathed

in isolation

went contrary

useless mystieisizing that

name,

its

to reason.

Although Sapir did not always see eve

to cv'e

w

Ogden, he had

ith

Weaning and eontrihuted to Psyche. Also, like Ogden, he was someone who had been quick to respond to )ung. Wliat “Jung” meant to both of them was not just the

a

profound

name

interest in

The Aleauing

of

of a remarkable psychologist, but rather a worldview predicated

on the existence of the unconscious, the unseen

reality at the basis of

the visible world. Sapir was admired for his prodigious abilities, but bis best student, Wdiorf,

was interdisciplinary and

not a scholar based in academia, but a successful

worked

for

an insurance company. In

guist Nikolay dVubetzkoy, a

good opportimih'

sjDoke

about Wdiorfs situation also

Sanders Peirce, the obscure thinker and

on semiotics, “On

a

its first

company was

had

a

as

an outsidcr-scbolar

high regard for Charles

brilliant linguist

whom virtually

to at that time. Referring to Peirce’s

faith.”"^'

half, linguistics

1867 paper

db

it

as “bis

In the twentieth century, particularly

was not

a discipline that investigated the

function of language; rather, Jakobson believed, a different guise,

for a

New List of Categories,” jakobson described

magnifieent profession of

during

to the Slavic lin-

about language.

w ith an admixture of symjDathy. Me no one paid any attention

he sent

Wliorf wrote that working

to think

Roman Jakobson

a letter

Me was businessman who

iimov'ative.

say that linguistics

it

was “theology” under

assumed the

role of theology

implies that this disei])hne attempts to reveal a dimension that would go

CHAPTER

beyond differences

'in

cnltnre, history

language was one such times in Izutsii

and inentaliK. Jakobson’s meta-

Jakobson

name can be found

s

works. “Pw en in R. Jakobson

s

poetic language,

attein|>t.

SIX

was impossible

it

structural analysis of

be

to find a satisfactor\’ guide,’’

and he made

Imi no fukcinii

in bis Afterw ord to

s

several

critical

says

comments on

Jakobson’s overly optimistic pronouncements about a universal language, i.e.

metalanguage,

in

“Bunka

to

gengo arayashiki”

linguistic dlciyci-consc'iousness).^'^ In recognizing the

guage,

from being outdone by Jakobson,

far

own deepest

desire.

have

metalanguage

to

be

a

its

(1984;

need

Culture and

for a

attainment was Izutsu’s

But the metalanguage that Izutsu hoped in the true

sense

metalan-

for

would

— a realih’ that would tran-

scend language not an existing language used transcendently.

Words

are caught

between two

and the silence of the absolute world

silence that precedes language is

silences, Izutsu said in a lecture: the

utterly incapable of being expressed linguistically. All

occur beh\ een these

And

silent echo-existences.

that

phenomena

in that space, there are

four linguistic levels: “animal cries, conventional usage, the existence

While each

of non-existents, ultimate harmony.”

they are

all

independently,

inextricably connected. I hey coexist in concentric circles,

so to speak, Izutsu said,

the blackboard,

and he would draw four concentric

Kawashima

harmony

ultimate

exists

in the

writes, with

outermost

animal cries

circle.

The

circles

in the center

on

and

four levels beginning

with animal cries deepen as they approach ultimate harmony. This multilayered, linguistic

world acts as a ladder from the phenomenal world

to the transcendental world.

does not

mean

It

exists in a step-like progression,

hut that

from each region

world of

that the paths leading

silence in

and of themselves are blocked

off.

a leap-like

change of dimension occurs;

this

poetr\

”

is

T here is

is

to the

a point at

the place

which

where “pure

horn.

Bor the most part the later notes include the same content as the earlier notes. I’he

one exception was pure

poetrv. Izutsu discussed this

topic passionately in the early lectures, hut did not refer to

it

directly

in the later ones. In Roshiateki ningen, alluding to Pushkin’s poetrv,

had

this to say

about the pure

poetr\-

174

element

that ran through

it:

he

WORIXS

What

WORD bannony

brings into being the rare, pure

meaning but an

their plot or tlieir

ANi:)

ineffable

something that

semantic content, something M. Bremoncl

“Pure poetry”

not a term applied to a

is

poems

of these

is

not

far transeeiuls

calls poesie pure}'^

])artieiilar

work;

a cpiality or

it is

property that deserves to he called the primordial, original nature that

perxadcs the writing of poeh’. In saying that ing

an

hilt

tent,” Izntsn

means,

VUc

person

When

something that

ineffcihle

first

in other to

far

“is

it

not their

it is

something

use the expression “pure poetr\

Bremond

he read

in

lines, that

its

cntirch

”

was Paul Valcrv.

term and wrote La poesie pure,^^

this

That

If

raised the issue of

something hapj^ens

may he enough even

them. Pure poetry edy.

.

is

is

to

w hether

and not simply because

it is

poem

and

has to

catch onr e\ e in a few

definitely deeply ingrained in

hundred

a

literarx^

a

without reading what precedes or follows

precisely the reason this

for the past several

mean-

prelingnistie.

“pure poetr\ ” debate broke out that embroiled the Krcneh intelleetnal worlds.

or

transcends their semantic con-

words, that

Henri Bremond took up

])lot

years.

work has continued

But

so long.

Dante

to

Divine

Com-

he cherished

hard to read the whole poem,

it is

When

s

readers encounter pure poetic

images, they often lose interest in what comes before or afterwards. Pure poetr\ tion,

in

,

is

w hich words appear and come

into being almost as

not the product of personal choice.

search for

v\

ords;

it is

to

become

ITe

if

a revela-

role of the poet

is

not to

the field for the pure expression of some-

thing that passes through the poet. Poets are entrusted with the words by

Bremond says, becomes the words of a prayer in the true sense. Underlying Bremonds idea that, when “pure poetrv” arises, the human poet inex itahly becomes an “active” passixe

something. Pheir ultimate form,

voice

is

a clear recognition of

of Cmd in the work of creation.

words

to

mean

a

human

limitations

and the absoluteness

We should probably not read Bremonds

poem must become

a prayer.

Human

even pray, he heliexed, unless the prayer was given not a supplication;

it is

an affirmation

in

to

beings could not

them.

ets

to

mind. Or perhaps,

were poets,

just as the

Muhammad

Old d’estament proph-

Izntsn’s statement that “Claudel, too,

175

is

words of the Absolute.

As the classic example of such people, the Prophet

may come

A prayer

is

a

poet and a

CHAPTER

prophet” coincides' with

this idea.^^^ Poets

own. Only by receiving the their

own

which

its

is

from

God do

their

they fnlly express

completely manifested,” pure energeia.

mission does not end in being understood. “[Un poeme]

qn’il vient d’etre” ([A

again from

do not have words of

pure entelekheia, “the activity by

is

expressement pour renaitre de

iment ce

its

said Valerv.^"

When

Verhe.

WORD

Pure poetry

power

spiritual

Hence, est fait

identity.

SIX

ashes and to

Mallarme had

ses

poem]

become

is

cendres

et

redevenir indefin-

expressly designed to be horn

endlessly what

it

has just been),

called his ideal of an absolute language

Valery was nineteen he met Mallarme,

who became

le

his

teacher. Readers of Ishiki to honshitsu will perhaps recall that Izntsn treated

Mallarme

duction

as

an extremely important person. In both the “Intro-

to Linguistics” lectures

and Language and Magic,

Izntsn, like

Valery, “often spoke of Mallarme.”

and Japanese works, references

In Izntsn’s English

by no means crops

lip

frecjiient

— there

are only two or three

to

Bergson are

— but

his

name

often in the “Introduction to Linguistics” notes, conveying

the fact that Izntsn had seriously grappled with his ideas, d’he Berg-

son discussed there, however, was not the philosopher of the elan vital

and time. He

is

the prosecutor of language that does not express the

who makes his anger and indignation clear in what could well be called a curse. One might even almost think that he literally believed the account in Genesis ii, where God caused humankind to speak different languages as a punishment for actual state of things, a denunciator

planning

to build the

tower of Babel.

Although there are

a

few references

to

him

in Roshiateki

ningen and

“Shi to shnkyoteki jitsnzon: Knrodern-ron” (1949; Poetry and religions existence;

On

Glandel),

it is

hard

to

convey on the

works how I’oshihiko Izntsn read Valen’.

Among

basis of his published

the Western works in

the catalogue of his librarv are several volumes by that poet. lecture notes

tell

ns that Izntsn confronted Valerv

than he did Bergson.

He

no

less

And

the

passionatelv

observed that Valer\' had a profound interest in

Leonardo da Vinci. Perhaps he recalled of the novel The Renaissance of the

that

Gods

Leonardo

is

the protagonist

(1900) bv Merezhkovskv,

along with Berdyaev was the Russian thinker

who

who

influenced Izntsn

most. In this novel Merezhkovsk\’ describes Leonardo’s achievements as

176

WORDS AND WORD

not just

artistic or scientific

but as spiritual. Although not

to the extent

And

yet their true

of Leonardo, Valery, too, was a multi-talented genius. greatness did not

the breadth of their fields of aetivih, hut rather

lie in

they eontiuued to seek for one thing in

in the fiiet that

was Katherine Mansfield

was

to \dlery; this

plaees.

It

allegedly ealled Valcr\- a “godless mvs-

Valery liked this exj^ression. But

tie.”

for

who

many

its

a]:)])lieahilitv

likely a eharaeteristie of

Leonardo

them would have been synonymous with

the

not eonfined

is

as well.

A

mystie

meaning with whieh

doshihiko Izntsn used the term eonsistently from Shinpi tetsugaku on. d’he power of words, whieh Izntsn explored in

Magic, not onK’ determines title

gi\’es rise to

But

realih'.

if

meaning;

we were

it is

a m\ster\- of

to translate the

with the Japanese words majiitsu

(iMt'i)

Language and “Being” that

word “magie”

or jujutsu

as

go

that

if

we understand

to the trouble of translating

woidd avoid

gerher, Izntsn

language, no matter it

we

translate

level,

it

into onr

it

But given

it.

so sanguine a

his

iew.

its

kana

who was

said to

that

When

reading a foreign

at a

eonseions

its

meaning by eom ert-

and kanji (eharaeter) equivalents or

know more than less

to

think they understand a Western-language

(syllabary)

words are nothing

no need

he, in order to understand

the deep-eonseionsness lewel, they grasp

into

is

read

understanding of Weis-

mother tongue. E\en though,

areheh pal images. Sneh was the

denee

\

we mav

profieient

may

Japanese readers

text, at

ing

how

the Knglish word, there

we

Someone

on, the hazier the ])oint under disenssion would heeome.

might say

in the

\'iew of

tliirh'

their

language of Izntsn himself,

languages. Aeeording to Izntsn,

than magieo-religions entities. The transeen-

“magic” connotes

context eannot he ex]:)ressed hv the

in this

Japanese words majutsu or jujutsu. All things that

have been gi\en names have their corresponding snh-

stanee. In this way, an ideograph

and eorresponds word;

it is

to,

nothing

is

the real world.

less

in

an inseparable relation with,

It is

not the snperfieial form of a

than a designation of the snhstanee

the word means. Just as spoken words have a kotodama

[a

itselt

word

that

soulj,

written words, too, have this sort of ineantatorv fnnetion.^^

It

was not Izntsn

who

wrote

this.

This

is

a passage

from Kanji hyakiiwa

(A hundred stories about Chinese eharaeters) by Shiznka Shirakawa

177

CHAPTER

SIX

(1910-2006), an authority' on ideographs.

A

word

written

is

not some-

thing that simply expresses iw existing object, he says; rather, there a

power

evokes

in the written

a

substance and

translated It

But

its

abrupt

jiino), that

meaning. Shirakawa would probably have

Language and Magic

may seem

Kotoha

as

to

juno

introduce Shizuka Shirakawa in this context.

to

not just the attitudes with which he and Izutsu confront the

it is

written

word, an incantatory function

is

word and

WORD

respectively that they have in

common. A

comparison of the statements they made about people such fucius, Chiiang-tzu, Ch’ii Yiian or the Apostle Paul, or the

in other

BCE), the Manyoshu and the

themes and

Chinese “Book of

subjects they dealt with such as the Shih-ching (the

Songs,” 520

history of the birth of waka,

words, poetics, shows that the writings of the two

such accord with one another that

it

Con-

as

seems

all

more

the

men

are in

surprising that

their paths never crossed.

The

written

With m} th

word stands

in the

at

the erossroads between in\th and

baekgronnd, the written word took

assumed the fimetion of making myth put down

ox er

histor\'.

from

it

and

roots in the world

of history. Consequently, the earliest written words were the words of

God; they eame

into being in order to gi\ e

present, the words that were with

tbe biblieal

text,

we eould perhaps

God. say,

If

form

we u ere

to,

and make

able to eontinue

“Then, there was the Written

Word, and the Whitten Whrd was with God, and the Whitten Whrd was God.”-^°

h'he biblical text that Shizuka Shirakawa

is

referring to here

is,

of

course, the passage at the beginning of the Gospel of John cited earlier.

Someone might

say that Shirakawa deals with the written word,

Izutsu with spoken language

But that

this

is

a dispute

be refuted by Izutsu’s

meaning of

— isn’t what they are

discussing different?

about superficial differences would probably

own words

in the quotation cited below.

“seeds,” “linguistic d/dyu-consciousness”

tinctive key terms that Izutsu uses in this passage

hand. Wliat

I

would

like

you

is

and the other

subsumed

regarded as the most important issue.

178

dis-

not the matter at

to get a sense of, instead,

of the written language, far from being

WT)Rn,

is

The

is

how

the study

into Izutsu’s world of

WORDS AND

It is

a view of

language eenterecl on the j)roeess of evoking the primal

images of the “seeds” of meaning seionsness,

WORi:)

whieh

I

in the

have been treating

realm of the deep-level eonin this essav

under the name

of “lingnistie d/c/vd-eonseiousness”; logieally developed, this has the j)otential to give rise to

an imposing philosophy of language.

he a lingnistie philosophy pletely different

think

of, i.e.

from the philosophies of language

d’here are several elassie eases of syllable “a” in

it,

Shingon Buddhism, the

that

eom-

we normally

onr snrfaee eonseionsness.

in

sneh

would

of eonseionsness

at the depth-level

ones that reason fabrieates

It

as Knkai’s

letter

meditation on the

mvstieism of Islam, and

likew ise the letter mystieism of the Qahhalah.*^'

It

woidd be

fair to call this

one passage dbshihiko

philosophical

Iziitsii’s

manifesto. I he eonstrnetion of “a linguistic philosophy at the depthlevel of

consciousness eoinpletelv different from the philosophies of

language

.

was Izutsu But

.

not

just

in Izutsu

an agreement of their views on language that can

and Shirakawa. Rather,

rience of God. Inasmneh as “the WTitten

it is

the nature of their expe-

Word was God,” Shirakawa

inevitable conclusion was that the discipline that deals with

it is

i.e.

What

Toshihiko Izutsu discovered

was nothing

less

in linguistics, the

than a theology, a study of God

With the discovery of the character

mysti-

study of

WORD,

for the present day.

Shirakawa ’s study of ideo-

sai,

graphs took a unique turn. This character could well he called the equivalent for Shirakawa of what the syllable i.e.

an ur-language. Not the same

sai signifies a

as the hox-like

“The

original

that contain this character “was to denote

in

is

‘hi”

had been

ideograph

able to hear God’s voiee.”*^

for Kfikai,

u for mouth,

It

meaning” of the ideographs

someone w ho

prays to

its

very foundations, though,

Shirakawa had published his findings thesis in a 1955 essay,

God

was through the publication of Kauji

1970 that the world learned of this discovery, whieh shook the

ideographs to

kciiiji

container in which to place the prayers and oaths that are

offered as pledges to the gods.

and

’s

higher level of theolog}’. I'he same was also true for Izutsu.

eism,

a

— that

deepest desire.

s

it is

he found

that reason fabricates in our surface eonseionsness”

.

unheknownst

mneh

earlier, lie

stndv' of

to the world,

developed

his

“Shakushi” (d'he history of interpretation), d’his

179

-

CHAPTER

corresponds

to the

SIX

period that, unbeknownst to the world, Izutsn was

Language and Magic.'

writing

Surprised that Weisgerher and Sapir-Whorf had elaborated highly

same time despite there being no

similar hypotheses at roughly the

behveen them, Izutsn responded strongly

direct contact

concepts which have so ehronically.

The same

much

common

in

to the idea that

with one another arise svn-

thing could be said to be true about himself and

Shiznka Shirakawa. There

guage and Magic. But

if

is little

likelihood that Shirakawa read Lan-

he had ever gotten hold of this hook, he would

probably have been very surprised that a Japanese eontemporarv of his

was discussing the mysteries of language

The Semantics

in English.

Waka

of

he retired from Keio Universih’, Yasaburo Ikeda held

Just before

a

three-day colloquy with cultural anthropologist Ken’ichi d’anigawa (1921-

),

which would

ethnologists

seems

to

Kunio Yanagita and Shinobu

have been

conversations about

later result in a collection of

a special

book

Orikuchi.'^’ For Ikeda, this

in the sense that

he did not limit

himself to looking back on his scholarly career hut reflected on his in general.

While proofreading

across from professors Yanagita

it,

he had “the feeling that

and Orikuchi,” he

said.

I

was

life

sitting

Spontaneously

recalling Keio classmates such as historian Sabiiro lenaga (1913-2002)

and Toshihiko

Izutsn,

ideas, particularly It is

he w

rites that

now

think

“I

along the lines that Izutsn

s

I

should deepen

essay suggests.”*^

not clear to which of Izntsn’s essays he

is

referring, but at the

time Ikeda was writing Tegami no tanoshimi (1981; letters),

my

The

pleasures of

the work in which this article appears, “Ishiki to honshitsii” was

being serialized

in the

magazine

to the place in “Ishiki to

Shiso. Ikeda

There

with Tanigawa in which Ikeda mentions

was

a fellow at

Keio

is

a passage in the colloquv

Iziitsn.

named Toshihiko

Izutsn

— he’s now a world-

renowned expert on Islamic studies— who suggested together and

tiy

referring

honshitsu” where Izutsn alludes to the waka

of the Kokinshu and Shinkokinshu.

I’here

may have been

applying colors to

poems

180

in the

to

me that we work

Manydshii — co\or

it

WORDS AND WORD

crimson wlicn used

a ])()cm reads akanesasii, for

in literary studies

a novel,

tr\'

and

doing

to

understand.

I

ajDj)lying that color to

sense, his likes

around

abroad,

dislikes,

this

it.

two

When

That would

stand out, he said.

.

It’s

a

method

the writer’s color

never aetnallv got

\’cars after

was prohahK’ not

it’s

since.

these words were written, Ikeda died, and the

researeh projeet was never undertaken, d’he aim of w'cika

.

a color a|)])ears in

make

We

.

heeanse he went abroad soon afterwards, and

been something of a blind spot ever

In 1983,

example.

to

appK ing

eolors to

understand the eolor sense of aneient Jap-

anese or appreeiate their brilliant enltnre and natural en\ ironinent.

Might

it

not he the case, rather, that by appK ing eolor to something

colorless

stance

“A

it

would have caused,

itself that

noir,

E

the

word means”

hlanc,

I

rouge,

Shirakawa

as Shiz.nka

U

sa\s, “the sub-

to rise to the surface?

\’ert,

()

hlcn”

is

Rimbaud’s famous ])ocm “Vovelles.” As Baudelaire

a line

from Arthur

sa\s in

“Correspon-

dances,” poets sense colors in words and in smells. Normallv the senses operate independently, each holding

fast to its

fi\'e

own domain —

eolor for the eyes, smell for the nose, sound for the cars. But sometimes, for fi\

some people,

several of the senses are largely interchangeable. Idie

e senses interpenetrate

each other and work together so that

a

person

perceives colors in words or smells in sounds, for example. I’his phe-

nomenon

is

called synesthesia. Mallarme’s la solitude hleue expresses

this svnesthesie world.

Palmes! ,\

ct

qnand

elle a

montre

cette rclique

ce pere essayant un sourire ennemi,

La solitude hleue (()

et sterile a fremi.

yon palms! and when

to this father

it

showed

that relic

attempting an unfriendly smile,

the blue and sterile solitude shixered

Color

is

the next

all

the while.

not normally associated with “solitude.” Another example

poem

is

“bine incense”

mally we do not see colors

— /’c/7ce/z.s

in smells.

181

in

bleu in the original. Nor-

CHAPTER

Kt tu

blancheur sanglotante des

fis la

Oiii roulant

A travers

siir

I’encens bleu des horizons pal is

made

tumbling

\'ers la

lime qni plenre!

the sobbing w hite of

lilies too,

lightly aeross a sea of sighs

dreamy way

their

lys

des iners de soupirs qu’elle effleure

Monte revenseinent

(Yon

SIX

to

on

weeping moonlight through

the azure ineense of the pale horizon!

Similar examples are also found in Japanese waka and in Basho. Not

everyone perceives things the way Rimbaud and Baudelaire did, and, although Liszt

is

said to have seen colors in sounds, that does not

all

composers have the same experience. In onr everyday

we

use terms like “sweet talk” for flattery or “feeling bine”

depressed, khere are also idioms such as colors or cool colors.

Synesthesia In

is

And we

call

deeply rooted in onr

warm

mean

however,

life,

when we

are

colors, hot colors, cold

an inexperienced person “green.” lives.

ages and places, synesthesia has existed almost as a matter of

all

phenomena throughout history. In Japan, Asnka (538-645) and Haknho (645-710) periods, different col-

course in a varieh’ of cultural in the

ored headgear designated each of the twelve court ranks. Colors are also associated with the five

elements of Yin and Yang, the two cos-

mic principles of ancient China. Many religions have sacred In national flags, colors represent virtues, ethical principles ditions.

The

and

example,

is

that, just as there are linguistic differ-

ences between Japanese and English, the “language” of color

The “language

have arisen out of interesting

metaphor

a similar

comment about

arises

not hecanse

it

is

synesthesia. “Probably in the reverse.”"^*^

first

The

instance

origins of

phenomenal world. Might

it

not be

saying, that the reason synesthetic language exists

derives from the

sions hnt because

also

another

from synesthesia and not the

Whorf is

is

phenomenon that may background. Whorf made an extremely

of flowers”

synesthesia are hidden deep in the

the case,

tra-

reason the color for “freedom” differs from one national

flag to another, for

different.

colors.

is

development of metaphorical expres-

phenomena themselves were

182

originally svnesthetic?

WORDS AND WORD

A

discussion of syncsthctcs as extraordinary individuals

the eoncern of this chapter.

virtually axiomatic that truth

It is

j^henomena whereas mysteries manifest themselves

strange

is

far is

from

rare in

in ordinar\’

e\ents. d’he topic that deserves to he discussed, rather, lies in the fact that

we

and

that

onr everyday

live

WORD appears and

tiple senses.

When we

though we

eneonnter

ha\'e “seen”

1

engage

in aeti\ ities e\'er\

who was

d he person

Most

it.

it

])eople have

until 1982

1955, for the

aecjiiainted.

we

a similar expe-

it

“‘Mivn’ no sekai” (d’he world of

in

(1927-2008).'^'^

Although Satake had audited

when

at

Kyoto Universih’

in

Izntsn gave the eonrse on reading the

Iwanami Citizens’ Seminars

series that the

two heeame

At the time, Izntsn was not yet aw are of Satake

s

researeh

when he found out, their relation rapidly deepened. When Miuwa no shiso Intelleetnal as]:)eets of folktales) eame out in

but

Satake’s

(

paperhaek

in 1990, Izntsn

tion of his

own

eommentary

eontribnted an essay to

works, there

for a

high expectations

and great

A

single reading

faith in, the

things, “forms” as objects of intuition.

word miyu

as well, the ancients’

tence through the sense of sight,

— seeing — was

Satake

insists;

it

With the excep-

no other instance of Izntsn writing

is

paperhaek hook. of,

it.^°

shows that he had

first

of all,

\

seen

isible

Behind the ancient Japanese

thought process, which grasj^ed is

a

younger semantieist.

'The Greeks called true realih' Ideas, but Ideas were,

A/z’vu

had

he

to

with the naked eve,

seminar on general semanties that Izntsn gave

field,

assumed

the earliest to notiee synesthesia in elassieal Japa-

WAS Akihiro Satake

Koran

is

dav that go beyond the normal use of eyesight,

nese literature and to write about

a

a ]:)h.enomenon that

snspeet. V.veu in the ease of the simple aet of seeing, people

rience,

niiyu)

it,

eognized and expressed through mul-

is

though we eannot pereeive

invisible, e\’en feel as

synesthetieally without being aware of

li\'es

to

have been strongly

exis-

at work.'’’

not just a functional activiR of the physical eve,

was

a joint operation of all the senses.

Satake

fre-

quently discusses s\nesthesia in his other works as well. Just as

Satake dealt wdth the w orld of miyu

discussed what lay beyond the

nagame

in the

Shinkokinshu.

colloquy with Ryotaro Shiba.

Manyoslm, Izntsn

phenomenal w orld by way of the word

“I

“I

in the

love the ShiukokinJ' Izntsn said in his

even once thought

m

I

might devote myself

CHAPTER

SIX

semantic study of the structure of thought

to a

when he

d1ie period

waka appears

seriously considered

s

comment

may have been

making

a

semantic study of

same period

the

two of them were looking

that the

went abroad

As he informs us through

for the first

his use of the

calls

fined to the realm of linguistics. In linguistics,

word

that

names

time

it

for a

in 1959.

terms “structure of thought”

and “philosophical,” what Toshihiko Izutsu

to the

to

Language and Magic. Given

“went abroad soon afterwards,”

earlier that Izutsu

joint research topic. Izutsn

from a thing

and the

it

have heeu between the time of the “lutroduetiou

to

Liuguisties” lectures and the writing of

Ikeda

iu

that thing

semantics

is

not con-

normal

to

proceed

it is

and then

to the

meaning

of the word. But Toshihiko Izutsu’s semantics starts from the source; in

other words,

nomenon.

it

develops from

WORD articulates

WORD

itself into

words; and words as energeia evoke a

^ meaning ^ word ^

meaning; meaning

phenomenon

phe-

calls forth

as ergon.

Rather

than being a search for meaning in words, for Izutsn, the philosophy of language was the

When

meaning.

moved even is

because

ceives in It is

in

it

a

acti\'ih’

way

Japanese encounter a

we

before

to return to

Being through

Manyo poem, our what

intellectnallv understand

it

hearts are

means.

I’hat

consciousness other than our surface consciousness per-

the breath of “Being” blowing from

regrettable Izutsu never

hook form, and word miyu

completed

its

primordial precincts.

semantic study of waka

a

vet there are statements in Ishiki to honshitsu that

give ns an inkling of the

of finding a

in the

what he might have

Manyo

said.

As Satake points out,

period had signified an Idea-like contem-

plation, hut by the time of the

Kokinshu

this

connotation had com-

pletely disappeared. This was not simply a matter of a

or out of fashion.

It

word being

in

suggests that a major revolution had occurred in

the encounter with and approach to “Being,” to borrow Iziitsu’s term, a

change

that rocked the Japanese

In the

workh iew

Kokin period, according

nagame meant “pensiveness, with to sexual

to

to

its

very foundations.

Shinobn Orikuchi, the word

a slight sexual

connotation linked

abstinence” during the long rainy period {nagaanie) in the

By the time of the Shinkokinshu in the early thirteenth cenhowever, the situation had changed dramatically. Poets appeared

spring. tury,

who attempted

to direct their

gaze (nagame) hevond the phenomenal

184

AND WORD

\V()Ri:)S

world, and

uagame ceased

and eaine

affair

be eonfiiicd

to

acquire an ontological “meaning.”

to

“had exoKed completely within an amhicnec that

atmospheric

vast,

and

its

Izntsn writes,

],”

“essence” here

he what

quality hy

is.

it

the function hy

is It

there

is

revealed there

is

heeomes

entr\- point,

dimension

we

this,

\\1iat

phenomenon

example, there

do gaze

at the

is

is

determined

is

existential. I’hat

attitude in

\lauy6

purpose

moon

with the

as

“see” the

itself.

in

mind

that

might

e\'en

he ealled

both Izntsn and Shirakawa reeognized a basic Japanese

uagame and miyu,

respecti\ elv,

is

the act of seeing in the Shiukokiii and the

extremelv interesting. Rather than merely being

independent scholarly conclusions,

their

eonenrrenee

in this regard

well derive from a eongrnence in their existential experienees.

Toshihiko Izntsn deals with

a

enee has alw ays preeeded. Or

fundamental rather,

it is

issue,

fair to

tetsugaku as an expression of his

he following passage

is

own

him

characteristic of

see the statement that “a theor\’ of Ideas

preeeded hy the experienee of Ideas”

may

When

an existential experi-

only sneh an experience as a snhjeet that triiR deserves his

I

is

was Shiznka Shirakawa wiio dealt w ith the function of seeing

in w'aka with a partienlar

It is

says,

not simply

phenomenal world and

rexeals

called

an underlying

is

moon

in the visible world;

look beyond the

whieh the moon

in

for

a

world.

a

a nnic|ne

qua moon. Nagame, Izntsn

exists

moon

to the

which

moon,

a

which the moon

matter of plaeing the

It

the resnlting

in

unique kind of ontological expericnec,

the activitv that breaks through

onr

perceive

true form.”^*^ d’hc act of gazing {uagameru) instanth’

kind of relationshi]) of eonseionsness

a

to

depths of Being, which

s])acc the

rcs])onse to Being, “a

to

When uagame

signified “a eonseions, snhjceti\c attitude tliat attempts to render the

‘essential’ speeifieih’ of things indistinct

in

a love

pri\ ileged the pur-

and profnndih

suit of a Shiiik()kiu-V\ke yugeii |snhtlch' it

denoting

to a tcrni

to regard

in\ estigation.

must neeessarilv he

in his discussion of Plato in Shiiipi

personal artiele of

hiith.^^'

from Shirakawa’s Shoki Mauyd-roii (On

the early Mauyo).

d’he period of the early of nature

still

Mauyo was one

in

whieh the aneient

dominated; the popnlar eonseionsness w as

ipatorv relationship with nature.

It

185

was thought

that,

view'

in a partie-

through their

A CHAP ER I

actix ities

and

SIX

their attitudes toward nature,

make

with nature and

people eould negotiate

fnnetion spiritually.

it

.

.

.

d he most direet

method of bargaining with nature was through “seeing”

many

seeing, found in

Manyo poems,

of the early

is

it.

an

T he aet of

aetivih' that

has just this sort of meaning.

“The incantatorv nature of 'seeing’ is further strengthened by the expression miredo akanu [never tire of seeing],” Shirakawa writes, d’he act of seeing was the earliest activity in which people interacted

What

“spiritually” with the world.

waka,

i.e.

in the origins of

and Shirakawa both found

Izutsn

Japanese poetry,

is

in

not a high point of artistic

expression hut a manifestation of Japanese spiritualih .^^

The

study of ideographs

is

read into the w ritten word, hut able to read

Although

them

my

in this way. d’he

important

it is

the field that deals with what Shirakawa

theme of this book

is

to discuss

concern

same

how he

it is

a matter of

it is

to

tell

him about

w ay?

I

so,

itself.

I

phenomena and was matter of how Izutsn

to

not a

copy

able to “read”

it

until

He

something

its

true

lingered in in

it

began

out carefully and deliberately.

Shirakawa believed that the written word began

to

much

the

same

impact of Izntsu’s father here. As

w'as

men-

Didn’t Izutsn approach a text in

can’t help seeing the

tioned earlier,

main

read something, the

at a character.

word and did not stop

move. What he did next was

As he was doing

w ith why he was

true in the case of Izutsn.

why he was

meaning. Shirakawa began by looking front of the written

rather,

wdiy he encountered certain

able to “read” them. In other words, interpreted uagame;

is

is,

believe that the most fundamental influence Izutsn

received from his father was that of “reading.” In their attitude that scholarship

is

not a matter of acquiring knowledge, but of preparing for

the manifestation of wisdom, Toshihiko Izutsn and Shizuka Shirakawa reveal a high degree of unanimity’.

Three essays written by Izutsu’s wife, Toyoko, “Gengo flrndo toshite

no waka” [Waka

{Waka

as linguistic field), “Ishiki flrndo toshite

as cognitive field)

no waka”

and “Shizen mandara” (ITe mandala of

nature), provide the grounds that allow us to infer how' her husband’s

work on

a linguistic-philosophical

erature might have evolved.

semantics of Japanese classical

lit-

single reading shows that there was a

186

WORDS AND WORD

j)rofoiincl

exchange of ideas betw een the two of them about “philo-

sophical scinanties.” That Ibvoko was her husband’s best reader clear from her understanding of technical terms their literary styles. 'The following passage

an essay

in the

Iwanami

is

also

and the closeness of

from “Shizen mandara,”

on Oriental thought,

series

is

for

which Izntsn

ser\’ed as general editor.

It is

concei\able that the poetics of Vainato kotoha

words — and wakci themselves are nothing acti\ ih' of

attempting

dexelop within

its

in a creatix e

— udiWe

than the intellcetnal

less

and original manner

own indigenous

Jaj^anese

to further

semantic' horizon the foreign

thought sx'stems that were being absorbed not

in

simple hot

in

already complex forms [while retaining] a structural awareness of the indix'idnality and uniqueness of ’^'amato kotoha's ow n semantic organization.

Bv “the foreign thought systems

were being absorbed not

that

mean not just Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism

simple hnt in already complex forms,” dbyoko seems

such imported ideologies

as

in

to

hnt to include Neoplatonism and the Christian sect of Nestorianism,

which may perhaps have entered Japan the ninth century around the same time Buddhism. Toshihiko believed

that

\

ia

China

at the

beginning of

that Kfikai introduced dantric

Knkai mav have

come

in

contact

with Nestorianism and Neoplatonism in Ch’ang-an, which was a cultural crossroads at the time.

Tovoko

savs that

waka were

a declaration

of spiritual independence from foreign influences such as these; they also proclaim the to

dawn

of a new'

way of thinking

that

was not confined

beanh' and emotion or the events of the world of religions ecstasy.

As one more cine liaxe

what

Izntsn’s poetics of

waka might

mention Keijiro Kazamaki (1902-1960). thought highly of Kazamaki’s aeeomplishments. Unlike the

been,

Iziitsn

would

for inferring

I

like to

Manyosliu neither the Kokinshu nor the waka anthologies that followed it

had been given

their

time of the poet and jiro

proper

j^laee in the critical literature since the

literarx' critic,

Shiki

Masaoka (1867-1902). Kei-

Kazamaki’s Chusei no hungaku dento (d’he

Middle Ages) dealt with the decisive change can be seen

in the

literar\' tradition in

the

in Ja])anese poetr\' tliat

waka of the Kokinshu and subsequent anthologies;

187

it

CHAPTER

also revived the

rhe

eoneept of yugen that runs through the Middle Ages.^*

and reprinted

war

in

around the time that he was eoming

to

edition was published in 1940,

first

1948. Izntsn probably read grips with the

approaeh

it

to the ‘Aliddle

understanding not itual history,”

Ages/

a deeisively

important period

new horizons

just of literature but,

his innovative

more

for

for )ap-

an intelleetnal

broadly, of Japanese spir-

was the eritiqne of CJnisei no hungaku dento that Toshi-

hiko Izntsn wrote

when he was

inflnenee had lasted for

my desire

seventv-three vears old.^“ khat

more than

until a eertain point,

addition to

after the

Kokinshu and Shinkokinshu. “Through

anese literary history, he opened np

Up

SIX

half his lifetime.

Kazamaki eomposed

to try to write

books

one good poem,

wcika. I

But “now,

feel a

in

burgeoning

desire to elearly understand the history of Japanese enltnre,” he said,

and thereafter devoted himself to seholarship.^^ Kazamaki believed

waka was direetly

a

medium by whieh

that

the reality of the soul expressed itself

through words, nneonstrained by the world of ethies,

religion. Disenssing the revival of

yugen

in the

\

irtne or

Senzaishu (Colleetion

of a thousand years, ea. 1188), he wrote, “Although waka was reani-

mated

ment as

not

in this way,

it

was, at the

same time, the

self-eonseions establish-

of a tradition.” For Kazamaki, tradition to

be

lost, is

anew.”^'^ Tradition

What we ought

is

implanted a life

is

in hearts that are

something eompelled

form that ehooses those who

to eare about,

he believed,

is

v\’ill

that, “so to love

earry

it

it

on.

not found in the expres-

sion of individnalih’ but in the manifestation of truth. Perhaps Izntsn,

who was

writing Shinpi tetsugaku while reading about the mysteries of

tradition in

Kazamaki’s work,

may have

losophy as well.”

188

inwardly added, “and for phi-

CHAPI'KR SEVEN

Translator of the Heavenly World

I 1 ie I Vanslation of the Koran

A

TRANSLATION OF the Koran Koran

is

is

a contradiction in terms. I’hc

the one in Arabic; a translation

book. Izntsii w as, of course, well aware of inal

Arabic

another language

is

no longer holy

no longer the holy

'‘The Koran in the orig-

this.

holy scripture^' Izntsn writes.

is

is

only

“The Koran

scripture;

it is

translated into

a secular work.

merely an extremely rndimentar\' commentary on the original

It is

text.”’

God who chose Arabic. That fact cannot be changed to suit the eonx enienee of human beings. d'he Koran is not a book w ritten by Mnhammad; originally, it was not “written” at all. It was orally delivered by God, who spoke through

And

yet

he translated

Mnhammad.

it.

It

was

d’he Prophet was merely the channel through which

(jod appeared in the world

we

liye in.

d’he words of CA)d, spoken over

more than twenty years, were memorized by Midiammad and written down from time to time during his lifetime on palm

the course of

leaves or

parchment

or animal bones. Because the compilation of the

Koran was completed during the reign of the is

called the

Uthmanie recension. Phe

third caliph,

entire

work

is

‘Uthman,

it

diyided into 114

chapters or surahs, the oldest of vyhieh appear in the latter half, the

more recent

in the first half;

most

goes backward

part,

it

it

was compiled

in time. First,

189

in

God

such

a

way

that, for the

spoke; he approv ed the

CHAPTF.R SEVEN

man who

efforts of tlie

recorded the divine words; and the holy hook,

the Koran, was born. As was m)ted in the Preface, in recent years, the

Qur’an

transliteration

Arabic pronunciation, but in

closely approximate the

this chapter, as in the rest of this

and use the

will follow Izutsu

more

usually used to

is

book,

we

transliteration Koran.

Toshihiko Izutsu translated the Koran twice. In an interview toward the end of his

he said that he had begun the

life,

in 1958.^

it

translation in 1951

Roshia hungaku (Russian literature) and com-

after the publication of

pleted

first

This corresponds

to the

period from the beginning of

the later lectures on “Introduction to Linguistics” through

and Magic the Koran: in

(1956) to the writing of The Structure of the Ethical I'erms in

A Study

November

in

and completed

1961

ersions.

lator’s

to is

And

strong

looking

many

in

readers were likely to

yet the Afterword to the

hope

new translation conveys

that, if possible, the

at the corrections

compare the two the trans-

reader will not limit him/lierself

and additions. “This

rex ised translation

not just a partial revision; the xxork has been completely rethought

and

retranslated.”"^

translation,

it

As the translator himself says, rather than

had had,

abroad.

The

basis of

Language and

for the first time, the

Rockefeller Foundation axvarded

and the United

States.

The

xvell as

met Leo Weisgerber and presented

on the

him

came to Germany, he

hen

xx

visited

it

his research findings in his presence. as the

Koran

txvice in

such

time required extremely strong motix ation. In addi-

tion to “the literary xvrites,

for

when he

such an enormous holy book

a short period of

a felloxvship

conversations he had xvith Islamic scholars

a nexv translation. Also,

translate

him

Germany, France, Canada

Cairo xxould proxe a decisixe turning point

embarking on

experience of studying

Alagic, and, over a txvo-year period, he visited

Egx pt and other Arab countries, as

lb

a revised

deserxes to be called a nexv translation. Betxxeen the txvo

translations, Izutsu

in

The new translation was begun December 196:^. T he translator was

Semantics (1959).

probably aware that not x

Language

stx le,

xvhich

is

the most important problem,” Izutsu

“the interpretation of many of the

d’he underlying issue here

is

x

erses has also

been

revised.”"^

an understanding of the linguistic levels

of the Koran. Koran o yoinu (Reading the Koran)

is

reading of the Koran that took place ox er ten sessions

190

the record of a at the

Ixvanami

I'RANSl./VrOR

OK

FUK,

Citizens’ Seminars in early 1982. ^

book

An

WORM)

introclnetion to the Koran, this

also serves as an introclnetion to Ibshiliiko Izntsn

whieh deals with the is

UKAVKNI.V

thought, one

s

And

hasie strnetnre of his philosophy.

if

the Koran

regarded as poetie literature of the highest order, Izntsn explains and

how

ehieidates

it

eaine to be. d’his hook eonld not help but pique the

We

interest of literar\’ figures.

have already seen that

Endo. Some twenty years ago, when

Gozo Yoshimasn

(1939-

)

I

this

\ i\

work

work Izntsn alludes

at

w

student

Shfisakn

Keio, the poet

at

ith

ha\e forgotten what

I

what passion Yoshimasn

hax ing diseovered this hook.

to three “expressive levels,” i.e. levels

of language, in the Koran, d'he topolog}' he

1.

the

2.

the imaginal level,

3.

the narrative or legendary level.

is

speaking of

is

as follcwvs:

realistic' level,

.Mthongh els

a

as his text.

idly reeall

spoke of his surprise and delight In this

was

moved

leetnred on poeties at the Mantarcl Knhota

Memorial Leetnre there using the leetnre was about, hut

I

it

it

may

of expression,”

not seem partienlarlv pro\ oeative to s])eak of “lev-

it is

nify the ontologieal

not merely a rhetorieal matter: These

dimensions of the w orld that the Koran

lex els sig-

reveals. In

the Koran, the physieal, metaphysieal and legendary levels are inter-

mixed.

If

the

WORD of God

uttered in the metaphvsieal world

grasped on the realistie level,

meaning eoneealed

the true

we is

live

on an everyday

basis

it

will

in the is

be impossible

to

eome

is

not

elose to

Koran. I’he dimension in whieh

The

the realistie level.

imaginal level

the plaee where, for example, transeendental reality appears and

transforms

Corbin

s

itself into

m\ th.

It is

the dimension in w hieh, to use

term, the imagination creatrice arises.

It is

Henry

also the eonseions-

ness level of primal, depth-eonseionsness images and the shamanie

dimension, the ontologieal world of the shaman.

The level.”

narrative or legendary level Izntsn ealls the “meta-historieal

Loeated between the two other

dimension of meta-history, Izntsn

levels eited above,

writes. Incidents

oeenr

they are also reeorcled in a dimension that transeends

it is

also the

in history, histor\’

hnt

where

they oeenr eontinnonsly and timelessly as current events, f or example.

191

CHAFI ER SEVEN

imam

the Shl’ite

in Islam,

NakayanKg

of Tenri-kyo, Miki

physieal deaths. This ieal

expression;

the

realistic'

Kukai

is

Shingon

eontinne

all

less

to live

on even

it is

If

by

priests.

manent settlements

at oases,

temple-eentered religions

human

exists

behveen

the imaginal level

is

a

dimension

is

a

Moreover, what forms

the enltnral baekgronnd for this dimension, he says,

deseends from Mesopotamia, where

after their

not a metaphor-

eontrast, Izntsn says, the legendary

priestly world, a level presided over

enltnres of

and the founder

than a truth of faith that

world and the imaginal world.

shamanie world, by

seet,

a reality for their believers,

nothing

it is

in the

is

a tradition that

beings established per-

praetieed agrienltnre and engaged in a

Under “Mesopotamia” he inelndes

life.

the

Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, Assyria and even Egypt. Into the

Koran, Ibshihiko Izntsn observes, have entered traditions other than the spirituality of the desert-dwelling Bedouin

hamie

religions of Judaism

The pened

non and

Something

that has hap-

imaginal or transeendental world beeomes a phenome-

oeeiirs in the realistic' world.

What can mediate

also occur.

or the Abra-

Cbristianih’.

three levels are tightly interwoven.

in the

human

and

nomads

The converse sometimes may

in that case

is

prayer. In order for ns

beings to catch a glimpse of the realih' of the imaginal world,

we must pass through the meta-historical dimension. But there we come under pressure to deconstruct onr realistic-world concepts. The first edition of Ethical Terms in the Koran (1959) was published after the completion of the early translation. As can be seen from

the fact that pleted, this

Indeed, that

it

was revised

work

it is

is

in this

directly

work

in

1966 after the

connected

new

translation was

to the translations of the

Koran.

that Izntsn reveals the passion for scholarship

he had kept hidden deep within the

translations. Izntsn develops

the semantics of the linguistic inner structure of the /Vrabic

which

com-

signifies “unbelief,” turning one’s

back on

faith.

word

kufr,

Kufr has the

meaning of “ingratitude” and also connotes the condition of turning one’s back on grace. Expressions that derive from this term occur frequently in the Koran, and one obvious example verse of

Chapter 98, “The Di\ ine

Proof), d’he old translation reads,

Book [Jews and

Omen”

is

found

in the first

(al-Bayyinah: d’he Clear

“Both the accursed people of the

Christians] and the

192

band of idol-worshippers.”^

In the

|

new

translation

RANSl.A'IOK

Ol'-

I

ilKAVKNl.V

IIK

has l^ccn changed

it

to,

and Christians who have turned

|)e\\\s

WORLD

“Both the

])e()]:)le

on the

their hacks

|

his It

which

faith” or “nnheliewing,”

awareness that

faith

and the

ingrained in the expression “turned their backs

polytheists.”'^ nee])ly

on the

of the Book

faith

is

something

is

used instead of “aeenrsed,”

that

is

bestowed,

i.e.

it

includes a profession of his belief that the creation of faith

is is

is

grace. a

work

of Ciod which hinnan beings are ineajxdde of achieving on their

own.

may

'I’liey

think they can decide for themselves whether or not

hut

to believe in Ch)d,

God who

allows

them

it

to

not a choice thc\' are able to make.

is

choose. This does not

new

“accursed” disappears from the

word alone,

mean

does not eonxev the truth

Izntsii believed,

ha\’e

meaning.

No one

sav that words have a “de])th of

from their snperfieial the “depth of Izntsn on to

meaning” was

make

new

a

which he expressed with

how

meaning”

that exists

on

that, in the

])eople.

we were

if

to

a different level

cpiest for a

translation. Recall the

words cited

his inner feelings at this time. “I .

.

.]

reading

at

was

earlier

w ith

dissatisfied

phenomenon of ‘meanWhat he was attempting in

treated the

commonsense

his translations of the

term

yet another existential reason that spurred

casually [linguistics

ing’ as a self-evident,

all

denies that. But w hat

connotation? d he

lexical

is

translation. But simplv using that

beginning, Crod had imstintingly bestowed faith on

Wbrds

that the

It

foet.”’®

Koran was what can

fairlv

be called an ambitions

attempt to put his philosophical semantics into practice.

No

consideration of the changes in the Koran translations can over-

look hlahometto \’erses

(Mnhammad)." Though

from the Koran. Seen below

“Purification.” Let us

new

translations,

Iziitsu

compare

w hich

work,

it

cites se\eral

one of these from Chaj^ter

112,

with the same verse in the old and

hlahometto was written

was actively engaged

this chapter,

it

is

a small

in 1952,

in translating the

around the time

Koran.

He

that

retranslated

oeeiirs in the latter half of the Koran, five years later.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Preach: Allah

the

is

The

God

Not

son, not father

of eternity,

And w ithont any At

this time,

One and Only God,

peer.

One

alone.

he read the Koran, partieularly the revelations of the early

Open Mahometto

period, as poetry.

at

random and yon

eneonnter lengthy verses that have been translated

Now Koran.

No

let

The changes

longer

is

same

ns turn to this

verse in the

are small, hut the effect

hymn.

the Koran a euphonious

It

as literary

first is

will readily

language.

translation of the

completely different.

becomes

a divine oracle

of overwhelming power that has peremptorily intervened in this world.

them, “He

Tell

is

Allah, the

One and Only God,

Allah, the eternal, the indestruetible.

Not

child, not parent.

Know’ he

d’he

without peer.”'’

of the chapter, which had previously been translated as “Puri-

title

was also changed

fication,” it is

God

is

to

translated as “Sincerih,”

rhongh

“By Faith Alone.” In other

which

is

translations,

closer to the original, Al-‘Ikhlas.

Izntsn was aware of this, he intentionally translated

it

“By

PAiith

Alone.” Implicit in this reading, which goes beyond mere sincerity, Izntsn’s fiiith

semantic interpretation that the Transcendent

and the believer who submissively receives

The nniqne

word,

is tr\

i.e.

God

bestows

coexist.

without peer,” reminiscent of

Izntsu’s translation of the Koran.

ing to revive for today’s world the descent of the

di\

inc

revelation. In the pre-Islamic period called the jdhillyah, a

shaman known connected

is

shaman, rims through

the words of a

Mere he

sh le of “Know he

it

who

is

this

as a kdliin

held absolute sway as the intermediar\’

who

world with the other world. Izntsn explains kdhiu w

194

ith

OK

I'RANSI.A'rOK

Amos

the example of the prophet

was possessed spoke not his

I'HK.

in

UKAVKNI.V

tl

ie

WORM)

Old lestament: “Suddenly, he

some in\ isihle spiritual j^ower, lost eouseiousuess and own words hut the words of ‘someone else.’”’'^ 'he words b\’

I

of a kahili are not expressed in ordiuar\’ language; they have a

form of ntteranee known

as saj\ 'These are

words

that

have

s]:)eeial

made

their

deseent from an invisible world, an intangible dimension. “Cdiaraeterized by the rhythmieal rejK'tition of the

same

or similar sounds,” Izntsn

rhymed prose has an nneanny resonanee like drum, h\’ whieh the listener “is drawn into an exeited

writes, this

the sound of

a

state of self-

intoxieation.””’ Sc//’

is

to reereate these saj'

present ewerywhere in the Koran. Izntsn

words

as di\ine

W'ORDs

tries

being uttered now. lie

them from the historieal faet that they eame down to the Muhammad more than 1400 \ ears ago and release them onee again

tries to free

into the present day. In the hilt in

new

translation, the

one important

ehange oeenrs not

in the literarx’ shie,

verse.

i)6A(Dmt-^67'yy-^'o

Icll

them, “He

Allah,

Not

on

whom is

In the

seeond

“on

whom

Inis-sainad.

all

God w ithont

peer.”'*^

line, “the eternal, the indestrnetihle” has all

people depend.” The word

Shnmei Okawa

dependent.” Izntsn lation

eame

making

One and Only (k)d,

people depend.

translated

it

been ehanged

in the original

is

Alla-

with the Buddhist term

slioe-

“means someone on whom all are was not following Okawa, however. Okawa’s trans-

and added the

sha

gloss

out in 1950; thus,

it

already existed at the time Izntsn was

his first translation.

During in

Allah, the

ehild, not parent,

Know he

to

is

everyday

his studies in the Islamie world, Izntsn ex]:)erieneed Islam life

and eneonntered the

195

living Koran.

The Koran

is

a

work

CHAPI'ER SEVEN

that a

meant not

is

bnman

this for

on

be read but

to

being but the reveided

himself on bis

be

He men

also

kiet that

of Allah himself, to interpret

its

eame

in the past

their interpretation of a single

Given the

reeitecl. It

not the testimony of

is

WORD of God.

travels.

on wbieb many wise

tradition lives

td

word

eontact with

in direet

bad

literally

was regarded

as the saered

easily lose one’s life

Hie

staked their

the

word

duh' of the believer to

fathom

be. Scholars staked their li\es

on the

interpretation of a single word, a single phrase, because

one

is

one and only correct meaning and therebv

what God’s intention miglit

a

holy book.

in the

eaeb word, eaeb phrase, of the Koran

it

experieneed

Izutsii

one could

depending on how one interpreted one word or

phrase.*^

interpretation of the term Allalnis-saniad, too, has the weightiness

implied in the preeeding words. Whereas “the eternal, the indestrnetible” signifies the everlasting,

whom

nnehanging

One, the phrase “on

realih’ of the

people depend,” by contrast, richly expresses the persona of

all

God, who

is

both the source of existence and savior.

Several translations of the Koran into Japanese have appeared since Izntsn’s, is.

db

but none of them

see

scij\ let

how

ns

well Izntsn

compare

it

s

is

as strongly

aware of

its

saf rhythm as his

Japanese translation succeeds in rendering

to a sci/’-like

passage that appears in Japanese.

The event occurred some 170 years ago in the village of Shoyashiki, \amabe Gonnh’, Yamato Province (now Mishima, d'enri Gih ).

Zorhin

losophy as theosophia or theosophy.

who

nns-

translated flikmat ])hi-

I'he prefix theo-

means god;

theosophy means diyine w isdom and the swstem related

to

it.

thus,

As with

the term nnstieism, however, a few reserxations are perhaj)s in order

w hen using the word theoso])hy today. Nowadays we may otten think of theosophy in eonneetion with

Madam

\onng Krishnamurti. But there

the

from

sc]:)arate

not only

this

Blaxatsky,

Rudolf Steiner or

are theoso])hieal traditions cpiite

Islam hut in Cdiristianit\' as well, d’he

in

theosophy under diseussion here

is

the Islamie one that flourished

under SahzawarT.

And

yet, as

elearly apparent in the ease of the twelfth-century

is

Persian sufJ, SuhrawardT, the world of theosophy extends well beyond

When

the framework of religion.

when

tradition, to the

came both

it

philosophical quest,

Islamie philosophers ras

and

Plato. I1ie

dealt with in this

the d’ranseendent

the ease, there

munity or osophy,

is

whom

work

is

come

is

strueture

to

was not

he

his eo-rcligionists the sufls or

cites as his

predecessors but I^\thago-

the relationship

no particular need

gnosis, or

endow

and allow

h\’

w hich

human

beings and

together and dissoK c into oneness. That being for religion as

an organized eom-

eommandments, theology and

what SuhrawardT called

interxenes directly in the

mission

it

probing the depths of experience and

fundamental eharaetcristic of theosophy that Izntsn

for preseribed

i.e.

to

SuhrawardT discussed the thcoso])hie

phenomenal world,

rituals, d’he-

ishrdq. Illumination,

d’he recognition that

its

the primal experience of theosophy with a logical it

to manifest itself perv ades the Islamie theosophi-

eal tradition.

Just as Miilla Sadra

had been

virtually forgotten until

Corbin and

Izntsn rediscovered him, SabzavvarT, too, had lain hidden beneath the

dust and ashes of history. Izntsn rect

tliis

person, but,

at

the

may have

firmly intended to resur-

same time, he probably

201

also discovered that

CHAFI'ER SEVEN

he had

a spiritual affinity

with him. In

liis

recognition that the

and

niental subject of plnlosophy«ks the transcendental Existence

human

the role of

beings

merely

is

to

develop a rationale

fiincla-

that

to explain

it,

Izntsn also inherits the theosophist tradition.

As representatives of the existentialism mentioned cpiotation, Izntsn cites Sartre

and Heidegger. (Whether Heidegger

should be included under “existentialism” with here.)

A

in the earlier

comparative study between

a

is

not a matter

I

will deal

nineteenth-century Persian

Islamic scholastic philosopher and twentieth-centnrv existentialists

was never

Izntsn’s intention.

Although he had not yet begun

to

use the

technical term “synchronic” at this time, what he has put into practice

here

is

a

Hie

“synchronic strnetnralization” of existential philosophy.

synehronie attitude with which he discusses specific themes as matters of current eoneern, while fully taking into aceonnt the temporal and cultural differences, for

is

already in evidence here and prepares the

Sufism and Taoism (1966-1967) and Ishiki

to

honshitsu (1983;

way

Con-

sciousness and essence). Heidegger had sent shock waves thronghont the contemporary world of ideas

losophy had thus

far dealt

when he posed

the problem that phi-

only with die Seiende, “beings,” and not with

das Seiu, “Being.” But turn onr sights to Oriental philosophy, and to Islamic mystic philosophy in particular, and, ever since Ibn ‘Araln in the thirteenth centnrv, successive generations of Islamic mystic philos-

ophers have earnestly grappled with Being. For them. Being other than transcendental Existence, the ultimate One. Phe in the histor\’ of Islamic

thought

to

make

of the central figures discussed in Sufism

this clear

was Ibn

is

nothing

first

giant

‘Arabl,

one

and Taoism.

became acquainted with Henry Corbin’s best student, Hermann Landolt, at McCill University. In 1984, there was a colloquy between the two of them entitled “Sufism, Mysticism, Strnctnralism: A Dialogue,” in which Izntsn recalls that Landolt’s recommendation of Claude Ee\’i-Stranss’s La Pensee Sauvage (1962; The Savage Mind, 1966) twenty years earlier had led him to learn about structuralism."^ Izntsn had not known about strnctnralism when The Structure Izntsn

of the Ethical

can

tell

Terms

from the

in the

title, it is

Koran was published (1959), but, as one worth noting that eyen before he became

aware of the so-called structuralist currents of thought, Izntsn’s own

202

OK THK

TRANSI.A'I'OK

experience was

pliil()S()])liical

IIKAVKNI.V WOKI.I)

striietiiral.

I’liis is

use of diagrams in his works.

sn’s extensive

lis

I

also ew ident

aim

in

himself vcrhallv. Bnl,

him,

for

sound,

mandala

color and e\'cn smells. As

light,

in hliiki to hoiishitsii, Izntsn

to read the

meaning

W^ORH

hnt

Le\

known

New dork’s New

phenomena

clear in his treatment of

is

also exceptional in his ahilih’

hack

hirth dates

its

as strnetnralism

and Roman Jakohson

i-Straiiss

School

at

to 1942

well

lecture notes. Six leqons sur

dnetion.

le

sou

known

and the meeting hetween

the Keole lihre des hantes etudes in

Research.

for Social

heeame

,c\

I

i-Stranss newer missed

anv of the lectures on linguistics that Jakohson ga\e there,

and Meaning,

not

is

in ieonogra])hy.

d he intcllcetnal trend in the 1960s,

is

et le sens (1976;

\\ 1 ien the

Sound

Six Lectures on

were puhlishcd, Levi-Stranss eontrihntcd an

1978),

intro-

promised myself to acquire from Jakohson the rudiments

“I

which

linguistics]

1

is

exceptional

is

limited to words; diagrams are also WORI'), as are such as

l/ut-

using gra])lhes

not to simplif)’ the way ]Dro])ositions are expressed; Izntsn in his abilih’ to express

from

lacked. In fact, however, what

teaching was something quite different and,

I

[of

reeei\ed from his

I

hardh' need add, some-

more important: the re\’elation of strnetural linguistics \\ 1 iat I .evi-Strauss means h\' the word “re\elation” is the manifestation of wisdom that presents itself w ith irresistible force. Ch\ en the fact that thing far

.

a system of

thought centered on “structure” arose out of

linguistic field,

who was would

no wonder

it is

be receptive

a Rockefeller

Jakohsouian

that Ibshihiko Izutsu in far-oft Japan,

to

and rated

It

1

alluded earlier to his overseas tra\els on

it

Izntsu’s

to his

new

trans-

was Jakohson w ho read Language and Magic

highly, d’he

Comparative Study

and Paoism,

it.

Foundation fellowship that would lead

lation of the Koran.

A

.

remarkable student of linguistics/philosoj^hy of language,

a

also

that time

a

.

of the

two

men

never met.

Key Philosophical Concepts

in

Sufism

major Fnglish-langnagc work, was eonq^leted

1967.“^ d'hc d’aoism referred to in this w'ork

that begins wath Lao-tzii

at

and has continued

is

in

not the historical d'aoism

in

unhroken sueecssion

to

the present day. Izntsn narrows this ancient Chinese mvstieal tradition

down

to L.ao-tzu,

of Sufism

is

Chuang-tzu and the poet Ch’ii

even more

restrictive;

he deals with

20^

\'iian. llis

onK one

treatment

person, Ihn

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘Arabl.

Not only

that,

but from the more than 400 works attributed

to

Ihn ‘Arahl, he ehooses a single hook, the Fiisus al-Hikcim (Bezels of

Wisdom). 1 he suhjeet matter

is,

of eourse, “a eomparative study of the

key philosophieal eoneepts in Sufism and I'aoisniF hut the veys only

one

as])eet of this

only about a tenth of

hook.

A

large

work of elose

to

title

eon-

500 pages,

devoted to a eomparison of the two mystieal

it is

thought systems, d he greater part eonsists of stand-alone studies of the

Taoism of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, on the one hand, and the Sufism

The main

of Ihn ‘Arahl, on the other.

topie,

however,

the philosophy and haekground of these mysties. ease,

not limited to

is

Had

that

been the

he would probably have divided the hook up and published

several

x

olumes not

as a single

it

in

work.

Ihn ‘Arahl ealls the absolutely Transeendent wujud (Being); Laotzh

and Chnang-tziT

eall

it

Tao (the Way). At the

risk

of being aeeused

of being too literarv, one might say that this long work

on Being and the Way. T he protagonist author of the hook, nor his predeeessors is

diseussing;

Being or the Way,

it is

As the author himself writes is

nothing

less

in the Oriental

Moreover,

s

focus

what he

is

attempting

not fixed on Ihn ‘Arahl or Lao-tzii

is

as

he mentions

to

them.

in the Introdnetion

stud\' in Part III, the

work was not simply out of an academic

What moved him

to write

clash of cultures. Although

end of World Wdr of

philosophy he

as

ning of the eomparative

full

the

the transeendentally Absolute.

in the Introdnetion,

world of all things that was revealed

was

Iziitsu,

human beings. Rather, Izutsu attempts to penetrate human being and enter with them into the primordial

and Chuang-tzii their

not T’oshihiko

poem

than a discussion of the “ontological struetnre” of Ori-

ental philosophy. Izutsu

beyond

i.e.

is

an epie

is

strife.

II,

it

was

a

and

also at the begin-

reason Izutsu wrote this

interest in Oriental ontologv.

contemporary problem, the violent

more than twenh' years had passed

one did not have

since the

to look far to see that the

world

Perhaps he was recalling the Algerian war, in which

Louis Massignon had been so deeply involved, or the never-ending confliets in

the

Middle East since the founding of

invisible, psychical confrontations

among

Israel.

WTiat

were being played out on

is

more,

a dailv basis

cultural communities, involving religions, languages, the arts.

204

I

traditions

and customs. At no time

understanding been Iz.ntsn

RANSl.ATOR OK IHK IIKAVKNI.V WORI.H

a

more

Corbin

world we

beyond torieal

bes

is

that

dialogue dans

term

d'bere

an urgent need

is

Izntsn obser\

dimension”

in the

es.

We

la inetaliistoire.^'^

pbenomena

for sjxitio-temporal

wonld

it

Believing

we ean bnd something beyond But

if

something

wonld be tbrongb

its

to arise

wonld not

it

beyond,”

mission, Izntsn

wbieb sneb

to ])re])are “a suitable locus” in

is

is

a “dialogue in the

not? Fbe task entrusted to philosophy, and

belie\’ed,

in the

a “meta-bis-

is

wonld break tbrongb the unprecedented eonfnsion, it

lis-

dialogue that will go

for a

have already seen there

ba\’e repeated the dialogue.

be “be\ond dialogue,”

I

Koran, but what ‘‘be\ond bistor^” also signi-

a meta-bistorieal realm.

we

line

a generic

is

li\’e in.

this,

dialogue,

task.

describes bis purpose in writing tins large work bv drawing I

for

more urgent

indispensihle or a

on the words of lenrv C'orbin: t()r\'

has mntnal

in lnstor\, l/.ntsn said,

dialogue

a

eonld be actualized [M]eta-historical dialogues, conducted lucthodicalK', will,

hclicye,

I

c\entualK' be crystallised into a philosophia pereunis in the fullest sense of the term. For the philosophical dri\ e of the buinau regardless of the ages, places

and nations,

Mind

is,

and tnndaincn-

nltiinatcly

talK' one.^°

What

Izutsii calls

pbysies in

its

philosophy here might

ducted separately from physical

day. Philosophy

A

demands

is

realih', i.e.

from

history;

as

meta-

is

not con-

it

must be

directly iiwolved in the urgent topics of tbe

participation at tbe practical level.

study of tbe line of descent of two representative mystic philos-

ophies within Oriental philosophy may, ticularly timely, but Izutsu’s aim, this

be tbongbt of

Fbe true study of metaphysics

original sense.

carried out in a form that

w'ell

work,

is

at first

glance, not

fact.

Indeed,

Shinpi tetsugakii, the w ork

if

w e were

itself

to borrow' the

becomes

way up

rather, in the katahasis,

to the

when

we must not

terms he used

in

his personal expression of

katahasis, the mystic’s descent. I’he via mystica

the anabasis, the

par-

which rims eonsistentb' throughout

extremely contemporary and up-to-date, and

overlook that

seem

world of Mind;

is

not complete with

its

true purpose

lies,

the mystic brings his/her experiences in

205

CHAPTER SEVEN

the metaphysical clihiension hack clown to the

allows

Mind

also the

called fana

(self-annihilation),

it

A

is

its

is

form

change of consciousness

more,

in the

nothing

not

is

mystic philosophy

in the respective states of is

is

called haqa (sub-

impossible, yet the via mystica is

are

In Sufism, the ascent

and the descent

haqa. What

results in

of Islam, the world changes

and haqa.

and laoism.

topics of Sufism

sistence). Baqi} without fana

over unless

way np and the way down

to flower there. -Both the

main

phenomenal world and

less

fana

than a change in

ontological cognition. d he

title

of this hook later was changed to Sufism

Comparative Study its

and Idoism:

Key Philosophical Concepts, which

of

is

A

closer to

actual contents. As a resnlt of this work, Izntsn was widely recog-

nized as a philosopher; not

Mircea

just

but the leading figures in the various

Conference praised

it

highly.

From

P^liade

and Houston Smith,

who

at the

fields

this

gathered

Kranos

time on, the world awaited his

prononncements.

I

Izutsu’s statement

“Being

lectual conclusions;

it

is

is

bn

‘Arabi

WORD”

not only elucidates his intel-

also a manifesto that places

of descent that stretches back to Ibn ‘ArabT. this

mystic philosopher, Izutsu

s

Had he

thought would

him

in a line

not encountered

likely

have been com-

An

Arab, he studied

pletely different.

Ibn ‘Arab! was born in Murcia, Spain, in 1165.

law and theology in Spain and entered the sufJ path as the result of a vision he saw during an illness. a

dream

did so

telling

him

and never

Hav ing received

to “travel to the East,” at the

set foot in

Spain again; he died

message

in

thirtv-five,

he

a divine

age of

in

Damascus

aged sevenh'-five. His most important works were written

“From

the Occident to the Orient

person lived [what w as

to

— he

was someone

become] the destiny of the

in 1240,

in the Piast.

who

in his

own

history of Islamic

philosophy,” Izutsu writes in Isurdmu shisdshi (1975; History of Islamic thought). ical history

Izutsu

s

observation that the direction that Islamic philosoph-

was destined

to take

was not from East

the Occident to the Orient,” perhaps requires

206

to

West, but “from

some explanation. He

1

is

RANSLA'IOK OK IHK IIKAVKNI.V

movement

not alluding only to the geographical

from Spain

Up

namaseus.

to

philosoplu' was stannehlv

that Islamic peoples

involved in going

until the a|)pearanee of Ihn ‘Arahl, Islamic

Greek and,

new thought

philosophy was not a

W’ORI.I)

were able

in particular, Aristotelian.

s\'stem or a

new

“Arabic

philosophical trend

own

to develo]) as a result of their

original

intcllcetual activity,” Izntsii writes. “It was, in fact, C»reck philosophy

dressed up in Arabic garb, com])onents.”'^‘

appeared

in

its

It

was

more Check than

.

Islamic in

its

basic

Averroes (Ihn Knshd) that the (heck tradition a giant in Islamic philoso]:>h-

the appearance of Ihn ‘Arahl.

met Averroes,

Wdien

together.

.

most extreme form. He was

ical histon- prior to

Ihn ‘Arahl

in

.

or, to

he more precise, they were brought

Ihn ‘Arahl, he frecjiicntlv refers to the

Iziitsu discusses

account of the meeting betw een them. And, indeed, the

story pithily

depicts the special characteristics of both these sages better than any

some sense, Islam was more Greek than Cheeee, Averroes was ev en more theoret-

lengthy analvsis of their differences could ever do.

ical in his

thinking than Aristotle, that

Aristotelian philosophy that

is

to say,

pure and simple, however. to reject

any mistakes

his predecessor

predecessor

at

he went hevond the

If

something

I

Ic

to

was not an Aristote-

in Aristotle

was

true, there

because Aristotle had not been a Muslim. But

was no need

it

in

had been handed dow n from generation

generation and tried to return to an ur-Aristotlc. lian

If,

made had

such times woidd not

to

be corrected; criticizing

suffice.

who thought that wav’. “Only One can deriv e from One,”

his

Averroes was an impartial

thinker

said Av erroes. If only

one thing

can derive from the One, that means that Cmd’s creation docs not extend to multiple existents,

God and in

i.e.

to individual

human

beings. Moreover, though

the world are connected, insofar as

it

is

not a relationship

which they interpenetrate one another, he denied the

individual souls after death;

pure “active

what remains, Averroes believed,

intellect.” fte also

its

not the case that philosophical truth it

is

even possible

is

only a

advocated the theory of “double truth.”

Philo.sophy and religion each has

truth,

survival of

for the

own is

former

not a disavowal of religion, howev

er,

ferences between them.

207

separate truths.

invariably the

Not only

same

is it

as religious

to contradict the latter, d’his

but rather a statement of the

is

dif-

CllAPTFR SEVEN

Ibn ‘Arab! fiinchinientally revolutionized these three principles.

believed that the countless

Many

are horn from the

made

the existence of the soul after death, and

philosophy Cirfdn)

to unify religions truth

it

He

One, recognized

the mission of mystic

and philosophical

truth.

Ihn ‘Arab! seems to have displayed a unique brilliance from an early

became widely known and were

age. His exceptional abilities naturally

reported to Averroes. Strangely enough, Averroes and Ihn ‘Arahl’s father

were

philosopher told the father he would like

friends. I’he old

meet

to

the hoy, and one day the father invented an errand and sent his son to the philosopher’s ‘Arahl,

the old philosopher saw the

young Ihn

he paid him the highest honor — he stood np and went out

welcome him. son

When

home.

to rise

In the Islamic world,

from

his seat

and receive an

the youngster’s shoulder

youth replied. Averroes,

it is

warmly and

it is

said,

unheard of

for

an older per-

inferior, d’he old sage

said

to

one word, “So?”

clasped

“Yes,” the

trembled with joy and showed extreme

excitement. Seeing this change of expression, Ihn ‘Arahl suddenly and

vehemently

retorted,

ception of the world the younger

losopher’s face

right, isn’t it?”

is

man had

what the question

word

“No!” d’he philosopher was saying

“My

per-

Unsure of what was being asked,

hurriedly said, “Yes,” hut as soon as he realized

really

meant, he immediately

went white, he began

after that, d’hat

this:

was

last

to

said,

“No!” d’he old phi-

shake and did not say another

time the two of them met.

d’he next time Ibn ‘Araln saw Averroes again was at his funeral procession, when, after his death in Morocco, his body was brought

hack

to his

hometow n of Cordoba on

a

donkey.

On

both sides of the

donkey’s back were large bundles; on one side were the philosopher’s

remains and, on the other, his enormous his

commentaries on

said to the friend

Aristotle.

“Look

knew whether At

first

at this,”

output beginning with

Ihn ‘Arahl,

who had accompanied him. “On

body of the philosopher, on the I

literary

his

glance,

may seem

fulfilled in

adult,

the one side, the

other, his collected works.

hopes have been it

now an

How

I

wish

them.”

that the story being told

is

about the

decline of Averroes and the emergence of Ihn ‘Arahl, but by alluding to this

anecdote, what dbshihiko Izntsn was pointing out,

Averroes’ greatness, d’he one

who

first

of

all,

was

goes before lavs the groundwork for

208

RANSl./VrOR

I

who

those

ofall/rhe

follow; those

who

OF

I

WORM)

TIK IIKAVKNI.V

inystieal ideas of Ihn ‘Arahi did not

Averroes’ philosophy; they

merged with

it.

the

arri\ al

not just something that oeenrs

whieh not onlv As

in the

— the life,

is

moment

philo.s-

in the historx’ of

life after

who

death,

is

also an aetix ih

is

iiiys-

upon

at stake.

in the law of eansalih’ in a

higher sense saw

the existenee of the Absolute and the svstem in whieh

philosophv wonld he rejeeted hy those

is

a elash in

eneoimter between philosophv and the via

hut

for Averroes,

it

invoK ing the two

shows that the transmission of ideas

\i

Averroes saw

the eoneeptiial lewel;

at

lives are literally at stake, d’he ineident

Islamie thought

—

reeog-

between philosophx’ and mvstieism

ophers not only elearly deserihes a watershed

ticci

in oj^position to

may have

world

hiit

this best

of a ereatix e revolntionarx’ w ho wonld break through the

existing paradigms. d1ie rixalrx'

whieh

emerge

I’he

nized the singnlarih’ of the young Ihn V\rahT, h()\’

know

eoine after siieh a |)erson

who eame

leave no heirs in the Islamie soeieh’ from

after

whieh

it

operates, his

it

him and wonld

had sprung. I’hat

thought, however, wonld later he transmitted to Knrope, where ealled Latin Averroism. Initially a threat to Christian theology,

it

it

was

spread

with unstoppable foree and exerted an influenee on mediexal seholastie

philosophv beginning with dliomas Aquinas. Lxen Dante,

seathingly eritieal of Islam, praised Averroes in the Divine thereafter, tor,”

it

w hen any one

was Axerroes

did not die out.

It xx

of thought that

floxx

to

as

in

Comedy, and,

mediex al Europe spoke of “the

xvhom they

xx

Commenta-

ere referring. Ax erroes’ philosophx’

transformed and dexeloped xvithin the

ed

who was

like great rivers

txx

o eurrents

through mediex al philosophy: that

of Ihn ‘Arabl, on the one hand, and of riiomas Aquinas, on the other.

Arabia shisoshi (History of Arabie thought), xxhieh in 1941,

ends

first xx’ork

xx

ith

on Ibn ‘Arab!

that Izutsii xvrote xxas “Kaikyo shin]:)ishugi tet-

philosopher Ibn ‘Arab!)

not xx

mean

that Izutsu

in 1943

(d

he ontologx’ of the Islamie mys-

(published in

But that does

at the

time he

Arabie thought, d’hat eneoimter dates baek

to 1939 at the latest, xvhen, as xve saxv earlier,

La

1944).^'^

had been unaxvare of Ibn ‘Arab!

as xvriting his history of

eios’s

published

Averroes, on the eve of Ihn ‘Arabl’s appearanee. dlie

sugakusha Ibun Arab! no sonzairon” tie

xxas

escatologia miisulmana en la Divina

he eame aeross Ashi Pala-

Comedia, the xxork

says that Ibn 'Arabl’s ideas inevitably floxxed into

209

xx

hieh

Dante and appeared

CHAR ER SEVEN I

in the

Divine Comedy, which can be called the poetical sublimation of

Thoinisin.

If,

according

to

Comedy was

A^fn Palacios, the Divine

writ-

ten under the influence of Ihn ‘Arahl, then the influence of Averroes,

which had branched

off in

two great directions, that of Thomas Aqui-

Such an event

nas and Ihn 'Arahl, was once again reunited in Dante. is

not only quite likely to occur in a mystical context, mysticism aspires

to reconcile is

another

cism I

and regenerate divergent views.

name

for religious deconstruction.

“What

called mysti-

is

dismantling operation within traditional religions,

in a sense, a

is,

In other words, mysticism

believe. In the final analysis,

I

think that mysticism

is

in

some way

a

movement inside religion.”^*^ Although it was late in when Izutsu made this reference to Jacques Derrida’s decon-

deconstructionist his life

struction,

studies

he seems

on Ihn

to

have had similar views from the very

encounter with

‘Arabl. For Izutsu, the

this

of his

start

mystic philos-

opher had from the outset an intentionalih' that transcended the

exist-

ing framework of religion. If

we read

Izutsu

s

work on Ihn ‘Arab!

as a study of Islamic mystic

philosophy in the narrow sense, we lose sight of the “dismantling” qualih'

that

down

is

a

fundamental aim of mysticism. Izutsu does not

to the Islamic tradition.

what he

tion facing

him

He

places

calls the “Orient.”

him

in

tie

Ihn ‘Arab!

an open-ended posi-

Such an understanding allowed

choose the format of Sufism and Taoism that “synehronically

to

structuralizes” two great currents of Oriental mystic philosophy, Ihn

‘Arab! and Lao-tzu/Chuang-tzu, for

whom

soever that their paths intersected in the

would

there

is

no evidence what-

phenomenal world.

also deal with the synchronic intersection

Later,

he

between these mystic

philosophers and the world of the Avatamsaka-sutra (Garland Sutra),

Dogen

theory of time, Plotinus and Jewish mysticism.

s

I’here

aware of

would have been no reason

a study of

nal during the war.

on him

became

at

for foreign researchers to

be

Ihn ‘Arab! published in a Japanese scholarly jourIt is

worth noting, however, that Izutsu was writing

roughly the same time as Henrv Corbin,

who would

later

the foremost authority on Ihn ‘Arabl. Although the place of

publication

may have been on what

academic world of Islamic

studies,

forefront of world scholarship.

was, at that time, the fringes of the

what Izutsu attempted was

Compared

210

to the study of

at

the

Ihn ‘Arab! in

Sufism and

OF THF

RANSl.A'I'OR

I

which

I'cioism,

is

HP'.AVKNI.V VVORI.D

close to 300 pages long, the twenty or so

pages on the Islamic mystic ])hilosopher

ontology

s

is

than an introclnction. But the pcrsonalih of the author

fully felt,

is

the shock of his eneoimter with Ihn ‘ArahT and his existential

goes in quest of the Absolute that arose from essay.

What he

deals with there

philoso])hical resurrection “

itA'.

and

rhe nnstical experience

spirit;

it

has the

momentous

is

rebirth is

in the

is

li\c

the time

gi\’ing the lectures at

wonld serve

than the meaning of

their absolute indispensahilin the

human

significance of dying in the Absolute and

who

wrote these words,

a

mystical

some mysterious event. It w as to was to know with ones own body

anew.

It

die

the

Izaitsii

was writing the essay on Ihn ‘Arabl, he was

Kcio on the

histor\'

of Ckeek mystic philosophy

as the prototype for Shiiipi tetsugakii (1949; Philoso-

phy of mysticism), to

he

death and rebirth were inseparable from one another.

Around that

as

not an experience of

Absolute and

realih' that

and

less

er\’

and

arc clear in this carl\'

an astonishing rebirth

being reborn anew.”’^ For Izntsn, experience

nothing

it

no more

certainly

d’his

main theme wonld be developed

in that

work

an even more penetrating degree. d1ie philosopher’s melete thanatoii

(training for death) that Plato speaks of tiva,

for

is

“the praetiee of the via purga-

the attempt to live in the spirit by dying in the flesh;

the attempt to attain to a nobler

life,’

The

one.”^^

life

it is

a ‘training

by abandoning

mystic philosophy of Plato, Izntsn believes,

is

a baser

nothing

less

than a mystical philosophical discussion of death, d’hat what he ealls

death here does not world

is

the death of the body in the

in his

life,’

the attempt to attain to a nobler

life.”

and being reborn anew.” Phis statement, Likew ise,

in

And,

is

Sufism and Taoism, Izntsn

in the

a

as Izntsn

study of Ihn ‘Arabl, the eore of the mystieal experienee

not dying but “an astonishing rebirth,” namely, “dying

in the

phenomenal

clear from the faet that he says that the “training for death”

“‘training for

wrote

mean

is

Absolute

too, supports that contention.

cites

Ihn ‘Arabl’s statement that,

eneoimter with divine wisdom, “souls are enlivened by knowd-

edge and are delivered from the death of ignoranee.”^^ Death

is

no

less

than a transmigration from the phenomenal world to the Real World.

If a

person, w ho has been touched by the subtle operation of the

spirit

and whose mind’s eye has been opened,

211

sees, the

One

that

is

CHAPTER SEVEN

ontos on appear^ clearly and vividly beneath each and every one of the

phenomenal Many. Hiatis

CK)d,

said to see in the person

is

the person

who

who

and

One must

One,

to

i.e.

hear in

he said both

to

also to transcend all things.

reminiscent of Shinpi tetsugaku. 1 hough not easy reading,

is

the reverberating rh\thm conveys the

him

within him. Philosophy for activih'. It

and

sees everything,

hears ever\’thing. dims, the

exist in all things

'The sUle

preeisely the reason that the

is

dynamism

at this

time

is

of the event occurring

not a mere speculative

inseparable from spiritual salvation, llie term “operation

of the spirit” refers to the dispensation or will of the transcendental Realih’.

“The One must he scend

all

things.”

said both to exist in

The One

is

them

with Averroes’ words earlier that “only

becomes

not a matter of

One

to

This

all.

is

“Oneness or Unih^ of

‘Arabl’s core idea of the

things

absolute Being, which

ent in beings and transcends

the difference

all

One

and

is

also to tran-

both omnipres-

nothing

than Ibn

less

Plxistenee.” Contrast this

can derive from One,” and

readily apparent, d he world

is

such that

it is

One, but of One being Many and Many being

he phenomenal world

One.

t

alike.

Beings are continuing to mnltipl)’

is

fnll

of countless beings, at this ver\'

none of them

moment. But seen

through the eyes of a mystic, that mnltiplicih' converges, and the world is

seen as Oneness. Indeed

all

beings are self-manifestations of this

Oneness, d’he Oneness that Ibn ‘Arab! the Transcendent.

To be more

with Being,

i.e.

which Being

originally manifested itself

countless Many.

If

the

One

speaking about

is

is

synonymous form

precise, the

Oneness, d’he

did not exist, the

is

Many

One

could not

in

contains exist.

Izntsu uses the analogy of mirror images that Ibn ‘Arab! used, hut for

me

about

the

is

metaphor of ink and the written word

easier to understand. In the mirror

that

Corbin writes

metaphor, there

is

a single

many mirrors surrounding The reflections in the mirror increase as the number of mirrors increases, but the reflected object itself remains one. Eyen if we were to break a mirror we didn’t like, the only things that are destroyed are the mirror that the human hand had object and

struck and

it.

its

reflection.

Human

d'he other metaphor about ink

is

beings are

far

remoyed from

simpler but seems better

at

realitw

coineying

TRANSLArOR OK

dynamism

the

reading

Moreover,

IIK IIKAVKNI.V

WORM)

of creation, d’he ink that printed the letters

hnt the

a single entih’,

is

I

letters

created from

when they look at the have been made to appear there, and don’t see ink

pco]:)lc

the symbols that

we

now

are

are infinite.

it

they sec

letters;

they think they

understand them.

Although Being, which Ihn C»od,

we is

it is,

ultimate

realih’,

also

is

what

rather, the absolute, nnartienlated realih’ that precedes

think of as C^od. d ’hc reason Ihn ‘Arab! speaks of Being and not C^od

probably hecansc he did not think that the word “(Tod” comes near

to signih’ing the ahsohitclv d

God,

is

it

manifests in stages. it

‘y\rahT calls the

nothing itself.

becomes

than the outos on, the Absolute

less

itself first as

(IJciqq), that

ahsolntcncss, C»od and Lord; then,

and half-material phenomena; and

half-spiritual

and

reveals itself as the sensible world. All things

all

finallv

phenomena

it

that

beings, not onlv belong to Being, they arc nothing else

exist, i.e. all

it,

the determinate as])ccts of

its

this

monistic concept of Being

in Islamic

than self-extensions ot Ihn 'Arab! calls

tion.

may be

d1ie Absolute undergoes self-manifestation {tajalll)

manifests

It

ranseendent. hven though Being

self-manifesta-

mvstic

philosophy “the Oneness or Unitv' of Existence.” Izntsn uses the term the “self-manifestation” ot Being; “to mani-

means

fest”

hidden something,

that a

senses, appears; the

word

same

used partienlarly

Oneness

being. In the term “the

connotation of

is

a Realih' that transcends the five

or Unitv of Existence,” there

a mystical participation in the

as “union.”

in regard to a spiritual

Union suggests two separate

whereas nnih' denotes an organic situation

in

One. “Unih ” entities

is

is

the

not the

becoming one,

which things are

inex-

tricably connected. Consec|nently, instead of saying “a flower exists,”

Izntsn writes,

appear

we ought

to say that “existence flowers,”

phenomenon

I’his

as a flower.

principle that operates in

beings as well. resnlt of

its

that is

is

all

and

not limited to flowers; is

artienlated from,

true in the ease of

and share

not be overlooked here, however,

“self-determination.” Although Being

human

due

are

beings,

to

makes

in.

itself it is

a

human

Being

as the

self-manifestation.

What must tion”

We

all

is

i.e.

beings,

who

determination,

is

are manifestations of i.e.

is

that “manifesta-

trnly perfect, the reason it,

are

all

too imperfect

“the Absolute as manifesting

itself in a

CHAPTER SEVEN

concrete (determined)

time

itative ity, is

— qual-

Being, for example, “time’’

— means eternihvbnt for beings,

time

is

merely temporal-

quantitative time, measurable and irreversible. Although eternity

included in temporality, one vvonld have understanding

rational is

thing/’*^® P"or

to

catch sight of

to

transcend the limits of

there. Quantitative time, too,

it

a being.

On

the other hand, although each indi\ idnal

imperfect, insofar as

human

human

being

is

beings are also the self-manifestation of

The

Being, signs of perfection are hidden in them.

Man

Perfect

is

Mnhammad is the classic example, Ibn ‘Arab! believes, d’he Mnhammad spoken of here is not his bodily presence but an invisible Mnhammad nature. It is Mnhammad qua spirit into whom Being possible.

has articnlated

itself.

In Islamic philosophy, Averroes

assert the possibiliW of a Perfect differs

from Ibn

'Arabl’s, the

two

Man. Although

men

was the

first to

his perception of this

are remarkably similar in recog-

nizing an ultimate potential for perfection in humankind. This principle of Being operates equally in ns as well. state

does not

know

all

it is

the mission of

manifest the Perfect Alan latent in

human

signs of this perfection

beings might expect.

all

human

make

beings to

of ns.

do not necessarily appear

Nor do they

in

forms that

necessarily materialize in

social situations that are ob\ ions to the eyes of

we sometimes

in his bodily

the meanings hidden in the spiritual iVInham-

mad-Realit}'. For Ibn ‘Arabl,

The

Mnhammad

most people. Rather,

see the brightness of Being in a person struck

whom

nothing

down by

When

disease, deprived of

freedom,

for

we

and

envelope them, we realize that the poten-

see death arrix e

tial for

light

is

left

but death.

who during their themselves. We are made

sainthood had been hidden in these people,

had seemed rather ordinary even

lifetime

to realize that, already

to

from the time they are

and

in “life,”

they had passed

them, we

through “death”

in the spirit

ness in

sense the true meaning of the mysterv,

its

whether

literal

life

lived a true “life.” In

be death and death be

Behind Ibn

wit-

“Who knows

life?”

‘Arabl’s idea that, for the Absolute, creation

is

not a

matter of producing something ex nihilo but the manifestation of Self,

is

the firm con\ action that Being

“Mercy.” Ibn ‘Arab!

calls this the “breath

214

is

an immeasurably profound

of the Mercifnl” from the fact

I

RANSLA OR OK I

1

1

IIKAVKNKV WORl.D

IK

that “the ni\ inc act of bringing into existence the things of the worlcl”'^'

eqnallv in

exists

(h)d

in

all

What

things.

Sufism and iaoisin

mercy

inerey. d’hc

that

is

Izntsn develops in his discussions of

nothing

than a phenoincnologv of

less

poured out on the world

is

not something

is

that increases or decreases through the initiative of beings. I'he initiati\

c

is

alwavs from C»od, hut bceaiise mercy exists so widcK' and dccplv,

human

beings tend to forget that thev receive

The

act” never ceases.

\’cry fact

of existence

Ibn ‘Arahl’s mystic ])hilosophy le

I

does not analyze

is

is

it.

And

yet “the

a sharing of

Divine

mercy.

the mystic philosoj^hy of Being.

from the viewpoint of beings; he clneidates the

it

myster\' of Being latent in beings from the viewpoint of Being. Ibn

‘Arab! calls the loci in

which Being

artienlatcs itsclt as beings the “eter-

nal forms.” d’hese “determine both the basic shapes

which [Being

in

its

in

xarioiis guises] manifests itself phenomenallv.”‘^‘

rhe\’ are also the “realitv

flower

Izntsn writes.

and directions

the flower; the flower

midway between something and nothing,” not

is

God

himself; nor does

Gmd

reside in

one form of the self-manifestation of Being.

is

In reference to this, Izntsn cites a passage

from the

haditJi (reports of

statements or actions attributed to the Prophet preserved as a sacred “1

tradition rather than a sacred text) that Islamic mystics like to quote:

was

a

hidden treasure, and

I

desired to be known. Accordingly

I

created

made Myself known to them.”"'^ The “I” who says “and therebv made Myself known to them” is not, of course, the Prophet. It is Cod speaking through the Prophet. It is the “I” who manthe creatures and thercbv

ifests itself in

the world through articniation.

Lao-tzu, Chuang-t/.u and Ch’ii Yiian

Although many points

in Part

II

of Sufism

Chnang-tzu,” are worth special mention, here

and Taoism, “Lao-tzu I

would

like to single

&:

out

three of them: the assimilation of Confucian thought in Lao-tzu and

Lao-tzu in particular; Iaoisin as a religion; and

Chuang-tzh, and

in

shamanism

source of Lao-tziTs and Clmang-tzh’s ideas, d’he Let

as the

that j)reconeeived notions continue to underlie this very

day

each of these

toj^ics to

— notions that deserve to be called stubborn prejudices —

eonnterevidenee

for the novelh’ of Izntsu’s obserx ations.

215

is

CHAPTER SEVEN

At the outset of Part IL

bv Sokichi

Iziitsu refers to Ihoist studies

d'suda (1873-1961) and iiidicvUes his hasie agreement with liim. Sub-

Book of Lao-tzu,

jeeting the

he eoueliides

analysis,

the Tcio Te Chiiig, to a eritieal textual

i.e.

that, as a written

work,

it

BCE),

eonipilatioii of the works of Aleiieius (372-289

eame

the Analeets themselves, and I’here

is

nothing of

to say

them.

into existenee in response to

Chi (Book of fliston

a story in the Skill

probably postdates the

)

was

that Lao-tzh

a eon-

temporary of Confneins (351-479 BCE) and that the two of them met. On the other hand, some people say Lao-tzh was not a real person at all, that

he

nothing more than legend. But the problem of understanding

is

the historieal faets poses no obstaele to researeh for Izntsn; the existenee

of the text of the Tao Te Ching,

That work

snffieient. to

v\’ith its

also eontains

firm philosophieal strnetnre,

many words and

phrases that

is

seem

have been taken from works bv Mo-tzh (470-391 BCE), Clinang-tzh

(369-286

BCE) and

other texts that belong to a later period.

possible that the text that has reedited several times in the

eome down

Ian Dynash’ (206

I

additions and interpolations were

unlikely that the written work son.

And

yet

it is

to ns

is

made

BCE-220 CE), and

at that time. I’hns,

in the

as a

book.

whole

is

And a

fundamental nnih’ whieh

the imitv’

is

it is

man,

distinetly eolored

own view

everywhere

Tao Te Ching

by the personalih’

a shaman-philosopher.”'^^

Izntsn’s observation that a single personality pervades the

Ching should not be overlooked. What he “individnalih

” in a

highly

it is

a eonipilatioii

strikes ns

a personal one. In faet, the

unique pieee of work

of one nnnsnal

that

the direet prodnet of a partienlar per-

impossible to support the view that

a eertain

is

quite

today was edited and

of various miseellaneons material beeanse, as Izntsn makes his elear, “there

It is

Tao Te

pointing out here

is

phenomenal-world sense;

it is

is

not

nothing other than

“persona” as a self-manifestation of the transeendental Realih’.

What

own body is the shaman. But mere medium. He is also some-

gives expression to this persona with his

the

shaman

that appears here

is

not a

one who meditates on the message, gives forms

it

into a

\

ision, in

it

logieal

shape and trans-

other words, a philosopher. Izntsn sees the

same persona-like evolution

in Ibn ‘Arab! as well.

Ibn ‘Arab!

is

said to

have written more than 400 long and short works during his lifetime. Setting the

numbers

aside, Izntsn senses

216

an

aetivitv that transeends

'I

RANSI.A'I’OR

in the snbliinih’

Ill'.AVFNIA'

I'llF

profoundly

liiinuin intelligence in the

and

OF

dec]:)

WORLD

(hem

visions described in

of the vertical exj^ansion of their logic.

One and the Many is for Ibn ‘Araln primarof e\])erienee. No ])hilosophieal explanation ean do jns-

r]hc j^rohlcni of the I

ily a

matter

tiee to his

thought unless

the Unity of Being.

afterthought

is

.

itself

is

haeked

h\' a

personal experience of

Philosoj)hieal interpretation

.

a]:)plied to

naked eontent

Nor

.

it

is

an

after all

the naked content of npslieal intuition. 'Hie

eannot he conveyed hy

there any lingnistie

means hy

jihilosojihieal language.

eoinev immediately

\\’hieh to

the eontent of mystieal intuition.

Mystic philosophy contains

a

fnndaniental paradox: I'he

]:)erson

describing the experience begins from the impossibilih' of ex])ressing it

in

language. Because there are no words to describe

to relate the events

as

metaphors,

Ibn ‘Arabl,

who

and iconography. 'Fhesc are not

Although the term “shamanic” lived in

an Islamic culture, even

making the pronouncements that

it is

is

fucianism.

The

says,

earliest

person

Maspero. Maspero was the

Clmang-tzh

as a religion

nothing

vation and eternal

is

speaking.

development of Con-

observation was Henri

this

the Taoism of Lao-tzh and

Maspero made

a strong ease for dlioism

that teaches teclmicjiies for enltivating lon-

than a religion that

less

life.

make

who

insists

consonant with Islamic mysticism or Chris-

phenomenon

gevity, blit as

to

as

in his case, the subject

itself as a vision,

first to treat

tian mysticism. In other words,

not as folk

intended

not apj^ropriate for

is

a “religion,” a nnicjiie

is

at all

trv

means

not Ibn ‘Arabl; he vehemently

Being, having manifested

Taoism, Izntsn

shamans

they have personally witnessed through such

stories

self-expression.

it,

In tins book, Izntsn

as])ires to ])ersonal sal-

makes

clear that his

own

observations were strongly influenced by Maspero, and a respect for the French Sinologist infuses his writing sh ject

he had inherited from Maspero,

whose death had prevented of

modern

whom

Taoist studies

its

and

le.

He

is

dealing with a sub-

who had begun

discussing

it

but

completion. Maspero signaled the dawn laid

its

foundations. Louis Massiguon,

Izutsu also held in high esteem, was a classmate of Masj^cro’s,

and the two enjoyed

a

w^arm friendship.

217

CHAPTER SEVEN

One a

day

Maspero was

in 1944,

arrested by the

Gestapo and died

member

eoneentration eainp. Because his son was a

in

of the French

Resistance, he, too, was suspected of involvement and sent to Buch-

enwald. F.ven though he was weakened by prison said to

have turned

to his unfulfilled

\

life,

ision of the “Orient.” In 1950, five

Hie world

years after his death, Le Taoisme was published. this

work with amazement. Maspero had been

Chinese history during

in

began putting

posthumous papers

his

structing the scattered remains that were It

was

a task that

was the

first

resembled repairing

and, thus

far,

greeted

renowned expert on Taoism,

a topic

China, had not been widely known. After

who had

Maspero’s death, his editor, Paul Demieville, friend,

a

his lifetime, hut his study of

even

virtually neglected

his thoughts are

a

been

also

in order, patiently

his

recon-

in the rough-draft stage.

still

broken vase. “Henri Maspero

almost the only one

in

both the West and

the East to have undertaken a scientific exploration of the history and literature of Taoism at this time,”

DemiCdlle

wrote.'^^

And yet that very fact connects him to the state of ChTi (present day Hunan and Hubei provinces). “By the ‘spirit of ChTi,'” Izutsu writes, “I mean what may Lao-tzu

is,

no doubt,

a figure of legend.

properly be called a shamanic tendency of the

mode

of thinking.

In addition to the latent

ChTi

Lao-tzu, Izutsu alludes to (Elegies of ChTi),

of ChTi.”

and

The ChTi

Yiian (343-283

shamanic tendencies

a

wanderer

world

“A man of moral rife

purity,

falls

Finally,

he was chosen by Heav^en

live as a

shaman. T

T he poet as

he saw him-

A

from power, he

shaman. He drew the voice

of history from the earth and the voice of truth from

is

“spirit

with immoralih’ and injustice.”^’

visiting holy places as a

his

Tzu

BCE) of historical fact is said to He was “a man of utterly uncom-

courtier loyal to the king of ChTi, after repeated

became

in

world that was ‘muddy and turbid,’” Izutsu

writes in Ishiki to honshitsu^° self as a tragic figure in a

shamanic

Chuang-tzii as classic examples of the

to

in a

or a

Yiian, the leading poet of the C/7 u

have been a high-ranking statesman.

promising integrity

mind

to transmit

its

will, in

human

souls.

other words, to

the journey of ChTi Yiian.

shaman — was

exception, one wonders?

If,

as

the fact that

ChTi Yiian was

Shizuka Shirakawa

218

a

poet an

says, the

Written

I

Word

is

Cjod, and a

conneetion of

RANSI.AIOR OK

poem

is

a

I

WORI.I)

IIK III’.AVKNI.V

phenomenon

that restores the perfect

ninnher of Written Words and

a

ex])resses the true state

of th e world, then a true poet must in a basic and primordial sense

he

a

have

we moderns, rather, nature of shamans when we

shaman, must he not? of the true

lost sight

from the eixilized world W'hat

Izntsii calls a

It

for

shaman

is

human

who

siis]:)eet,

expelled

them

being “extremely vnlgar and harharie.” is

nothing

‘“Fhe state of divine possession, to call self-deification of a

I

less

by

it

than its

being, the union of

ponents of Semitic monotheism despise

it

a spiritual \isionar\-.

traditional term,

man and god

is

the

(the pro-

an extremely vnlgar and

as

harharie union, but setting aside whether that view

right or wrong),

is

the protagonist of that experience ought to he the divine snhjeet.”^^

Since Shiiipi tetsugaku,

Iziitsn

had eonsistcntlv asserted the

my stical experience

\

iew that

non-hnman Being, CK)d. But the problem here lies in his parenthetical comment. The “])roponents of Semitic monotheism” mean JewTsh, Christian and Islamic theologians and the philoso])hers who have been the subject of a

is

the

heavily influenced by them, hut, Izntsu

insists,

even though they

may

“despise” Ch’ii Yiiau’s mystical experience as “vulgar and barbaric,” he

himself does not agree with them. Perhaps assuming that his Japanese readers might feel far

removed from Semitic monotheism, Izntsu does

not allude to this again, hut, in this one passage, Izntsu expresses his

fundamental view of religion almost side of Semitic spiritualih', the

himself had w itnessed

As

w'e

saw

to

God

filled

is

i.e.

that,

even out-

awe-inspiring and that he

firsthand.

earlier, Izntsu first dealt

A shaman

with the issue of shamanism in

someone who experiences enthousiaswith God, not someone who tells fortunes or predicts

Shinpi tetsugaku. mos, being

it

way

as a confession,

is

the future or speaks in tongues. At least, these latter arc not the qualifications for

what d’oshihiko Izntsu believes

Shinpi tetsugaku, he also discusses poets

to

he

as those

a true

shaman.

who anuouuce

In

the

appearance of philosophers.

According

to Izntsu, the

“shamanistie existence

.

.

.

can he thought

of as a psychic strueture consisting of three levels or stages of sclf-awarcness,

each with

world of his

a different dimension.”^^

poem

Diseussing Gh’ii Yiian and the

“Li Sao” (An encounter with

219

my own

sorrows) in the

CHAPTER SEVEN

CJi\i Tz’ii, Izutsii develops a theory of the multidimensional, multivalent conseiousness of the

1.

shaman.

the empirieal ego of an ordinary person living in three

dimensions; 2.

the eestatie ego open to self-deifieation and the unit}' of

God

and man; 3.

“the consciousness of the disembodied subject playing in

shamanistic, imaginal

A

few caveats are needed

level, d’he

the

man

space.”'’*^

for the

terms Izutsu uses to describe the third

disembodied subject “playing” here

but Ch’ii Yiian the

full

is

no longer Ch’ii Yuan

and perfect shaman.

“To find philosophical significance

in surreal visions,

shamanistic mvths into svmholic allegorv and weave into

it

transform

ontological

and metaphysical ideas requires the secondar}' manipulation of a osophical intelligence that surpasses

still

phil-

further the third stage of sha-

manistie consciousness. In the intellectual world of ancient China, the

philosophy of Chuang-tzu,

I

believe,

is

the thought system of a person

who had started out from a shamanistic base in the sense just discussed, hilt who had transcended shamanism.”^^ Chuang Chou — Chou being Chuang-tzii’s personal reads the

name— was

“Book of Chuang-tzu”

Cluiang-tzu

is

a thinker

who

a

shaman, Izutsu

as the

saying, thus

WORDs disclosed

to a

and

allegories

weave together “imaginal” images which are constantly welling

up from the depths of consciousness and no longer

a

existence. In so doing,

pure shaman of the t}pe represented

he

is

in the “Fdegies of

Ch’u.” 7 ’his resident of the “\dllage of d 1 iere-Is-Absolutely-Nothing” (u’l/

ho yu chih hsiaug) has already risen

far

above primitixe sbaman-

ism. riie celestial journey described at the beginning of the

of Chuang-tzh” of the Bird P’eng

— whose

nobody knows how man}’ thousand miles wide huge clouds, beat the surface of the water rises

up

to a height ot

90,000 miles

220

to the

back it is,

is

“Book

so large that

whose wings,

for 3,000 miles,

he

shaman.

develops his splendid and sublime meta-

physical speculations through a series of symbolic tales that

is

like

and who

Lake of Heaven — has

a

TRANSLATOR OK IHK IIKAVKNLV

])liiloso))liical

journey

symbolism

|that Ch’ii

W'hat w’c see here a

summation of

"i

nan rceonnts

the central

is

unknown

cjiiitc

who

is

to the

shamanistic celestial

in| the “Li Sao.”^^’

theme of Sufism and

Izntsu’s stiicK^ of Lao-tzu

ease ot Ibn ‘Arahl,

\VORI,I)

'I'aoism as

ell

\\

and Clmang-tzn. K\'en

as

in the

dcserihecl as the classic examj^le of Sntism,

— although the “pro])onents of Semitic disagree — that his, too, “the thought swstem of

Izntsu j)resumably thinks

monotheism” would a

person

who had

is

started out

transcended shamanism.”

It

from

was

people

lia\e

shamanistic base

had

|hnt]

.

since

where philosoplw hegan.

is

seen Chuang-tzu as

On

develojDinent of Oriental thought.

.

.

eom ietion, nnehanged

his firm

Shinpi tetsugaku, that shamanism

Many

a

a

turning point in the

the other hand, and, this

only one exception,

know

is

only

of no other instance

\

icw,

w

of someone

who

has taken note of the tradition of sliamanism that runs

a personal

ith

through Oriental thought welling up from

The

text

it

like

1

an underground stream, and the sudden

of philoso])hv.

of “Book of Chnang-tzn”

doenment; there

is

\'irtnally

subtle logie of the jixia

is

unprecedented

nothing

Aeademy

like

it.

It

[ea ^^18-284

as

an intelleetnal

makes

free use of the

BCF,] and translates

into realih the protean spiritual world of the rranseendent through

speeeh that go

figures of

to the

extremes of expansi\eness and extrav-

agance. d’his giant [Chnang-tzn] called hack the logos that had been lost after

But

ih.

Confneins. Words reeo\er their free and unrestricted

in

an ancient period such

would astonish even to

a

modern

look for something close to

jifii

[a

as this,

where did

existentialist,

come from?

the only parallel

it,

this shie, It

vital-

w hieh

we were

would seem

to

he

type of literature between prose and poetry] beginning with

the “Li Sao” of the “Elegies of Ch’n,” hnt originally

it

was the

litera-

ture of shamans.’^

Just as Iziitsu called his Koslii fneiiis

Chuang-tzu

a

shaman, Shizuka Shirakawa,

in

den (1972; Life of Confiieiiis) cited ahove, writes that Con-

was the son of

a

shamaness,

a

221

wise

man and

also

someone who

CJIAPTKR SEVEN

performed ill

rituals

Shirakawa

the dead.

biography

s

state to serve.

fot"

He

is

a

is

The founder

of Confueianism depleted

uat a mere sage

shaman who

who

travels in seareh of a

aspires to reeord

all

the

WORDs

from heaven without exeeption. Shirakawa reads the Analects

as the

record of a shaman, a holy person possessed by divinity. Alluding to the passage in chapter seven of the Analects, ''transmit, do not create,”

Shirakawa writes, "'These words of Confucius indicated that what Confucius calls the

way

is

nothing

less

than the

embodiment of

[Plato’s]

Confucius’

"rectifi-

Ideas.

In Ishiki to honshitsu, Izutsu dealt with

cation of

names” — the

between

a

word and

thcorv of Ideas.

mad,

as well as

of the

WORDs

If

its

thesis that a

semantic discrepancy has crept

objective referent

the prophets of the

— in conjnnetion with

in

Plato’s

Old Testament and Muham-

Confucius and Clniang-tzh, are regarded

as recorders

of Heaven, both Shiznka Shirakawa and Toshihiko

Izutsu are their outstanding translators.

To ten

revitalize the divine

Word

that

was with

passage of time had the

way

that

language

— the WORD of Cod or the Writ-

Cod — that had descended

become

converged on

to earth

difficult to decipher, for the

this

was scholarship.

771

hut with the

two of them,

CHArrKR KiGin

Eranos

— Dialogue in the Beyond

1 ’he

E

very year

in

august, some ten or so

offieial leeturers at the

clays in

Aseona,

leetnres

on

a

“Time” of Kranos

Eranos Conferenee, whieh

S\\ itzerlancl,

is

itecl

to

he

held for ten

on the shores of Lago Maggiore. Each

theme annonneed the previous

many as 400 people who have rhe other

sj^eakers are in\

gathered from

inx ited lecturers are also

an andienee of as

year, to

er the

all o\

world

important participants

in

to listen,

each of the

lectures being given. Beginning in 1967, Toshihiko Izntsn gave twelve

lectures there,

and he was

to

he personally imolved

fifteen vears; in the latter half of this period, his

The hilt also

was

subjects he discussed were “not only

.

witli

Eranos

for

a central presence.' .

.

Zen Buddhism,

the metaphysics of Lao-tzn and Chnang-tzn, the semantics

of Confneins, such ontologies and the theories of eonseionsness as

Vedanta philosophy, Una Yen philosophy, and Yogacara philosophy, the semiotics of the

/

Ching, Confneian philosophy represented by the

Ch’eng

brothers,

tzn, the

shamanism of

later

Ch’eng

become main

1

Ch’iian and Ch’eng

[the] Ch’ii

Vzu and

Ming

Tio, and

so on.”‘ All of these

Chnwould

topics in Isliiki to honsliitsii (1983; Conseionsness

and essence). Eranos,

it

would he

fair to say,

nurtured roshihiko Izntsn

the philosopher and brought his ])hilosophy to completion, “d’he

synehronie strnetnralization of Oriental philosophy,” the phrase that

223

CHAPTER

EIGH'I

served as the subtitle wlien Ishiki to honshitsu ized form, In

sums up

first

out in

serial-

Izutsu’s fijjeen years at Eranos.

broad daylight,

world of light where

in the

i.e.,

manifesting their contours respectively, splendidly twilight

came

emerges and deepens. Things, losing

all

earthly things,

the surface,

rise to

their clear distinctions

from one another, become floating and unstable, lose their ow n inal formation, as they

mingle and permeate one another, and grad-

ually attempt to return to the primordial chaos.

darkness, just before

orig-

earthly things are

all

ons darkness and completely brought

to

.

.

.

The momentary

submerged

in the

eavern-

naught, has an inexpressible

fascination.^

d his

is

the spiritual landscape of Eranos that Izutsu saw.

have been strange had

this

humanih ), where he once described

that “inexpressible fascination” as “unbearable.”

ing sentences were written “spirit

when

is

of Eranos” long before he ever attended the Eranos

the other side in Being.

deep area of Being. Only of Being.”"^

mean

d’he

have alluded

beings;

There

who

I

is

it

/Mthough the preced-

Izntsn was sevenh-six years old, he

Conference. Izntsn continues the passage above there

would not

passage occurred in his study of Tyutchev in

Roshiateki ningen (1953; Russian

had lived the

It

It is

in this

way: “In short,

the other side of Being, that

in the other side of Being,

is

is,

there the mystery

many times before: Being does not Absolute who causes them to be.

to this

designates the

the

an essay entitled “Le temps d’Eranos” by

Elenr\'

just

Corbin,

many years was a driving force behind the Eranos Conference.^ name “Eranos Conference” is not appropriate, he writes; Eranos is for

neither an academic gathering nor a current of thought,

it is

a “time.”

Time appears in the guise of Eranos. Time is a meta-historical phenomenon that elucidates for the phenomenal world the realih’ of the transcendental world. necessih’; rather, is

not

just timely;

written this, he a

time that

is

it

It

does not appear merely as a result of historical

signifies a manifestation of the

it is

fundamentally timeless,

transcendental

i.e.

eternal.

would probably have added the adjective

invisible, indeterminate, that

224

will.

It

(Mad Eliade

“sacred.”)

It is

changes with the beholder.

ERANOS— niAI.OGUF,

Riithcr than being Corbin’s

Kranos

tiling called

is

IN

HIE BEYOND

account of Mranos,

speaking tbrongb Corbin

rbe arebetxpe bv \\bieb Izntsn

it is

in this essay.

luanos was

]:)ereei\’ed

Alluding to the end of rcgnlarb' sebednled meetings

not ended.

It is

live hereafter, too.”^’

really alive

now and

realK' alive cweii It

would be wrong

to

Once

being can stop

in\ ited to

in

“it is

Rxis-

deep accord.

and

l/.ntsn’s “spirit”

and not onlv about Kranos,

are identical, in their thinking as well,

and Corbin were

is

to

has been set in inotion, no liinnan

it

In that regard, Corbin’s “time”

it.

eontinne

here

I’be “s])irit”

rites,

spirit lias

think that the words

even now” are nietapborieal.

tenee as absolute subject.

Izntsn

will ])robably

“spirit.”

be w

in 1988,

c\en tbongb the Mranos conference ended, the Rranos

“l^iit

In 1967,

when

Izntsn was

first

PAanos, Corbin bad alread\’ nio\ed bewond the eonfincs of

Islamic mvsticism

and was

as a leading figure in the

who

as tbongli a li\’ing

in\ ited Izntsn to

attracting attention outside bis special field

world of pbilosoplw of religion, d’be person

Kranos was

bis eollcagiic at

MeCnll, Ilermann

Kandolt, one of Corbin’s best students. Considering that Corbin was a

key figure

in

Kranos

at the time,

it

would be no exaggeration

to say that

monographs

the in\ itation was from Corbin himself. Altbongb sexeral of Izntsn’s bad been published in English

— Language and Magic,

semantic interpretation of the Koran,

work on SabzawarT and the

sUkU' of Ibn ‘Arab! in the

first

bis

half of Sufism

bis

and Taoism — since, with

the exception of the work on SabzawarT, the ])nblisber bad been Keio

Unixersih, conditions were not eondneixe for these books read.

But because

it

xxas

Corbin,

I

to

be

xx

idelx’

beliexe, be xxas able to appreciate

Izntsn’s abilities.

As

xxe

in

saxx'

Chapter d w o, Izntsn bad

said that

Massignon," but these xxords slionld not be taken

rior” to

Izntsn xxas not denigrating Corbin, ftis remark, for the

taken to

its

Corbin

achievements of my literally.

Izntsn

is

late,

“I liaxe a

merely underscoring the still

high regard

fact that,

also

be

compared

did not appreciate the great-

ness and significance of Konis Massignon. xvas a

at face xabie.

lamented friend Corbin,” must

assessment of Corbin, the xvorld

Corbin

xxas “infe-

It

goes xvitbont saying that

leading txventietb-eentnrv sebolar of Islamic mysticism,

especially noted for bis research on Ibn ‘Arabl. In fact,

225

anyone xvbo

CHAPTER

seriously intends j

may

to'

EIGH'l

study Islamic mysticism today, whatev er their view s j

^

¥

cannot ignore Corhia.

he,

One

day Massignon handed Corbin an old book published

lithographed copy of SnhrawardT s Hikmat al-lshrdq (Philosophy

sia, a

wonld w in

of Illnmination). Corbin’s annotated edition of this w ork

him a

international acclaim. As Corbin notes, a teacher giving a student

hook

Out

in Per-

to

work on

on of an

signifies the passing

intellectual tradition.

of his reading of this Islamic theosophist classic arose the term

“imaginal,” the most important key concept for an understanding of

Corbin’s philosophy. Corbin “established the distinctiye adjective hnaginal as a technical term by translating [SnhravyardT’s original expression] into Latin as

mundus

imaginalis and then making imaginalis into

the Lrench word imagined

It

may seem

as

though

IzAitsn

is

disinter-

estedly stating a fact here, hut his words should be taken as a compli-

ment.

He

not saying that Corbin’s thought

is

is

deriv ative. Izntsn

loses sight of the fact that, before referring to the topic

he

Corbin begins by questioning the language being used I’he reason Corbin took the trouble to go

word imaginalis and use

his

the

all

to the

it.

Latin

because the mod-

remoyed from the “imagi-

far

is

is

discussing,

to discuss

way back

own term “imaginal”

ern word “imaginaire” or “imaginary”

is

never

nal” realm. In order to artificially allow philosophers, tions are

completely different,

and understand one another, to

be established.

tries

to

Once

a

to

be able

common

whose to

meet and

and

tradi-

talk together

philosophical language has

the ideas of philosophers from various coun-

have been grasped analytically

in their spiritual depth, there has

be an intellectual manipulation that will allow them to speak

common language mon philosophical and

it is

a task

A “common

I

to

each other, d’he creation of

language

hope

to

is

what

I

call

this sort of

a

com-

philosophical semantics,

accomplish myself^

philosophical language” that will span history and connect

different traditions

is

what Izntsn

calls a

“metalanguage.”

of such a language philosophers’ deepest desire?

capable of bringing find

histories

it

into being

them by going hack

in

do not

If

exist today,

Isn’t

the words that are

philosophers must

time or by crossing over into

226

the birth

a different

KRANOS — niAI.OC’.UK

dimension. “Imaginal” other realm;

it

nothing

is

two worlds are

in

the dimension in

1

the

human

HKYOND

than

word

a

dimension midway between

world that

whieh we

lets

ns

know

that the

on Corbin sometimes

grasping the Zeitgeist;

mention

is

said that

he was the

says

it

state that tells

he was the

nothing about what was eentral

not onK’

to translate

Barth into Freneh. Before his eneoimter w

ith

first

ns of his aenih' in

of his aeeomplishments as a translator, first

I'his is

and the dead.

interaet witli spirits

leidegger to Kranee. But this onK’

made

that exists in that

an nneeasing relationship with eaeh another.

Introdnetor\- works to introdiiee

less

refers to the intermediary

nonmenal world and

the

IN rUF,

it

to

him.

If

shonld be

leidegger but also Karl

I

Islamie mvstieal philos-

ophy, Corbin had been a promising seholar in the Protestant tradition.

As

Ibm Cheetham,

the foremost anthorih' on Corbin, has pointed

Corbin was faseinated by the

out,

sneh

spirituality of

Cerman

Protestants

Jakob Bbhme, Kriedrieh Sehleiermaeher, Martin Luther and

as

Johann Ceorg Mamann.'° Indeed, tradition of mystieal

his earlier

deep eontaets with the

thought that flowed through Knrope strengthened

his appreeiation of Islamie mystieal philosophy; this

extremely important elne

to

seems

to

be an

understanding Corbin. Ha\’ing pereeixed

existentially the eonfnsion in existing religions

and philosophy, Corbin

turned to Islam.

That Massignon and Corbin were both Christians and beeame giants in Islamie studies spiritiialih'.

in

Tbday,

as the

is

elearly emblematic' of the enrrent state of

world beeomes smaller and smaller, not

terms of geography and the ayailabilih’ of information but spiritually

as well,

it is

diffienlt for

any religion

to assert

elaim to snpremaey. Religions headed by

They eannot it\'

just

to

fill

in all the

eome

own orthodoxy and

bnman

beings are imperfeet.

gaps by themseKes. In order for Christiannot enough jnst to be Christian. Didn’t

for the sake of

nonbelieyers? The same ean be said of

it

Islam and Buddhism. Izntsn wrote of Kliade that wdiat

plaeeably nnicjne was not that he dealt w that

he was “someone

words apply esoteric'

phist.”

lay

is

be trnly Christian,

Christ

its

to

who

ith

made him

irre-

the erises of the times, but

liyed those erises existentially.”"

The same

Corbin. For that yery reason, “although he dealt with

theosophy, he gradually began to speak as an esoterie theoso-

Mikio Kamiya’s essay on

I

lenry Corbin’s Llmagiiuitioii creatrice

111

CHAPTER EIGHT

Creative Imagination, 1969), which includes this sentence,

(19:58;

only a study of Corbin; differences

it

behyeen him and Izntsu/"

Corbin substitutes “gnostic minds”

not the ‘main currents’ that eyoke them

is

minds] and bring them together; a particular current

Corbin perceiyes a

it is

and bring about

Corbin’s discussion of Eranos

in

and

also discusses the intellectual similarities

In the essay cited earlier,

“time.” “It

not

is

is

[i.e.

for

gnostic

they that decree the existence of

own

their

utterly

a single will at Eranos.

meeting.”^’ dlie subject

non-human;

it is

a persona.

not that people gather

It is

place called Eranos, and gnostic minds spring forth.

deserves to be called “gnostic minds” diyinely calls

A

at

reality that

them and produces

an intellectual surge. As was the ease with “time,” Corbin belieyes that

and

“gnostic minds” cause a place called Eranos to manifest itself fully

completely. “As Henry Corbin bears witness, Cnosticism in the broadest

sense was the underlying tone of the Eranos moyement,” Izutsu

writes.

The

“gnosis” referred to here does not, of course, signify the

Christian heresy, nor does

designate a historical current of thought.

it

denotes a direct link between ity.

By

“direct,”

I

mean one

human

that

is

beings and transcendental Real-

not necessarily mediated by a partic-

ular group; in other words, the path that leads to the

Transcendent

not limited to religion. Eranos does not reject existing religions or gious institutions, but

it

also does not regard

gateway. Corbin’s statement,

same

[‘r]he

his

as

reli-

an indispensable

conferences are arranged about the

which blends

dozen-odd yearly eonferenee speakers, eaeh proeeeding from

own

erifi’

is

religious or ideological differences.

field, are all basieally intent

essential features of

what

is

man’s quest

permanent and

to

as revealed in the universe

upon helping

know

eternal in

ferenees are arranged about the

same

proper

what they were attempting

himself: that

human

when

is,

they striye to

experienee. All eon-

center: man’s

at

image of himself

Eranos were intensely aware two-lavered time. Adolf

exists in a

Portmann and Rudolf Ritsema, who were central similar viewpoint

to iineover the

to him.^’

As Corbin implies, the participants that

them

center,” suggests the workings of the Eranos spirit,

and transcends

\

“all

It

they write, “Since

228

.

.

.

to

Eranos, adopt a

1933

have sought

I'.RANOS

to portray the

re])ository of

— niAlXKUIK

IN

1

I

IK

BKVONI)

primal experience native to the geoeentrie cosmos as

j)crmancnt \ahies, not merclv

historical regard.”'^’ 'I’hcy, too, asjhred to

through their

activities, d'he s])irit of

as

an interesting ohjeet of

have something manifest

iManos

is

nothing

act of searching for the Absolute, a cpiest that unfolds historical

and the

a

itself

less

than the

on two

axes, the

eternal. 'The participants dedicate their intellects to

bring about the manifestation of “time.”

d’hat Kranos did not confine itself lo the eoinentional s]:)hcre

of metaphysics ticipants.

is

clear from a glance at the S])ceial fields of

Vo he sure,

clergymen

its

par-

as well as scholars of religion or

mythology, psychologists and philosophers gathered there, but so did specialists in ph\sics, biology,

ature. d

hey were “a

est in the de])th of

mathematics, aesthetics, mnsie and

series of scholars or thinkers

who had

liter-

strong inter-

inner and outer realities in their rcs])ectivc

areas’’;'^

mean that thev resisted somehow fought against it, hut

they were also not of their time, d’hat does not

the age in which they were

li\

ing or

rather that thev aspired to a different dimension than the flow of time, i.e.

to eternih’. In other

wonld elsewhere

his

Izntsn

“a-temporal” rather than timeless.

referring to himself, as

academic

as the

whom

Mircea Eliade used “historian of religion” instead of

Just as

when

call

words, they had to he people

though speaking

discipline, the participants at

“I”

as the representatixe of

Eranos regarded each other

symbolic presence of his/lier respeetix e

field. In

addition to )nng,

Otto and Corbin, gathering there xxere Karl Kcrcnyi, xvho represented

mx thologv; Mircea analysis; Jean

Eliade, historx' of religion; James Hillman, psycho-

Brim, philosoj^hy; Gershom Scholem,

Jcxx ish

mysticism;

Portmann, biology; Shmnel Sambnrsky, nuclear phvsies. Blake specialist

part.

Kathleen Raine and Protestant theologian Paid

'Pillich also

took

Martin O’Arcy and Jean Danielon were both Catholic clergymen

as xxell as leading txventicth-eentnrx’ theologians.

Today the Catholic

Church cannot necessarily be said to have a positive o])inion of Eranos; some Catholics even consider it heretical. But O’Arey xxas a central figure in the Socictx' of Jesns, and Danielon later bceamc a cardinal, a position

second only

symbolizes,

it

is

to that of the

pope. As their presence

at Tiranos

not alxvays j)ossible to keep the discussion xvithin the

229

CHAPTER EIGHT

framework even

existing

And

for e\onts in religions eircles.

if

we widen

the perspeetive to the world, researeh on Eranos has only jnst begun.

I’he

first

and the Perfeet

lute

theme

mate human

state.

this leetnre. In so

Man”

is

not a

Paoisin.”’^

in

is,

as

we have seen

earlier, the nlti-

“The

But Izntsn does not refer

Ibn V\rabT at

to

all in

doing, he proves that the existenee of “the Perfect

phenomenon

attests to Izntsn’s it

Man

Ibn ‘Arabl’s philosophy,

in

Perfeet

“The AbsoMan,” a eentral

lecture Izntsn gave at Eranos in 1967 was

restricted to Islam.

This attitude faithfnlly

understanding of the Orient, but,

as

an experiment,

was extremely ambitions, and perhaps even intellectually provoca-

Corbin must have had

tive.

Izntsn

wonld develop

his

argument by making

free use of a technical

term from Islamic mysticism without ever referring

More

astonishment that

difficnlU' controlling his

to Islam.

than ten years earlier, Daisetz Suzuki had been invited twice

and 1954) as an official lecturer to talk about Zen. Daisetz had been warmly welcomed, and those who attended sensed something but (1953

without gaining any firm understanding. Izntsn, as a Japanese, to speak his twelve lectures are

The

on Zen. Perhaps

on that subject. In

one w ere only

but

Chno

Koronsha,

if

it

to read Izntsn

him

Daisetz ’s structure ture,

Eranos were

all

Selfliood in

Erom not Izntsn

later

collected

“a first-class cosmopoli-

selected works published by to

know

The one

that

he had any

exception in which

Zen Buddhism.”

Izntsn

s

presenta-

rewrote several of

them

in Japanese.^®

the mildly stated language in this essay, one senses that s

it is

intention to follow in Daisetz ’s footsteps but to attempt to

offer a different perspective. I

s

of

given in English, and these lectures have now-

been published, but Izntsn

Suzuki,

at all.

Suzuki

many

name appears is “Zenteki ishiki no flrndo kozo” (The field of Zen consciousness), the Japanese version of his 1969 lec-

“The Structure of

tions at

s

w onld be almost impossible

acquaintance with Daisetz Suzuki

for that reason,

a blurb to

works, Izntsn praised Daisetz and called tan,”*^^

organizers of Eranos asked

The

relation

between Izntsn and Daisetz

believe, shonld be perceived as following a line of descent

that deserves to

be called a

spiritual rather

In the histor\’ of spiritualitv,

outw ard trace of

a

even

than an intellectual historv.

acti\ ities that

philosophy or idcologv

2^0

have

left

mav become

behind no

the objects of

KRANOS— DIAI.OGUK

study.

Although Daisctz

been

mind, psyche — is not

human;

it is

a

spirit

haven’t attempts to discuss spiritnalitv

made from

rc]:)catedly

and

insisted that spiritiialih’ (M'N: reisei)

seisliiu) are different,^'

far

lUK HKVOND

IN

human

tlnis

psychological perspective? Seisliiu

a

matter, but the subject of

re/

—

— Spirit—

is

nothing other than the IVansecndcnt. Studies of s])iri-

tnalih' ha\ e flourished lately, attracting not onlv scholars of religion but

But

also literary figures.

just as

it is

futile to

nature without an understanding of what a

someone were it

develop

to

would hear any

it

being

a higher lc\cl,

attitude toward scholarship, their inner mission,

even

is,

if

ineonccivable

is

without an understanding of

fruit

and Daisetz agree on

that Izntsn

hnman

theorv of spiritnalitv,

a

hnman

develop a thcorv of

Spirit,

do show

one must look

at their

and how they put

that

into practice.

Faced with the confused ied himself

w

state of the world, Daisctz

of Buddhism,

ith his studies

all

Suzuki bus-

the while saying that he

had no time. He was eighh-eight when he began

his translation into

English of the Kydgyoshiusho bv Shinran (1173-1263), tbe founder of

Jodo Shinshfi, the

Fmc

working on

np

was about

it

right

Pure Land school of Bnddhism, and he was

until the

to set off for

end of

Karnizaw

days later at the age of nineh -six.

have been in

in his luggage, already

Toshihiko Izntsn. As

w'as

a, t

his life."

he suddenly

One fell

nothing

than a via practica to change the world.

of the

in

life,

who would understand

said to

aetic itw

It

was

the ninetv-five year old Daisetz Suzuki

English on the suihokuga

Zen monk Sengai

is

tw o

repeatedly discussed in Shiupi tetsiigaku,

was not simply an intellectual

In the last year of his

and died

packed. ’Phe same mentalih' flowed

for Izntsn

wrote a stndv

ill

he mannscript of this work

philosophy less

day, as Daisetz

(1750-1837).^'^

(monoehrome

He

the truth about this

ink paintings)

believed that the person

Zen monk would appear

the West, not in the East. As Daisetz sensed, the West was

first

in

to appre-

ciate the significance of Sengai’s suihokuga, and, wath the exception ot

Sazo Idemitsu (1885-1981), the Idemitsu

Mnsenm

been only recently

who had

of Arts

is

a close friendship

known

for

its

with Daisetz

Sengai eolleetion

—

it

—

has

that the Japanese have rediscovered him.

Eva van Hoboken, who edited Daisetz’s book on Sengai, also appears

in Izntsn’s essay

“Tdzai bnnka no kdryfi” (East-West enltnral

231

CHAPTER HIGH

He

exchange

refers to

her as Mrs H., but from the context, which

contains a reference^to Scngai, \

isitecl

her

home

unmistakably she.

it is

One

day Izutsu

Ascona, where Eranos was held. In her garden there

in

were some red flowers

bloom. She had taken the seeds

in full

blooming

flowers from ones

1

garden of the house where Daisetz

in the

Suzuki lived inside the temple precinct of Engakuji are not a flower that

is

for these

Kamakura. They

in

native to Ascona, she said, hut now, as

you

see,

they grow every where throughout the town. She had gone to Japan to

months she would visit him Japan in the summer, several

ask Daisetz to teach her, and for several

every day without

fail.

“When

I

go back

months from now,” Izutsu wrote, of

my home

manifest

think

will plant

I

some

in the

garden

Kamakura].””^ Spiritual inheritance does not always

[in

theories or doctrines. Izutsu’s grave

itself in

where Daisetz Suzuki once

On

“I

to

is

in

Engakuji,

lived.

August 1954, Henry Corbin, Mireea Eliade and Olga Froebe-Kapteyn were sitting with Daisetz Suzuki. I’he three were i8

astonished to hear that,

more than

fifty

man

years earlier, the elderly

from the Orient had translated works of Swedenborg.”^ Corbin asked Daisetz about homologies in the structure of Mahayana

Swedenborg’s theology.

The

Buddhism and

eighty-four-year-old Daisetz,

who

already

had the dignified appearance of a venerable old man, suddenly grabbed a

spoon and, brandishing

in Paradise.

.

.

Corbin writes

.

We

are

it,

now

said with a smile, “This in

magnum

in his

have been delighted

to

Heaven.”

this to

be

hear these words.

the relationship

among

with his

own

living in the

.

wisdom

is

itself. It

him was an

would be

right to

linked directly and inextricably with the

the natural, spiritual and divine worlds,

Corbin, too, continued

Swedenborg. There

Esoteric Islam

Ibn ‘Arab! for

d’he Swedenborgian concept of correspondences,

in Daisetz ’s words.

in

was an unforgettable event.

his highest praise.

d he phenomenal world

noumenal world,

exists

opus that Ibn ‘Arab! would undoubtedly

exceptional being, synonymous with

consider

It

spoon now

is

e\’en a

work of

to

have

a

his entitled

profound

is

alive

interest

Swedenborg and

Swedenborg was someone who not only saw Heaven

eves;

he claimed

human

to

have visited there often while

still

world. Although this assertion startled the world.

232

KRANOS— DIAI.OCUIK

IN

IIK

I

HKYONI)

the depth and diversih’ of Ins thinking that heeaine elear only after his

death, wonld heeoine the ohjeet of even greater astonishment. Swe-

denhorg’s infliienee on Kant and Balzae

is

well

known, hnt Baudelaire,

Valery and Dostoevsky were also inllneneed hy him. Reeently, following a reevahiation ot the late nineteenth-eentnrv Christian proselvtizer,

Osni Arai (1846-1922), advanees are being made denborg’s reeeption

denborg

is

in

study of Swe-

in the

Meiji Ja]:)an.^'C\s Daisetz said to Corbin, Swe-

“your Buddha of the North.

Disenssion of Swedenborg’s infinenee on Daisetz seems

been ohstrneted by as

his elose followers for a

Shokin Knrnta, one of Daisetz ’s

only did that infinenee eontinne

formed the

File stor\’

this.

sion

ver\'

to

have

while atter his death. But,

best students, has jxiinted out, not

to li\'e

on

in

him

for a

long time,

it

eore of his thought. Corbin’s testimony also supports

about the spoon seems

on him. Corbin even spoke about

made a strong impresIzntsn, who alludes to this

to liaxe to

it

ineident in his blurb for Daisetz ’s eolleeted works.

Otto and Fdiadc

Olga Froehe-Kapteyn was horn

in

London

in 1881;

her ])arents were

Dnteh, her father an engineer, her mother an early feminist.

who ean

rightfully

her marriage, she tal

he ealled the “mother of Eranos.”

lost

her husband, a miisieian,

thought and depth psyehology gradually eame

and she

v\'oiild

fields. “It

She wanted Ritsema,

devote the

latter half of

was her intuition that

tnal enrrents

needed open spaee

to

who

still

to

beeame her

verifv'

few years

to oeenp\'

life to

she

after

plane erash. Orienher mind,

the study of these

unseen and nnformnlated

s])iri-

unfold and manifest themselves.

provide for these as yet later

her

unknown

forees,” writes

Rudolf

The impnlse was many years in order to

assistant at Eranos.

very strong; yet she remained silent about

a

in a

A

It is

it

for

the genuineness of the event. Cradnallv she eoneeived a plan for

meeting plaee between East and West.

Eneoimters with Sinologist Riehard Wilhelm, Carl Cnstav )nng

and Rudolf Otto proved deeisive. Had she not met them, despite these strong feelings, she might have spent her seholar. d’he spirit of )img,

it

life as

goes without saying,

m

is

an independent deeply rooted

in

CHAFI ER EIGH

Eranos. But, as Izutsu notes,

who was an

Otto,

who

more

1

attention deserves to be given to

indispensable presenee. b]ranos began in 1933; Otto,

died in 1937 and was already plagued with

health, did not take

ill

part as an offieial leetnrer. Perhaps for that reason,

and Eranos, but Otto

ten about Otto to live

on unbroken. Eranos “means

in elassieal

Greek,” Izntsn writes.

“It

brought respectively according

is

a

kind of ‘dining together’

noble and elegant gathering,

participants share food mntnally,

to their

own

tastes,

who

dining at the same table.”^^ Otto was the one

in

has been writ-

inflnenee there would eontinne

a speeific

some

loved by the Greeks, in which

s

little

and enjoy

gave Eranos

talking,

its

name.

Das Heilige (1917; The Idea of the Holy, 1923) has become a classic the phenomenology of religion, and any discussion of Otto is virtually

inseparable from this work.

nnc|nestionahly his

It is

one hook, we rim the

magnum

opus, and

yet by limiting

him

his true nature.

We ought not to overlook his West-ostliche Mystik (1926;

to this

Mysticism East and West, 1932),

in

risk

of losing sight of

which he deals synchronically with

Sankara, the eighth-century exponent of Indian Vedanta philosophy,

and the mystic Meister Eckhardt, who represents medieval Otto,

whose scholarly

concept of the Holy

starting point

Spirit, also

had been

set off on a

On

Religion, 1893). In 1911,

journey of nearly ten months to India,

Japan and Ghina.

It

was

tradition. Thereafter,

at this

Martin Luther’s

played an active part in the reevalnation

of Schleiermacher’s Vher die Religion (1799;

he

a study of

Ghristianih'.

Burma Myanmar), (

time that he encountered the vedantic

he ceased

to

be merely

a Protestant theologian.

His contributions to the world of vedantic thought are extensive and

would continue well

Das

Heilige,

into the last years of his

which delved deep

nomenology, was published

life.

into Jewish

in 1917, after

and Ghristian phe-

Otto had become acquainted

with the Orient. His views of the Orient are vibrantlv alive in this book; they quietly pervade the entire work. His concept of das

nnminons,

i.e.

Numinose

the circnmstances surrounding the self-manifestation

of the transcendent that evoke fear and trembling) caused a

European true

soeieU’.

meaning

(the

It is

no accident

that the ones

carefully concealed in

students of the Orient.

I

am

The Idea

stir in

who understood

of the

the

Holy would be

thinking here of Mircea Eliade and Ibshi-

hiko Izntsn. Eliade’s major work. Das Heilige and das Profane (1937;

234

KRANOS — DIAl.OGUK

Ihe Sacred and the Profane, ])recleeess()r Otto. Kliacle

19159),

IN

I

IIK

RKYONI)

begins w

ith a

reassessment of his

was the foremost historian of religion

in the

twentieth eentnry, hut, before that, he had been a student of the Orient

who was lar.

existentially

Izntsn

that the

eoneerned with

mentioned Otto

first

work he referred

In his

and with yoga

India,

in Sliiiipi tetsiigakii,

to at that

and

it

in j)artien-

is

suggestive

time was Mysticisiii Kast and West.

understanding of mystieism

in a

higher sense

— a synehronie

awareness of seholarship, salvation and the world ot l^eing— Izntsn was |)rofoimdly inflneneed by Otto. In Otto’s works he deteeted the

same

kind of wonder and astonishment as he had reeeived from Louis Massignon. Otto “makes a distinetion between Seelen-inystik

|

mystieism of

the soul], w’hieh seeks C>od in the de])ths of the soul, and Gottes-inystik

mystieism of CL)d], whieh searehes for CLid as the absolutely

I

Van-

I

seendent

beyond,” hut “the inward way and the outward

in the limitless

way,” whieh appear antithetieal, are both essentially the same; one

Whieh

not superior or inferior to the other.

on the personalih’ of the

is

path one ehooses dej^ends the end,” Izntsn asserts,

indi\'idiial mystie. “In

“they will always arrive at the same plaee no matter whieh route they take.”’^ Izntsn

understands that the two mystieisms are not eonelnsions

arrived at through philologieal analysis. Mystieism for Otto

method

for

to the very

understanding the world’s mysteries;

Sonree of religion

though Otto was an

a Christian,

religions denominations.'^'^

his

A

flallaj,

own

not only did he

belief in Catholieism.

deepening of

kind.

he lived

When

faith

Something

is

lost sight

it

as

Massignon diseovered the forgotten

w'as

faseinated by Islam,

an event akin

happened

to Otto.

aKvays an issue behind his study of religions

Otto never

that,

dimension that transeended

is

it

revived

to a “eonversion.”

sometimes brought about by

similar also

a

the path that leads

his seholarshi]), regarding

to a

heeome It

not

Yoshitsngn Sawai points ont

would break through

aetivitv^ that

mystie

itself.

it is

is

a

paradox of

this

Fhat salvation was

probably proof of

of the faet that the ideas of Sankara and

this.

Ramanuja

are direetly eonneeted to their theories of salvation. For the aneient

wise

men

of India, the question of salvation was always foremost; sehol-

arly speenlation

eame

seeond. Otto inherits this

Otto “pointed ont the parallelism

in the

1 ’’sang [the seventh-eentnry patriareh of the

2^5

s])irit,

Sawai

says.

thought strnetnre of Fa

Hna Yen

sehool] and Ihn

CHAPTKR EIGHT

al-‘ArabT,” Iziitsu writes.^’

precisely the search for this “parallel-

It is

ism in thought structure” that

own

scholarly methodology,

one of the fuuclameutals of

is

one

that

in

horn around 1260 and died

in 1328,

Me

ies.”^^

he learned from Otto. Although

788 and died

Sankara was prohahly horn

Otto

820 and Fx'khardt was

ca.

calls the

two “contemporar-

recognizes that true “contemporaries” are not those

diachronically in the

same

who

synchronically. Otto uses

the term “parallel” to describe this synchronicitv. Parallelism

concept

understanding Otto

for

after his travels in Asia,

d’emporal and cultural differences inevitably give religion is

a

and

spirituality.

common

would

— the

— that exists

ur-experience that runs through

them

as

if

rise to

is

a

Sawai notes. differences in

numinous experience

parallel to

that Otto

them. This hard-to-define

religions,

all

drawing a perpendicular line

he

says, arises parallel to

to their source.

The

suggestion of an imaginal image, which, prompted by the spo-

ken

WORD,

rises

up out of the

lingnistie cl/dyn-conscionsness,

envelopes the M-region of conseionsness ing a secret

chamber with smoke.

'This

like

incense densely

that

in dread, at yet others

is

fill-

image space of the depth

consciousness that sometimes shimmers with blessing,

shrouded

key

But quite apart from these differences, there

religious feeling

develop

later

li\’e

even those from different times and

era;

may he “contemporaries”

different cultures

Izutsu’s

overpowering. In

it

lies

Rudolf Otto once called das Numinose (something

at others

is

something

spiritual that

transcends the grasp of reason and that reason, therefore, regards as quite sinister)

Although

and considered

it

in this passage Izutsu

intrinsically

numinous,

high regard for Otto, d’he world

is

at the

a categoiy of religions studies.

is

alluding to the fact that

same time,

who caused

explicated through

the

it is

his

WORDs;

what other primary object s

ideas, Izutsu

is

saving,

beings from this time forth will perceive something numinous,

and das Numinose It

an expression of

is

WORD “numinous” to appear,

of thought could there be? As a result of Otto

human

also

WORD

seems

to

will e\’olve

and become

have happened

part of a metalanguage.

Eranos. Ernst Benz told Izutsu that

at

around the time that Plotinus was

in Alexandria, a

236

group of Buddhists

KRANOS— niAl.OCUIK

was

engaged

acti\'clv

in

IN IIIK BKVONl)

proseKtizing there.

If

Benz’s theor\'

true,

is

Izntsn writes, then the intensely enrions Plotinus

would surely have

made

japan were strong;

the Buddhists’ aec|naintanee.‘^' Benz’s

he onee nlt\- at

sj^ent a year here.

Marhnrg

had held

ehair.

first

first

took

ith

session.

As though following

hiranos in 19$^, the

])art in

Oaisetz.

The

last

same

\’ear that

later

hgnre

a eentral

eo])\-

in

as its

Benz

in his teaehers’ footsteps,

Oaisetz Suzuki was

deepen

Benz ga\e there was

Bnonainti; his hhrar\' eontains a (1/

Mranos from

a jDartieipant at

Benz wonld

leetnre

w hen dbshihiko Izntsn was

nnstieism

a j^rofessor in the theologieal fae-

had been

also iiwited to leetnre there.

w

was

Benz regarded Otto and Prnesto Bnonainti

his mentors. Bnonainti, too,

\ery

le

Unixersih', where, until his retirement in 1929, Otto

same

le

tl

I

ties to

his friendship

in 1978, a

time

Pranos. Izntsn also read

of Bnonainti’s work on medicwal

misticisiuo meclioerale) published in 1928.

Bnonainti, the sineere heretie, was the

embodiment

of the earh'

days of Pranos, the period before 'Ibshihiko Izntsn attended, in other

w ords, the period when the

of Otto was vibrantly ah\

spirit

e.

An

standing seholar of religion, Bnonainti had also been a Catholie

who was exeommnnieated

in 19215

heeanse he refused

out-

priest,

to retraet piibli-

eations of his that had been plaeed on the Chnreh’s Index of Prohibited

Books. it

If

the

should not

and adapt

to

Chnreh

Me

it

the body of Christ inearnate in this world,

enrrent realities and iin is

eternal

ite

e\er\one

must not mistake w hat

universal for

is

ealled himself a “modernist”; for the

began.

real aetivih’

One

in.

it

must ehange

Chnreh,

I’he

dav, a

It

was

what ean he ehanged.

Chnreh

at that

at this point,

young man

sent

time, those

however, that his

him an impassioned

Phe name of the sender was Mireea Pliade. Pliade, who,

hiko Izntsn

savs,

was eompelled

sent Bnonainti a letter in

to

liv

was not of

his

Pliade,

who

an Pranos-like sense, was also

frequently mentions

Prophets do not offieially viduals

may

as dbshi-

whieh he poured out the eonfnsed and

inmost heart. Bnonainti, the elassie example of a in

let-

e the erises of his time existentialK’,

state of his

time

in

and imehanging — perennial — but, Bnonainti

words meant he was dangerous.

ter.

im])ortanee of dogma;

just rigid!}’ stress the

the true sense, asserted,

triiK’ is

him

eritieal

spirit

a seeret

who

hero

for

in his journals.

exist in Cliristianih',

but prophetie indi-

appear. “Prophets,” like Bnonainti, are those

whom

the

CHAPTER EIGHT

Church

repudiates beeause they have puhliely proclaimed the true

nature of the age to

As time passes, however, they are shown

tliev live in.

have spoken nothing other than the

twelfth eentiir}’ was

one such person.

Joachim of Fiore

truth.

It is

no aeeident

in the

that Bnonainti

played a pioneering role in Joachim studies."^ Bnonainti not only studied Joaehim;

he inherited and put into practice Joachim

s

spiritnalih'.

d’he stndv of Joachim has advanced sinee Bnonainti. Marjorie Reeves’

The Influence

mism

Prophecy

Later Middle Ages:

A

Study

in joachi-

(1969) laid the groundwork, and Bernard AlaeGiim’s

The Cal-

of

in the

abrian Abbot: Joachim of Fiore in the History^ of Western lliought has added

new

tribnted a

Foreword

at

diseoveries as well as a historieal exegesis."^^ Fliade eon-

MaeGinn’s book; the two men were colleagues

to

When

the Universih' of Chieago.

latter

(19815)

Fliade met Bnonainti in 1927, the

reported that his work on Joachim was progressing.

Joaehim of Fiore, so-called because as

abbot of an abbey

in

both religion and polities until

in the hvelfth

Fiore in Calabria,

at

The time had

118:5,

when

was a

Italy,

eentnry he sen ed

gifted elerie, active

but in that year he became

a

Ghnreh was absolute, Joaehim said; the age of Ecclesia spiritualis — new “Ghnreh of the Spirit” independent of Ghnreh hierarehv — was now at hand, d’his Ghnreh would be led, Joachim said, not by priests, but by spiritual persons who have reeeived the grace of the Holy Spirit, with no distinction prophet.

passed

the existing

c\

between

cleric

and

he had received Joachim,

lay.

Joachim was not

a revelation

who prophesied

the Holv Spirit,

and was speaking

Ghnreh

has

Hie

The Principle

of

i.e.

the age of

error of his ways

[oaeliim’s ideas lived

'

come under

words of prophecy.

a third status,

on

and

after his death.

pressure to reform, Joaehimism

has been revived in various forms. Ernst Bloeh in (1954;

as

it

would ultimately be shown the

^

the

coming of

the

shnnned hv the Ghnreh. But

Whenever

stating a theological opinion;

Hope, 1986) eited Marx

Das

as a

revival of Joaehim’s ideas has already spread

Prinzip Hoffniing

Joaehim-like person.

beyond the framework

of the Ghnreh. d’he

exeommnnieated Bnonainti

who had been this, are phenom-

reviving Joachim,

regarded as a heretie, and Eliade’s reeeptivity

to

ena that are truly indieative of the present situation eonfronting the

Church, do borrow Derrida’s words, the Church

238

is

at a

point where

it

KRANOS — DIAl.OGUK

must he “clcconstnictcd”

in

IN

l

RKYONI)

ilK

order to he able to he rehorn. In the age

Chnreh meant Cdnistianih’, hut the Chnreh in this sense no longer means just the Roman C'atholie Chnreh; it is emhlematie of religion itself. The person who emerged to inherit and earrv on his mentors researeh was h-rnst Benz, who wrote Kcclesia spiritiiof J oaehiin, the

Kircheiiidee

alis:

iiuci

Geschichtstheologie der franziskciiiischen Refor-

mation (1934; The Chnreh of the Spirit: '[’he idea of the ehnreh and the history and theolog\’ of the Franeisean Reform). Benz also dealt

Bohme and

with Jakoh

Sehelling and wrote a length\’ study of Sweden-

borg; in the history of Christianih’ that he

nniqne signiheanee

to

new Chnreh and was against

It

tlie

who

its

regarded as

a heretie

by

landseape that Kranos appeared.

this spiritual

world was

is

”

old one alike.

'Fhough the ])henomenal world spiritual

he even attaehed

Rudolf Steiner, whose “esoterie Cdiristianih

goes hevond Christian mvstieism and the

em isioned,

at the

time was relativeK’ tranquil, the

in turmoil. Fissures

were beginning

emerge

to

in

foundations. Just as the participants were eireumspeet in their use

of the word “Cod,” they did not speak easily about salvation. But there

was

a strong sense

among them

salvifie e\'ents. Fhe)'

were

that their efforts

direetly linked to

gathered eaeh year in Aseona with an awareness of

ha\ ing been ealled, Corbin wrote.

When

Pdiade died, 'koshihiko Izntsu, reealling a friendship that had

been deepened through seholarship, wrote

a tribute to

and indelible image of a profound

left a

\

men

aetuallv

as to

make

ivid

met only twiee,

that faet

seem

seholar.’^

unlikely.

Fhe

first

time

the\’

hhiki

fair to say,

I'aoism as

Fhe eompletion oi l he was Fliade’s fondest

whieh he

are so

deep

met they talked

The

as

infre-

partieularly important.

met

again, the\’ read eaeh

works and were inflneneed by them. Fliade’s

would he

and

fifteen-year inter\'al before they

to honshitsu.

left

for ten years, Izntsu said.

queney of their aetual eontaet may not ha\ e been

other’s

in

Although the two

the traees those eneonnters

though they had known eaeh other

During the

him

name

appears in

Histor)^ of Religious Ideas,

wish."^^ in

it

it

Fliade eited Sufism

one of the most important works on Islamie mystieism.

'The 1967 Franos Conferenee was the participated, hut

it

would he

Fliade’s

m

last.

first

one

in

whieh Izutsn

Fhe two met again

in 1982,

CHAPTER EIGH

when By I

was invited not

Kliacle

eoineidenee,

a strange

’he

two were also elose

of Eliade

s

I

but as a clistingnished guest.

as a leetnrer

this

wonld be

Izntsn’s last

in inheriting the tradition of

time

at

Eranos.

Rudolf Otto.

One

most important works, The Sacred and the Profane, was the

A Jungian

deelaration of a revival of the true spirit of Otto. tainly exists at Eranos, but Izutsu does not

associated with

seem

to

tradition cer-

have been directly

Eranos, of course, was not a factional gathering nor

it.

were there struggles

hegemony. But

for

tual pedigrees, Izutsu,

I

if

we

are considering intellec-

believe, was part of the group to

which Otto,

Massignon, Buonaiuti, Benz and Eliade belonged. Eliade of his

and ter

life.

s

travels in India

I

here for the

religions

rest

time he experienced living philosophies

first

and the raw power of the “sacred.” Of these, the encoun-

with “the classical yoga philosophv of Patahjali” was decisive, Izutsu

Although Patahjali

writes.

Sutras, nothing about as

during his early years determined the

Zen

achieves

its

scendence known But even

if

him

is

famous

known

is

as the

expounder of the Yoga

for sure, including his floruit. Just

ultimate end in the enlightened state of inner tran-

yoga

as satori,

someone were

is

a similar

kind of ascetic practice.

reach the height of metaphysical aw are-

to

ness, Eliade writes, Patahjali did not believe that that alone

human

beings. Although that was

most

could free

likely Patahjali’s belief,

it

was

probably Eliade’s as well. Practicing yoga, Eliade said in his memoirs, was indispensable for a true

allow

understanding of Indian w isdom.

him

to

do so

easily. In

Elis

teacher in India did not

order to read the writings of Patahjali as

well as other works of classical philosophy, Eliade self in the study of Sanskrit.

time,

it

would be

fair to say,

first

immersed him-

His dedication to language learning

was an ascetic practice on

at this

a par with yoga.

His days were spent with no regard for social contacts or for ordinarv life.

Even

his

meals — simple

fare

— were

room once yoga and showed him the wav. delivered to his

Words led Eliade to Ehe minds of Izutsu and Eliade were in profound accord regarding the connection between language and a fundamental metaphysical experience. Izutsu, too, w as someone who engaged in ascetic practices. every few days.

Citing the words of Eliade,

“I

sought salvation

goes on to say:

240

in the Orient,” Izutsu

KRANOS— niAI.OCUIK

I'br

the

young

the sense of erisis he

felt;

of that sense of erisis

itself.

eome

IK

I

BKVONI)

new

was the

it

aeacleiuie (lisei|)hue out of

existential, personal eoiK|nest

I'he |)ersonal i^redieainent of a “erisis of

eonseionsness” was something that eonld only he over-

personally. Betore seholarshij), the existential j^rohlems of the

|)erson tions,

I

the urgent eoueern was not, as in the ease

of hreucl and llusserl, to ereate a

l'',nro|)ean

IN

doing the seholarship must

he went

first

not disajipoint

to India. India did

must

first

the\' are also likeK^ to

he soKed” he

hini.'^^

problems of the person doing the

“I^cforc scholarsliip, the existential

seliolarship

he soKed. With these exj^eeta-

— these

words are true of

a eonfession of Izntsn’s

h’diade, hut

own inmost

heart.

Kliade was a remarkable historian of religions, hut he was also noN'elist,

after

whose

original works ha\e

eompleting

as a seholar

his philosophieal studies in India,

hut as

when dbshihiko

been eompiled and

Izutsii

losopher. Neither

As

a noxelist.

mentioned

I

had been

man had

edited. Indeed,

he started out not

to

was

earlier, there

than

a “literarN- eritie” rather

intended

heeome

a

a

time

a phi-

a seholar. d’he artist

Shikb Mimakata (1903-1975), speaking about the karma that led him to

woodhioek

hanga had ealled him;

prints, said that

seholarship ealled Fdiade and

in the

same way,

Izntsii.

d he dVaditionalists and Sophia pereuuis At the end of \ olmne

1

of dbshihiko Izntsu

s

seleeted works, there

(On

brief essa\' entitled '‘CJiosakushu

no kankd

tion of m\’ seleeted works). In

Izntsu skims o\ er his

about

his philosophieal origins

it

ni atatte”

and the formation of

a

the pnhliea-

and speaks

life

his

is

\

iews. Izntsu

died before the pnhlieation of his seleeted works was eomplete. d ims, this

pieee eonld well he thought of as

summing up

his intelleetnal

eonelusions.

me

from the

outset have been

assumed

In

any event, ideas

to

he not a perennial, organized ])hilosophieal system hnt rather an

for

existential, semantie,

eoneeptnal

\’ery

field,

organic and fluid, w

guage, natural and enltnral landseaj^e and ethnieih as en\ irons of which ideas appear and

241

ervstallize."^^

its

ith lan-

axes, in the

EIGHT

CHAP'I'KR

rhe sentence may seem casual, but

when

important

it

includes several terms that are

considering roshihiko Izntsn’s position

world

in the

outside Japan. “An existential, semantic, conceptual field, organic and fluid, its

with language, natural and cnltnral landscape and ethnicity as

axes, in the environs of

which ideas appear and

crystallize”

is

what

Izntsn calls “culture.” For Ibshihiko Izntsn “Cnltnre,” along with the

Orient, consciousness, essence,

meaning and

important technical term. Cnltnre a living,

it is

guage,

and customs not

is

not a static social

is

and constantly changing, organism

religion

art,

WORD,

mention

to

that

a key term,

an

phenomenon;

encompasses

history, dliere

is

lan-

a col-

lection of his lectures entitled Isurdmii hunkci (1981; Islamic cnltnre).

Here, too, the

title

was earefnlly chosen.

In the passage cited above, Izntsn originally wrote

M, the Japanese equivalent of “eternal, immntahle, unique, universal,” which he annotated with the English word “perennial.” Associated with this latter word

is

a

group of thinkers who form

a

major

inter-

known as the Traditionalist or Perennial school. Foremost among them one can cite Rene Gnenon, Frithjof Schnon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Alartin Lings and Seyyed Ilossein national current of thought

Traditionalist expression

Nasr.

formats.

is

not necessarily limited to intellectual

Schnon was an outstanding

wamy, who was an

artist

art historian rather

and wrote poetr\ Coomaras.

than a philosopher, dealt with

perennial heanh'; his works influenced the composer John Cage.

Although Izntsn

s

language

passage cited abox e seems mild,

in the

the statement shonld probably he read as a forthright declaration of

the differences between the Traditionalist school and his

ophy.

him

Had

to

that not

go

been the

to the trouble of

case, there

own

philos-

wonld have been no need

for

annotating characters meaning “eternal,

immutable, unique, universal” with the uord “perennial.” He did so because the technical term philosophia perenniSy implying true philosopliy,

is

the most important key term of the IVaditionalist school. Tra-

dition with a capital F does not refer to the historical transmission of spiritnalih

down

.

It

connotes a nonmenal or

directly

is

passed

from the transcendental Creator. “Primordial”

in the

sense of original or fundamental has

nr-religioiis realih’ that

become another important con-

cept of the d’raditionalist school. Primordial

242

is

different

from primitive.

KRANOS— niAl.OCUIK

It

does not sim])ly

a-teinporal.

diale

is

I

signif\-

IN TIIK BKVONI')

going back

in time, d’lic conce])t, rather,

he expression “primordial tradition” or tradition

eneonnter the primordial tradition

is

nothing

Mind,

directly experience the manifestation of Absolute

d\namie

Realih’ that e\’cn

rhc dVaditionalists

now eontinncs

phenomenal world — religions,

eternal,

that

than

less

to

a synchronic,

unceasing work

ot cre-

Realih Rcdigio

hcNond the differences

intelleetnal, cnltnral

immutable, nnic|ne, nni\ersal,

omnipresent and not subject is

its

call the ]:)ath to this trnlv real

Sophia perennis. d'hev believe

pereuiiis or in the

l:)riinor-

also used.

lb

ation.

is

— exists an

perennial, Realih’ that

i.e.

is

to an\' spatio-temporal limitations, l/ntsn

not saying that a ])erennial Realih' does not

exist.

But he wonld

])roh-

ahlv not argue for the existence of a truth that transcends cnltnral nniversals. “It

is

impossible for people to shed their cnltnral traditions as

easily as they take off their clothes,” Izntsn writes.'’’

hclie\’ed that there are, in fact, great dangers

and

As

this suggests,

he

intelleetnal pitfalls in

oxerlooking cnltnral differences. I

alluded earlier

ot Islam

to

Asin Palacios,

and Ihn ‘Arab! are found

xx

ho claimed

that the inflncnees

Dante’s

in the basic strnetnre of

Divine Comedy. The attitudes of the dVaditionalist school and Izntsn toxxard this

phenomenon

tell

ns something about the differences

between them. Izntsn does not deny

that the inflnenee of Sufism

spread to Italy via Spain; to the contrarx', he thought highly of the

xx

ork

of Asfn Palacios, xxho intuitively understood complexly intertxxined cidtiiral ing.

As

xx

phenomena and hacked up e knoxv

from the

forexx

his research xvith snhtlc reason-

ord to the 1981 translation of a

xx

ork

hx’

R.A. Nicholson, Izntsn’s assessment of Asin Palacios did not change

throughout along

xvith

Orientalist

Nasr sis in

is

his lifetime.

There he

name

of Asfn Palacios

other giants of Islamic studies such as Massignon,

Theodor Noldeke, and Nicholson

German

himself.^'

similar in his appreciation of Asfn Palacios, hut the

his assessment

is

different.

“Dante

similarities xvith the SnfTs, not onlv tact xvith

cited the

them through

.

.

.

heeanse of

rexeals

empha-

many profound

a certain historical

eon-

the Order of the demple, hut primarily heeanse

he depicts fundamentally the same

spiritual

experiences and a similar

version of the Unix^erse in the context of the Christian tradition.

24^

As

CHAPTKR EIGH r

this

Asm

statement shows, what Nasr values about

Palaeios’s thesis

is

not Asiu Palaeios as a seholar developing a theory of eulture, but his elueiclatiou of the metaphysieal

anih’ meet,

view.’"^

in

in his later years

What he

spoke frankly about his ideas

talked about there was,

first

between Atma and Maya, Realih’

distinetion

whieh Islam and

Christi-

the existenee of d radition.

i.e.

Sehuon

dimension

ditionalist sehool, a diseussion of

an “organic'”

in

an

inter-

and foremost, the sharp vs. Illusion.

For the Tra-

phenomenon

guage, natural and enltural landseape and ethnieity as

“with lan-

axes, in the

its

environs of whieh ideas appear and erystallize” would not be regarded as a Realistic' pursuit but

rhe

would

refer

merely

to the Illusion that

text eited earlier, '^Chosakushii

publieation of tetsugaku,

mv

no kanko

eoneeals

ni atatte”

(On

it.

the

seleeted works), also serves as an epilogue to Shinpi

whieh eomprises volume

i.

In that work, Izntsu

sized that the eompletion of the anabasis, the

midway point

only the

way up

had empha-

in fervent pursuit

“A person

of the Ultimate,

is

who thoroughly

explores the world of Ideas and reverently enters the

seeret inner

baek down life in its

ehambers of transeendent

life

in the via mystica.

has the saered diiR to

eome

phenomenal world, ignite the flame of transeendent very midst and work diligently toward the idealization of the to the

relative world,”

he

says.^^ In

enment may oeeur during there. Rather,

it

other words, although aehieving enlight-

eome

anabasis, nothing will

was Izutsu’s firm eonvietion,

it

of

would be

it

to the

phenomenal world and

ends

fair to say,

that the mystie’s true mission lay in the katabasis, in returning

realm of the Absolute

if it

from the

“idealizing”

it.

Rather than affirming the existenee of the other world, “the ide-

means diseovering and nurturing the within “eultnre.” Izntsu does not assume that the

alization of the relative world”

seeds of eternitv

nonmenal world

is

are in aeeord with

a

plaee where the various religions and ideologies

one another; he emphatically

calls attention to the

importance of discerning the true nature of each lel to

the

one

other, bbr Izntsu, katabasis

phenomenal world

revealing the also

in a

is

as they exist paral-

not a matter of understanding

noumenal-world-like wav;

nonmenal world

what “philosophy” meant

in a

it is

a matter of

phenomenal-world-like wav. d’hat

to Izntsu.

244

is

KKANOS— niAI.OGUK

W hat

common

is

form

ticularly austere

losophy.

to the in

that

RKVONI)

—

Sehnon — is

(Tiienon and

it

a]:)])cars in a

sharp distinction hetween ])hilosopln’

a

it

was too

the IVaditionalists, “philoso]:)hy” in

central to

is

{:)hil()S()pliic!

siiggcsti\e of “])hiloso])hv.” f or

present sense

its

when metaphysics

of philosophy and what

par-

the rejection of phi-

he was even warv of using the term

perennis on the grounds that

Sophia. Nov\ adays,

'HU-',

IVaclitionalist scliool

Sehnon made such

and metaphysics

IN

is

treated as is

it

the

is

if it

human

antonvm of

were

a

hraneh

reason alone, phi-

losophers confine themscKcs to cx])ressing what can he rationally understood. In so doing, they ha\e eompleteh’

meaning of philoso])hv— the

nal

love iphilo-) of

metaph\sies, and meta]:)hysies alone that

Sehnon

A B\-

wisdom

(sopliia).

It

is

ing on the

modern sense ohsenres

the tradi-

between nr-rehgion and

religions.

is

engaged

the origi-

in earr\

dVadition. Indeed, philoso|)hy in the tion,

lost sight ot

heliexed.

similar eontrast also occurs

“religions”

is

meant

the existing faith-based

Judaism, Christianih’, Buddhism, Islam,

I

eommimities sneh

lindihsm, Shinto,

ete.

as

At their

genesis, these religions are strongK' eolored by the Tradition, but, the dVaditionalist sehool hehe\es, as a resnlt of long-preser\ed doctrines

ideological infighting,

Wdsdom

is

hidden so deep within religions that

impossible for anyone to easily get a glimpse of

it is

and

it.

I

Vaditionalists

do

not rejeet religion, hut, they explain, one must look beyond the \arions religions in order to find

of

title

(1948;

Sehnon

s

what

magnum

The transcendent

is

tridy religions,

De

opus,

Unit}' of Religion, 195^), a

Eliieidating the lYadition

is

views of the

like repairing a

v\

ashed away by w ater, earried off by

tered to the ends of the earth. Restoring

even seem impossible.

And

yet,

while

dimension,” ur-religion

is

Wdiat makes

i.e.

I

that d’.S. Fdiot

Vaditionalist sehool.

broken piece of pot-

materialize

or nr-rehgion.

it

to

human hands and its

original shape

The

is

IVaditionalists

245

might

surely exists in the “esoterie

where the

what the

scat-

certainly impossible to find

the transcendental dimension in

revealed, the plaee it

it

it is

intaet in the “exoteric dimension,”

ies

work

Wdth the passage of time, the shards have been whipj^ed np by

the wind,

it

nr-religions. d'he

trausceiidante des religions

I'lniite

])raised highly, snceinetly sets forth the

terw

i.e.

whieh the

IVadition manifests

d'raditionalists eall

might

iinitv’

fairly

of

itself.

metaphvs-

be deseribed as those

CHAPTER EIGHT

who

among philosopliies and religions and Vadition and Wisdom appear in time.

transcend the differences

make

the realih’ of

Wliat

I

wonld

tlie

I

consider here, however,

like to

is

the Traditionalists’

use of the key word “iinih .” As can be seen from the

magnum seeking; cretists

it is

the unit}’ of “Religion.” is

of

Sehnon

s

not a superficial consensus of “religions” they are

it is

nor what

commonly

We saw earlier

monists. \

opus,

title

The

d Vaditionalists are neither syn-

called religions phirahsts; they are pure

Ibn ‘Arabl’s \aew of the “nnih^ of existence,” the

iew that regards “beings” as self-extensions and self-manifestations of

“Being.”

The

theorv of unity in the dVaditionalist school

close to that of Ibn ‘ArabT. Both dbshihiko Izntsn

agreement

are in to

where

sion.

He

nnih’

is

Vaditionalists

found. Izntsn does not deny the esoteric dimen-

recognizes, too, that

it is

the place where nnih’ holds sway. But

not confined only to the nonmenal world;

is

I

extremely

recognizing the unity of Being, but they differ as

in

that nnih'

and the

is

it

can manifest

phenomenal world as well, he believes. Guenon and Sehnon both had close ties with Sufism, the

itself

in the

spiritual

men were both intellectuals Guenon was born in France

base from which Ibn ‘Arab! arose, d’he hvo

and practitioners of in 1886;

Sehnon

in

religions austerities.

Switzerland

Both had once been devout

in 1907.

Catholics, but they believed that the Catholic Church, as a religion,

was no longer carrying on the IVadition, and each, independently of

own way until nltimatelv thev came to the world of and became sO/Ts. Cnenon was a solitary thinker. Remote not just

the other, went his

Islam in a

metaphorical sense, he lived alone

The

in

Cairo and spent

itating

and

after a

lengthy correspondence, Sehnon

writing.

Traditionalist school

came

two wonld meet again only once, the following begin with Rene Guenon. Temporally,

and conld even be called

a

it

was born

was

to visit

year. T

his days

in 1936,

med-

when,

Guenon. The

he IVaditionalists

a twentieth-centinv event

“new” school of thought. Although decid-

Guenon, Sehnon was no mere epigone. In 1948, two clashed o\’er the Christian sacraments. Not just a difference

edly influenced by the

was an incident that might even be called an intellectual

of opinion,

it

falling-out.

But the feud was notably played out

among

the two

followers rather than between the principals themselves,

who

men

s

never

stopped corresponding with one another. In the pursuit of the Tradition,

246

KRANOS— DlAI.OGUr,

of \

a clivergenc'c

death, Sehiioii

was probably

ic\vs

left

solitary pursuit of the its

IHK HKYONI)

Cbicnon’s

a sccoiularv mattc'r. After

an impartial appraisal of him.

Nasr represents the generation

Selmon,

IN

Vadition

I

that

eame

after Sehiion. If

Chienon

s

had been broadened and deepened by

position in intelleetnal eireles was seenred by Nasr. d’he

heeame aware

of Nasr in 1964 with the jDiihlieation oCl'hree

Muslim Sages, based on

leetnres gi\en at Harvard University, lie was

world

tirst

By mentioning the name of Coomaraswamy and

thirty-one at the time. eiting

Selmon

his affiliation

bibliography of

in the

w ith the

when even

At a time

a I’raditionalist

was

this

work, Nasr did not eoneeal

I'raditionalist sehool.

1

his

was during Vatiean

the term “interfaith dialogue” did not exist, to he

to

he the target of |)rejndiee and discrimination and

eonferred virtnally no aeademie advantages. Not only was ist

II.

thought not reeognized

raditional-

I

as a legitimate siihjeet of seholarship;

it

was,

with a few exeeptions, shunned in religions eireles. In Uet, aeeording to Nasr, in the

referring to in 1974, that

mid

1960s,

Selmon

Corbin was expelled from the Aeademie

in a paper.^~

It

would he roughly

Kliade disenssed Cnicnon.^^ d ims,

it

deeade

a

has not been

for

later,

all

that

long ago sinee the world was freed from the biased view that the IVaditionalists

were heretieal thinkers, and gradually began

they eonstitnted a group that deserves to play

its

to

reeognize that

part in thought

and

seholarship.

As ean he seen from the passage eited

earlier,

while Izntsn makes

plain his differenees from the lArennialists, that does not

mean he

underrated their importanee. Leo Sehaya, on whose works the study of the

Qahhalah and Jewish mv'stieism

was

member

a

in Ishiki to hoiishitsu

was based,

of the I’raditionalist sehool; as this shows, izntsn was

reeeptive to the

emergenee of the

intelleetnal enrrent

ditionalism. d’here were two works by Sehava Izntsn’s library, hut

eeivahle that Izntsn

none by Guenon

or

and

known

as

I’ra-

several by Nasr in

Selmon. And vet

wonld have been unfamiliar with the

it

is

ineon-

d’raditionalist

sehool’s two foremost thinkers. Nasr was so deeisively inflneneed

them

that

he went so

far as to

deelare that no one had read

thoroughly as he had. Izntsn and Nasr wonld at the

Imperial Iranian

Aeademy

later

heeome

Selmon

h\’

as

eolleagiies

of Philosophy. Perhaps the two dis-

cussed the Praditionalist sehool.

247

1

CHAPTER

EIGH'l

Judging from the name, one might he apt rial

Aeademy

Iranian

to

assume

that tlie

Impe-

of Philosophy was a researeh eenter for Islamie

thought, hut that would merely be a preconception based on the post-revolutionary Iranian regime. As the fact that

its

Sophia perennis clearly shows, the Aeademy was “perennial” wisdom; rial

Iranian

it

Academy

was not Islamic,

it

journal was called

was dVaditionalist. d’he Impe-

of Philosophy was founded in 1974

grant

from the Fanpress of Iran under the then imperial system Nasr’s nomination hv j

pursue

a place to

Raymond

Klibansky as an

^

official

to

honor

member

of

the Institut International de Philosophic. Nasr, of course, served as the

Academy’s the

director. Fie invited Izutsu

along with Corbin and others

Academy. William Chittick, who edited The Essential Seyyed Nasr

sein

(2007), studied

under Izutsu during

1

to os-

his stay there. In pre-rev-

olutionary Iran, Islam was not an absolute religion. Rather, the Shah

enacted policies of religious tolerance; the Iranian revolution was,

in

part, a reaction against these liberal policies.

As can be seen from the inclusion of an essay by Izutsu

in a

2003

anthology of essays primarily by members of the d Vaditionalist school entitled Seeing

God

Every'where^'^

— ihe

title is

even outside japan, Izutsu has been regarded

taken from Sehuon

as a dVaditionalist

—

because

of his relationship with Nasr and Chittick. But to speak of a closeness

between Izutsu and the Perennialists from such circumstances scratching the surface.

It

was bv no means If

(?)

from the

Fraditionalist school that Izutsu

insignificant.

there are philosophers

ing

who

try to

formulate

abstraet moral philosophy,

I

a

permanent, uneliang-

don’t think

1

would deny the

\alue of sueh an undertakiug. But, e\’en in a ease like insist that,

only

should be clear from the following statement

that the existential distance felt

is

this,

I

would

before dexeloping sueh abstraet speeulations as these, phi-

losophers must self-eonseiously pass through the e\’en denser realm of differenees in linguistic' and eultural paradigms.

One

can readily imagine that “a permanent, unchanging

moral philosophy”

was Izutsu,

abstract

refers to Fraditionalist thought. But, as his

mean that Izutsu rejected after all, commenting on the

imply, that did not It

(?)

248

words

the Fraditionalist school.

differences between the

KRANOS— DIAI.OGUK

IcIlcMiic Ciocl

I

and the

I

IN

Ichraic Cn)d,

MKVONI)

IIIl',

who

])crccivccl that thev did not

among

indicate differences in Cnxl hnt inereK’ differences gians. Perhaps, given the critical state that religion

was

theolo-

he under-

in,

stood the inevitahilih’ that a IVaditionalist current of thought wonld arise. In

Sufism and

and regarded

nis

actualization as the tnndamental ohjceti\’e hehind

its

the writing of that

was no

stiuK.^’' lie

pereiinis than the traditionalists.

own philosophv on

eonstrnet his

and Taoism. Having

own work

tar awa\' to all,

It

1

koi

^

it

the presupposition that a

as “

tahoo

to

IVadition”

disclosed his inner aspirations, he did not conceal

the acute sense that the ideal dimension was

catch a glimj^sc

of.

human

Wliat

tails far

low can those who sec only

was from doubts such \\1iat

desirous for a philosopliia

But Izntsn also regarded

only a tiiw portion of “Ciod” and

Absolute.

less

conviction remained nnehanged from the time of Sufism

exists, d’his

in his

used the term philosopliia peren-

'I'aoism, l/iitsn

as these that

would happen,

a

heings

mneh

“Cjod”

call

too

after

is,

short of the transcendental

fragment speak

he eonld not a\ert

Iziitsn asks, if all the

ot the

whole?

his eves.

instances of the word

Mauyosliil were translated as “love”? Docs the )apancse

in the

lE^ mean

same thing as the English word “justice”? As he ohserxes in Koran o yomu (1983; Reading the Koran), the Arabic word din, meaning “judgment,” when used in certain contexts, is not a word

seigi

the

judgment of good and

c\’il,

but

is

directlv

eonneeted with the regener-

ation of the world inelnding the resurrection of the dead. Needless to sav, the

same holds

true for the

word “God.” For

language are not merelv differenees enees

in realih'.

in voeahnlarx';

he also heliexes that

ineapable of eompletely conveying what they

And

it is

they express differ-

For that reason, not only does he eonsider translation

in the striet sense impossible,

premise, he

Iziitsu, differenees in

heeame

a philosoj^her

who

mean

human

heings are

in words.

On

that

expressed himself in words.

preeisely for that very reason that he learned

more than

thirh'

languages, read the elassies of the East and the WFst in the languages in

whieh they were

language, a

originally written,

eommon

and desired the

birth of a

meta-

j^hilosophieal language.

rhe same doubts he harbored about language he directed toward the tradition,

He

i.e.

toward the “perennial” Realih of the IVaditionalist sehool.

did not ehoose the path of a d’radition that transeended eulture;

249

CHAP E R EIGHT I

rather,

he reeognized that diverse eultures,

universal.

too, are manifestations of the

not amiatter of envisaging a transeendental dimension

It is

somewhere beyond

the points that enltnres have in

eommon;

the nnih'

of the I’ranseendent exists beyond their differenees, Izntsn believed.

riie

world manifests

nomena and jective

things are concrete manifestations of a person

all

semantic

ddiis passage

through semantic articulation. All phe-

itself

s

sub-

articulation.^’”

was written

in the last year of Izntsu’s life, at the

time he

was revising Imi no kozo (1992; I’he strnetnre of meaning). It would he fair to say it eneapsulates Toshihiko Izutsn s philosophy. Culture in

phenomenal world is non-transeendent. Superfieially, it is nothing more than a phenomenon. Yet writhing in its depths is “meaning,” whieh eauses phenomena to manifest themselves. What we ought to take away from this is that meaning does not oceur in the noiimenal world; it is hidden along with “realitv” in the phenomenal world. It may be possible to disenss the noumenal \\’orld. But human beings do not live in the noumenal world; they live in the phenomenal world. the

Philosophy must on no aeeount

di\

oree

itself

from the

realities of this

world, Izntsn believed. 1 he view that, at the highest level, dition

is

who belong

baeked up by

ably aeknowledge

whieh

religions eonverge

on Tra-

not merely an empty theoretieal argument; as the writings

of the thinkers it is

all

to the Traditionalist

sehool fully eonvey,

their existential experienees. Izntsn this.

would argue, there

But, he

is

would presum-

no

single point at

religions converge; they are parallel in Otto’s sense.

matter of presupposing

a reality that

transcends culture;

realih' itself that gives e.xpression to the

It is

it is

not a

cultural

transcendence of the transcen-

dent, he believed.

d’he following quotation “spiritualih

”

could

There was Greece and

a a

is

just as well

from

Ishiki to honshitsu.

be substituted

unique ancient Greek

for “essence” here.

sv'stem of “essence” in ancient

unique ancient Ghinese system of “essence”

Ghina. Neither Socrates, who gave

250

“Culture” or

rise to a

new

in

ancient

philosophical

KRANOS— DIAI,(K;UK

by searching

ni()\cinciit

things, nor C'onfneins, ot things

and

for

1

know

is

who

(

likewise sought for the “essence”

hnilt a system to “reetih

in

something they had

itli

sneh absolute

it,

(

I'rnth)

were able

swstem of “essence” that their respee-

to find

and eorreetly

Iziitsu’s

the\' created;

it

understand.^’'*

theor\ of “essenee”

monism

elarih' as this. Sankara’s aclvaita

aneient India; Lao-tzh and Cvlmang-tzn’s I'aoism and C'onfneins’

reetifieation of

Ckeeee — Iz.iitsii its

names” based on

of no statement in wliieli Ibslhliiko

expressed w

RKVONI)

assumed, “k’.ssenee” was not something

ti\c enltiires sim])!)-

I'llK

an eternal, innnnlable “essence” Idea) of

to eseaj)e the limitations of the

was

IN

own

names is

in

China;

Plato’s theoiw of Ideas in aneient

not arguing that the\' are

nnic|ne \antage point, sheds light

All these sages

formnlated their

own

all

upon ideas,

the same; eaeh, from

the truth, he helicwed.

knowing

that the\'

not eseape the framework ot the “essenee” swstem presupposed

something they ereated;

enltnres. “‘Kssenee’ was not

something they had

to find

and eorreetly understand.”

shows how aentely aware of

it

eonld

h\'

their

was simply

d’his

sentenee

enltiiral differenees Izntsn was.

It

also

points out the dangers of seeing nnih earelessly. Wdiat Izntsn deals w in Ishiki to hoiisliitsu ties.

His foens

is

ith

not the nnih' of different enltnres or spirituali-

is

not on their agreement but on their snhtle differenees.

Differenees do not onh'

gi\ e rise to frietion; rather, the\'

show that there

maiw different routes by whieh to reaeh the nniversal. Seeing One in the Maiw is a pers])eeti\ e that permeates Ishiki to housliitsu. Differenees among religions seem perplexing to those proeeeding

ean be the

along the way

make all

to

God, and the

the diseo\’er\' of truth diffienlt. But, as Ihn ‘Arab!

made

elear,

if

things primordially are artienlated self-extensions of Being, religion

does not eoneeal God; is

mnlti])lieih' of ])hiloso])hies apj^ears to

nothing

less

it

ean he said

to

he Ciod’s ])ersona. Gnltiire, too,

times lead ns into eonfnsion, but the faet that there are

God may

be

may somemany wa\'s to

than a symbol of Being. Mnltiple personae

a blessing as well.

2sl

V

I

I

CHAP

I

KR

NINK

Consciousness and Essence

On ranos,

E

ear, as

if

summer oe

I’HE

on Tibetan

the E\’e of “Ishiki to honshitsii”

I’antra,

197c)

— Dctlcf Ingo

an

speaking passionateh’ into 'Toshiliiko IzntsiTs

blowing something

in, tells

him, “W^e Westerners must now

understand Oriental wisdom from within. Beeanse that potential for developing a eompleteh'

den.” to

I

aiithorit\-

is

where the

new higher knowledge

is

hid-

often reeall those words, Izntsii writes in the Afterword to Ishiki

honshitsu

(198:5;

Conseionsness and essenee).' As we haxe

alread\'

seen, the foundations for this work had been laid during the dozen or so vears in speeti\’es

whieh Izntsn was

and strnetnre,

Serialization

began

in

this

aeti\ e at

work

is

Eranos. In

its

snhjeet matter, per-

permeated with the Eranos

)nne 1980 and ended seven installments

Eehrnary 1982. Izntsn eontinned

to attend

to honshitsn.”“ In this ehapter, italies wall

Eranos while writing he used

spirit.

later in

“Ishiki

to refer to Ishiki to

honshitsu the hook and quotation marks will he used for the essay alized

under

that

name

in the periodieal

the eore of that hook. Eor the most part,

Shiso

it is

this

(d

seri-

bought) that forms

long essay that will he

disenssed here.

The mission of Eranos Intelleet

is

to

ehieidate the existenee of nous

—

— and the noiimenal world. But human beings eannot experience 25 ^

CHAPTKR NINE

the purely nounienal world

clireetly. If

they eould,

it

would not be purely

uouuieual. Ilarues.^iug the power of traditional religions, philosophy, the arts and eutting-edge seienee, the partieipants at h^ranos aspired to

make

the nounienal world

experienee

that, if

open and aeeessible

humankind as an eoming as elose as

to all

not primal, eould be regarded as

humanly possible to it. d’heir mission was nothing less than to find the plaee, midway between the phenomenal and nounienal worlds, where primal events oeeur. welt

beeame

Kranos

diseovery of a transeendent-oriented Zwischen-

aim of Eranos. Adolf Portmaim, who embodied the

the

spirit,

The

“maeroeosmos”

ealled the region that lay between the

and the “mieroeosmos” the “Mediokosmos,” Corbin ealled imaginalis; Izutsu the ATrealm, and to the seething

miindus

it

dynamism

in that

name “linguistie cT/uvu-eonseiousness.” The differenee names is not the issue. What is extraordinar\’ is that, despite differenees their ur-experienees, the aetiv ities of eaeh of these men were earried

realm he gave the in in

out eollaborativelv in the true sense. d’he

human

uum, and

world and the transeendental world form

a

eontin-

the latter subsumes the former. In addition, there exists

an intermediate zone, pereeptible

to

human

beings,

where

at

every

moment

that truth arises. For the partieipants at Eranos, Izutsu

ineluded,

wisdom

it

did not

was something that

know” meant

to

being.

manifested. As

in the sensible

mere aeeumulation of knowledge;

from the medioeosmos. For them,

at the

this proeess, the

Human

the

issues forth

ehip away

had aeeumulated dimension. In

mean

previously

known information

world and get baek

One who

not a

is

human

beings only witness and report the events that is

that

nounienal

to the

truly speaks

“to

It

has

frequently seen, what outstanding thinkers diseuss

is

not what they themsebes think but something the true Speaker has said. Plato

and

SuhrawardT

Upon

Aristotle ealled this

“light”; Izutsu

Speaker nous; Ibn ‘Arab! “Being”;

“WORD.”

hearing Laufs words, Izutsu writes that he thought, “Instead

of waiting for Westerners, shouldn’t

we

Easterners ourseK es

the effort to understand, personally and existentially, our

sophie traditions oiiee again from within?” “existentially”

have weiglih' signifieanee

losopher, they are

The words

for Izutsu.

own

make philo-

“personally” and

For

him

synonymous with saving he was staking

254

first

as a phi-

his life

on

it.

CONSCIOIISNKSS AND KSSl'.NCK

“

lb

.

.

personally and existentially,

iinclcrstancl,

.

.

.

.

from within ...

not just to study [these traditions] seientifieallv and philologieally.”

nothing

is

than to dedieate one’s whole self to the “effort of going one

less

further, internalizing the various traditions of Oriental thought in

stej)

onr

It

is

o\\

n eonseionsness and, from within the magnetic'

philosopln’ that

philosophy

is

s])ontaneoiisK'

field of

formed there, bringing

Oriental

new

forth a

in a global eontext.”’

In 1978, the \'ear before the

outbreak of the Iranian re\'olntion

foreed Ibshihiko Izntsii to return to Japan, Sliinpi tetsugaku (1949; Phi-

losophy of nwstieism) was republished, d'he following

word written I\\en

if

at that

were

[Shiiipi tetsugaku],

I

eonsider writing a sec|nel to

to

so ineliiied,

Old

tbe route that leads from the

me, now Jew ,

more important as

said before,

I

line of [1

tbongbt

in

losophy, the mystieal

appearanee of suggests

in tbe

astly

\

whieh provides

losophy Izntsu had

a

when he wrote

would probably not take

to

I

lasidism

Old Ibstament

more

interesting."^

to

Japan the following

who had won

for his Islamie seholarship

for Athens.

Around the same left

\'ear

and

start

international

at the

time with the Imperial

of Philosophy, played a eentral role at Franos and

sion sent by the Japanese

had

so inelined”

but also for his studies of

in Faiglish.

at

the d ehran

xxas the last

reseue mis-

At the end of Jannarx' 1979, Izntsu boarded a plane

tion.

I

the preeeding passage, he probably nexer

w as the author of many works

hound

a far

tradition, and,

As the words “were

philosophieal semanties, was affiliated

airport

is

pbilosopby and tbe nwstieal

writing books in Japanese again. Izntsu,

Aeademy

work

mind — Jewish mysticism, Indian esoterie phithought of China and Islam — foreshadows the

imagined he woidcl be returning

Iranian

this

glimpse of the areas of Oriental phi-

“Ishiki to honshitsn.”

aeelaim not onh’

f ore-

d’estainent to Cdiristianity. For

find] Indian esoterie

thought of China and of Islam d’his statement,

I

nwstieism from the Qabbalab

ish

from the

time.

were suhset|iiently

I

is

Athens and

xvas

Phe plane he

xvas

on

government on the

ex e

of the Iranian rex

time, a plane earrxang the Ayatollah

heading

Khomeini

to Iran in the opposite direetion.

255

olii-

CHAPTKR

NINF,

Prerevolutionary Iran had not been an Islamic state, d he Shah of Iran,

Mohammad

Reza Pahlav

i

II,

had enacted policies providing

not only for the separation of church and state but guaranteeing equal

opportnniK' for non-Mnslims to practice their religions the so-called

White Revolution, agrarian reforms, women’s

educational reforms,

and

tlie

economic

etc.,

During

suffrage,

were snecessix ely implemented, d’hese Shah-

spawned

led reforms at times

sion,

faiths.

religions

and

purges and repres-

political

rapid pace of modernization gave rise to poverh and

disparih’, resulting in great suffering

among

the citizenry. At

the root of these policies was the effort to deny absolute status to Islam.

And

the priority given to modernization rather than to defending the

Islamic tradition would

become

a

primary factor behind the unrest.

Khomeini was diametrically opposed in those davs

power

still

to the

White Revolution. Because

resided with the Shah,

Khomeini was forced

into exile in 1964. Fifteen years later the Iranian revolution oeenrred. In mid-Jannar\’,

about two weeks before Izntsn

and the Empress,

carry ing a

left

box containing Iranian

Shah

d’ehran, the

soil,

flew abroad on

the pretext of seeking medical treatment, d'hey would never set foot in Iran again.

Discontent over social deprivation was not the sole motivating

went

force behind the Iranian revolution, d’he eruption that occurred

well

beyond what modern

political science

could have predicted. In

opposition to the Shah’s vision of a renaissance of ancient Iranian enltnre, a spiritual

impulse flared up

among Khomeini’s

instead the re\ ival of Sln’ite Islam. Preparations were

hack from abroad their absent imam. In the

followers desiring

under way

Sln’ite sect, the

to call

imam

is

the

successor to Ali, the fourth caliph, in a direct spiritual line of descent

from the Prophet twelfth

imam,

Muhammad. That

Muhammad

succession continued until the

al-Mnntazar,

whom

ShT’ites believe

hidden one.” Although nonbelievers claim he was assassinated, say he

went

to this day,

and the

faithful fer\ently await the

even

imam’s second coming.

leader must serve as his substitute. Phis

what Khomeini called the Governance of the title

“the

Sln’ites

into seclusion. This Occnltation {ghayhci) continues

Ihitil that day, a spiritual

As the

is

“Imam Khomeini”

is

Jurist (velciyat-e faqih).

symbolizes, after the revolution, he was

recognized as having absolute anthorih’ over both politics and religion.

256

CONSCIOUSNESS AND KSSKNCK

If

had been

it

sooner.

I^y

could have

his intention, Izntsn

lehran inneh

left

the antninn of the ])re\’ions year, “arson, assaults and assas-

sinations by hloodthirstN’

throughout lehran. lehran, the

mobs were

w indow of onr apartment

Just hclow’ the

rat-ta-tat-tat

daily oeeurrenees eycr\\\here

of inaehinegiin

heavy darkness of night,” he w

would suddenly pierce the

fire

At the time, “aided

rites.'*

in central

h\’

superb col-

leagues” at the Imperial Iranian Aeadenn' of Philosopln’, Iziitsu was

proceeding

in

tandem with work “centered on

nnpnhlished Islamic ])hilosophieal

editing and annotating

texts [in areas

such

non-Aristote-

as|

lian sj^eceh act theory in the basic theory of Islamic jurisprndenee, the

metaphysical foundations of Sufism, sphere,

we held

w ith our

etc. In

an nniisnalK' tense atmo-

regular meetings and enthusiastically pressed ahead

research.”^’

International soeieh did not helicwe that a chaotic Iran could

ensure the safeh’ of non-Iranians. Izntsn decided “Lea\ ing

all this

eoimtrw

to lea\’c the

behind,” he “unwillingly dej^arted Iran.” d'he follow-

ing passage conveys his feelings at the time.

M night,

a

depressing rain was falling heax ilw Siiddenh’, from the

roottop of a nearby building, a mournful

er\-

praising Allah rang out.

Immediateh’, other \oiees from the surrounding rooftops took up the eall. dliis

was

troops took

challeugc

a fierce

aim from below. As

reason the word “kite” Izntsii called

himself a

flitted

to the im]:)erial

looked up

I

through

my

regime. C»o\erumeut

at the

dark

sk\-,

with Shdtard

In this instance, “fate” does not refer to a predestined

on occasion

and revelatory ways and requires us are proceeding.

work it

all

in Iran,

do

his

cnes

in

human

life in

change the direction

to

Izutsu

felt

life.

to

me,” he

an unflagging

But that was not

all;

writes,'^ a clear

'\

asuoka.^

outcome, hut

in

forceful

w hieh we

interest in his

hut “strangely, not the slightest feeling of regret

behind ever occurred

he lived seat

On the one hand,

inter\

some

miud.^

“fatalist” in the eolloc|u\'

rather to an agency that

for

at leav ing

statement of

no sooner had he

sat

down

how

in his

on the rescue plane than Izutsu began thinking of what he w ould

next.

On

hope and

the plane, he

resolve, that

embraced the

from now' on

I

“feeling,

would

Oriental philosophy in Japanese and express

257

tr\'

somewhere between

to dev

them

elop mv' ideas on

in Japanese.”‘°

CHARIER NINE

Why The

did Ibshihiko Izutsu write “Ishiki to honshitsu” in Japanese?

fact that

he had taken np residenee

itself a snffieient

in

reason.

np

it, it

Japan

wonid not have been

It

Japan and eontinne writing

from

in

is,

in his ease,

not by

him

to live

diffienlt for

worldwide audience;

in Pbiglish for a

far

would have been an extension of the work he had been doing

Even

to that point.

after his return to Japan,

he did not stop present-

ing papers at academic conferences abroad. Indeed, he gave lectures in Eaiglish

not long after his return to Japan. Considering the environ-

ment he was working in at the time, it wonid have been more natural for him to write in English. There were readers for his English-language works

all

over the world. In

Sufism and Taoism (1966-1967) “Ishiki to honshitsu.”

On

fact,

at

the

he was

in the process of revising

same time

that

he was writing

the other hand, dbshihiko Izntsii,

who knew

more than thirh' languages, was deeply aware of the decisive role played by one’s mother tongue. People can choose their primary language by changing

their

environment, but no one can choose their native lan-

WORD inseparable from language, but WORD for artists, sound becomes Just as color

guage. Eor Ibshihiko Izntsn,

not confined to

it.

is

WORD for musicians. h pes.

When we

is

mandala,

In

look at the

life

which mntnal understanding the power of feeling, as “If a

it

is

images; in psychology, arche-

of Ibn Wrabl, there are situations in

achieved not through language, but by

were. Reeling, too,

Japanese living today were

losophy and simply study that act alone

it is

it

to take

at the level of

is

np

WORD. a topic of Oriental phi-

modern consciousness, by

an encounter betw een Eastern and Western thought

would already occur

in the field of existential experience,

and

a blend-

ing of Oriental and Occidental perspectives, in short, a kind of parative philosophy East I’hns,

if,

as a Japanese,

and West, wonid be automatically

he expressed himself in Japanese,

strnetnralization of Oriental philosophy”

accomplished. Phis

is

how

a

com-

realized.”*'

“synchronic

wonid spontaneously be

Izntsn describes his motivation for writing

“Ishiki to honshitsu.”

Not many readers but ting

if

are likely to

nod

in

agreement

at

these words,

they lent an unbiased ear to what Izntsn was saving, he was

them know what he expected of “a Japanese

he wanted was not

just to finish his essay,

258

but

living todav.”

let-

What

to find readers for

it.

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

rhey could possibly be

ing for future readers as well. )ust as a to

eomplctiou by being read,

when it is written but when reader who not only understands continue

to

last will

a literary

not

will

he was ])robablv hop-

bis conteiiiporarics, but

work

read.

and tcstauieut born

is

And

if

it

is

it,

but internalizes

be reborn. Reading “Isbiki

is

brought

in the true is

it

it,

sense

blessed with a it

is

reborn and

honsbitsn” docs not end

to

with an understanding of dbsbibiko Izntsn’s intelleetnal eonelnsions. I

bis

work

lunnan this

eontinne

]:)ropositions

work,

to the

defies sneb an easy approach, d ins

I

to li\e

on

in

recall a passage that I’akaaki

introduction

was inelnded

when

bis

its

book teaches

that basic

Wdienever

readers.

I

read

dbsbiinoto (1924-2012) added

Kyodd gemoron (On

eolleetixe illusion)

“How

have an iinpaet on

in bis selected works.

ean

it

someone who begrudges the effort and bard work needed to understand it?”'“ It would eome as no snrj'irise if I’osbibiko Izntsn had addressed the same words to readers of “Isbiki to bonshitsn.” Ishiki to honshitsu

Izntsn’s

is

magnum

opus.

for

If,

one eonld only ehoose one work by Ibshibiko Izntsn have

to

be

this

book.

It is

bis

magnum

oj^ns,

its

ficulties

author

if

to read,

reason, it

would

not in the sense of being a

summation of bis work, but beeanse one would form sion of

some

the w rong impres-

one went ahead without reading

it.

“d’bere are

dif-

with reading a long novel that very closely resemble making

way through life.’’"^ Hideo Kobayashi’s dietnm is not limited to novels. The same eonld be said of the works of a philosopher who, like

one’s

Ibshibiko Izntsn, bad the soul of a poet.

Ad Orientem At the time that “Isbiki

to

bonshitsn” began to be serialized in the peri-

odieal S/n'so (d’hongbt), Tbshibiko Izntsn was sixty-three years old. At

the outset, be planned to stop after the seeond essay, he wrote, but serialization

would eontinne

to eight installments. pen.”’"^ d’bis

to feel this

statement

way

He probably

as the

at intervals

“As is

I

over two vears and ultimately ran

kept on writing,

I

unlikely to be true in the sense

number

of installments began to aeenmnlate.

already realized after finishing the

onee eomplete,

this

down my that be eame

eonldn’t put

would beeome

m

his

first

major work.

installment that, I'liere

are elear

A CHAPTER NINE

differences in the writing sh le of the

rapidly traced the course of his

first

wonld connect perhaps to take

a life of their

author intends, Manriac

own.

say, blit, as

way

that

novel whose characters begin

If

a character in a novel

says, the novelist

scholarly work

off skin.

in a

matter polled the writer along, a situation similar

to that of a novelist writing a

on

philosopher

life as a

from the second one on, the tone was

to the next, but,

different, d’he subject

and second installments, d’he

first

can be seen from

glance

a

left

from

different

is

is

at

behaves

clutching

a novel,

at

as the

sloughed-

someone may

Shinpi tetsugaku, Roshiateki

ningen (1953; Russian humanity) and Sufism and Taoism, Izutsu con-

tended a

that,

human

when

the mysteries are revealed, the Speaker

Muhammad,

being. Cases also exist, like that of

takably indicate the role of a prophet. In ancient Greece,

ophers and poets It is

who assumed

no accident

is

no longer

that

it

unmis-

was philos-

that function.

that “Ishiki to honshitsu” strongly

outside the field of philosophy in a narrow sense

moved

readers

— authors such as Shu-

Endo and Keizo Hino (1929-2002), linguistic philosopher Keizaburo Maruyama (1933-1993) and Jungian psychologist Elayao Kawai

saku

(1928-2007). Although “Ishiki to honshitsu”

is

the most important phil-

osophical essay to have emerged in twentieth-centurv Japan, a

work of “criticism” by Toshihiko

name and

in fact,

had been

Izutsu,

who,

at

it is

also

one time, both

a first-rate literary critic. 1 here

is

in

no table

of contents for this lengthy essay, which in the paperback version

is

more than 300 pages long; not only that, there are no subheadings and not a single note. There had been two or three notes in the first installment, hut none from the second on, and, published text.

This

in is

book form, even those an unusual format

at the

early notes

for a scholarly

time the work was

were

all

woven

into the

work, but natural for a

work of criticism. “Ishiki to honshitsu” contains several key concepts, but Izutsu does

not define them.

One

of these

is

the “Orient.”

that the context prepares for the term

s

meaning

makes strong demands on the reader not at

an intellectual level but

experience. Yhe reader

is

He

just to

to get a feeling for

writes in such a to

wav

be revealed. This

understand the words

them and

learn from

forced to stop looking for information as to

the whereabouts of the Orient

and wait

260

for

it

to

become

self-evident.

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

subtitle of the

I'lic

hook hhiki

to honsliitsii

is

“seisliintcki 'I'dvr) o

luotonictc” (In search of the spiritual Orient); for the scriali/ecl essav, “Ishiki to honshitsu,”

it is

“1

(1\

d tetsugaku no kvdjitcki kdzdka no tame

And

ui” (For a synehrouie strueturalization of Oriental ])liilosophv).

the

volume

shii

heeomc the authorized was changed once again and heeame “d’dydteki

in the selected

Ncrsion, the subtitle

no kdzdteki

scigdsci o

works, which was to

motomete”

(In search of the strnetnral inte-

gration of Oriental thought). Although one can subject

is

for

the Orient, Izntsn did not write about

it

that the central

tell

cxi^lieitK'.

only

It is

in

the collocjnics that he refers to the Orient se\ cral times. Izntsn’s Orient includes not just the region called Asia

China, Korea, Southeast

We

Russia.

literature

haxe seen up

/Vsia,

to

the Middle Fast

now

and Japanese thought

thought — ^'oeagara

that

also (irecec

and

range extends from Japanese

Confneianism, 'Taoism, Buddhist

to

(W'ci Shih),

its

— but

— japan,

Zen and Shingon

esoterieism,

Indian philosophy, Islamic philosophy and even Cmeek philosophy

and Russian

literature.

For Izntsn, though,

its

purv iew sometimes even

crosses the Straits of Gibraltar. Wdiat lies across those Straits To he sure, Ihn ‘Arab! was horn in Murcia,

and Averroes

in

is

Spain.

Cordoba,

hnt Spain was also the birthplace of the Disealced Carmelite Order, the

home

whom

of Teresa of Avila and the motherland of John of the Cross,

Izntsn at

one time regarded

as the

apogee of mv'sticism. Cross-

ing those Straits in the opposite direction, one arrives in Morocco, the

gateway horn

in

to the African continent. In the fourth century,

what was then the Nnmidian

city

of lagaste. “"The true sneees-

sor to the spirit of the great mystic Plotinus

chns hnt Angnstine,” Izntsn once wrote. he was horn

But the

in

Angnstine was

was not Proelns or Iambi i-

Plotinus died in

Rome, hnt

Egypt.

full

by conjuring np

scope of IzntsiTs Orient cannot he perceived even a vast territory that crosses several national

borders

and brings together nnmerons enltnral zones. For he regarded mental and Orient

is

spiritual

concept rather than

a

as a

geographical region. The

also an “imaginal” place, predicated

experiences.

it

on

his

own

existential

Henry Corbin coined the concept “imaginal” by

translat-

ing SnhrawardT’s 'alam al-mithdl, the world of figurative similitudes, into the Latin phrase imiiidus iiiuigiualis. SnhrawardT, an Islamic

261

CHAPTER NINE

mystic philosopher osophist

who saw

who

lived in the twelfth eentury, was also a the-

from Pythagoras and Plato. He regarded

The

Islam completely.

Islamie

Whereas Ibn

as his

mission

to the point that

to purify

to perfection,

ceased

it

to

be

shunned by Islamic conservaSnhrawardT was targeted by them; he is thought to have been

Islamic.

assassinated.

no

hilt

it

way wonld be brought

he believed, when Islam was purged

tives,

down

himself as the inheritor of the wisdom passed

Iziitsii left

definitive

blit

it

a

comprehensive study of Ihn ‘Arab!

work on SnhrawardT. He had planned

magnum

SiihrawardPs mination),

‘Arab! had been

[SnhrawardT]

him, angels

do

Illu-

never materialized. His feeling of awe and respect for in

no way

Commenting on SnhrawardT

He

to translate

opus, Hikiiuit al-lshrdq (The Philosophy of

SnhrawardT, however, was ‘ArabT.

in English,

inferior to

what he

felt for

in “Ishiki to honshitsn,”

he

Ihn

said:

not speaking about mere images of angels. Eor

is

really exist.

exist in a different

Angels

may

not exist in onr world, but they

dimension of being, what he called the “Orient”

or the “land of matutinal light.”''

Izntsn was probably like SnhrawardT in believing that angels really exist.

The Orient

for

him may have been SnhrawardTs “land

nal light,” “a different

With

this

dimension of being.”

one word “Orient,” Toshihiko Izntsn confronts ns with

the intangible traditions of ental philosophy as a that

surround

its x

human wisdom.

“I

arioiis traditions, transfer

in this

one sentence. By

to separate

out Ori-

historical associations

those traditions to the level

them

the beginning of “Ishiki to honshitsn.”'^

Slimmed up

hope

whole from the complex

of synchronic ideas and striictnralize at

of matuti-

there anew,” Izntsn writes

The

work’s aim

“striictnralize,”

the flesh of logic to an inx isihle entih\ Just as

is

he means

clearly

apply

to

WORD for Izntsn

tran-

scends the realm of linguistics, “structure” transcends the categorv of strnctiiralism. In contrast to strnctnralism, ih’ it

be the aim of philosophy

tries to

bring the real-

we

regard as real, Izntsn considered

to deal

with the “structure” of the other

of the other world into a world

to

which

world. “Synchronic” connotes an expositorv technique that frees thinkers

and thoughts from the

present,

and

axis of time, gathers

treats the issues

them together

they pose as “contemporary

262

”

in the

problems.

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

Synchronicitv e\ents that

is

may he

a

Jungian term referring

experienee of

to the

unrelated eausally hut that are

he related

felt to

meaningfully. In Jung’s use of the term, however, although eoinei-

denees are events that oeenr synehronieallv,

merely eorrohorations of an underlying a dixerse,

is

not to draw

phenomena. Rather,

the reader’s attention to synehronie

is

aim

his real

these are

proof that the world

]:)attern,

multilayered realitv that eauses svnehronieitv to oeenr.

Synehronieitv’ breaks through the harrier of time, d’he irrexersihilih of

time

is

not antithetieal to eternih’. Rather, the hiet that time, onee

ean never

eome baek

again

is

proof of eternih

not a long duration of time; eternih’ past; eternih, pro\ ided

always manifests

human

itself in

is

existenee. Rternih

’s

the neeessarx’ j^reparations,

the present. Fdiade ealls anyone

an eneoimter with the saered, he

it

a

who

has had

shaman, prophet, mystie, apostle

and ohserxes

or saint, ''homo religiosus^'

is

alwa\^s “now.” d ’he ])ast exists as

make

beings

])ast,

that they are

all

unfettered by

the shaekles of time and spaee. The manifestation of the saered, xvhieh

he

ealls

“hierophanx,”

is,

other xxords, nothing

in

less

than the begin-

ning of eternih’. Izntsu, xvho attempted to dexelop a synehronie tal

philosophy, did not underrate the

xvrote

one

irrex ersihilih’

approaeh

Orien-

to

of historx’. Indeed, he

xxork after another that deals empirieally xvith the historieal

dexelopment of thought. His

earliest books,

tory of Arabic' thought), Shinpi tetsugaku

eould not haxe been his seholarly

xx

ritten

methodologx’

xx

Arabia

sliisoshi (1941;

and even Roshiateki empirieal,

“sx

While

nehronie” eon-

notes an existential attitude, d he hx o are not mutually exclusive. the eontrarx’,

if

his seholarship

events, xxouldn’t

it

have been

diffieult to

be empirieal

may, on

in the true sense?

a different lexel,

be inevi-

Sxnehronie events elearly teach us that phenomenal-xxorld

nalism does not necessarily apply the synehronie dimension different

is

On

had not been snj^ported by synehronie

Ex’ents that xxe regard as fortuitous table.

lis-

niugeii,

ithout a clear historieal perspeetixe.

may have been

I

in the

nonmenal

a-temporal not timeless;

from that of the phenomenal

xx

orld. lb

ratio-

xvorld.

Moreover,

has a

dvnamism

it

be synehronie

is

noth-

ing else than to stand on the multilayered nature of time.

When

“Ishiki to honshitsu”

by step began

to deal

began

to exolxe in earnest, Izntsu step

watb Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), the great

263

CHAP’I'KR NINE

scholar of Japanese philology^and pliilosophy. Norinagas attitude in writing about the Kojiki (ea 711-712; Reeords of ancient matters), the oldest existing ehroniele of Japanese history, in writing “Ishiki to honshitsu.” itv

Be

is

who

written works or people

— didn’t both

they would respond

Izutsii’s

Scholarly accuracy and synchronic-

coexist in ways that are both multilayered it

reminiscent of

and three-dimensional.

lived in the past,

if

called upon,

and Norinaga believe

Izutsii

that?

For them, “reading” was an activity that went beyond intelleetual understanding.

WORDs must be elear. do understand, of clear WORDs that a writer has juxtaposed, the

For that reason, naturally,

through a ehain

meaning behind them

mind — i.e.

If

that existed

from the beginning

their prelingnistic realih

he had not had an

existential

— that

what

I

call “reading.”*^^

experienee of a similar kind, Norinaga

would probably never have completed nor would he have been able

is

in the writer’s

his

commentary on

the Kojiki,

to dedicate thirh-five vears of his life to

For Norinaga, Flieda no Are, the Kojiki's eighth-eentury com-

doing

so.

piler,

may have been

distant past. Just as

his predeeessor,

but he was not a person of the

Norinaga thought of the Kojiki

as a li\'ing thing,

who appear in ‘dshiki to honshitsu” here and now and invited the reader to join

doshihiko Izutsu treated the sages as

if

them

they were present there.

A Toshihiko

Spiritual

Izutsii left virtually

Autobiography

no biographical material — no autobiog-

raphy, memoirs, colleeted letters or diary; or, at least, nothing of this sort has

been made publie. But

a careful

reading of “Ishiki to hon-

shitsn” allows readers not only to see firsthand the fruits of the author’s

thinking but also to witness his philosophieal and spiritual progress. “Ishiki to honshitsu”

ean be read

as Izutsu’s intelleetual

tual autobiography. Just as the reeord of a poet’s life

ehronology but

in his/lier

poems, the

in his/lier writings.

264

life

is

and

spiri-

found not

of a philosopher

is

in a

reeorded

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

In y\rist()tlc’s

his ideas

twelfth hook, in

tlic

which he

about Cw)d, has traditionally been treated

work known

When

Book Lambda.

as

autobiography, the

as spiritual

Book

Iziitsn’s

Metaphysics,

l.ainhda.

standing of Ibshihiko

It is

first

as

reading “Ishiki to honshitsn”

Iziitsn’s spiritual

alludes to there

helicwc, are

an under-

for

progress to read Section

No

Jean-Panl Sartre.

is

I

more heneheial

far

times than to aimlessK’ proceed any further, khe

eral

an independent

and tenth sections,

probably

cleveloj^ed

first

person

I

sew-

Iziitsn

sooner has he said that he

is

undertaking the “synehronie strnetnrahzation of Oriental philoso])h\'” than he begins discussing this twentieth-eentnry k'reneh existential philosopher.

“Oerida no naka no ‘^iidayajin’” d'he “Jew”

In

(

in Derrida), Izntsii

deals with the intellcetnal and spiritual Jewishness of Jaec|ncs Derrida;*®

same subject matter

the

a leading

French writer — and

deny God,

to

plant that has

him

e\'en

it

a

Hebraic

No

a Jew.

S])iritnaht\

no need of fertile

when he

would be

read

soil,

La Nausee

fair to say,

knew

or information about,

of,

rumors had come

to

have

a

e\

him was

all

that

mind. Like

Jewishness eontinned to faith. Izntsn

(1938;

en

hceame

a desert

live

on

in

fascinated

Nausea, 1965). Reading that

him

e\'ent.

His encounter

to philoso|)h\'. In

in intcllectnal circles,

he had caused

at

now here, a furor in

was known, d’he only person

copy of the recently published UEtre

Japan

knowledge

limited. SiiddenK', out of

to people’s attention that

Europe; that was about

his

was a life-ehanging

name;

Sartre’s

matter how’ often Sartre tried

animated

with this no\'el even seems to have led the time, few

of Sartre. Sartre was

in his discussion

without the nourishment of

with Sartre

work,

taken np

is

in

Japan

et le iieant (1943;

Being

and Nothingness, 1956),“' rumor had it, was the philosopher Arimasa Mori (1911-1976), and he wouldn’t show it to anyone. “And e\’en if 1

did, it,”

it’s

miieh too

Mori

that

is

difficult for ordinary

supposed

was the

story.

.

.

to .

have

d’his

Izutsu wrote." The person to Izntsn

insert

said.

“Whetber

true or false, at any rate,

minor thoroughly inflamed my

curiosity,”

who

eomment

may haye been Masao

aeeompanying

Japanese to be able to understand

passed on Arimasa Mori’s

Sekine. In an essay contributed to an

Izntsn’s selected works,

Sekine wTites that he was

the intermediary w^ho introduced dbshihiko Izutsu and Arimasa Mori to

one another

after the war."^

265

CHAPTKR NINE

One Nausee

day, Izutsu

in a pile of

Izntsu mentions

its

found a^popy of Koji

books

at a

La

bookstore near Keio Universih'. Beeause

distinetive red eover,

published by Seijisha

Shirai’s translation of

in 1947.“'^

seems

it

to

have been the one

Although Izntsu had publicly stated

that “all foreign works should always be read in the language in

which

they were written,” just this once, he “couldn’t be bothered with such precepts and principles” and devoured the translation in two days and

two

“What Oriental

nights.”^

oped

immemorial have

sages from time

form of concepts of ontological deconstruction such

in the

develas

[Non-Being] or ku [Nothingness, void or emptiness], Sartre has tentially

vomited up and brought into the

field of

kind of failure of language, in short, as the

as a

nw

exis-

modern philosophy

critical

eonsciousness’s

experience of the collapse of the linguistic-semantic order of existence.

The

novelh’ of this personal approach biscinated

way,

many

me” would be

the

years later, that Izutsii described his impressions of reading

this work.^^

What tagonist,

The

him was

fascinated

Antoine Roc|uentin.

the “ecstatic” experience of Nausea's pro-

One

roots of the chestnut tree

bench.

couldn’t

I

remember

day Roqnentin

were sunk it

was

in a park.

ground

in the

a root

is

just

under luy

any more. I’he words had

vanished and with them the significance of things, their methods of use,

men

and the feeble points of reference which

surface.

I

was

this black,

sitting,

stooping forward, head bowed, alone in front of

knoth' mass, entirely beastly, which frightened me.’^

Sartre’s vivid description of this existential

profoundly.

“I

know

to the relationship

operation of the

between absolute, unarticulated “Being” and the consciousness that produces things, namelv

meaning of

WORDS

as clues

segmental lines vertically and horizontally of the encounter remained so vivid within years

pened

had passed, the writing

just the

experience shook Izutsn

of no other passage that so brilliantly gives shape

human

“beings,” using the

fort)'

have traced on their

st\ le

and drawing

to Its surface.”^^ I’he

him

makes

that,

it

fine,

shock

even though some

seem

as

though

it

hap-

other day.

WTat Roqnentin encountered was the realih' of d ree stripped covering. A covering may be something like the layers of skin and

266

of

its

flesh

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

A

that protect a luinian being. la\'er

is

ing at is

peeled away, and

someone

in siieb a state. In the

that skin

not hear

it,

rcsnlt

nothing else than what

is

When someone

realih’

beneath,

hy

little

Iziitsn calls

little

in

one

1

hereafter,

hcen taking shape w

my

flesh canis

my

belief that the exis-

ithin

me,

at

the

|)ossesses a imi-

between Kastern and Western

thinking began to proceed slow

ly

hnt surely

direction."^

“Thereafter, direction”

human

“essence” in “Ishiki to honshitsn.”

versalih' that transcends the differences

cnltnrcs.

skin

penetrates

foundations for a theory of semantic articulation, which,

time, had

on look-

nausea, d'hc eoN cring spoken of here

This [the encounter with Naiisca] eonfirined tential

keej:)

phenomenal world, having

for all things.

and encounters the

and the

snhentaneons

live if the

w'onld probably be diffienlt to

it

an indispcnsible condition

through

person cannot

my

— as

thinking began to proceed slowlv hnt surely in one

these words suggest, the eneonnter w

the impetus behind Izntsn’s

ence remained strong

in

becoming

a

ith

Sartre

became

philosopher. Sartre’s influ-

Shinpi tetsugaku, which was written shortlv

afterward.

Izntsn was not alone in regarding the protagonist of distinctly

modern

Existence, he

portrait of a mystic. In

was

has

le

a leading twentieth-century

i.e.

to w'hat

of

Etienne Cnl-

descending eestaey).^° Gilson

(a

French

anthoritv on mediexal philosophy,

as a

The Concept and Reality

compares Roqnentin’s experience

son had called une extase vers

Nausea

a

lingnistie philosopher

prominent figure

and an

in Christian

philosophical circles. In Gilson’s ease, an “ascending” mysticism wonld

have been Christian mysticism, but the expressions “descending mysticism” or “descending ecstasy”

terms.

If

he had thought

wonld not have been purely negative

unworthy of serious consideration, Gilson

it

wonld probably have remained “ecstasy” at all. When it comes to think that an upward vector

is

silent

and not have used the word

the vectors of mysticism, people

may

desirable, but CT)d does not. For Gilson,

“ecstasy” does not signify an ineomj^rehcnsible experience incapable

of scientific explanation;

it

refers to the

experience of CT)d.

Before being an author and an intelleetnal, Sartre for Izntsn was a visitor to the

other world, something that had

267

become

rare in

modern

CHAPTKR NINE

times.

I

read Nausea^ Izuts.y writes, not as a novel but as a “work of

le

philosophy tre

in a eoinpletely

forin.”^*

intended, d’he philosopher Gabriel

same time

and on the same

as,

ative writing, publishing

mined

unique

level with, Sartre, also

numerous

plays; for

to

existential

experience except by having

which resembled

literature,

namely

inextricable.

a firm

poetrv

A poem

,

and

pass through the

it

tetsiigcikii, Izutsii

conv iction,

that, in

that poetry

its

and philosophy are by nature

does not depict an imaginary world.

It is

nothing

than the act of manifesting another dimension. For Izutsu, poets

always the landscape of “home.”

no accident

Rilke, Basho,

It is

in their poetrv'

that poets

Mallarme and the poets of medieval Japan

along with the big philosophical questions

such

as

are discussed

in “Ishiki to honshitsu.” Sar-

of course, was one of them. Izutsu never stopped reading Sartre

up

right

that a

until his last years. In 1985,

when he was sevenh-one, he wrote

copy of Being and Nothingness was on

on Yogacara Idiere

is

(\\^ei

him

It

came up

in a

to Islam. Izutsu

times before and, finding

off the inquiry

Izutsu said,

it

colloquy

Nausea

“my encounter with

that

when Shusaku Endo

had been asked that same questiresome to answer, would fob

by saying he didn’t really know. But, as a matter of Christianitv’

and slowly and deliberately he began

He bad

along with works

yet another important event associated with

asked what had led

many

his desk

Shih) Buddhism.

deserves to he mentioned.

tion

atti-

spiritual unity with

what they record

tre,

had the

order to revive phi-

are travellers from the other world; is

in cre-

Marcel, the topic deter-

losophy for the present day, one must awaken

less

engaged

confer imiversalih' on a prohlematiqiie invok ing

novel form. Ever since writing Shinpi tude,

may have been what SarMarcel, who was active at the hhat

the choice of form. Perhaps Sartre, too, thought at the time that

he would he unable a

new

became

fact,

the remote cause,”

to describe a certain incident.^’

matriculated to the middle school of Aoyama Gakuin, a mission

school founded by Methodists, and every day was forced to take part in

morning

prayers.

He

put up with

it

by the second, the strain was not physical

symptoms

as well.

One

somehow during

just psychological;

day, as prayers

the teachers were proceeding as usual, for ticularly hvpocritical,” Izutsu recalled. “I

268

the it

first

term, but

was producing

and Bible readings by

some

reason, he

felt

“par-

was overcome by a feeling of

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

inclcscribahlc discomfort, finally It

was not

a

mild ease of nausea.

for breakfast that

felt I

le

mv stomach”

and threw up.

“threw up ever\ thing” he had eaten

morning on the student standing

and diarrhea were so severe

N’omiting

sick to

of him.

in front

that “to this \er\

dav

1

I

'he

clearly recall

the grc\' color of his nniform.”'^'^ d’his incident has Izntsn’s anti]:)athv ter,

been

cited as anecdotal evidence of I'oshihiko

toward Christianitv, but that

is

a misreading. I’hereaf-

not only was he cured of his dislike of morning prayers, l/ntsn said,

he started ing.”

It is

to feel that Christianitv, too,

when he

this

event might not hav e been understood hv Izntsn the midvv

hat he

moment when words

beings encounter

when

thev'

have caught

a

fail,

face

“It

an important event that determined the course of mv'

life.”""^

one goes hack

first

came out

as a

hook, the verv

to the

in serialized first

beginning of “Ishiki

to

is

was,

I

believe,

when it came out

honshitsn”

form, one will notice that,

])assage

which

glimpse of the hed-

roek of Being. Looking hack on that dav, Izntsn said,

If

came

with was “the critical conseionsness’s experience of the eollaj)SC

of the lingnistie-semantie order,” the

human

own

read Nausea, khc ])lnlosophieal signifi-

dle-school student, hut there can he no doubt that to face

interest-

ineoneeivahlc that Izntsn wonld not have recalled his

experience of nausea

cance of

was “something quite

when

it

a later addition:

Ever since Socrates passionatelv' insisted on the absolute necessity of “definition” for the proper exercise of hnnian intelligence, for the precise develoj)inent of thought and for a correct understanding

of things, determining the “essence” of an object of intellection or

cognition has hceoine part of the mainstream of the Western philosophical tradition dow n to the present day. Setting aside whether or

not [the topic]

is

dealt with thematically as a study of “essence,” the

problem of “essence,” under various guises and names, has alw avs dominated the speculations of thinkers throughout the Western

When

history of the

tradition.'^'’

he had finished the

realized he had

prodneed

last serialized

a

monograph

whieh “has always dominated the

installment, Izntsn prohahly that deeonstriiets the cloxa

sjx'eulations of thinkers throughout

the historv of the W^estern tradition.”

269

From

this

one passage, one ean

CHAPTER NINE

sense Izutsu’s audaeitv in tracing back the unbroken history of Western

philosophy

to

starting point

its

and attempting

to

break through “syn-

chronieally” to that point in time. Insofar as

grapples with problems not just in the present but suh

it

specie aetemitatis, synchronic activih'

is

never complete. As Izntsn him-

self stated in the preface to Ishiki to honshitsu,

was only

a

“prolegomenon”; he understood from the outset that

he impossible

may this

what he had undertaken

to

bring

it

to a snecessfnl eonelnsion.^^

only have been a prolegomenon, but, as outstanding work,

it

we

What

would

it

Izntsn wrote

frequently discover in

clearly states the basic issues.

‘Consciousness” and “Essence” In “Ishiki to honshitsu,” the properties of the words “consciousness”

and “essence” themselves are them. According

to Izntsn,

comment he made

from the way we normally use

“consciousness”

in reference to a

inherently “ecstatic,” a

is

statement bv Sartre

in

“Une

idee

phenomenologie de Husserl: rintentionnalite” “A Fundamental Idea of Hnsserls Philosophy: Intentionality,”

fondamentale de (1939;

different

la

2010). Izutsu never lost sight of the

dictum that “consciousness

is

con-

sciousness of something.” In the inseparahilitv of ontology and theories

of consciousness, Izutsu sees the contemporaneih’ and traditionalism of Sartre.

Datsuji of oneself,” a reader

a is

were

a

compound

of characters that literally

key term for understanding “Ishiki

to

keep on reading with only

means “out

to honshitsu.”

But

a superficial grasp of

if

what

means by “consciousness” and “essence,” s/Iie will completely the drift of Izntsu’s argument when it begins to move dynamieallv.

Izntsn lose

“Consciousness,” he writes, citing Sartre,

is

iiu

glisseineut hors de soi,

“a sliding outside of itself.”’^ Awaiting “consciousness” is

“essence”; “consciousness” slides “outside of

itself”

In this essay, neither “eonseiousness” nor “essence”

on the outside

toward “essence.”

is

a static concept;

they both evolve “ecstatically.” d’rv it

there.

looking up datsuji in a Japanese dietionar\-, and von won’t find

Although the

first

Japanese

unknown, Shuzo Knki used

it

to

use this word in a translation

at a ver\ earlv date.

We

saw

in

is

Chapter

CONSCIOIISNKSS AND KSSKNCK

VWc

that, insj^irecl

by

1

Iciclcggcr’s Seiii unci Zeit (1927;

meaning of datsiiji,

1962), lie took note of ekstcisis, the original

an earK' date and developed time. After Propos sur

it

as part of his

temps eame out

le

Being and

in

argument fVanee

'l

ime,

at c|nite

in his

study of

in 1928,

he used

the expression datsiiji in his essay “Keijijdgaknteki jikan” (1931; Meta-

physieal time), \\hieh was based on a lecture he ga\’e on his return to Datsiiji also appears in the

Japan.

and

't

ime,

whieh was pnhlished

been aeeepted

in

first

Japanese translation of Being

and ever sinee then,

in 1939,'^'^

Japanese philosophieal eireles

it

has

as a teehnieal term,

d’he role Knki played in the develoj^ment of Japanese ])hilosophieal terminolog\' and teehnieal terms to

is

use the expression jitsiizon

uorth noting.

He was

also the

first

for “existential.”

Izntsn began using the term datsiiji regnlarlv trom the time of

Shinpi

beeame a kev word in that work along with whieh literally means “being filled with (jod,” i.e. enthoii-

tetsiigakii in 1949.

shinjii

siasmos.

It is

It

not eertain, howexer, whether Izntsn used

datsiiji

under

the inflnenee of Heidegger, tie was already- reading Sartre by this time,

and

seems nearer

his sense of datsiiji

rienee in whieh language

fails,

to Sartre

whieh

after

usage,

i.e.

as

an expe-

elosely resembles the world of

Nausea. Sartre freqnentlv deals with ek-stase

whieh Izntsn read

s

in

Being and Nothingness,

Nausea. Being and Nothingness was written

a response to Heidegger’s

Being and Time, and

it

was Knki

as

who made

Sartre aware of Heidegger’s existenee.

My

aim

in

alluding to eh mology here

in the assoeiations

eonneeted with

of,

not merely out of interest

word, d’he

this

sophieal term datsiiji term was horn

is

fiiet is

and fleshed out

that the philo-

by, the “eestatie”

heeome the impetus behind the existential experienees of those who eame after them. 'he words in the following sentenees are Knki’s; they seem to deserihe what datsiiji meant to him existentially. “Philosophy, believe, is a primal under-

experienees of various thinkers and wonld

I

I

standing of existenee eontingent faet

itself that

sensible thing opens

“We ought

in general.

up

the real world there.”'^'

exists,

to feel surprise at the

d 'he abyss of some super-

As we ean see from these statements,

the eoimeetion between Knki and Izntsn goes beyond In Shinpi tetsiigakii, datsiiji

the

Ckeek word

ekstasis.

It

is

aeknowledged

signifies

to

mere

be

similarih’.

a translation of

an existential experienee

271

in

whieh

CHAPTER NINE

human

“the

self dies

annihilated; the self

mote of

eompletely

selfliood; tlie self

even

is

thoroughly

a single dust

“the annihilation of the relative self

is

then

as a sensible life prineiple,” entJioiisiasiuos,

its

utterly destroyed until not

is

remains.”'^” If datsuji

it

to

whieh Izntsn annotates

sliinjii,

as

“the oeeasion for a spiritual awakening of the abso-

is

aeeompanies eestasy

lute self as a supersensible life prineiple” that

and oeenrs “immediatelv” with ing of the restrietions of the

itd’ Ekstcisis

is

an instinetive hreaeh-

phenomenal world sneh

time and

as self,

spaee, and an aspiration for the Other, eterniU, a different dimension.

Enthousiasmos is

no

is

the dispensation of Being,

between

interval

who

reaets to

and enthousiasmos. As Izntsn

ekstcisis

I'here

it.

says, the

experienee of ekstcisis and enthousiasmos oeenrs on the same ontologi-

dimension

cal in

as

kensho

seeing one’s true natnre/self-awareness

Buddhism, or fo jan kuan thing

known

rience in Confucianism

siasmos, however,

as the

“sudden breakthrough.” Enthou-

not a special ocenrrenee limited

convenience sake,

ns, for If

is

the enlightenment expe-

call

the one

who

does the

to mystics.

filling

Let

np “God.”

enthousiasmos were an experienee that occurs only under narrowly

prescribed conditions, ticism,

i.e.

that the

would

it

One who

chosen few. But “God”

is

which If

fall

under the vulgar definition of mys-

does the

filling

omnipresent,

np only

or, rather,

the dVanscendent,

omnipresent,

is

“God.” The way

“conseionsness”

is

“a sliding outside,” “essence”

is

is

open

truly exists in a

to all people. is

“a filling np.”

d'he true nature of “essence” lies in giving fully and completelv of the

itself. It is

same

hardt speaks of

nothing,

God

as

what the medieval Christian mystic Meister Lck-

when he

says that

will instantly

fill

if

one empties oneself and becomes

that person np. If

he truly “conscious” of “essence,”

it

it

were possible

would be an experience of

over-

flowing-even though we are profoundly incapable of recognizing Likewise, “conseionsness” always causes

human

to

this.

beings to aspire to the

exact opposite of existential isolation.

Wdiat seems extremely important is

that Izntsn firmly roots,

in a

sense of realism.

he asks of

workh iew

his readers

that

He is

when

reading “Ishiki to honshitsn”

and dexelops the

basis for, his speculations

detested superficial views of mysticism.

to

What

observe in minute detail the connnonscnse

we experienee

ever\’

272

day and not

to

disavow

it.

Rather,

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

u hilc leading

his readers to the world’s depths,

onee again from

we

h\’e.

is

It

innermost region

this

The follow ing passage

he urges them

to return

ever\day world

to the

whieh

in

truly states his intelleetnal attitude.

eoining into being of an

j)reciscly in order to )nstif\- the

essenee-free, artienlated world that Bnddhisin sets forth the theor\’

But no matter

of pratltxa-Hamutpcuia

theorw

in practice

it

is

somehow

not w ithout

heeanse we luwe eertain reactions

w

ith in

how

subtle this ina\’ he iu its

deheieneies.

to the things that

we

hat

I

is

aetnallv deal

the sensible world that cannot he ex]:)lained Iw the theory' of

p ra tlh'u -sannitpcicla

rhe meaning of the Buddhist theor\ of pratJty'a-saniiitpdcIa dent origination) elsewhere.

lies

from that

theor\’;

human

is

Izutsu’s

It is

Where we ought

beings ean proeeed to the depths of existenee.

.

.

.

for

I

“Among

the main’ sehools of

comes

believe, that iu practice

Zen demands ourseK es that

it

is

])re\

stronglv

ions sentenee,

Mahavana Buddhism,

to grips

it

is

with this issue head-on.

each and everv one of us confirms

that

He

“emotional understandings”

ordinar\’

o\er speeifie ideologies or dogmas. Continuing the

Zen,

he looking

view that onr starting point must never he

admonishes us against forgetting he writes,

to

onlv through onr “reaetions” to the sensible world

is

it

not the issue here.

(interde]:)en-

in practice

not an essence-initiated articulation of a solid

substance hut an essence-free,

fluid, ontological articulation.”'^'’ d’hc

point at whieh “each and every one of us confirms for ourselves,” Izutsu believes,

is

practice

[this] in

the starting point and also the goal of

ontological investigations. All things are

dental Universal,

endowed with “essence” bv “Being,” the and become “beings.” What causes a enp

before someone’s eves

is

the working of “Being,” but

it is

transcento

appear

because that

person senses the “essence” of cup that s/he recognizes a “being” as cup. As

we saw

in the discussion of

the covering that

is

to

life

what

it is.

it is

“Kssenee”

is

as

it

were,

the basic infrastrnetnre that

Because “essences”

exist,

recognize things, interact with other people and

lives.

is,

indispensable for onr understanding of “Being.”

Rather than concealing something,

makes human

Nausea, “essence”

a

people arc able

live their

everyday

the self-evident truth that “distinguishes a thing

273

(a

CHAPTER NINE

flower, for instance)

ably

is.”*^^

Mountains,

— each

has

its

countless “essences.” cnltnral

all

other things and makes

it

what

Consequently, the same number of “essences”

are beings.

people

from

exist as there

rivers, plants, flowers, valleys, lakes,

own

On

“essence.” I’he world

is

oceans,

partitioned off into

the other hand, “essence” conforms to the

framework within which

it is

generated;

it is

complexly

twined with the mnltilavered consciousnesses of countless j

women and

indisput-

it

precipitated out into history.

A

inter-

men and

certain thing appears in

the sensible world as the resnlt of the existential experience of a sage, a

mystic or a poet; is

it

takes shape as art or philosophy or religion, etc.,

and

passed on to other people. It is

this

unceasing

activity of the

Izntsn attempts to bring back to

life in

ality,

race that dbshihiko

the present time through “syn-

chronic structnralization.” This attempt

groundwork

human is

nothing

less

than laying the

for the self-manifestation of the Idea of Oriental spiritu-

which has been dispersed among countless

different enltnres.

It

resembles restoring a single book by bringing together scattered scraps of paper.

The

things; nor

“essence” that Izntsn

is it

confined to

is

dealing with

is

not limited

visible, material existence.

The principle

behind the generation of “essence” works the same way concepts and spiritual

realities. If

it

did not,

to

for invisible

“how conld we explain

the overwhelming sense of reality in an esoteric Buddhist mandala,”

which

consists of

images

alone?"^^

Even the images

that float

up

in

onr

consciousness, Izntsn says, are “essences.”

Although there have been many psychologists who have

investi-

them “essences” having the same sense of realih’ as a single flower. If we regard the e\ il spirits of mountains and rivers depicted in a mandala as nothing more than symbols, Izntsn s study wonld probably make no sense. “It is, rather, the things of what we call the real world that are merely shadow-like beings, gated the reality of images, few have called

the shadows of shadows,” he writes, referring to SnhrawardTs theorv’ of

images. “The true weight of existence

is

in the ‘metaphor.’”'^^

who treat images as who perceixed them

There

have been modern philosophers

real,

ever been anyone like Izntsn

as “essences,” the

ground of

mandala

reality? In the

are symbols

but has there

view that the Tathagata and Bodhisathas

and do not

in

really exist, but are only “symbols,”

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

Ibshihiko

sees the eiiibrittleineiit of the nioclern iniiul.

Iziitsii

hol,” rather,

the passageway hy whieli

is

phenomenal world. A “symbol” an in\isihle something. llow

Iziitsn.

It

is

WORD manifests

ex])ressly indieates that

the “metaphor” that

“sviii-

itself in

behind

the

is

A it

the

exists

says

realit\’,

possible to doubt the reality of Bodhisattvas? “d'hey

is it

materialize before onr eyes and in the inner parts of ourselves. I’hey

appear only

to those

uiio ha\'e eyes to see

After mandala, Izntsn deals as part of his

them.”'^'^

w ith “areheh pes,” the world of images,

treatment of the realiR of “essenees.” I’hongh

it

is

a stndv

of arehehpes, he does not disenss speeifie arehehpes here sneh as

what Jnng

ealls aiiimci, auiinus, the

whieh Izntsn

Instead, the eontext in

Ching.

He

sees that the proeess hv

gi\’es birth to

of the

I

its

meaning

is

man

or the Cheat Mother.

term

treats this teehnieal

whieh

WORD exj^ands

is

the

itself

/

and

graphieally found in the eight dix ination signs

Clung, and notes that myths have been imprinted into eaeh

of them.

WORD

he argues,

sis,

wise old

is

is

not

intrinsieallv latent in

m\ th and

poetry.

Mythopoe-

WORD,

just a distinguishing feature of

but rather

fundamental eharaeteristie and true nature. Myths are not merely j

j

made-np

stories.

Human

dent.

They

are a form of self-manifestation by the I Vanseen-

beings do not fahrieate myths. Transeendental

ena ehoose the “areheh pes” known

Areheh pes

are mental

and

phenom-

as myths.

spiritual patterns that,

independently of

the individual nneonseions, determine the ontological infrastrnetnre of a

communih'

or a cnltnre.

their fimetion to

We

can think of areheh pes

what Ibn ‘Arab! described

or “fixed entities” (d y5/? thdhitah),

as

as a

whieh ontologieally

connected

to the “cnltnral

exist

midway

Izntsn eonnts

reality.

framework” that

Areheh pes fundamen-

ordains the depth structure of a person’s eonseionsness, and they

tally

achieve their it is

things.

kind of “essence” and recognizes their

are deeply

in

“permanent areheh pes”

between the Absolute and the world of sensible

them

analogous

as

imicjiie

devclo])ment

in a

eommimih’. “In other words,

impossible for them [archetypes] to have universality in the sense

of surmounting regional and historical differences and being

mon

to all ethnicities or to the

no sneh thing the entire

as

human

race as a whole.

an ‘archetype’ endowed wath

human

race.

a imiversality

com-

“d’here

shared hy

Both individual ‘arehetypes’ and the systems

275

is

in

CHAPTER NINE

which they mutually materialize

differ

from

eultiire to eulture/’^”

Ger-

shom Seholem ouee asked, ^‘Why don’t [Buddhists] see Christ or the Madonna in their meditative visions?” Conversely, Izutsu asks, “Why don’t images of kathagata or Boddhisah as or the various deities of the

Shingon mandala ever appear

in the

eontemplative eonseionsness of

we saw

Christians?”^^ In eontrast to the unih that, as

earlier,

attention of the Traditionalist sehool, Izutsu tries to find the differenees

among

drew the

meaning

in

“essenees.”

In order to grasp the true nature of “eonseionsness,” Izutsu believes,

“We must push on

to the point at

whieh eonseionsness goes beyond

the nature of eonseionsness,

i.e.

ceases to be consciousness.”^“^

The same

whieh eonseionsness

to the point at

logic

is

applied to the pursuit

of “essence.” “Kssenee” must be dealt with up to the point at which separates from essentialih'

and ceases

to

be essence. At the instant that

our “consciousness” perceives “essence,” “Sue/? cmd such a thing in

it,

this

a

mountain

or a river, for instance,” Izutsu writes.

statement, then,

if it

were not

ness grasps a thing, not only realitv,

the thing itself

for the fact that

would we have no

would not even

seiousness. “Essence” changes shape

ladder of consciousness. Or,

it

it

exist.

we accept

our depth conscious-

true sense of that thing’s

There are

depending on

would be

If

exists

its

fair to say.

levels of eon-

position

on the

Being appears

in

response to consciousness.

The is

ultimate state of consciousness that Izutsu deals with here

not the one that comprises the consciousness

we

personally expe-

rience, or the unconscious that psychoanalysis regards as a category.

Izutsu created the expression

WORD

term that transcends language and hut,

on one occasion only

mind)

as

{ushin,

WTd

MIND

in

another

times even signifies the Ultimate,

in “Ishiki to honshitsu,”

name

for

it.

“Used

and ‘no-mind’ {mushin,

he wrote kokoro

in this context, ‘attachment’

are not svnonvms.

which ‘attachment’ and ‘no-mind’ each come

different dimensions.”’^ in

at

kotoha) as a technical

As

this indicates,

it is

MIND

There

into being

that

is

is

a

on

the realih’

which “consciousness goes beyond the nature of consciousness,” but

a full-scale

treatment of

this idea

would have

shin (Td, the conscious Transcendent, in

276

to await the discussion of

what would become

his final

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

hook, Ishiki no

kishinron" no tetsiigciku (1993; Meta-

keijijogcikii: ‘'Daijd

Awakening

physics of consciousness: 'Die philosophy of the the Mahaydna).'’~ “Being

is

W^ORl^,” Izntsn had

of Faith in

sninining up his

said,

thought; he began to deal with the possihilih’ that Being might also he

MIND. In Oriental plnloso])h\’, cognition

w ea\ ing of consciousness and existence, d ims, suing the structure of

this

innltihncrcd intcr-

a coini^lcx,

is

in the j^roeess

of pur-

interweax ing, hninan beings arc inex itahU’

torecd to confront the cinestion of the rcalih of “essence.”'’^

I’his

passage

is

to honshitsu.”

here

found

xx

hat

sentence of “Ishiki

irtualK' the last

is x

both a eonclnsion and a starting point. “Kxistenec”

It is

not “existents.”

is

in

It is

another

name

for the ahsolntelx’ I'ranseen-

dent, what Ihn ‘Arahl ealls “Being.”

Izntsu xxas extremeK’ cautions about using the technical term

“nnconseious,” which had

rapid!)'

become popular

after the birth of

psvchoanaK’sis. Or, rather, he seems to hax’e regarded the careless use

of this word as almost taboo.

It

not that he thought lightK' of Freud

is

and )img; indeed, he was someone who responded eontrihutions

made by

sensitixely to the

the founder of psychoanalysis and his heretical

successor and to the questions each had raised. But he had ahsolnteK'

no use

for the false

“Consciousness” trol. All its

that

image of the “nnconseious”

it.

human

beings are permitted to do

lurking beneath “consciousness”

it.

is

mean

its

xx'orld xv’hcrc

there

is

a

strange

enough

as

structure;

ohserxe

we experience only

in

its

monster called the nnconseious

human

mysterious matters depths.

consciousness

dxxell.

Nor can anyone

it.^*^

277

is

nnnecessarx';

it is.

^

from

to serionsK'

is

d’he determinant “nnconseious”

kike a bottomless sxvamp,

lip

prex alent todax’.

I’here should he no doubt about the realih' of “conscious-

ness,” hut that does not

hidden

is

deep, broad and chaotic and defies theoretical con-

is

dynamism and hypothesize about

a part of

that

No one

is

a xxcird thing, a

really knoxxs

predict xxhat

xx

hat

lies

*

xx ill

snddenlx' rise

CHAF’I ER NINE

“Consciousness

and deep,” Izutsu eonvenienee.

aim

his

to

is

assumed tojiave

is

writes,^®

but

a two-layered strueture, superfieial

this distinetion

merely

is

not his intention to divide eonseiousness into two;

It is

endow

the field that he ealls the “middle spaee of eon-

seiousness”— the “M-realm” or “M-region” — with Izntsii

Diagram

i

is

its

depths.

a struetiiral

model of eonseiousness “Ishiki to honshitsu.”^'

A

is

in

the

M, B

surfaee eonseiousness;

C

struetiiral reality.

attempts to lead the reader to this intermediary region that eon-

neets the snrfaee-level of eonseiousness with

and

for the sake of

indieate the realms of

depth eonseiousness. d’he of the M-realm

is

M

perhaps an

ahhre\ iation for “middle,”

considered as the

or,

whieh meaning

in it

is

field

horn,

eould eoneeivably stand

for

“meaning.” This

lier that

mentioned

ear-

Corhin deserihed.

But, above

ought

also

mundus

the loeation of the iinaginalis

is

all,

we perhaps

to deteet the strong

inflnenee of Leo Weisgerber here. As

we saw

for VVeisgerber, itself

Diagram

i;

Structural

Source: Ishiki to honshitsu,

was nothing

less

realih'.

the mind, there are

6: 178.

Language determines the

phenomena

phenomena

is

also

that exist only in

that exist only in partieiilar languages,

in the ease of the eonstellation

Orion. For Japanese, a erow

assoeiated with ill-omened events, hut, in the

are the

C

words, the sprachliche Zwischenwelt

a geistliche Zwischenwelt. Just as there are

is

l

than

struetiire of eultnre. In other

we saw

I

language

something situated “between” us and

as

model of cousciousuess

earlier,

eompanions of the prophet

Elijah.

Old Testament, crows

Something

similar probably

holds true for other symbols of good and had fortune in evervday

278

life.

CONSCIOUSNF’.SS

Blit that

docs not

mean

that they

AND KSSKNCK

ought

than symbolism. Conversely, since

it

he regarded

to

nothing more

as

impossible for ns

is

be free of

to

language and enltnre, we cannot readily escape from the world strnetnrc the\' im])ose.

Aho\c and he\'ond being merely

a theoretical hypothesis, the

A /-realm was an existential region for Izntsn. “d ’he theory of Ideas has to

he preceded by the experience of

ldeas”^'‘

— that statement in

Shinpi

tetsugaku did not just apply to the true nature of Plato’s Ideas alone; it

would he

hiir to

think that this one sentence expressed

When

article of faith:

dealing with basic issues, existential experience

always takes precedence. Indeed,

it

Idshihiko

a eharaeteristie of

is

would only delve deeply

Izntsn that he

own

Izntsii’s

into

w hat he had experienced

existentially'.

d1ie Mystic Philosophy' of

Even the

WORD

yvord “meaning,” yvhen Ibshihiko Izntsn uses

uniquely' j^ersonal, technical term that

it,

as

it

individual entities,

Words that

emerges from chaos;

no

it is

is

yy

hen

a yvord

comes

It is

lating

meaning.

ticnlated reality

,”

and

is

all

so the yvord “floyver”

at his yvord, a floyver

“meaning” of of

as articu-

“primal, absolute, nnar-

In short, Izntsn believes that

understanding

is

that a floyver

born. But Izntsn’s statement con-

is

being formed

in the

after

“mean-

the matrix of

\\A)RD

this. If

born

is

is

the exact opposite of

floyver. In a yvorld

yy

e take Izntsn

“mold” of the

perceived by ordinary eonseioiisness,

surface eonseioiisness, things appear to be generated in the order

phenomenon

and meaning sign

is

yvith

all things.^"'

things. Oiir usual

fronts ns with a truth that

i.e.

synonymous

the basis of

WORD gives rise to exists,

av around. Izntsn perceives

WORD

not the ease

into being;

ing” seeks yvords, Izntsn believes. In short, “meaning” yy

It is

o of yvhieh are alike.

tyy

produced

yvords, not the other

the appear-

is

the “Eicc” of beings.

are bodies of energy yvithont any fixed form.

“meaning”

a

not limited to the denotative

is

content of a yvord, sentence or phenomena. “Meaning”

ance of Being

becomes

->

yvord

folloyv.

A

becomes endoyved

->

meaning.

yvord yvith

is

A phenomenon comes

a sign

meaning.

279

denoting If a

a thing.

yvords

first;

Oy er

phenomenon docs

time, the

not

exist.

CHAP'l ER NINE

there

is

no word

word does not

to designate jt. If a

ean be prodneed. That undoubtedly

is

wliat

“In the instant that a lingnistie sign loses its

vitalitv as a sign

and becomes

a

is

its

exist,

no meaning

generally tbongbt.

semantic function,

dead thing,” Izntsn

writes.^"^

it

loses

“Meaning”

A phenomenon may exist in the surface consciousness, but in

is life itself.

the world of depth consciousness

it

word ^ meaning, Izntsn

phenomenon

says,

is

It

calls

its

semantic

own

world

all

in a tree-like

Yogacara school called the contact point between

1 he

entities hija or “seeds”

seed sprouts, sends forth leaves, and becomes a tree, in the sensible

chain of

nnicjne semantic

and discusses the world of Being using the metaphor of a and evoke and appear

I’be

retroaeti\ ely reversed.

Yogacara school of Buddhist thought developed theor}- of ontology/conscionsness.

meaning.

l)egins with

realih'

tree. Just as a

things unfold

manner.

and chaos

I’he

in the

world of conseioiisness dlayci-vijildna or the Storehouse Conseionsness.

Seed

is

meaning, Izntsn

says.

ing Yogacara thought. He, too,

him, inheriting

mous I

not simply following or rehash-

participating in that tradition. For

it.

word,

is

He

place in

hija implicitly exist in a potential state characteristic calls the

WORD gives birth

to

place deep within the dlaya-vijndina where

meaning

attributes a special realih’ to

it.

“linguistic ci/dyd-conscionsness”

When

framework, Izntsn ceased

to

and

he encountered the realih that

he called the linguistic dlaya-consciousness and endowed logical

synony-

“Borrowing ideas from Yogacara philosophy,

this [the linguistic dl ay a-consciousness] as the

which semantic of seeds.

is

is

a tradition, in the true sense of the

with deepening

symbolize

He

it

with a

be an inheritor of the Oriental

philosophic tradition and assumed the role of innovator, d’he linguistic

dlaya-consc\ousness

earlier.

By

this

is

located deep in the

M-realm mentioned

term, Izntsn expressly describes the path in the depths

of consciousness, hidden from psychoanalysts, that links the world to Being.

He

is

attempting

to

go even further beyond the unconscious

psychology or dlaya-vijndna exhausti\’elv with the

in

Yogacara, which seemed

to

in

have dealt

innermost recesses of consciousness, and

als to

enter one step past what Corbin calls the “imaginal” realm.

rhe poets

who appear

out, “alchemists of

in “Ishiki to honshitsu” are, as Iziitsu points

WORD,”

as well as solitaiv investigators

the path of linguistic dlaya-cousciousuess.

280

who

follow

Mallarme speaks of his own

CONSCIOUSNKSS AND KSSKNCK

writing of poetry in terms of a “religions cliseipline,” Izntsn writes. is

very interesting that he eoin])ares

it

to the aetivity

monk

of a

“It

cinietly

God deep u ithin a eloister.”^'^' “'I’lie language of Mallarmc, the (artist of WORD) who performs this metaphysieal alehemy, is no

seeking jyoet

longer the ordinary laugage that peo])le use for eonmumieation; he has

and transferred

killed the thing at the level of empirieal existenee

the level of eternal reality; there

guage], whieh Inte

words

as ordinary

le

language

emerges from language

heeomes|

Ger/^e

fall

— manifests

away. In short,

a multilayered,

On

mnltidimensional

to

Verhe jahsolnte lan-

itself; this

/\hso-

means

WORH, whieh

as “essenee.” d’he instant that

ously inter\’enes in the sensible world, is

le

evokes the ‘essenee’ ot that thing.

existeiiticilJy

language — WORD,

|it

it

is

that

Being,

WORO vigor-

we heeome aware

that the

world

realih'.

oeeasion, Izntsn uses the expression “the karma of meaning.”^^^

Karma for him is not an e\ kite attendant on the life of an indi\ idnal. Does karma narrow or limit a person’s life? Instead of being an imjiediment, doesn’t it make ns aware of something that we must ehange, il

deepen or

free ourselves

from? Reeall the sentenee

at the

beginning

of Ishiki to honshitsu eited earlier: “d’he problem of ‘essenee,’ under x’arioiis

guises

and various names, has always dominated the

tions of thinkers

speeiila-

thronghont the history of Western philosophv.” Karma,

aecnmiilated in “cultural nni\’ersals,” determines meaning, and forms the cultural infrastructure of are at stake

karma

depending on how' they

in cnltnre

meaning”

and

resides in

hmnan live

beings. Just as people’s lives

out their karma, there

spiritiialih' respectively. In culture,

its

analogical function.

It is

governs spiritual communities and eiiltnres as

When

a

an im

“the

is

also a

karma of

isihle realih' that

whole.

referring to the creativity of Toshihiko Izntsn, people call

attention to the expression “lingnistie c7/(:/vd-conscionsness.” sure, this technical term is

this

is

nnicjiic to Izntsn,

and

possible to perceive signs of speculation that

is

in this

do be

one term,

it

backed np both bv

the traditional thought of the b?ast and the West as well as

b\’

mod-

ern philosophy of language. But the rcalitv that he was pursuing,

Mn-eonseionsness,

lies

beyond

it.

lie calls tins tbe “zero point” of tbc

world wliere Being and eonseionsness are undifferentiated. Lingnistie c/Zm’d-conseionsness elneidates the realih' of the zero point, d'hal point

281

CHAPTER NINE

is

nothing other than the origin of

a “clepth-conseiousness

WORD-like

of language” in Izntsn,^^^ the origin of a “Ishiki to honshitsLi” it

was pnblished

was serialized

book form,

in

philosophy

world.

in eight installments,

but

when

was divided into twelve ehapters.

it

d here were, of eonrse, additions and revisions, but, in terms of line of

thought, there do not appear to be any major ehanges. dliere was one

— the word “WORD.” At the

exeeption, however

“WORD,”

the word

even when

out in eharaeters (W^), but

ehanged

to

“WORD”

elear distinetion

had speeial eonnotations, was written

it

when

eame

the book

in kcitakana

out,

Izutsu had

h

“WORD”

between

time of serialization,

begun making

even

The eneounter

was undoubtedly an unexpeeted experienee

author himself

for the

To read

“WORD”

a

and “word” or “language” during

serialization, at the time of the seventh installment.

with the word

of these were

all

“Ishiki to honshitsu”

is

nothing

less

than

to witness at first-

drama taking plaee in dbshihiko Izutsu as “word” metamorphoses into “WORD,” and then “primordial WORD,” i.e. hand the Being. tially

spiritual

Commenting on

WORD

Alallarme, he wrote that

‘'existen-

evokes ‘essenee.’”^° Although words are eonfined to expressing

WORD ereatively ealls things forth out of the sea of absolute Nothingness. In short, the mystery of WORD nothing less than “essenee,”

is

“the

dynamie foree of ontological

meaning of WORD

WORD,”

WORD

were substituted this

study would

WORDs Being

fall

itself

articulation.”"'

in a multilayered way.

But Izutsu uses the

When hut

he

says,

“Being

is

“Being” or “God”

a

transeendental

realit}’,

for all

oeeurrenees of

WORD in “Ishiki to honshitsu,”

is

fall

apart.

When,

away and ‘essenee’

in regard to

falls

same

Nausea, he

away, inevitably

without any fissures whatsoever,”"’

are beings; they are not the

if

as Being.

all

WORDs

says that “if

that

is

left is

in this eontext

Indeed, semantieally, the

usage here comes close to “essenee.”

Moreover, while originally profoundly connected

spoken or written language, Izutsu’s that attempts to go

beyond them.

Ishiki to honshitsu, the

word

WORD

When we

“WORD”

to

words and

possesses a

dynamism

get to the tenth section of

rapidly assumes the aspect of

the Ultimate. Alluding to Kukai (774-835), the founder of the Shin-

gon school of Buddhism, and

to the Jewish

282

mvsticism of the Qabablah,

AND

CX)NSCI()USNKSS

he develops

a

F.SSKNCF,

“depth-eonseioiisness philosophy of language”: “the

WORO of C^od — or, more aeeiirately, the WORD that W^ORO

and

exist inseparably, Izntsii asserts.

omizes the thought of doshihiko

WORD;

eonverged on

Lambda

of Ishiki to

it

Iziitsu,

nothing

is

Buddhism,

i.e.

eommunitv

of

beginning

ot all things

and

lit.

alih’

been artieulated

In short, the

whieh explains

Shingon esoterieism,

where

at all, the

as the \

was an

regarded

word “Shin-

I’lie

WORO,

one

ahsohitelv unartieulated

and primordial

world

is

state of

airoeana-Bnddha — or,

primordial state of Being manifests

case, the

is

Shingon sehool ean be thought of as

to the ultimate

dharma body]

too,

WORO

their oiiteome.”’^'^

that the primal realih’ of the

Kukai gives shaj^e [the

than the philoso])hieal Book

“true language”) signifies “the primordial

that has not vet

WORO.”^^

this seetion that epit-

is

whieh began with words and

WORO,

esoterie religious

gon” {M'B;

C7od

hoiisliitsii.

Kfikai’s tantrie

as “the

less

It

Ciod.”^"^

is

to

itself in

a spiritn-

WORO.

Being

itself

be more preKnkai’s depth

eonseionsness as the image of the Wiroeana-Bnddha. Aeeordingly, for

Knkai, everything in the world of Being

dially the

WORD of the \ airoeana-Bnddha.

deep-level lingnistie

Wdien Izutsu wrote have eontinued,

— or,

more

as

all

all

things are

Being

is

ultimately

WORO of the Wiroeana-Bnddha,” he might well

he had when disenssing the Oabhalah, and added

accurately, the

things.

first

WORO is

that

is

the Vairoeana-Buddha.”

the “utmost primal

In other words,

and quite possibly the

opher of language”

Fven

after

been unable

at

all

it is

WORO” that

“the ‘recondite meaning’ of

Being, the meaning of the meaning of heings.”^^ For Izutsu, Kukai

was the

it

In short,

phenomena.

Hosshin ('^#), the “dharma body,”

subsumes

nltimatelv and primor-

that “everything in the world of

and primordially the “

is

was

checking with Mrs Izutsu and others close

to discover

When

Shingon school shitsu,” Izutsu

“depth-consciousness philos-

in Japan.

when

relatively late. T here j

Eranos.

loftiest

is

to

him,

I

have

Izutsu encountered Kukai, except that

no evidence

that Izutsu discussed

Kukai

he dealt with rnandala there, he only mentioned the once.^"^

Judging from one passage

in “Ishiki to

hon-

probably encountered Kilkai’s concept of the “]:)rimordial

28 ^

CHAPTER NINE

state of

ones mind”

nqgeutei;

{jishin

he had used the

after

teehnieal term “linguistie d/c/vci-eonseioiisness.” Pure semautie forms,

he

writes, are those in

dial state of

whieh “the

euerg\’ of what Kukai ealls the ‘primor-

ones mind’ has been primarily

depth eouseiousuess, whieh

like strueture at the liuguistic base of the I

have ealled

iu this essay the ‘liuguistie d/dvcz-eouseiousuess/

primordial state of eouseiousuess

[is]

Beiug.”^° I’he eueouuter with Kukai

long after the while he was siieh

artieulated through the uet-

\^•ritiug

it.

the

preeisely the primordial state of

seems

to

have taken plaee not

of “Ishiki to houshitsii,” or

writing

still

And

it

as a

er\'

may have oeeurred

The time was presumably

an eueouuter. Didn’t Izutsu read Kukai

\

already ripe for

way of eoufirmiug

his

own iutelleetual roots? It is not hard to imagine Izutsu’s astonishment when he realized that, more than looo years earlier, there had been a Japanese who had iutelleetually structuralized the metaphysieal horizons that had been opened up by Ibu ‘Arab! and Chuaug-tzu. It

was

iu a leeture

seuteuee “Being

is

on Kukai and

WORD.”^* The

WORD,

that Izutsu spoke the

following passage speaks of Kukai’s

theory of Beiug/Couseiousuess and eouveys Izutsu’s shoek

at

eueouu-

teriug him.

Kukai pursues the proeess of outologieal articulation deeper and deeper.

He

goes against the stream

direction from the process

eouseiousuess arrives

world

— until

he

at

in the

state of one’s

depths of

mind,” which he describes

on the Ten Stages of the Development of

“making an exhaustive study and awakening

dial state of one’s

opposite

finally arrix es at the origins of consciousness, until

(in the Jujushiuron [Treatise as

whereby what occurs

in the

the surface level and then appears iu this

he reaches the “primordial

Mind])

— proceeding

to the

primor-

mind.”^"

Izutsu uses the English term “zero point” to e.xpress Kukai’s “primordial state of one’s

mind,” iudieatiug

its

coutemporaneih’. In the essav

based on the leeture, he makes a distiuetiou between the “zero point of eouseiousuess” and the “zero point of Being,” but he also uses the term the “zero point of the entire world of Being,” suggesting that the attrihuti\ e

use of “of eouseiousuess” and “of Being” does not

exists separately

mean

that

eaeh

hut rather that they are teehnieal terms or struetural

284

CONSCIOIISNKSS AND KSSllNCK

articulations in his ontology are “consciousness”

and theory of consciousness. Not only

and “Being”

place where “eonseionsness” and “Ikang” meet and the point the\'

begin

to

he differentiated

— the

inscjxirahlc at the “zero point”

— rcalih'

which

name

rather, another

is,

at

for

the interpenetrating imih’ of the two. In short, at the instant that “eon-

Seman-

seionsness” grasjxs meaning, the artienlation of beings oeenrs. tic

may

articulation

well he said to he ontological artienlation

W'e know, of course, that not the sensible world, d’he

all

things that are thought exist in

word “eonseionsness” here

human

eonseionsness of indix idnal

itself.

beings.

is

not the snrfaee

an exent that oeenrs

It is

in

the deepest depths of depth eonseionsness. “Ontologieal artienlation, in fact,

oeenrs

nlation of things that ness

merely the

is

deeper place

at a far, far

we

in

eonseionsness. d’hc artie-

see on the snrfaee of snperfieial eonseions-

result of the primar\ artienlation in the

eonseionsness, or a seeondary dex elopment

thereof.”'"^' If

deep

Icwel

the starting

point of ontologieal artieidation does not oeenr in the eonseionsness that it

in

human

beings are normally aware

language. Izntsn does not

tr\’

to

of,

do

impossible to deal with

it is

He

so.

of his abilih', to e\’oke the world “beyond”

does

the best

try, to

Just as the existenee of

it.

the “lingnistie (:7/(:/yonscioiisness and csscmicc]).

incliiciccl in Isliiki to honshitsii [198^; Rcx’isits d’odaiji

with Iranian

on architecture Nader Ardalan.

s])ccialist

1978 AGE 64 In January, eolloqii)' witli philosoplier loinonol)!! Iinainiehi entitled “ d’ozai

no tctsngakn” (Oriental and oeeidental

Sluso

rhonght). As general editor of Iwanaini

(

philosopliics) appears in

Classics ot Islam series,

s

pnhlishes Sonzai uinshiki no michi: sonzcii to honshitsii ni of ontologieal eognition:

tsiiitc

(

The path

On existenee and essence; a translation of Mnlla

Sadra’s Kitah al-Masha'ir) in

Mareh, and RnniJ

ot Rniin; a translation ot RnniT’s luhi nui fihi) in

gorokii

The

(

diseoiirses

May, and writes detailed

eoinnientaries on both works. Pnhlieation of SnhrawardTs Kitah liikinat al-lshraq (Philosophy of lllninination)

is

also

planned

for the

same

series

but never realized. d hat

summer,

takes part in the 47th Kranos Conference, leetnring

on “ d’he Pield Strnetnre of Time

in

Zen Buddhism.”

1979 AGE 65

Zen mondo

In jannarv, “l’ai\\’a to hitaiwa:

(Dialogue and non-dialogne: in

Some

ni tsnite

no

iehikosatsii”

thoughts on Zen inondos) appears

Shiso (d bought). In February, returns to Japan via Athens having

left

d’ehran on a Japan Airlines resene mission beeanse of the Iranian

With

revolution.

entered siigakn

its

event as a turning point, Izntsn says, his

this

third stage.

no genten”

(d

On

22

and 29 May, lectures on ‘dsnramn

he origin of Islamie philosophy)

at the

life tet-

Iwanami

Citizen Lecture series (pnblished in the August and Oetoher issues of Shiso [d honght] as ‘dsnramn tetsngakn no genten: shinpishngiteki shiitaisei

no kogito” (The origin of Islamie philosophy: Cogito of the

snhjeethood of mystieism). In June, eolloqnv with historian Shinohn

Iwamnra

entitled

world?) appears in

“Isnramn sekai

Chuo Koron

to

wa nani ka” (What

(Central Review). Phat

part in the 48th Franos Conferenee, lecturing

and No-Image: Far Fastern Ways of d’hinking.” Isuraniii seitan (d’he birth of Islam;

is

the Islamie

summer,

takes

on “Between Image

In

Oetoher, j^nblishes

Jinhnn Shoin).

In

Deeemher,

“Honshitsii ehokkan: Isnramn tetsngakn dansho” (Wesenersehannng:

A

brief note

on Islamie philosophy)

Ml

apj:)ears in

Risd (Ideal). Phat

same

CHRONOLOGY

niontli, lectures

on “Oriental Philosophy and the Contemporary *

nation of

Human

Sit-

«k

Plxistence” at the Keio-sponsorecl international

symposimn, “Dimensions of Global Interdependence.” Lectures on “Matter and Consciousness

dc Cordone (included ness;

lama Shnppan],

in

Oriental Philosophies” at the Colloqne

in Ishiki

no henreki [The journey of conseions-

the translation of the conference proceedings,

Science et conscience). Contributes a tribute to Kaiso no Kuriyagawa

Fumio (Recollections of Fnmio Kuriyagawa),

a collection of essays in

Kuriyagawa ’s memor\'.

1980 AGE 66

Between January and June, contributes Hyoron (Mita Review): “Koknsai

a series of essays to

Mita

kaigi, gaknsai kaigi” (International

conferences, interdisciplinary conferences), “Dotei” (Cnrricidnm \'itae),

“Keio koknsai shinposhinmn shokan” (Reflections on the Keio

“Mnsha shngyo” (A

international symposium),

warrior’s training),

“Shoshi o motomete” (In search of the right teacher), “Koknsai kaigi” (International conference)

and

friends).

On

and “Shi

23 April, lectures

to

hoyn” (Teachers, colleagues

on “Isnramn

to

wa nani ka” (What

is

Islam?) at the Japan Cultural Congress (published in the July issue of

Child Koron (Central Review) as “Isnramn no fntatsn no kao” [d’he two faces of Islam]). In Alay, publishes Isurdmu tetsugaku no genzd ('The original

image of Islamic philosophy; Iwanami Shoten).

serialization of “Ishiki to honshitsn” (Consciousness

In June, begins

and essence;

in

Shisd [Thought], until February 1982); that same month, a three-way

colloquy with philosopher of religion Shizntern Ueda and Qabbalah specialist "Padahiro

Omnna

Isurdmu tetsugaku no genzd mysticism:

On

entitled “Shinpishngi ni tsnite”

no konpon kozo:

(The fundamental structure of

Isurdmu tetsugaku no genzd) appears

in Risd (Ideal),

d'hat Slimmer, takes part in the qqth Eranos Conference, lecturing “

Fhe Nexus of Ontological Events:

“Daiikkyn no koknsaijin” (A

A

Buddhist View of RealiK .” Writes

first-class

Complete Works of Daisetz Suzuki.

M2

on

cosmopolitan), a blurb for the

ClIRONOl.OGY

AGE 67 in Janiian’, a colloqin’ with historian Sluintaro Ito entitled “Isnrainn

hnninei no genclaiteki

igi” (Tlie

eonteinporarv signiheanee of Islainie

civilization) apj^cars in Kkoiioiiiisiito (Keononiist

).

March, con-

In

tributes a preface to the japancse translation of R.A. Nicholson’s Vhe

Idea of Persoiuilitv in Sufism [Isuramu ui okeru fyerusona no rinen; trans. Kiyoshi

Nakamura).

(Islamic culture;

Deecinher, publishes

In

Iwanami Shoten). 27-30 November, attends an

national colloc|ninm, “l,cs crises spiritncllcs

mondc

Isitrdniu hiinka

contem])orain,” sponsored hv the

Morocco. Publishes The Theon'

of

Beauh'

dans

le

Kingdom

of

ct intellcctnellcs

Academy

of the

inter-

in the Classical Aesthetics of

Japan (co-anthored with d’oyoko Izntsn; Martinns Nijhoff).

AGE 68 Between

18 Jannarv'

and 29 March gives ten lectures

vomn” (Reading the Koran) as the

first

“Koran o

entitled

Kvanami Citizen Seminar.

jimzabiiro Nishiwaki dies. In Jnlv, ^asahiiro Ikeda dies. That takes part in the 51st PTanos Conference, lecturing

In jiine,

summer,

on the “Celestial

Journey: Mythopoesis and Metaphysics.” Meets Mircea Fdiadc again at this

conference; this wonid be their

last

meeting;

it

wonld

also

be the

last

Eranos Conference that Izntsn wonld attend. Becomes professor emeritus at

Keio Universih'. In October, “Tsuioku: Nishiwaki junzaburo

ni

manabu” Reminiscences: Studying with Junzaburo Nishiwaki appears in (

)

Kigoseinen (The Rising Ceneration). In November, receives the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for Isurdnm hunka Islamic culture). In (

ber, elected a

member

Yanase, lectures

at

Decem-

of the Japan Academy. At the request of Mntsiio

the Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia Unix ersih’.

AGE 69 In January,

“Derida gensho” (A Dcrridian phenomenon) appears

Shinkan no me (A look

at

lishes Ishiki to honshitsu In February, “‘Cien’ei

no

recent publications). 'Pbe

in

same month, pub-

(Consciousness and essence; Iwanami Shoten). Into’:

Ikeda Ya.sabnro o onion”

(Remembering

CHRONOI.OGY

Yasahuro Ikeda,

phantom man”) appears

“tlie

Child Koron (Central

in

Review). In May, “‘Yomn’ to ‘kakn’” (“Reading” and “writing”) appears in Riso (Ideal). In June,

Iwanami Shoten).

d’hat

pnblishes Koran o

month,

a three-way eolloqiiy with

and Hayao Kawai, “Ynngn shinrigaku

and Oriental thought) appears Izntsn. Also that

“Lettre a

in

July,

Shisd (T hought), translated by Tbyoko in Paris.

Derrida writes

(Letter to a Japanese friend), an essay in letter

by Keizabiiro Marnyama

Shisd). In July, contributes “Nishiwaki sensei to

(Professor Nishiwaki, linguistics

and

I)

as

an

Junzabnro Nishiwaki’s collected works.

naka no ‘Yudayajin’” (The “Jew”

December,

James Hillman

based on their pre\ ions month’s conversation (there

a translation of this letter

to

the Koran;

koyo shiso” (Jnngian psycholog}'

to

month, meets Jacques Derrida

im ami japonais”

form dated lo

yomu (Reading

in

gengogaku

insert to the

1984 issue

to

watashi”

supplement

September, “Derida no

Derrida) appears in Shisd.

on “SliTaha Isuramu”

lectures

In

in the April

Club of Japan. Awarded the Yomiuri

is

(Slii’ite

The

Islam) at

On

23

lndustr\'

Prize for Literature for Ishiki to

honshitsu. Recei\'es the Asahi Prize (Asahi Shimbimsha). Ryotaro Shiba also

awarded the same prize

this year; first

meeting of the two.

AGE 70 March, “Cogaku kaigen” (My

In

Shdwa no

guages) comes out in Klichi:

person one

story, a

The

hitori

ichiwashu (Pathways:

One

Showa-period anthology). That month, “ShTaha

Isuramu: SliTateki junkyosha Islam:

initiation into the mysteries of lan-

ishiki

origin of the Shl’ite

no

yurai to sono engekisei” (ShT’ite

marh r complex and

its

theatricality)

appears in Sekai (World); contributes “Biinka to gengo arayasbiki: ibunk-

akan taiwa no kanosei no mondai o megutte” (Culture and linguistic a lava -consciousness:

On

the question of the possibilih' of eross-cultural

dialogue) to Genclai humnei no kiki to jidai no seishin (T he

crisis

of con-

temporaiv' civilization and the spirit of the times), an international forum to

mark the 70th anni\ ersar\’ of the founding of the publishing company,

Iwanami Shoten.

In April, “Tansu, fukusu ishiki” (Consciousness of sin-

gular and plural) appears in Bungakii (Literature), and “‘Kakn’: Derida

no ekurichuru-ron

ni

chinande” (“WTiting”: Apropos of Derrida’s thc-

or\'

of ecriture) appears in Shisd (T hought). T hat month, writes a blurb

for

Mark

Taylor’s Erring:

A

Postmodern A/theology

(later translated as

CHRONOLOGY

Sawayou by Ibyoko

Iziitsii;

Iwanaiiii Sliotcn). In early s])ring, iinitcd by

tbc Institute of Isinaili Studies, j)eriod

on the

London,

to leetnre

over a tbree-inontb

of aneient Indian pbilosopby in Islaniie pbi-

reee]:)ti()n

losopby. In June, “Snfizuinn to gengo tetsngakii” (Snfisin and lingnistie

philosophy) and

a e()lloc|ny

and

inisntishiz.innn” (Snfisin

“Konton: inn

inystieisin)

appear

in Sliisd. In

(Japanese Language News).

I'silshin

at

Mount

Shingon” (Shingon:

Mareh

AGE

in

Kd)'a, entitled

On

26 Dec'eni-

on Japanese

her, gives a sj^eeial leetnre at the 17th C>onferenee

Biiddhisin held

Oetoher,

no aida” (Cdiaos: Between being and nothingness)

to yfi

appears in Kokiigo

with llennann Landolt, “Suh/ninn to

“Ck'ngo tetsiigakn toshite no

A philosojdiy of language),

published the following

hUkkrdgakii kenkyu (Journal of Lsoterie Buddhist Studies).

71

In January, a eolloqiiy with

(d’he depths of literature

Shusaku Kndo, “Bnngakn

and thought) appears

ruary, “Imi hiinsetsii riron to Kukai:

knteki kandsei o sagnrn” (Knkai

Exploring the

linguistic'

no Shingon,” appears

muge

/ ri-ri

in

to shisd

no shinsd”

Sekai (World). In Feb-

Shingon inikkyo no gengo

and the

theor\- ofseinantie artieulation:

in

re\'ised version

Shisd

muge: sonzai

('I

kaitai

of

“Gengo

tetsugaku toshite

hought). In July and September,

no

cito" (d’he

jidai:

eneounter with Literature). In

“Ji-ji

world of ‘non-hindranee’:

After/traees of ontologieal deeonstruetion) appears in Shisd. In

“Mita

tetsuga-

philosophieal potential of Shingon esoterie Bud-

dhism), an expanded and

ber,

ILsoterie

Novem-

Sarutoru tetsugaku to no deai” ('The Mita years: Sartre’s

philosophy) appears

Deeemher, publishes Imi no

in

My

Mita Biiugaku (Mita

fiikami e (db the dej^ths of

meaning; Iwanami Shoten).

AGE 72 In Jannar\\ jDiihlishes a eolleetion of eolloc|nies, Eichi

wisdom; Iwanami Shoten). )dkan ishiki

no genkei”

In

in

A

claiza (Bezels ot

“Sdzd fndan: d

A]:)ril,

(PerjDetual creation:

time eonseiousness) appears ular

Mareh and

no

o)'dteki

hasie pattern of Oriental

Shisd (d'hought).

On

12

May,

at a reg-

meeting of the Japan Aeademy, leetnres on the “assassins” of the

Ismaili seet; published in the July

and August

issues of S7 ?/.sd as “Isu-

mairuha ‘ansatsudan’: Aramutojosai no myutosu

to shisd”

(

d'he Ismaili

CHRONOLOGY

Assassins: Mvtlios

and thought around the Alainnt

castle). In Septcin-

(Mourning Eliade:

her, “Eriade aito: ‘Indo taiken’ o megiitte”

On

his

“Indian experiences”) appears in Yuriika (Eureka). Eroin the 13th to the

December,

17th of

sponsored by dcnri

takes part in an international Universitv', lecturing

symposium held

at

and

on “Cosmos and Anti-cosmos.”

Writes blurbs for the collected works of Plotinus and the selected works of Keiji Nishitani.

1987 AGE 73 no kiten” (Becoming aware: d’he

In January, “Kiznkii: shi to tetsiigakn origins of poetry

“Kosnmosn

to

and philosophy) appears

(Thought). In March,

anchi kosnmosn: Toyo tetsiigakn no tachiha kara” (Cos-

mos and anti-cosmos: Erom appears

in Shiso

the standpoint of Oriental philosophy)

“Enkei” (L.andscape) appears

in Shiso. In April,

in

Gekkan

Kaiiagawa (Kanagawa Monthly).

1988 AGE 74 Becomes series

a

member

of the editorial committee for the Iwanami lecture

on Oriental thought,

Yndaya tetsngaknshi

ni

for

okern

which,

in January,

keiji to risei”

he

writes,

(Reason and revelation

the histor\’ of medieval Judaic philosophy), and, in October,

gensho

toshite

no

‘keiji’”

“Chnsei

(“Revelation” as a linguistic

in

“Gengo

phenomenon);

“Avisenna, CazarT, Averoesn ‘horakn’ ronso: ‘tetsiigakn no horakii’ to ‘horakii

no horakn’ o megiitte” (Disputes among Avicenna, CazarT

and Averroes: Concerning

“destriictio

destriictionis”). In August,

“Zenteki

structure of

Zen

philosophoriim” and “destriictio

ishiki

jutsu”

flriido

kozo” (The held

consciousness), an expanded version of his 1969 Era-

nos lecture, “The Structure of Seltliood in Shiso. In

no

November,

(Thought and

a

Zen Buddhism,” appears

in

colloquy with Shotaro Yasuoka, “Shiso to gei-

Art) appears in

Mita Bungaku (Mita

Literature).

Writes a blurb for the selected works of philosopher and historian of science Porataro Shimomura.

1989 AGE 73 In April, contributes a long entr\-

Konsaisu loseiki shiso

jiten

on “'Toyo shiso” (Oriental thought)

to

(Concise dictionary of zoth-centim’ thought).

346

CHRONOLOGY

In

May, returns

to

and

])nblislics the original version

(Mnl.ianiinad; Kodanslia Gaknjntsn Bnnko). In jnne, (nanji

wa

sliiso”

(dVVriAAM ASI

(.)(

“d’A'I'

IVAM

ASI

no

sore nari): Bayajlclo BasiitaniT ni okern j^ernsona tenkan

[dlion

art that]:

he idea of ehange of persona

I

Bayajldo BasntaniT) appears in Shisd d'honght). In

in

Mahoiiietto

jnlv, j)nhlishes

(

Kosuuiosii to anchi kosuwosii (Cosinosand aiiti-eosnios; Iwananii Shoten).

1990 AGE 76 In )annar\', shii

“Mavateki sekai ninshiki: fnniiehigenronteki X^cdanta no

kdzo o megntte” (Cognition of a

i\l(7 }Y7 -like

world:

On

the thought

strnetnre of Adxaita \Adanta) appears in Shisd ('I'lionght

general editor of Eraiiosii sdsho (K.ranos yearbooks; jnh’,

1

).

Becomes

leihonsha

).

In

eontrihntes ''Erauosu sdsho no hakkan ni saishite: kanshnsha no

kotoha” (On the oceasion of the publication of the Eranos yearbooks:

Words from the

editor). In

December,

writes “Imiron josetsn:

no shisd no kaisctsn o kanete” (Introdnetion a

commentary on \limva no

Minwa no 1991

shisd

(

semantic theory: With

an exegesis of Akihiro Satakc’s

Ilie intellectual aspects of folktales).

AGE 77 In

May, publishes Chdetsu no kotoha (IVanseendental

and men

in Islamic

WORDs: God

and jcwish philosophy; Iwanami Shoten).

In

Octo-

on

Izutsii

Ihshihiko Chosakiishu (d’he selected

works of dbshihiko Izntsn;

Chnd

Kdronsha; com])lcted posthnmonsly

ber, publication begins

in 1993).

For volume

publication of

1992

shisd),

to

Mimea

1,

writes ''Chosakiishu

my selected

no kankd

ni atattc”

(On

the

works).

AGE 78 In April, greatly revises

structure of meaning), L.ate that

and expands the

volume 4 of his

antnmn, engages

in a

first

halt of Inn no kdzd

(

d hc

selected w orks.

colloc|ny— his

last

— with

Rydtard

Shiha, “Nijisseikimatsn no yami to hikari” (Darkness and light

at

end of the twentieth century; published the following jannary

Chad

in

the

Kdron [Central Review]). Begins serialization of “Isliiki no keijijdgakn: Daijd kishinron no tetsngakn” (Metaphysics of eonseionsness: j)hiloso])hy of

Awakening

of Eaith in the

Ml

Mahaydna;

in

I'he

Child Kdron

CHRONOLOGY

[Central Review]): “Sonzaironteki shiza” (Ontologieal perspeetixes)

May, “Sonzairon kara ishikiron e” (From ontologx’

in

eonseioiisness) in August,

and “Jh-snzon

ishiki

theory of

to a

kino no naiteki mekani-

znnui” (ddie internal meehanisin of the fnnetion of existential awareness) in

Oetober (the

third installment

wonld be the

last

thing he ever

wrote).

1993

AGE 79

On

morning of 7 January, after finishing writing, trips on a rug and on his way to the bedroom. Gets up as though nothing has hap-

the

falls

pened and wife, his

out oyasumi (roughly, “I’m going to

ealls

dbyoko;

bedroom

this at

9

hospital. At his

would he

his last

lie

request, there was

Kamakura). In Mareh,

Ishiki

no funeral

1994

1

no keijijdgaku: ''Daijo kishinron" no

Mahdydmv, Chfio Koronsha)

Deeember, Creation and

is

the Timeless

Islamic Alystical Philosophy (White

8 YEARS In

tet-

Awakening

of

published.

November,

ophy (Keio

15

Cloud

Order Press)

of Things: Essays in is

published.

AFTER HIS DEATH

jDublished as

2008

Kamakura

YEAR AFTER HIS DEATH

In

2001

in a

in

(burial at kaigaknji,

sugaku (Metaphysies of eonseioiisness: d’he philosophy Faith in the

to his

word. Suffers a brain hemorrhage

AM and dies the same day at 4:415 PM

own

down”)

Izutsu’s translation of Lao-tsii:

volume

1

The Way and

Its

Virtue

is

of The Izutsu Librarx- Series on Oriental Pl iilos-

Unixersitx’ Press).

YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

d'he leetures he gaxe at the Eranos Conferenee are published in txxo

xolumes under the

title

The Structure

of Oriental Philosophy: Collected

Papers of the Eranos Conference (Keio UnixersiR Press). In August, an international eonferenee

on

his xxork

tribution to Islamie Studies: d'he

on Islam, entitled “Japanese Con-

Legaey of Poshihiko

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sinee 2002,

monographs have been republished

sex'eral

Izutsn,”

is

held

in

of his English-language

in Malavsia.

CIIRONOl.OGY

2009

16

YKARS

AF'I'KR

I

IIS DP’-A

I

H

In lannary, a SjK’cial edition of

devoted

2011

Mila Biiiigaku [Mita Literature]

to Idslnlnko Izntsn.

18

YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

In

Mareh,

on

|)nhlieation begins

I’lie

Cvolleeted

Izntsn (Keio Uni\ersit\’ Press), with Laiigiiage the

is

Magical Function

of

Speech

as \'olnine

"^49

1.

Works of

loshiliiko

and Magic: Studies

in

b w

*

I

I

Notes In citating

works

Izutsu Toshihiko viated as

in the notes, the sliort title lias generall}'

Chosakushu

(1 lie

been used. Referenees

seleeted works of losliiliiko

he abbre-

will

l/.iitsii)

to

rrc.

PREFACE TO THE )APANESE EDIHON 1.

“Kaikyo

and reasoning),

ni okerii keiji to risei” (Islamic revelation

Nippon Shogaku Keukyii Hokoku (Report of the Committee Development of Seienees in |a])an) d'oknshn 12 (1944), 53-67; Yoinu

to kakii:

Izutsu Ihsluhiko esseishu (Reading and writing:

tion of doshihiko Izntsu’s essa\’s), ed. Kisiike

Wakamatsn

Gijnkn Daigakn Shuppankai, 2009), pp. 63-78, 2.

Arabia shisdshi: Kaikyo sliingaku

to

in

for the rept. in

A

eollee-

("Fokyo: Keio

at 63.

kaikyo tetsugaku (flistory of Arabic

thought: Islamic theology and Islamic philosophy)

(

rok\o:

Hakuhnnkan,

1941). 3.

Both were published the following

year:

“Mahometto” (Muhammad)

in

Seia sekaishi (World history of western Asia), ed. Asataro d’asaka (Tokyo:

Kohimdo Shoho, 1944), pp. 289-300, rept. in Yomii to kaku, pp. 127146; and “Kaikyo shinpishugi tetsugakusha Ihnn Arab! no sonzairon” (The ontology of the Islamic m\ stic philosopher Ihn ‘Arahl), 'Yetsugaku (Philosophy) 25-26 (1944), 332-357; rept. in Yomu to kaku, ])]d. 41-62. 4.

Shinpi tetsugaku: Girishia no hu (Philosophy of mysticism: d'he Greek part) (Tokyo:

Tetsugaku Shnddin, 1949;

Shuppankai, 2010); Kdronsha,

rev. ed.,

1991). Citations

G

rept.

Keid Gijnkn Daigakn

ITC and FFC

Kyoto: Jinhun Shoin, 1978; rept.

w

ill

be

to the

2010 edition

(Ghfid

1

1.

5.

Ibid., p. 31 (FI

6.

Roshiateki ningen: kindai roshia huugakushi (Russian humanity: tory of

224).

1:

modern Russian

(Hokuydsha, 1978); to the 1978 edition 7.

Koran,

3 vols.

literature)

FFG 3 and FFG 3. rept.

(

I'okyo:

Kdbnndd,

1964); rept.

new

his-

edition

(Ghfid Kdronsha, 1992). Citations will he

(Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1957-1958);

Iwanami Shoten,

1953);

A

FFG

rev. ed., 3 \’ols. (dbk\'o:

7 (Ghfid Kdronsha, 1992).

35 ’

NOTES TO PAGES

8.

Isuraniu seitan

rrC 9.

2

(The

XVI-XIX

birth of Islam) (Tokyo: Jinbun Shoin, 1979); rept. in

(Chfio Koronsha, 1993).

Isuramu tetsugaku no genzo (The original image of Islamie philosophy) (Tokyo: hvanami Shoten, 1980); rept. in

ITC

5

(Chfio Koronsha, 1992).

honshitsu: seishinteki Tovo o motomete (Conseionsness and

10. Ishiki to

/

essenee: In seareh of the spiritual Orient) (Tokyo: Ivvanami Shoten, 1983); rept. as Ishiki to honshitsu:

Toyoteki shii no kozoteki seigosei o motomete

(Conseionsness and essenee: In seareh of the strnetnral integration of Oriental thought), in 11.

2

13.

6 (Chfio Koronsha, 1992).

Isurdmu hunka: sono kontei that

12.

ITC

make np

its

ni ciru

The elements I

I'C

(Chfio Koronsha, 1993).

Koran o yomii (Reading the Koran) (Tokyo: hvanami Shoten, 1983); rrC 8 (Chfio Koronsha, 1991). Imi no fukcimi

in

e:

Toyo tetsugaku no

TTC

suii

rept.

(do the depths of reading: the

('Tokyo:

hvanami Shoten,

1985); rept.

9 (Chfio Koronsha, 1991).

Kosumosii

to

1989); rept. in

(Cosmos and hvanami Shoten,

anchi kosumosu: 'Idyo tetsugaku no tame

anti-eosmos: For

15.

(Islamie enltnre:

foundation) (Tokyo: hvanami Shoten, 1981); rept. in

Fathoming of Oriental philosophy)

14.

mono

a

TTC

philosophy of the Orient)( "Tokyo:

ni

9 (Chfio Koronsha, 1991).

Choetsu no kotoha: Isuramu Yudaya tetsugaku ni okeru kami to hito ("Transeendental WORDs: God and men in Islamie and Jew ish philosophy) (Tokyo: hvanami Shoten, 1991)

16. Ishiki

no keijijogaku: '‘Daijo kishinron' no tetsugaku (Metaphysies of eon-

seionsness:

The philosophy

of the Awakening of Faith in the

Mahdydna)

(Tokyo: Chfio Koronsha, 1993; rept. 2001). 17.

Iziitsu \ols.

18.

Toshihiko Chosakushu (The seleeted works of Toshihiko Izntsn),

11

and supplement (Tokyo: Chfio Koronsha, 1991-1993).

Yomu

to

kaku: Izutsu Toshihiko esseishu (Reading and writing:

tion of Toshihiko IzutsiTs essays), ed. Eisuke

A

eollee-

Wakaniatsu (Tokyo: Keio

Cijuku Daigaku Shuppankai, 2009). 19.

Roshiateki ningen,

20. Ibid., p. 239

TTC

(ITC

p.

233

(TTC

3: 215).

3: 218).

21.

Cf.

22.

The Concept and Reality of Existence and Linguistie Studies, 1971), p. 1.

1:

23. Ishiki to

13-14.

honshitsu,

’\bshitsugu Sawai in

and

Its

429 (TTC

("Tokyo: Keio Institute of Cultural

339-340); the translation is bv “Izutsu’s Creative ‘Reading’ of Oriental "Thought p.

Development,” the

6:

editor’s essay to

The Structure

of

Oriental

NO'l'KS

TO PACKS XlX-1

Philosophy: Collected Papers of the Kranos Conference, 2 liihrary Scries

4

(

Kcio Uiiixersity

I'ok^o:

no genzd, ri’C

24. Isiirdnni tetsngakii 25. Ishiki to honshitsii,

]).

4

(I'l'C"

2.

he

l/.utsii

2: 215-22:^, at 221.

3^4-

s:

6: 9).

A

Roshiateki ningen: kindai Roshia hungakushi (Russian liiiinanitv: tor\-

of

nC

3

modern Russian (Chnd Kdronsha,

Shinpi

tetsiigakii

(

literature) (dok\():

1992), p.

Kdhnndd,

ri’C

195^),

j).

liis-

164; rept.

14:5.

l^lhlosophy of mvstieisni)

(

I'okvo:

1949; rept. Kcid Chjnkn Daigakn Shnp])ankai, 2010),

3.

I

KANSKArOR’s NOl’KS

I

1.

2008),

I’ress,

vols.,

I’etsngakn

46;

p.

Shnddin

rev. cd. re])t.

237

1:

Sufism and Paoism:

A

Comparative Study

of

Key Philosophical Concepts

(Tok\o; Iwanami Shoten, 1983; Bcrkcle\': Universitv of C'alifornia

l^ress,

1984), p. 469. 4.

“Cosmos and Anti-Cosmos: From the Standpoint of Oriental Philosopln,” in Cosmos, Life, Religion: Beyond Humanism (d’enri: 'I'enri University Press, 1988), p. 122.

5.

6.

Ishiki to honshitsii

(Conseionsness and essence)

1983), p. 231; rept.

PPC

“Bimka

6 (Child Kdronsha, 1992),

200.

to

of cross enltnral dialogue), in Imi no fukami e (do the depths of

meaning) (dbkvo: Iwanami Shoten, (Child Kdronsha, 1992),

1983), pp. 46-83, at 73; rept. Id’Cv 9

p. 63.

“‘Yomii’ to ‘kakn’” (“Reading” and “writing”), Risd (Ideal)

2-8; rept. in 8.

p.

gengo ara\a ishiki: ibimkakan taiwa no kandsci o megnttc” (Culture and linguistic (//c/Vd-conseionsness: On the cpiestion of the pos-

sibiht\'

7.

Iwanami Shoten,

('l'ok)o:

See

Yomu

to

kaku,

]Dp.

417-423,

600

(1983),

at 422.

p. 322.

CHAPTER ONE Shinpi tetsugaku: d’he Birth of a Poet-Philosojiher 1.

Shinpi tetsugaku: Girishia no hu (Philosophy of mysticism: d’he (.reek part)

(

d’okyo: d'ctsngakn Shnddin, 1949; rept. Keid

Shnppankai, 2010);

re\'.

ed. (Kyoto: Jinbnn Shoin, 1978);

(Child Kdronsha, 1991). Citations w 2.

Mahometto (Muhammad) rev. ed.

rept. in

Cnjnkn Daigakn

(d’okyo:

ill

be

to the

Kdhnndd,

rcjit.

2010 edition and

1932;

rejit.

Id

Id’C

C

1

1.

Kddansha, 1989);

Isurdmu seitan (d’he birth of Islam) (d’okyo: |inbnn Shoin, 1979; Id’C 2 (Child Kdronsha, 1993).

NO

3.

4.

(On

"Choscikiishu kanko ni atatte” in

A

rrC

471-474,

1:

TO PAGES 2-I4

KS

I

the publication of the selected works),

at 472.

CA)mparative Study of the Key Philosophical Concepts of Sufism and

and Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzii, 3 pts. in 2 vols.. Studies in the Ihiinanities and Social Relations 7 and 10 Ibkyo: Kcio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, 1966-1967); rev. ed., Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of the Key Philosophical Concepts (d’okyo: Iwanaini 'laoism: Ihn 'Arahi

(

Shoten, 1983; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).

annotates with pathos

LPC 1: 472; the Japanese words that Izutsu and psyche mean “feeling or emotion” and “mind.”

6.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

(FPC

7.

“Shiso to geijutsu” (Art and thought), Mita Bungakii (Mita Literature)

5.

''Chosakushu kanko ni

p.

ii

atatte,”

67,15 (1988), 22-47;

1:

^

193).

^

^

Bekkan: Taidan teidanshu (Supplement:

d’hc colloc|uies and three-way con\ersations) (dokyo: Cliuo Koronsha, 1993), pp. 327-368, at 352. 8. Ibid., p.

9.

363.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

p. vii.

10. Ibid., p. viii. 11.

Ibid.

12. Ibid.,

pp.

\

iii-ix.

13.

Met. 12.9 1074b 346

14.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

p.

142

(I

FC

1:

321).

15. Ibid.

FC

16. Ibid., p. 512 (I

177-178).

1:

17. Ibid., p. vi.

18. Ibid., p.

19. Ishiki

47 (FFC

1:

238).

no keijijogaku: “Daijo kishinron” no tetsugaku (Metaphysics of con-

sciousness: d’be philosophy of the (d’okyo:

Chuo

Koronsha, 1993),

21. Ishiki to

22.

honshitsu,

Shinpi tetsugaku,

p.

p.

37

(FFC

45 (ITC

1:

236).

24. Ibid., p.

46

FC

1:

237, with

25. Ibid., p.

45 (FFC

1:

236-237).

26. Ibid., p.

384 (FFC

27. Ibid., p.

\’.

28. Ibid., p.

\

1:

1:

383-384).

6: 35).

ii.

23. Ibid., p.

(I

p. 65.

(FFC

20. Shinpi tetsugaku, pp. 215-216

Awakening

minor

revisions).

70-71).

ii-viii.

^54

of Faith in the

Mahaydna)

NO'I KS I'O

29. Ibid., p.

434 (Id’C

30. Ibid.,

421

(I

31. Ibid., p.

434

(TI

C

1:

113).

32. Ibid., p.

427 (I'bC

1:

107).

]).

rC

30

35. Ibid., pp.

(i

176).

1:

rC

113).

102).

1;

33. Ibid., p. 511 (I'l'C

34. Ibid., p.

1:

223).

1:

30-31 (bbC

223-224).

1:

36. Ibid., p. 214 (I'l’C

1:

382).

144 (I'rC

1:

323).

38. Ibid., p. 136 (I'l’C

1:

333).

39. Ibid., p.

1:

323).

37. Ibid., p.

(I'l’C

144

40. Ibid., pp. 153-154 41. Ibid., p. 33

rC

(i

1:

I'l’C

1:

226).

42. Ibid., p. 62 (I'l’C

1:

232).

(

43. Ibid., p. 150 (I'l’C

PACKS lS-2^

1:

331).

328).

44. Ibid., p. 319, omitted in the re\'iscd edition. 45. Ibid., p. 325 (I'l’C

1:

22).

46. “'Fsiiiokn: Nisbivvaki

w

ith jiinzabiiro

Jnnzabnrd

ni nianabii”

Nishiwaki), Eigo Seiuen

(

(

I’lie

Reininiseenees: StiuK ing Rising Ceneration) 128,7

(1982), 413-416; rept. in Yomii to kaku, ])p. 309-311, at 310. 47.

“Nisbiwaki sensei to gengogakn ties

and

to the

I”), in

to vvatasbi” (Professor

insert to lYishiwciki jiinzahiird

'Aemhu

eomplete works of Jnnzabiird Nishiwaki)

1983), pp. 2-4; rept. in

Yomu

to

Nishiwaki, lingnis-

hekkaii (Snp])Ieinent

('I’okyo:

kaku, pp. 322-324,

Cbiknnia Sbobd,

at 322.

48. “Sbisd to geijntsii,” I'l’C Bekkan, p. 336.

49. “Tsiiiokn” (Reininiseenees) in Kaiso no

Kuriyagawa

Eiiniio (Reeolleetions

of Finnio Kuriyagawa), ed. Yasabiiro Ikeda ('rok)'o: Keid Cijnkii Mita

Biingakn Library, 1979), pp. 42-46;

rept. in

Yomu

to

kaku,

]:)p.

303-308,

at

304. 30. Ibid., p. 303. 31.

“Shi to hdyfi” (Teaehers, eolleagiies and friends) in Mita

Review) 803 (1980), 2-3;

rept. in

Yomu

to

kaku,

p):>.

f

389-391,

lyoron (Mita at

390.

32. Ibid., p. 389. 33. Ibid., pp.

54.

55.

589-391.

Shi no kokoro ('The heart of poetry) ('Tokyo: Nihon Sono Sbobd, 1969; rept. Perikanslia, 1982), pp. 200-201.

“PROFANUS,”

in

Chogenjitsushugi shiron (On surrealist j)oetry) ('Tokyo:

Kdseikakn Slioten, 1929);

re])t. in

355

Nishiwaki funzahuro Korckushon

4:

NOTES

PAGt:S 23-28

I'O

Hyoroushii (The Junzabiiro Nishiwaki Collection 4: Anthology of

lit-

erary criticism), ed. loslnkazn Niiknra (Tokyo: Keio Gijnku Daigaku

36.

Shnppankai, 2007),

p. 6.

Shiupi tetsugaku,

412 (TI

57. Ihick, p.

58.

403 (rrC

p.

C

94-95).

1:

87).

1:

Amharvalia (Tokyo: Shiinokisha, 1933); rept. in Nishiwaki junzahuro Korekushon 1: Shishu 1 (The Jnnzahiiro Nishiw aki Collection 1: Antholog)’ of poetry 1), ed. Toshikazn Niiknra (Tokyo: Keio Cijukn Daigakn Shnppankai, 2007); trans. Donald Keene, in Dawn to the West: Japanese

Modern Era: Poetry, Drama, Criticism, A History Japanese Literature 4 (New York: Colninhia University Press, 1999), Literature of the

an upturned gem,”

324. ddie simile, “like 59.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

60. Ibid., p.

(I'PC

vi

(frC

p. 381

from

Keats’s

p.

Endymion.

68).

1:

omits “Saint”

197); Iziitsn

1:

is

of

in

the rcx ised edition.

61. Ibid.

62.

Neoplatonic Saints: The Lives of Proclus and Plotinus by Their Students, trans.

Mark Edwards

(Liverpool: Liverpool Unixersity Press, 2000), pp. 58-115.

(PPC

63.

Foreword

64.

Immanuel Kant, Kanto

junsui

hihan Kant’s Critique

Pure Reason with annotations:

to

Shinpi tetsugaku,

{

of

of Pure Reason), trans.

is

risei

Mitsuo Ueda

65. Friedrich Schelling,

(Wdiat

p. x

Kami

to

1:

200).

hihan chushaku: yasashii junsui ('Tokyo: Hikari

A simplified Critique

no Shoho,

wa nani ka? Shinteki

Cod? The philosophy

risei

keiji

1947).

no tetsugaku

of divine revelation), trans. Mitsuo

Ueda

(Tokvo: Hikari no Shoho, 1948). 66.

Gustav Theodor Fechner, Vchu komyo no tetsugaku: reikon fumetsu no risetsu (Philosophy of cosmic light: 'Theory of the immortality of the soul), trans.

67.

Mitsuo Ueda

('Tokyo: flikari 110

Mitsuo Ueda, Harutoman no muishiki no tetsugaku (Hartmann’s Philosophy of the Vnconscious) ('Ibkx o: Hikari no Shoho, 1948). Tokyo tonsokyoku (Tokyo fugue) Kawade Shoho Shinsha, 1991).

68. 'Tariiho Inagaki,

1968; rept.

69. Sekai 'Tetsugaku

Koza

1:

('Tokyo: Hikari

('Tokyo: Shoshinsha,

Indo tetsugakushi, Cirishia tetsugakushi

(Lectures in world philosophy

1:

Indian philosophy, Greek philosophy)

no Shoho, 1947)

70. 'Tsntomu Iwasaki, Tetsugaku ni okeru sukiii

salvation in philosoph) 71.

Shoho, 1948).

Sekai 'Tetsugaku Koza

sugaku (Lectures

in

)

5:

no mondai

(

The question of

(Osaka: 'Toho Shuppan, 1982).

Bukkyd tetsugaku, Kirisutokyo gairon, Arabia

world philosophy

5:

Buddhist philosophy;

An

tet-

intro-

duetion to Christianity; Arabic philosophy ('Tokvo: Hikari no Shoho, 1948).

856

NOTKS lO

72. Sckai 'I'ctsugaku Kd/.a in

world

pliilos()])hy

J’A(;KS

Piirochiiiosii

115:

no

sliinpi tetsn^akii

(Lectures

Plotinus’ jDliilosopliv of invstieisni)

115:

(

d’okN'o:

Ictsugakn Slindoin, 1949). 73.

Shinpi

tetsiigakii,

jd.

3^:5 (I'l'C"

29).

1:

74. Preface to the rex ised edition 75. Ibid.,

rrC

Sliinpi tetsiigaku, I'PC"

1:

12.

1:14.

76. “Slnnpishngi

no erosnteki

Bernard) Tetsiigakii

(

keitai: Sei

Bernnarn-ron”

Plnlosophx) 27 (19S1), 33-^4’

(d'lie inxstieisni ot St. Vo7??i/ to

''^'P^-

kaku,

PP- 359-395-

okern

77. “Clulsei ’\ndaya tetsngaknsbi ni

lation in the history of

7’dyd shiso 2:

2:

(Reason and reve-

keiji to risci”

medieval Judaic

plnloso])liy), in Iwanaini kdza:

Ynclaya shiso 2 (Iwanaini lecture scries: Oriental thought

Judaic thought

2)

(

Tokyo: Iwanaini Shoten, 1988);

kotoha: Isurdmii Yiidaya tetsiigakii ni okerii kanii to

W'OROs: God and men

in

rc])t.

liito

in

Choetsu no

('IVanseendental

Islamic and Jewish philoso])h\') (I'okxo:

Iwanaini Shoten, 1991). 78.

“Soknnyo”

(Implicitness), in

Shukvo

to

sono shinri (Religion and

its

truth)

(Tokyo: Sdhnnkakn, 1920); rept. in Yanagi Muneyoshi shiikYd senshii (Selected works of Muneyoshi Yanagi on religion) (d'okxo: Slumjrisha, 1990), collector’s xersion, 79. “Shinpidd e

81.

1:

Kami

1:

87.

93.

ni tsuite

Keid Gijnkn 'Poshokan, 2002-2003).

(On God) (Osaka: Osaka Mainichi Shimhnnsha,

Yanagi Muneyoshi shiikyo

senshii, collector’s xersion, xol.

1923);

2.

Shiikyd no rikai (Understanding religion) ('Tokyo: Sdhnnkakn, 1929); rept. in

84.

collector’s x’crsion

sono

hiitsu Toshihiko bunko mokurokii (Catalogue of Izntsn 'Ibshihiko’s

rept. in

83.

for the via inystiea), in Shilkyd to

Yanagi Muneyoshi shiikyd senshii,

lihrarx), 2 xols. (I’okyo:

82.

140.

no henmei” (Apologia

shinri; rept. in

80. Ihid.,

1:

Yanagi Muneyoshi shukyd senshu,

Namiiamidahutsii

(

xol. 2.

Tokyo: Daihdrinkaknsha, 1928); rept. in Yanagi

Muneyoshi shukyd senshu,

collector’s version, xol

3.

Ippen shdnin (St

Ippen) (Tokyo: Shinronsha, 1955); rept. in Yanagi Muneyoshi Shukyd senshu, collector’s xersion, xol 3. Mydkdnin Inaha no Genza (Buddhist Saint G>enza of Inaha) (Kyoto: Otani Shnppansha, 1950); rept. in Yanagi

Muneyoshi mydkdnin ronshii (Collection of essays hy Mnne)'oshi Yanagi on Buddhist saints), cd. Bnnshd Jngakn Tokyo: Ixx'anami Shoten, 1991). (

85.

“Slnijimarn shfikydtcki hitci” (T he varieties of religions negation), in

Shukyd tor’s

to

sono shinri;

version, vol.

rept. in

Yanagi Muneyoshi shukyd senshu, collec-

1.

357

NOTES TO PAGES ^ 6-41

86. Preface to the revised edition of Shinpi tetsugaku, 11 87. “Idtsiigakii ni okerii

C

i: 13.

tcinuperainento” (I’einpcrament in philosophy) in

Sliukyd to sono shinri; rept. in Yanagi Wuneyoshi shukyo senshu, collector’s N’crsion, vol.

88. Ibid.,

89.

1:

1.

251.

“Shnjnnarn shnkyoteki tor’s

version

1:

hitei,” in

Yanagi Muneyoshi shukyo senshu, collec-

197-198.

90. Shinpi tetsugaku, pp. 326-327 (Il’C 91.

“1 he

Way

24).

1:

of Tea,” lecture given at the Honolnln

Academy

of Arts in

1953, online at www.theniista.eom/freeebooks/uayoftea.htin; rept. in

modified form

slightly

into Beauty,

Kodansha 92.

Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese

in 'Yhe

by Muneyoshi Yanagi and Bernard Leach (Ibkyo, Newlbrk:

International, 1972), p. 177;

“Alahometto” (Mnhannnad), to

kaku, pp. 127-146,

Yomu

to

in Seia sekaishi

Asia), ed. Asataro Yasaka (I’okyo:

Yomu

Insight

kaku,

p. 132.

(World history of western

Kobnndo Shobo),

pp. 249-265; rept. in

at 132-133.

CHAPTER TWO The Encounter with Islam 1.

“lenkin monogatari” (I’he Tenkin

story), in

twehe chapters) (Ibkyo: Asahi Shimbim 2.

Ginza

jilnisho

(Ginza

in

sha, 1965; rept. 1996), p. 48.

“Philosophia haikon,” cited in “Izntsn Ibshihiko-knn to no kosai”

(My

friendship with Toshihiko Izntsn), in Tegami no tanoshimi (I’he pleasures

of letter-writing)

(

PokN o: Bnngei Shimjn, 1981),

kaku (Reading and writing), sumably, ikon, 3.

is

a

p. 331.

The term

p. 34; rept. in

“Nijisseikimatsii

no

Is

yanii to hikari” (Darkness

to

“Philosophia haikon,” pre-

eombination of Greek and Japanese, philosophia ha

which might be translated “Philosophy

Yomu (i.e.

wa)

Image.”

and

light at the

end of the

twentieth century). Child Koron (Gentral Review) 108,1 (1993), 222-240, and “Shiso to geijutsu” (Art and thought), Mita Bungaku 67,15 (1988), 22-47; rept. in

PPG Bekkan

(Tokyo: Glifio Koronsha, 1993), pp. 369-399 and 327-

368, respectively. 4.

“Gogaku kaigen” (M\’ initiation into the mysteries of languages) in Michi: Shdwa no hitori ichiwashu 7 (Pathways: One person one story, a Showaperiod antholog\), ed. Yoshio Kamiyama (Nagoya: Ghnto Kyoiku Tosho, 1984), 120-125; rept. in

Yomu

to

kaku, pp. 601-604, at 603-604.

601-602.

5.

Ibid., pp.

6.

“Nijisseikimatsii

no yami

to hikari,”

358

PPG Bekkan,

p. 380.

NO'I'KS

TO PACKS 41-49

Ibsliihiko-scnsci o itainii”

7. “Iziitsii

(Mourning the death of hrofessor

Ibshihiko Izntsn), Mita Hiiugakii (Mita Literature) 77,33 (’993)» 8.

“Izntsn loshihiko no koto” (About Ibshilhko Izntsn), in the insert to

10.

From I

I'l’C"

pp. 1-4-

1,

9.

iS--

'lokYo to jeritscilem

lihurugo

(NewAbrk: Bernard

nyrimon

geiiteii

(

Creis, 1964), p.

Introdnetion to the original

5.

text in

Hebrew

the

language) (dbkyo; Niehieido Shoten, 1936). 11.

“Bnngakn

no shinsd” (d’he

to shisd

de|)ths of literature

Sekdi 470 (1983), 230-238; rept. in ri'C Hekkan, 12.

Yudaya miuzoku no

Megnro Shoten,

(Ibkvo: 13.

Nihon

to

Bernard)

1943).

13. Ibid., p.

A

histor\'

of their

Mirntosn, 2007).

in Tetsugakii

kaku, pp. 359-895>

at 12.

Lhe true eharaeter of the jewish nation)

(

“Shin))ishngi no erosnteki keitai: Sei Bernnarn-ron” St

16.

7-33,

Yudaya: sono yilko no rekishi (Ja])an and jndea:

friendshi])) ('Ibkyo: 14.

siigata

p]).

and thought),

‘it

(

I'he inystieism of

(Philosophy) 27 (1931), 33-64; rept. in Yonni

to

373.

370.

Shinpi tetsugakii: Girishia no hu (PhilosojDhy of mvstieisin: I’he Greek IbkNo: d’etsngakn Shnddin, 1949; rept. Keid Cnjnkn Daigakn Shnppankai, 2010), p. 28; rev. ed. (Kyoto: Jinhnn Shoin, 1978); rept. ri’C

part)

(

1

(Chnd Kdronsha, 17.

“Shinpishngi no erosnteki

18. Ibid., ])p.

19.

20.

1991), p. 230.

369-370.

Shinpi tetsugakii, [

1:

210).

translator’s note: In his later

“wordAvords”

in the

siisei

(dVends

works Izntsn uses the katakana spelling

have translated

I

as

“WORD,”

in

rise

and

fall

ni

okern

Megnro Shoten,

Yudaya

from

shiso 2

(Iwanami lecture

series:

1942).

(Reason and rexela-

keiji to risei”

tion in the history of medieval jndaie philosophy), 2:

it

of the Jew ish people), in Seinan

southwest Asia) (Ibkyo:

“Chnsei Yudaya tetsngaknshi shiso

to distinguish

normal sense written with the eharaeters a ^.]

“Yudaya minzokn no kdbd” (The Ajia no

22.

(krC

p. 16

of kotoha, whieh

21.

keitai,” p. 373.

Iwanami Kdza: Tdyd

Oriental thought

2:

Jndaie

(dbkyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1988), pp. 3-114; rept. in Choetsii no kotoha: Isiiraimi Yudaya tetsugakii ni okeru kami to Into ('IVanseendental

thought

2)

WORDs: Cmd

and men

Iwanami Shoten, 23.

Cf. “Derida

in

1991), pp.

Islamie and Jewish philosophy) (Tokyo:

279-403.

no naka no ‘Yndayajin’” (d’he “Jew”

(d’honght) 711 (1983), 21-37;

meaning), pp. 87-120 (ri’C

'll

9: 361-387).

359

in Derrida),

fiikanii e (d'o the

Shisd

depths of

NO I'ES ro PAGES 49-54

Toyo o inotoniete (Consciousness and search of the spiritual Orient) ('Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1983),

24. Ishiki to honshitsu: seishinteki

essence: In p.

248; rcpt. as Ishiki to honshitsu: Toyoteki shii no kozoteki seigosei o

motomete (Consciousness and essence:

TIC

tion of Oriental thought), 25. Ibid., p.

26.

“Wasureenu

1992), p. 198.

Musa” (Musa: The wandering pilgrim

shi:

Into” (Unforgettable people), Yomiuri

Yomu

1983 evening edition; rept. in 27. ‘Alem-i

(Chuo Koronsha,

234 (I'TC 6: 188).

“Angya hyohakn no in

6

In search ot the structural integra-

Islam ve laponyada

Shhnhim, 7 Mareh

to kciku, pp. 512-513.

intisdr-i Isldmiyet, 2

\

ols.

(Istanbul: 1910-

Roshiajin no mita Meiji Nihon (Japonya:

1913); japon'yci: Isurdiniikei

Meiji Jajian as seen by a Russian Muslim), trans. Kaori llisao

Komatsu

is

also available,

in

Japan: Travel

Daisan Shokan,

('Tokyo:

Vn

teaeher),

1991).

Komatsu and

A Freneh

translation

Tatar an japon: voyage en As/e, 190S-1910 (A Tatar

in Asia,

igo 8 -i()io), trans. Francois Ceorgeon ([Arles]:

Aetes Snd-Sindhad, 2004). 28.

“Bafnrnnnnrn monogatari”

('The tale of Bahr-nn-Noor), in Ilakuji

gdshi (White porcelain box) (Tokyo: Shokoten Shoho, 1959; rept.

Chno

Koronsha, 1993). 29.

Surutan Gariefu no yuine: Isuramu sekai to Roshia kakumei (Sultan Caliev’s dream: The Russian Revolution and the Islamie world) (Tokyo: Tokyo Daigakn Shuppankai, 1986; rept. Iwanami Shoten, 2009).

30. Arahiagakii e

no michi: waga

studies: d'lie Silk

Road of

my

jinsei life)

no shiruku rodo ('The road

('Tokyo:

to

Arabie

Nihon Hoso Shnppan Kyokai,

1982). 31.

“Nijisseikimatsu

no

yanii to hikari,”

TTC Bekkan,

p. 374.

ITC Bekkan,

p.

32. Ibid., p. 375. 33.

“Bafnrnnnnrn monogatari,”

34. “Nijisseikimatsu 35.

Ihurahimii, jonrne)’ to

no yami

Nihon

p. 42.

to hikari,”

379.

Osiunan teikoku, Nihon (Ibrahim’s Japan: Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Japan) (Tokyo: Tosni e

no

tahi: Roshia,

Shobo, 2008). 36.

“Bafnrunnurn monogatari,”

37.

Okawa Shumei: Aru

p. 75.

fukko kakushinshugisha no shiso (Shnmei Okawa:

The thought of a reaetionary revolntionar\ ) (Tokyo: Chno Koronsha, 1995; rept. Kodansha, 2009). 38.

Islamica presnmahly refers to the series Bibliotheea Islamiea by that

name

(and also published under the Arabie

founded

in

title

Nasharat al-IslaniTvah)

1929 by Helhnutt Ritter under the auspiees of Dentsehe

360

NO'I'KS lO

PACKS S4-S^

Morgenliinclischc C»csellschatt and is

likely to

be the

still

being j^nblishcd today. Anihica

series Bibliotbeea arabiea sebolastieorinn: Seric arabe,

wbieh eontains some of the earliest modern eritieal editions of Averroes, al-KarfibT and al-Cdia/.zalT, nsnally with eritieal aj)|)aratns and introdneand

tion in Kreneh,

a]Dj)ears to

have rim from 1927

to 1952

(altbongb

some

of the volumes were reissued, likely as anastatie rej)rints, between 1990

and 1992), prodneed by lm|)rimerie eatbolic|ne in Beirut. Many of the volumes appear to be the work of Manriee Bonvges (1878-1951). bis I

may

identifieation

not be seenre, however, sinee there was a roughly eon-

temporaneoiis series ealled Bibliotbeea arabiea, jrnblisbed by the kaenlte des lettres d ’Alger, wliicli ran from 1925 tliroiigb 1956. But sinee most of the works ineliided in that series are literary (sneb as the famous eolleetion of texts,

Diwan, edited by Henri

Peres), not pbilosopbieal or theological

on balanee, the referenee may

sebolastieorinn.

am

I

in faet

be

to the

Bibliotbeea arabiea

indebted to Fred Unwalla of the Pontifieal Institute

of Mediaeval Studies for providing this information. 39.

Arabia shisoshi: Kaikyd Hhiiigaku

to

Kaikyd tetsiigaku (History of Arabic

thought: Islamic' theology and Islamie pbilosoj^by)

('Pobvc):

Haknbimkan,

1941)-

40. Kaikyd gairoii

(

Introdiietion to Islam) (Ibkyo: Keio Sbobo, 1942;

rej)t.

Cbikiima Shobd, 2008). 41.

“Okawa Sbfimei no

kenkyn” (Shfimei Okawa’s Asian research),

Ajia

in

Okau’a Shiimei-shu (Shrimci Okawa eolleetion), ed. Bnn/d Hashikavva, Kindai Nihon sbisd taikei

Chikiima Sbobo,

Minded Man

X:

21

(Modern Japanese thought

1975), 391-406, at 398.

Okawa

series)

See also “Portrait of

Fokyo:

(

[an]

Asian

Shrimci,” The Developing Economies 7,3 (1969),

367-579. csp. 57642.

Fukkd Ajia no shomondai (Tokyo: Daitdkakii, 1922;

43.

Kaikyd gairon,

(Issues related to the reeonstriietion ot Asia)

rept.

Child Kdronsha, 1993),

p. 17.

p. 22.

44. “Yafuya Ibiin Adi Seikakii no tdya ni okern rinriteki seikatsii no kdzd to sbatei”

(The

striietiire

and seope of ethieal

living in

Yahya Ibn

‘Adi’s

The

Cultivation of Character) Eikon: Studies in Eastern Christianity 32 (2005),

63-86. 45. Isiiramu shisdshi: sliingaku, shinpislnigi, tetsiigaku (History of Islamie tlioiiglit:

d’heology, mystieism, philosophy) (dbkyo: Iwanami Sboten,

1975; rept. 2005); rept. in I'PC

46.

Anraku no mon (The gate in

Okawa Shumei-shu,

5

(Cbfid Kdronsha, 1991),

to ])aradise) (’Tokyo:

p. 251.

47. Ibid., p. 263.

^61

pj).

7-330

Iznmo Shobd,

at 179.

1951); re])t.

NOTES TO PAGES 58-68

48. Ibid., p. 267.

49.

Koran o

50.

“Kaikyo

(Reading the Koran) (Tokyo: Iwanaini Shoten, 1983); rrC 8 (Chno Koronsha, 1991), p. 133. yoiiiii

ni

okern

keiji to risei”

rept.

(Islamie revelation and reasoning), in

Nippon Shogaku Kenkyu Ilokoku (Report of the Committee for tlie Development of Scienees in Japan), 12 (1944), 53-67; rept. in Yomu to kaku, pp. 63-78. 51.

“Nijisseikimatsn no yami to hikari,”

52.

Okdwd

53.

Comments on Kdikyo gdiron

nC

Bekkan,

p. 379.

Shuinei ('Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2004). (Tokyo:

Chno

Koronsha, 1992), pp. 268-269.

54. Ibid., p. 272. 55.

56.

“Fnrni kotoha,”

in Tohiiro

Arabia shisoshi,

p. 3.

Arabia shisoshi,

p. 10.

no tsuki ('Tokyo: Shokosliisha, 1925), eited

in

57. Ibid., pp. 11-12.

Saints

58. Alusliin

(“Memorial of

Kegan

and Mystics: Episodes from

tlie

the Tadhkirat al-Auliya'

Saints”), trans. A.]. Arherry

(London: Rontledge and

Paid, 1966; rept. Rontledge, 2008).

Centhner, 1922; new ed. 4 vols. Galliniard, 1975; rept. 2010); English translation. The Passion of Al-Halldj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam,

59. (Paris: P.

Herbert Mason, 4 abridged ed. 1994). trans.

(Prineeton: Princeton University Press, 1982;

vols.

(New

London: Rontledge, 2002), p. 414 and passim; hostipitalite is a word coined by Derrida, playing on the similarity between the Latin words hospis (“host”) and hostis, which means “enemy.”

60. “Hostipitality,” in Acts of Religion, trans. Chi Anidjar

61.

'\brk,

Preface to Isurdmu shinpishugi ni okeru perusona no rinen {The idea of personality in Islamic mysticism), a translation of R.A. Nicholson’s Idea of Personality in Sufism 1981), pp. 1-9; rept. in

Yomu

b\’

to

Kiyoshi

Nakamura

kaku, pp. 212-219,

The

(Kyoto: Jinbnn Shoin, 214-215.

62. Ibid., p. 214.

63.

Memoir

of a Friend,

Dame

Notre

Louis Massignon (Notre

Dame,

IN: Uni\crsity of

Press, 1988).

64. Ibid., p. 46. 65.

“Die Urspriinge nnd die Bedentnng des Chiostizismns im Islam” (ITe origins in

Ost und West

the S5

and meaning of Gnosticism

-

West 77

2),

II

in Islam),

Gestaltung der Erlosungsidee

('The shaping of the idea of redemption in the East

Eranos Jahrbnch

5

(1937) (Aseona:

-

^62

and

Eranos Stiftimg, 1938), pp.

NO'l’KS I'O PA(;KS

66. “L’cxpcricncc iiuisiiliiianc a

propos

clc

Katima,

67.

Akiko Sngase,

(

I

(Man and

(/nrieh:

a riiiiivcrscl;

The Muslim experience of com])asof f’atima and lallaj), in /)er Meuscli iind

ct clc Ilallaj”

die Syinpathie aller Diiige

Jahrhneh 24

compassion, orcloniicc

clc la

sion, prescribed to all: a|)ro])os

68-74

the sympath}’ of

KheinA eiiag,

k)^6),

things), h’.ranos

all

ik;-i:54.

])]).

no Andntjiii Kirisutokydto: sono shaken

Isuraerii

(d’hc Christian Arabs of Israel: d heir society

and

to aidentiti

(Hiroshima:

identity)

Keisuisha, 200c;). 68.

A Comparative Study Yaoism: thn Wrahl

and

Institute of Cidtnral

Key Philosophical Concepts

of the

Lao-tzii, Chuang-tzii, 3

in

Sufism and Kcio

in 2 xols. ('Tokyo:

]:)ts.

and Linguistic Studies, ic}66-k)67),

1:2.

5.

three

chai’I’er

Russia: The Sj)iritnalitx’ of Night 1.

tory of

2.

modern Russian

(Hokux'osha,

ic^yH),

Citations w

he

Afterword

ill

to

literature)

prefaee;

Tl'C

re])t.

the ic^yS edition and

to Roshiteki

Shuppankai,

new

Tokyo: Kohimdo,

(

3

(Chu(“) Kclrclnsha,

his-

edition

ic)c;2), p. cp

TTC p

ningen, pp. 274-275

(TTC

Roshia hungaku (Russian literature) ('Tokxo:

4.

A

Roshiateki ningen: kindai Roshia biingakiishi (Russian hmnanit\:

5:

249).

Keicl

Cojuku I^aigaku

2011).

(On

“Torusutoi ui okeru ishiki no mujunsei ni tsuite” nature of eonseiousness

Yomu

to

Russia:

A

in 'Tolstoy),

the j)aracloxieal

Sanshokiiki ('Trieoleur) 52 (1952) 9-14;

kaku (Reading and writing), pp. 550-358; and “Roshia no naimenteki seikatsu: jukyuseiki hungaku no seishinshiteki tenho” (Interior rept. in

life in

spiritual history perspeetixe

on nineteenth-eentury

ture), Kosei (Inclix icluality) 1,3 (1948), 2-29; rept. as

au appendix

to

litera-

Roshia

hungaku, pp. 195-1241. 5.

“Roshia no naimenteki seikatsu,”

6.

Roshiateki ningen, pp. 41-42

7.

Faiglish translation, Dostoevsky, trans.

and Ward, 8.

in

(TTC

Roshia hungaku,

]i.

202.

3).

Donald

Attxxater

(London: Sheecl

1934), p. 140.

Dosutoiefusukii no sekaikan (Dostoexsky

s

xxorldx iexx

),

trans.

Jircl

Kashima

(Tokyo: Suzaku Shorin, 1943). 9.

Berujaefu: kakumei

to seishin

no keifu (Berdyacw: Reyolution and the

genealogy of his mind) ('Tokyo: Kclhundcl, 1949). 10.

Die Schau der Kirche

hei Nikolai Berdiajew (Nikolai Berclyaex’s

xiexx'

of the elmreh), Orientalia ehristiana analeeta 116

(Rome: Pontifleation

Institiitum Orientalium Stucliorum, 1938), trans.

Toknji

Shimoxama

as

NOTKS TO PAGES 74-81

no tetsugaku: Roshiateki jitsuzonshugi (Berdyaev’s philosophy:

Beriijciefu

Russian existeutialisni) (Ibkyo: Risosha,

1951).

11.

dVans.

Donald A. Lowrie (New York: Harper

12.

IVans.

S.

Online

Janos, 2000.

at

&

Brothers, 1952),

p.

40.

vvwvv.berdyaev.eom/berdiaev/berd_hh/

i936_4o8.htinl. 1:^.

Roshiateki ningeu,

14. Ibid.,

p. 7:5

prefaee (I'rC

(FI’C

3: 71).

3: 9).

15. Ibid.

16.

Cited

“Bernjaefn no shogai to shiso” (Berdyaev’s

in

life

and thought),

translation A/ to jitsuzon: Rei no kuni, Sezaru no kuni (Love

realm of the spirit, the realm of Caesar) (Ibkyo: Cf. for

R.M. Freneh’s me,

if there is

translation of the

same

in his

and existenee: The

Chiknma Shobo, 1954), p. 234.

passage: “[P]aradise

is

a possibility

not to be any everlasting hell for any single ereatnre

who lives or

One eannot be saved in loneliness and isolation. Salvation can onl)

has lived.

be a

corporate experience, a universal release from suffering.” The Beginning and the

End: Essayson Eschatological A letaphysics (NevvAbrk: larper and Brothers, 1952, 1

p. 237. 17.

Roshiateki ningen,

p.

26

18. Ibid., p.

49

C

3:

48).

19. Ibid., p.

48 (Il’C

3:

47).

20. Ibid., p. 238 21. Ibid., p.

22.

163

(TI

(ITC

3:

(ITC

3: 151).

Roshia hungaku,

(I'l’C 3: 28).

217-218).

p. 16.

(On Crime and Punishment II), in Kohayashi Hideo Zenshu (Complete works of Hideo Kobayashi) 6 (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1978; rept. 2004), p. 314. In addition to a number of essays

23. ‘'Tsinni to

hatsu ni tsnite

11 ”

on the works of Dostoevsky, Kobayashi wrote

a

biography of him,

Dosutoefusukii no seikatsu (Life of Dostoevsky) (Tokyo: Sogensha, 1939; rept. Shinchosha, 2003). 24. Roshiateki ningen, p. 233 23. ''Tsumi to

26.

II,”

in

3: 213).

Kohayashi Etideo Z^enshu

“Masanume Ilakncho no sakn Bekkan

27.

hatsu ni tsnite

(ITC

1

ni tsnite,” in

6: 314.

Kohayashi Hideo Z^enshu,

(Complete works of Hideo Kobayashi, supplement

Shinchosha, 2002),

p. 433.

Eyodor Dostoevsky:

A

Critical

1)

(Tokvo:

Study (London: Martin Seeker, 1916;

rept.

NevvAbrk: Russell and Russell, 1966), pp. 33-34. 28.

“Dosntoefnsnkii 73 nensai ni okern kocn” (L.ectnre on the 73th anniversary of Dostoevsky [’s death; 1936]), in Kohayashi Hideo Zensakuhin

364

NO

21

I

KS TO PAC.KS 8l-8(S

(C'omplcte works of llideo Kohavaslii, annolalecl edition) (dbkvo:

Sliinchoslia, 2004). 29.

A

Writer's Diary, 2 \ols., trans.

Kenneth

laintz (K\anston, IL: North-

western Uni\ersity Ihess, 199:5-1994; abridged ed., 2009).

Natalya Konvisina (1834), ed. and trans. Havid Lowe and Ronald Meyer, in Complete Letters, 3 noIs. (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1988-1991),

30. Letter

1;

31.

90

to

Cohho no

Roshiateki

at 193; eited in

193-196,

niiigeii,

tegami ('Hie Letters of\ an CAigh)

(

]:>.

33

I'okNo:

(I'l'C' 3: 33).

Shinehosha, 1932;

rept.

2004). 32.

33.

“"Fhe

Dream

and Other

Stories (l.ondon

Roshiateki

uiiigeii, p. 133

and

37.

he Camhler p. 333.

Letter of 26 February 1869 to Nikolai Strakbox’, in Complete Letters

3: 137,

(PLC

(110

Diary entry from

3: 143).

148).

3:

eited in Roshiateki ningen, 36.

New York:

t

Penguin Cdassies, 2010),

34. Ibid., p. 139 33.

of a Ridienlons Man,” trans. Ronald Mever, in

]3.

234

Greenwood

gen, pp. 233-234

(PLC

214).

Dostoevsky Kncyelopedia, ed. K.A. Lantz

1881, in 'The

(Westport, C'L:

(I'l'C" 3:

Press, 2004), p. 332; eited in Roshiateki iiiu-

213-214).

3:

Luyodoru Chutchiefu keiikyu: jukyuseiki roshia no

jiko ishiki

(Fxodor

d'yntebex studies: Self-conseionsness in nineteentb-eentiiry Russia)

(Osaka: Manxiiaru tlausu, 2007). 38. Roshiateki

39.

Cited

ningen,

in ibid., p.

40. Ibid., pp.

p.

164

(PLC

154

(PPG

139-60 (LPC

3:

3: 138).

148).

41. Ibid., p. 133

(PPG

3: 143).

42. Ibid., p. 133

(PPG

3:

43. Ibid., p. 139

(PPG

3: 148).

44. Ibid.,

p. 117

(PPG

3:

110-111).

43. Ibid., p. 115

(PPG

3:

109).

46. Ibid., p.

(PPG

3: 103).

47.

Ill

Roshia hungaku,

3: 143).

144-145).

Also eited

in

Roshia hungaku, pp. 124-123.

p. 126.

48. Shinpi tetsugaku, p. 323

(PPG

1:

21).

49. “Izntsn d’oshibiko-sensei” (Professor dbsbibiko Izutsn), (dVieolenr),

supplement

Sanshokuki

(1993), 52-33.

30. Ibid. 31.

“Sbiso to geijntsn” (Art and tbongbt), Mita Hungaku (Mita Literature) 67,15 (1988), 22-47; rept. in

PPG Hekkan:

Laidan teidanshu (Snj)])lement:

TO PAGES 88-97

NOTF.S

and three-way conversations) (Tokyo: Chno Koronsha,

i'he colloquies

199?). PP52.

Keizaigakii tetsugaku shuko {Economic trails.

53.

Kazno Minra

(

and Philosophic Waniiscripts),

Tokyo: Aoki Shoten, 1962).

Seishin no genshogakii joron: gakwnonteki ninshiki ni to

Phenomenology

of Spirit:

On

tsiiite

(Introduction

scholarly cognition), trans.

Kazno Minra

(Tokyo: Michitani, 1995). 54.

Roshia hungaku,

p. 127.

55. Ihid., p. 119. “

56.

7 'he Stranger,” in Paris Spleen: Little Poems in Prose, trans. Keith Waldrop (Middletown, CT: WTsleyan University Press, 2009), p. 5; cited in

Roshia hungaku, pp. 119-120.

57. Partially

58.

translated by Izntsn in Roshiateki ningen, p. 117 (I'l’C

“Albatros”/“The Albatross,” in The Flowers of Evil, trans. James

y.

107).

McGowan

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993; rept. 2008), pp. 16-17. 59. Roshiateki ningen, p. 112 (PI’C 3: 106).

60. Ibid., p. 116

(ITC

3:

109).

61. Ibid., p. Ill

(ITC

3:

106).

62. Ibid., p. 112

(i

rC

3:

106).

63.

Cited in

ibid., p. 110

64. Mutsuiri,

3: 103).

Akiima (dlie no\ice; Demon),

Iwanami Shoten, 65.

(ITC

trans.

Masanii Icbijo (dbkyo:

1931).

Roshiya hungaku ni

tsuite

(On Russian

literature) (Tokyo:

Nankasba,

1948), p. 80. 66. Ibid., pp. 81-82. 67. Geijutsu to riarizumu (Art

68. “Sbiso to geijntsn,”

69. “Sbosbi o

and realism)

ITC Bekkan,

motomete”

p. 27.

p. 336.

Yomu

to

Hyoron (Mita

kaku (Reading and writing), pp.

at 588.

70. “Sbiso to geijntsn,” 71.

Shobo, 1947),

(In seareb of the right teacher), \lita

Re\ iew) 803 (1980), 2-3; rept. in

586-588,

("Tokyo: Keio

ITC

“Sbosbi o motomete,”

Yomu

72. Roshiateki ningen, p. 156 73.

Roshiya hungaku ni

74.

Shizen ni okeru

hi:

Bekkan, to

(PTC

p. 336.

kaku,

p. 588.

3: 145).

tsuite, p. 91.

geijutsu no ippanteki igi (Beant\- in nature:

eral significance of the arts) (d’okyo: lu

anami Shoten,

The

gen-

1928).

366

J

NO

715.

Ibid.,

Ethics, trails.

I'O

PACKS 97-110

Heart of Reality: Essays on Beauty, lA)ve, and Vladimir W^ozn ink (Notre Dainc, IN: Univcrsit\' of Notre

Press, 2003), p. 29.

76. Roshiateki ningeu, 77.

KS

6; also in I'he

]).

Dame

I

143

j).

(I'l'C" 3: 134).

Roshiya hiingaku hyoroushu (Anthology \ols.

78. Ibid.,

(

Russian literary

ot

Pokyo: Iwanaini Slioten, 1950-1931). 1:

224.

79. Roshiya himgakii ni

tsiiite, p.

80. Roshiateki ningeu, pp.

47-48

104. (i

rC"

3:

47).

CHAPTKR FOUR Conteinporar\' and the Biography of 1.

the Prophet

“d’enrikyo shingakn josho: sono rinkakn to kadai ni tsnite” to

eritieisin), 2

Penrikyo theology:

Chosakushu 6

Its

(

Introdnetion

outline and themes), in Moroi Yoshinori

Penrikyo Dovilsha, 1971); and “'Penrik\d kydgigakn shiron” (A preliminary essay on 'Penrikvd dogmatie theology), in

Chosakushu 2. 3.

“

1

(Tenri:

Penrikyd DdMlsha, 1962).

(d’enri:

Penrikyd shingakn joshd,” Chosakushu

“Shinpishngi no erosnteki

keitai: Sei

1:

3-4.

Berimarii-ron” (1 he nnstieism of

St Bernard), in 'Vetsugaku (Philosophy) 27 (1951), 33-64; rept. in

kaku, pp. 359-395. 4.

to

sum

ni Seinu-kei

A

religioiis-stndies perspeeti\e eentering

monotheism) (Nara: denri Daigakii Shnppanhii,

6.

chdetsushinkyo o

shukyogakuteki kosatsii (A study of the deyelopment of

religions mystieism:

5.

to

372.

Shukyo shinpishngi hassei no kenkyu: toku chushin

Yoinu

on Semitie

1966).

Shiikyoteki shutaisei no ronri (d he logic of religions identity) (Nara: d'enrikyd

DdN ilsha,

Kirisuto o

hakonda

d’he

life

1991).

otoko: Pauro no shogai

(

I’he

man who

Nihon Kirisntokyddan

of Paul) (dbkyo: Kddansha, 1987; rept.

Shnppankyokn,

carried Cdirist:

1998).

7.

Mahometto (Muhammad)

8.

Shukyo shinpishngi hassei no kenkyu,

(d’okyo: Kdhiindd, 1952; rept.

Kddansha, 1989),

p. 5.

p. 3.

9. Ibid., p. 4. 10.

Le chainanisme rept. 1978);

et les

techniques arclunques de Vextase (Paris: Payot, 1951;

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques

of Ecstasy, trans.

Prask (Nevy York: Bollingen Foundation, 1964; rcy.

Princeton Uniyersity Press, [1972];

rc])t.

367

2004),

|).

and

509.

Wdllard R.

cnl. ed. Princeton:

NO'I'ES

11.

Idno monogcitciri (Tokyo

ro PAGES 110-122

Daiwashobo, 2010); The Legends

[1910]; rept.

of

Ronald A. Morse, Japan Fonnclation Translation Series (Tokyo: Japan Fonndation, 1975; rept. Lanliain: Lexington Books, 2008), p. 5.

'iono, trails.

12.

Shamanism,

13.

“Shinpishngi no erosnteki

14.

“Tenrik\o kyogigakn shiron,”

15.

Shukydteki shutaisei no ronri, pp. 8-9.

p. xiii.

keitai: Sei

Berundru-ron,"

Yomu

to kakii, p. 381.

p. 50,

16. Ibid., p. 9. 17.

“Tenrikyo k\ogigakn sbiron,”

18.

Mahometto,

19.

Shukyd shinpishngi hassei no

p.

46.

p. 65.

kenkyii, p. 414.

20. Ibid. 21.

Kdran,

3 vols.

(dbkyo: Iwanaini Sboten, 1957-1958). Izntsn’s translation

with part of tbe eoininentary and

riibries

Tbe same

omitted.

below.

22.

Shukyd shinpishngi hassei no kenkyu,

23.

Kdran o yomn (Reading tbe Koran) (Tokyo: Iwanami Sboten,

nC

8

(Cbno Koronsba,

25. Ishiki to

no hn (Pbilosopby of mystieisni: d 1 ie (Teek

Tetsngakn Sbndoin, 1949;

Sbnppankai, 2010),

1983); rept.

1991).

24. Shinpi tetsngakn: Girishia

part) (Tokyo:

424.

p.

Keio Gijnkii Daigakn

rept.

p. 170.

honshitsn: seishinteki Tdyd o motomete (Conseionsness and

essence: In search of tbe spiritual Orient) (Tokyo: Iwanami Sboten, 1983), p. 213; rept. as Ishiki to honshitsn: Tdydteki shii

motomete (Conseionsness and essence: tion of Oriental tbongbt),

26.

ITC

no kdzdteki seigdsei o

In seareb of tbe structural integra-

6 (Cbno Koronsba, 1992),

Isnramn seitan (Tokyo: Jinbnn Sboin, 1979;

p. 187.

rept. in IT’C 2

{Chnd

Kdronsha, 1993). 27.

Mahometto,

28. Fanst:

A

p. 3.

Tragedy,

trails.

Walter Arndt, ed. Cyrus Hamlin, 2nd ed.

Tbrk: W.W^. Norton &: Co., 1976; rept. 2001), p. 22; tbe

Cited in Mahometto,

3.

Japanese translation was, of course, by Tosbibiko

29. Shinpi tetsngakn, p. 170. TTie

Coetbe quotation

is

(New

found

p.

Iziitsii.

in tbe entry for

11

April 1827, in J.R Eckcrniann’s Gesprdche mit Goethe, ed. LAidwig Ceigcr

M. Hesses, Eckermann and

(Leipzig:

1902; rept. 1908),

with

Soret, trans.

1:

367; Conversations of Goethe

Jobn Oxenford (l.ondon, 1850;

Cambridge: Cambridge Library Collection, 30.

Mahometto,

31. Ibid., p.

p. 23.

48.

^68

2011),

1:

387.

rept.

NO'l'KS ro

I’Acr-’.s

12:5-1^2

Ibid., pp. 51-32.

33

34 35

-

Ibid., p. 51.

-

Ibid., p. 39.

-

Ibid., p. 29.

36. Ibid., p. 30.

37 Ibid., -

GO

39

p. 57.

Ibid., pp. -

65-66

Ibid., p. 116.

CHAP'l'KR FIVE

Catholicism 1.

Shiiipi tetsiigcikii: Girishici

no

hit

(Philosoph)- of

nn sticism;

'I'lic

C»rcck

(Tokyo: T’akctsugu Shucloin, 1949; rcpt. Kcio C»ijuku ITaigakii Sluipj:)ankai, 2010); rcxisccl edition with new preface (Kyoto: Jinhnn

j:)art)

Shoin, 1978); rcpt. IT’C 2.

(Clino Koronsha, 1991),

“Shinpishngi no crosnteki Bernard), Tetsugakii

- 395

PP- 359 3.

1

(

keitai: Sei

Philoso])h\

)

27

p. 1^.

Bernnarn-ron” (ip:^!),

3^-64;

(T

he

inystieisin of St

rept. in Yoiini to kciku,

-

Ibid., p. 380.

4. Ibid., p. 362. 5.

Shinpi tetsugakii,

6.

“Shinpishngi no crosnteki

7. Ibid., p.

8.

p.

340 (I'PC

1:

34).

keitai,” p. 363.

380.

De laude novae inilitiae (Book to the Kniglits the New Knighthood) in The Works of Bernard

Liber ad milites lempli:

Templar; In Praise of of

Clairvaux

New

7; Treatises 3;

On

Grace and Free Choice.

In Praise of the

Knighthood, trans. Conrad Creenia (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian

Publications, 1977), 9. Pierre

p. 129.

Riehe, Petite vie de Saint Bernard (Paris: Dcselee de Brouwer,

1989), p. 83. 10. Inferno,

Canto

28: 22-27, ItcHis.

Robert Pinsky

(New

Tbrk: Farrar, Straus

and Cironx, 1994), pp. 294-295; cited in Mahonietto (Mnhammad) (Tokyo: Kobnndd, 1952; rcpt. Kodansha, 1989), pp. 18-19. 11.

“Shinpishngi no crosnteki

12. Ibid., p. 13.

keitai,” p. 384.

385.

“Cabnrieri:

‘( 3 cndai

Arabia bnngakn no slinryn’” (Cbibricli

e figure della letteratnra araba

eontcmporanca”),

in

s

“C'orrenti

Poa Kenkyujohd

NO'l'ES

(Reports of

tlic

14.

1

East Asian Institute)

kaku, pp. 464-484.

Moderno

TO PAGES 32-138

'I’he

3

989 )> 30-46; rept. in Yomu to originally appeared in Oriente

(i

Gabrieli artiele

19,2 (1939), 110-121.

(Madrid: Iinprenta de bAtanislao Maestre, 1919); Islam and the Divine

Comedy,

trans.

Harold Sunderland (London:

J.

Murry, 1926;

rept.

Routledge, 2008). 13.

“Shinpishugi no erosuteki

keitai,” p. 370.

16. Ibid. 17. Ibid., p. 371.

18.

“Shi to shukyoteki jitsuzon: Kuroderu-ron” (Poetry and religious existenee:

Yomu

On to

Claudel), ]oseisen (Women’s Line) 4,11 (1949), 40-48; rept. in kaku, pp. 332-349; “Kuroderu no shiteki sonzairon” (Claudel’s

poetie ontology), Mita in 19.

Yomu

to

Bungaku (Mita

Literature) 43 (1953), 34-4-; rept-

kaku, pp. 396-413.

Language and Magic: Studies

in the

Magical Function

Keio Institute of Philologieal Studies, 1956;

rept.

of

Speech (Tokyo:

Keio Uni\ ersity Press,

2011).

20. “Shi to shukyoteki jitsuzon,” p. 337. 21.

“Shiteki sonzairon,” p. 396.

22.

“Shi to shukyoteki jitsuzon,”

p. 337.

23. Ibid., p. 333.

24. Ibid., p. 336. 25.

“Religion et poesie” (Religion and poetr}), in Positions 2 vols. (Paris:

works) (Paris:

O’Connor

et propositions,

Callimard, 1929-1934); rept. in Oeuvres en prose (Prose Callimard, 2006), p. 59; Ways and Crossways, trans. John

(Lreeport,

NY: Books

for Libraries Press, 1933; rept. 1967), p. 5;

eited in “Shiteki sonzairon,” p. 406.

de

26. “Traite

la

eo-naissanee an

monde

et

de soi-meme” (Treatise on the

“eo-naissanee” of the world and of oneself) in Art poetique (Art of poetry)

27.

(Paris:

Mereure de Lranee,

(Paris:

Callimard, 2002), pp. 147-204; eited

“Shi to shukyoteki jitsuzon,”

28. “Shiteki sonzairon,” p.

1907); rept. in CEuvre poetique (Poetie works) in “Shiteki sonzairon,” p.

408.

p. 333.

400.

29. Ibid. 30.

31.

Prhence

prophetie (Paris: Egloff, 1933; rept. 1947), pp. 249-250; eited in “Shiteki sonzairon,” p. 402. et

Franzosischer Ceist im zwanzigsten jahrhundert (T he Freneh

twentieth eentury) (Bern: Lraneke, 1952; rept. 1965), to shukyoteki jitsuzon,” p. 334.

spirit in

p. 115; eited in

the

“Shi

NOI'KS ro PACKS 139-146

32.

“Pontigny,” in /)er

33. Iki

no kozo

(

Neue Mcrkur (Novcinhrc

Kaclokawagakiigci Structure of

Iki, trails.

35.

('Tokyo: Iwananii Sliotcn, 1930;

2011); Reflections

on Japanese

I'aste:

rcj)t.

I'he

Sakiiko Matsiii and John Cdark (Svdncv: Power -oo?)-

no uta: Kuki

Sbnzo Knki)

‘iki’)

Sluij)j:)aii,

Piiblieations, 1997; 34. h'uzai

of

lie striicliirc

I

1922), 419-425.

no sekai (Song of non-being: The world of

Sliilzo

TBS

('Tokyo:

Biiritanika, 1990).

temps: deux communications faites d Pontigny pendant

la

decade 8 = iL or

^

key term for luoue as an iutelleetual as well as one that

expresses bis fundamental raison d’etre as a priest.

NO

I

am

64. hhiki to sonzai uo uazo:

KS ro PACKS 152-162

slnikyosha to no taiwa

sciousness and being: l^ialogne witli

a

(

I'lic

riddle of con-

religions j^erson)

I'okNo;

(

Kodansha, 1996). 65.

dakabashi I'akako no “nikki” (“Diary” of lakako I'akabasbi) Kodansha, 2005), j). 74.

66. Ibid.,

^5-34.

p):).

CHAPl'KR

Words and 1.

An

WORD

analysis of etbieo-religions eoneej)ts in the Koran)

(dbkyo: Sbinsensba, 1972); 2.

rrc

3.

Foreword

rey. ed. I'l'C

4 (Cbfid Kdronsba, 1992).

4: 27.

to Isiirainu seitan (d

1979); rept. in

Sonzai

rrc

ninsliiki

1978); rept.

rrc

2

bc birth of Islam) (dbkyo: Jinbnn Sboin,

(Cbfid Kdronsba, 1993), pp. 9-12,

no michi: sonzai

logical cognition:

5.

si.x

Imi no kozo: Koran ni okerii slnikyo cldtoku gainen no hiinseki (d’be structure of meaning:

4.

I’okyo;

(

On

to

honshitsu ni tsuite

(

bbe

j^atb of

onto-

existence and essence) (dokyo: Iwanami Sboten,

(Chud Kdronsba,

10

at 10-11.

1993).

“dbtsugaknteki imiron” (Philosophical semantics), Keid Gijuku Daigakii

Gengo Banka Kenkyujo Shohd and Linguistic Studies) 6

(Bulletin of the Keio Institute of Cultural

(1967), 2-3; rept. in

Yomu

to

kaka, pp. 414-416,

at 414. 6. “Iziitsu

Foshiliiko

no sbnyd chosaku

ni

j

mini Nibonteki Isuramn

rikai”

(The Japanese understanding of Islam as seen in the writings of dbsbiliiko Iziitsii), Nihon Kenkyii (Japanese Studies) 36 (2007), 109-120. 7.

Isurdmu tetsugaku no genzd (d’he original image (dbk\o: Iwanami Sboten, 1980); rept. in

I

PC

5

ot Islamic

philosophy)

(Chud Kdronsba,

1992),

pp- ?3i-495. at 8.

“Cengo tetsugaku

toshitc

no Sbingon” (Sbingon: A

])bilosoph\’ of lan-

guage), Mikkydgaku kenkyii (Journal of Esoteric Buddhist Studies) (1985) 1-29; rept. in

Yomu

to

kaku, pp. 251-286,

17

at 273.

9. Ibid.

10.

“Imi bnnsetsn riron

to

Knkai: Sbingon inikkyd no gengo tetsnga-

kuteki kandsei o sagurn” (Knkai and the theory of semantic articulation: esoteric

Exploring the linguistic philosophical potential of Sbingon Buddhism), Shisd 728

(1985), 1-21;

rejit. in

Imi no fukami

e:

loyd

NOTES TO PAGES 162-168

tetsugaku no suii (lb the depths of meaning: Fathoming Oriental philosophies) (Tokyo: Ivvanami Shoten, 1985), pp. 238-278; rept. in Il’C 9

(Chno

Koronsha, 1992), pp. 76-105. 11.

Ishiki

no keijijogaku: '‘Daijo kishinron' no tetsugaku (Metaphysies of eon-

The philosophy of the Awakening Chno Koronsha, 1993; rept. 2001).

seionsness:

(Tokyo: 12.

Qod and Man

Mahdycina)

Koran: Semantics of the Koranic Weltanschauung (Tokyo: Keio Institute of Cultural and Langnistie Studies, 1964; rept.

North 13.

of Faith in the

in the

Stratford,

NH:

Ayers, 1998), p. 29.

“[WJohl aber ein Ansdrnek der Uberzengnng, daB die

rastlose Arbeit

der Zwisehenzeit es bei aller Andersartigkeit ermoglieht hat, hente mit

dem ganzen Naehdrnck

Probleme anfznnehmen, die er— seiner Zeit vveit voranseilend— in genialer Weise erfaBt hat.” Das Menschheitsgesetz der Sprache als Grundlage der Sprachwissenschaft (The hmnanistie law of language as the basis of lingnisties) 14.

leidelherg:

Shinpi tetsugaku,

15. Ibid., p.

16.

(1

144

(

rrc

p. 1:

vvissensehaftlieher Zielsetznng die

Quelle

&

C

1:

324 (11

Meyer, 1964),

p. 5.

22).

52^).

mensehliehen Spraehbanes nnd ihren Finflnss anf die geistige Entwieklnng des Mensehengesehleehts” (On the diversity of human language eonstrnetion and its inflnenee on the mental development of the human speeies), in Andreas Flitner and Klans Ciel, eds., Werke in fiinf Banden: 3, Schriften zur Sprachphilosophie (Works in five volumes: 3, Writings on philosophy of language (Darmstadt:

“Uher

die Verschiedenheit des

Wlssensehaftliehe Buehgesellsehaft, 1963; rept. 2010), p. 418. “Sie selhst ist kein Werk (Ergon), sondern eine Thatigkeit (Energeia). Sie ist .

nehmlieh die

.

.

ewig wiederholende Arbeit des Ceistes, den artieulirten Lant zum Ansdrnek des Cedanken fiihig zu maehen.” For an English translation of this passage see On Language. On the Diversity of Human Language Construction and Its Influence on the Mental Development of the Human Species, trans. Peter Heath (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 49. 17.

sieh

“Kigo katsudo toshite no gengo” (Language as a semiotie aetivity), Sanshokuki (Irieoleur) 121 (1958), 11-15; hi Yomu to kaku, pp. 241250, at 245.

18.

“Nishiwaki sensei ties

and

to the

I),

to

gengogaku

in insert to

to

watashi” (Professor Nishiwaki, linguis-

Nishiwaki funzahuro Zenshu hekkan (Supplement

eomplete works of Junzabnro Nishiwaki) (Tokyo: Chiknma Shobo,

1983), pp. 2-4; rept. in

Yomu

to

kaku, pp. 522-524,

^74

at 524.

NO

no Izntsu

19. “Slii toshitc

KS

I

I'O

PACKS

168-17:^

Ibshiliiko sensei” (Professor Ibslnliiko Izntsn as a

teaeher), in insert to kl'C 4, pp. 7-6. 20. “"tainai” (Illness) in liiyii 110

Oclosha, 1984), 21.

]:>]).

Maria: Shisini (Mary

in winter) ("Pokyo:

8“-33-

Serofau kaniishihai: Shislnl (Cello])liane

j)aj:)er j)ietnre-j)la\’:

A

j:)()etry

eol-

leetion) ('IbkNo: Kashinsha, 2000).

Kawasliiina

22.

is

on the

a speeialist

New

japanese translations of the

work

in the

liistorN-

of inicl-nineteenth-eentnry

Testainent and has done ]:)ioneering

study of the translations

of,

and eonnnentaries on, the

New

'Pestainent hy the early Aineriean missionaries to jaj)an jonathan Cbihle

(1827-1896) and Nathan Brown (1807-1886): joiiasaii Gohurii keiikyil (Study of Jonathan Goble) (dbkyo: Shinkyo Shn])|iansha, 1988); Jouasau

Gohuru yaka Matai

fukuiiisho no kenkyii (Study of jonathan Ciohle’s trans-

Matthew) (dbkvo: Akashi Shoten, 199^); Ne/sc/n Bnraun to shiu'yakii zeiisho (Nathan Brow n and the New d’estainent) Tokyo: Shinkyo Shnppansha, 2008). 'Phrongh this researeh we have been

lation of the Ckispel of

(

able to eonfinn that, in addition to the translation of the Bible

Curtis

1

lejihnrn (1815-1911)

and others

that

was aimed

at

h\’

Janies

the intelligentsia,

there was yet another history of bihlieal translations in Japan that sought to earry the

Gospel direetly

to the souls of

ordinary jieople. ^bshinori ^ agi

(1911-1999) wrote an essay on Kawashinia’s jouasan

Gohuru

kenkyil (Stud)’

of Jonathan Goble), in whieh w e learn that Kawasliiina w as o\ er

he

first

eneonntered Goble; he began

to study

flft\’ v\

hen

Greek and spent the next

thirteen years doing researeh on the snbjeet. 23. “I’snito IzAitsn

dbshihiko: Sarntorn o koenasai” (An obituary for Ibshibiko

Izntsn: Surpass Sartre), 24.

Many Lvto

Genryu

10 (1996), 27-55.

students audited these leetnres, ineliiding future

(1952-1999) and novelist

Masao Yaniakawa

Prefaee to the revised edition of Sliiupi tetsugaku,

26.

Afterword

no fukaini

e

Jim

(1950-1965).

25.

to Irni

literar\’ eritie

PPG

1:

12.

(db the depths of meaning),

p.

292 (PPG 9:

604). 27.

Ihe Meaning

Ihought and

of of

A

Study of the Influence of Language upon the Science of Sywholisni (London: Kegan Paid dVeneh

Meaning:

Prnbner, 1925; 4th ed. rept. Rontledge/'Phoemmes, 2002), 28. Imi

p. 8.

no imi (The meaning of meaning) (dbkyo: Kobmisha, 1956;

rept.

Shinsensha, 2008). 29. Ibid., p. 50.

850go

5.

ni miserareta tensai:

G.K. Ognden (C.K. Ogden: d'he genius

nated by 850 w'ords) (Tokyo: Iloknseido Shoten, 2007).

375

fasci-

NOTES TO PAGES

31.

“A Glance

at

Framework 32.

Afterword

33.

“Bnnka

Development of Semiotics,” trans. Patricia Bandoin, in I'he Language (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, CT980), p. 7.

the

of

to Imi

no fukami

e, p.

293

(I

PC

9: 605).

gengo arayashiki: ihnnkakan taiwa no kanosei no mondai o megntte” (Cnltiire and linguistic d/dvd-conscionsness: On the question of the possibility of dialogue u ith other enltnres), in Gendai hunmei no kiki to jidai no seishin (The crisis of contemporary civilization and the spirit of the times) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1984), pp. 87-124; rept. in hni no fukami e, pp. 46-83, at 59 (PrC 9: 44-73, at 54). to

34. Roshiateki ningen: kindai

modern Russia

tory of

(Uoknyosha, 1978); 35.

173-181

La

poetry, with

A

literature) (Tokyo:

rept.

poesie pure, avec

Roshia hungakushi (Russian humanity:

ITC

Kohnndo,

(Chuo Koronsha,

3

Vn dehat

1992), p.

79

sur la poesie par Robert de

“M. Bremond” beeause he was not only Catholic

honorifi-

a distinguished scholar of

priest.

On

tenee:

Claudel), foseisen (Women’s Line) 4,11 (1949), 40-48: rept. in kaku, pp. 332-349, at 337.

to

The Art

of Poetry, trans.

Denise

Folliot

(New

Prineeton: Prineeton University Press, 1989), 38.

him

shukyoteki jitsuzon: Kurooderu-ron” (Poetry and religious exis-

36. “Shi to

37.

Souza (Pure

discussion of poetry by Robert de Souza) (Paris: Grasset,

literature but also a

Yomu

his-

1953); neu' edition

1926; rept. 1937). In the preeeding quote, Izutsu referred to eally as

A

York: Vintage, 1958; rept.

p. 72.

Kanji hyakuwa (A hundred stories about Chinese eharaeters) (Tokyo:

Chuo

Koronsha, 1978;

39. 'The eharaeter fu

(Rft)

rept. 2003), p. 19.

of funo does not refer to a curse;

related to iwau {Ho), to eelebrate or eongratulate, (pray);

was probably

it

meaning the same sense

at a later

and

it is

is

etymologieally

also read as inoru

period, Shirakawa writes, that

it

came

acquire the

“to eurse.” Shirakawa uses the expression juchin

^)

as fund.

in

40. Kanji (Characters) (Tokyo: 41. Isliiki to

honshitsu,

p.

233

(I

Iwanami Shoten,

PC

1970), p.

to

3.

6: 186-187).

42. Kanji, p. 30. 43. 1 'anigawa

Kenichi Zenshii

lanigawa

19,

Persons

2)

19:

finhutsu 2

(The eomplete works of Ken’ichi

(Tokyo: F’uzanbo Intanashonaru, 2008).

no kosai” (My friendship with Ibshihiko Tegami no tanoshimi (The pleasures of letters) (Tokyo: Bungei

44. “Izutsu Toshihiko-kun to Izutsu), in

Shuuju, 45.

1981), p. 41.

Lanigawa Keniehi Zenshu

19:

finhutsu

2:

390-391.

NO'I KS I'O I’A(;KS 181-186

46.

“Don

|:)()cnic” (C>ift

clii

Verse, trans.

2006;

If.

1

l\)cm), in Collected

tlic

Poems and Other

and A.M. Blackinorc (Oxford: Oxford Unixcrsity

.

2008),

re])t.

of

26-29.

])]).

I6es.s,

translation in the jaj^anese text

'I’lic

is h\-

jnnzahind Nislnwaki. 47.

“Les Klenrs”

Collected Works, pp. 14-15.

(l^’lowcrs),

48. “d’lie Relation of llahitnal

honght and Beha\

I

Language, Culture, and Personality: Essays ed. Leslie Spier, et

49. “‘Mivii’

no sekai”

With

semantic' theory;

(

world of miyu),

Minwa no

50. “liniron josetsn:

in

Sapir,

Man'ydsini nukigaki (Maiwdshn

a

rept.

2000).

no kaisetsn o kanete” Introdnetion to eommentary on Intellectual aspects of folktales), sliisd

Minwa no

Akihiro Satake’s

Edward

Press, 198:5), p. 90.

Iwananii Shoten, 1980;

exeerjDts) (dbk\o:

in

ON: Cheenwood

Llie

(

of

in

(Menaslia, W'l: Sajdr Memorial Pnhlieation Lund,

al.

1941; rept. W^estport,

Memory

in

Language,”

ior to

(

sliisd

(

Intelleetnal aspeets of folktales)

Pokyo: Chfid Kdronsha, 1990), pp. 247-271; rept. in

Yomu

kaku,

to

pj).

306-327. 51.

“‘Miyn’ no sekai,”

52.

“Nijisseikimatsn no Naini to hikari” (Darkness and light

p. 30.

at

the end of the

twentieth eentnry). Child Kdron (Central Rex iew) 108,1 (1993), 222-240; rept. in

PLC Bekkan

(dbkxo:

53. Ishiki to honshitsii, p. 52

Chnd

(PLC

Kdronsha, 1993), pp. 369-399,

at 396.

6: 47).

54. Ibid. 55. Ibid., p. 53

(PLC

6: 48).

(PPC

56.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

57.

Shoki Manyd-ron (On the early Manyd) (dbkyo: rept.

58.

83

1:

269).

Chnokoron-Shinsha, 2003), pp.

Aceording to

p.

to

Shiznka Shirakavva,

be patterned on the eharaeters iamagoi).

says,

It

originally

Kdronsha, 1979;

12-13. (rei),

ffi

the eharaeter for

for a priestess

then gradually earne to express the divine

ot the di\ ine

spirit itself,

the souls of the dead;

works of the dVanseendent, another

name

“Cengo

flrndo toshite no waka"

[Waka

and

Phe eharaeter

absolutely nothing to do w ith

for

“s]:)irit,” is

M'kimiko) praying

meant the deseent

to ineliidc all things related to the divine spirit.

59.

Chnd

it

said

for rain

s])irit,

later

he

came

M here has

signifies the

Absolute Reality.

as lingnistie field),

Bungaku

44-53; “Ishiki flrndo toshite no waka" {Waka as cognitixe Bungaku 52,12 (1984), 10-22; and “Shizen mandara: ishiki flrndo

52,1 (1984), field),

toshite

no waka"

Kdza 'Pdyd

sliisd 16:

Japanese thought

mandala of nature: Waka as eognitix'c field), in Nihon sliisd 2 (Lectures on Oriental thought 16:

(d’lie

2 ('Pokyo: Ixvananii

V7

Shoten, 1989),

p]).

219-261. See also

NO TES

of

Beauty

PAGES 186-195

“ I’he

her English-language essay,

Theory

I'O

Aesthetie Strueture o^WakaJ' in The

japan (The Hague/Boston/

in the Classical Aesthetics of

London: Martinns

Nijhoff, 1981), pp. 3-25.

60. “Shizen inandara,” p. 224. 61.

Chusei no hungaku dento: waka hiingakuron (The

On

Middle Ages:

waka

literature)

Tokyo:

(

literary tradition of the

Nihon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai,

1940; rept. hvanaini Shoten, 1985). 62.

“Watashi no sansatsu”

Yomu

rept. in

63.

to

kaku,

(My p.

three hooks), Tosho (Books) 454 (1988), 11-12;

448.

Chusei no hungaku dento,

p. 31.

64. Ibid., p. 70.

CHAPTER SEVEN I

1.

Koran,

3 \ols.

2.

Koran,

3 vols.

in

(Tokyo: hvanaini Shoten, 1938).

3:

last interx ieu’

(ITC

7:

1:

5

(ITC

to

no saigo no

Iziitsn), translated

Matsumoto and published

Koran (1964/2004),

4. Ibid.,

with Professor

339.

The eonnnent was made

an inter\'iew with Nasrnllah Piireevadi, “Izutsn-sensei

Iwanii and Akira

3.

Heavenly World

(Tokyo: Iwananii Shoten, 1964; rept. 2004),

kaiken” (T he

3.

ranslator of the

in the insert to

ITC

n’C

11.

7: 17).

17-18)

Koran o yomu (Reading the Koran) (Tokyo: hvanaini Shoten, in

by Takashi

1983); rept.

8 (Chfio Koronsha, 1991).

6. Ibid., p. 198. 7.

The Structure

of the Ethical

Terms

in the

Koran:

A

Study

in

Semantics

(Tokyo: Keio Institute of Philologieal Studies, 1959); rev. ed. EthicoReligious Concepts in the Quran (Montreal: MeCill Unixersity Press, 1966). 8.

Koran

9.

Koran (1964/2004),

10.

(1938),

3: 321.

2:

296 (ITC

Afterxxord to Imi no fukami

e:

7: 828).

Toyo tetsugaku no

suii

(To the depths of

meaning: Fathoming Oriental philosophy) (Tokyo: hvanaini Shoten, 1983), p. 292 (ITC 9: 604), eited ahoxe in Chapter six, p. 170. 11.

Mahometto (Muhammad) (Tokyo: Kohundo,

12. Ibid., p.

Kodansha, 1989).

98.

13.

Koran

14.

Commentary 1:

1932; rept.

(1958),

300 (fPC

3: 321.

to the rex ised translation of the

7: 834).

^78

Koran. Koran (1964/2004),

NOI

115.

Koran o yoinu

16.

Koran (1964/2004),

17.

Afterw ord to the

18.

Offieial translation of

TO PACKS 1915-206

F.S

I'l’C 8: 216. 311 (I'l’C" 7: 8415).

rex ised translation

of the Koran (1964/2004),

3:

338.

^broznyo on the d'enrikyology wehsite, aeeessed 4

January 2013: htt])://tenrikyology.eoin/29/j)ost-26-rejiort-ang-20o8/. 19.

Slntkyo shinpishugi Iiassei no kenkyu (A study of the development of

gious nwstieisin (Nara: 20. 21.

Koran

p. 414.

(1958), 3:2730.

gengogakii

to shiteki

linguisties) (Osaka: 23. “l^dtei”

rept. in

Yoinu

Kohnndo Shohd,

gengogaku (C^eneral

Zoshindo, 1947),

(Currienlinn

\

to kakii,

lingnisties

and

historieal

p. 9.

Mita Hydron (Mita Kexiew) 800 (1980), 2-3;

itae), ji]).

1938).

377-379.

“Koran honyakn gojitsndan” Reininiseenees of translating the Koran), (

Mita Hydron (Mita Rexiew) 683 (1969), 21-27; 349-360,

23.

l^aigaku Shnppanhn, 1966),

Viinhoruto (llinnholdt) (d'okxo:

22. Ipfxtn

24. 26.

I'enri

reli-

Yoinu

to

kaku, pp.

at 338.

The Fundamental Structure

of Sahzawari's

Metaphysics (d’ehran; MeGill

Ihiixersity Institute of Islaniie Studies, 1968); later published as a ehapter in

Ihe Concept and Reality

of Existence ('Ibkyo: d’he

Keio Institute of

Cultural and Lingiiistie Studies, 1971), pp. 37-149.

“Sufism, Mystieisni, Strnetnralism: (1984-1986), 1-24, Izutsii,

at 1-2.

A

Dialogue,” Religious Traditions 7-9

“Snfizmiin

to

misntishiznmn,”

Shisd (d'honght) 720 (1984), 22-32; rept. in

FFC

trails.

Toxoko

Bekkaii, pp. 193-

243, at 193. 27.

Six leqons sur p. 7;

28.

le

son

Lectures on

et le

sens (Paris: iLditions de Minnit, 1976; rept. 1991),

Sound and Meaning,

trans.

John Mephani (Cambridge,

MA: MFF Press, 1978; rept. 1981), p. x. A Comparative Study of the Key Philosophical Concepts laoism: Ihn 'Arahl and Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, Institute of Cultural

and

in

Sufism and

3 pts. in 2 xols. ('Fokyo:

Keio

Lingiiistie Studies, 1966-1967); rex. ed. Sufism

and laoism: A Comparative Study

of

Key Philosophical Concepts

('Fokyo;

Ixvanami Shoten, 1983; Berkeley: Flnixersity of California Press, 1984; rept. 2008). Citations xvill be from the rex ised edition. 29. Ibid., p.

2.

30. Ibid., p.

469.

31.

Isiirdmu shisdshi: shiiigakii, shinpishugi, tetsugakii (Ilistor)' of Islaniie

thought: Fheology, mystieisni, philosophy) 1975); rept. in

FFC

5

(Chud Kdronsha,

(

Fokyo: Ixxanami Shoten,

1991), pp. 7-330, at 314.

NO

32.

Arabia tetsugakii,

in

I

KS

TO PAGES 207-218

Bukkxd tetsugaku, Kirisutokyo gairon, Arabia

sugaku (Buddhist philosophy;

An

introduction to Christianity; Arabic

tet-

plii-

losophy) (dbkyo: Hikari no Slioho, 1948); xc\A. Arabia tetsugaku, Kaikyd

tetsugaku (Arabic philosophy, Islamic jDhilosoph}) (Tokyo: Keio Gijnkn

Oaigakn Shnppankai, 33.

2011), pp. 6-7.

“Kaikyo shinpishngi tetsugaknsha Ihnn Arab! no sonzairon”

ogy of the Islamic mystic philosopher Ihn 25-26 (1944), 332-357; 34.

“Snfizumu

to

rept. in Yoiiiii to

‘Arahl),

(

I’he ontol-

letsugaku (Philosophy)

kaku, pp. 41-62.

gengo tetsugaku” (Sufism and

lingnistie philosoph}'), Shiso

(d’hought) 720 (1984), 1-21; rept. in bni no fukaini

e,

pp. 197-237, at 213

(PI’C 9: 460). 35.

“Kaikyo shinpishngi tetsugaknsha Ihunu Arab! no sonzairon,” kaku,

36.

in

Yomu

to

p. 41.

Shinpi tetsugaku (Philosophy of mystieism) (Tokyo: T’etsngakn Shudoin, 1949; rept. Keio Gijnkn Daigaku Shnppankai, 2010), (Kyoto: Jinhmi Shoin, 1978); rept.

nC

1:

p. 121; rev. ed. 2 \ols.

303.

37.

Sufism and Taoism,

38.

“Kaikyo shinpishngi tetsugaknsha Ihunn Arab! no sonzairon,” kaku,

in

Yomu

to

46.

p.

39. Isurdmii tetsugaku (

p. 226.

no genzo (The original image of Islamie philosophy)

Pokyo: Ivvanami Shoten, 1980),

p.

290; rept.

I

PC

5

(Chuo Koronsha,

1992), pp. 331-495, at 451.

40.

Sufsm and Taoism,

p. 216.

41. Ibid., p. 132.

42.

Isurdmu shisoshi,

p. 313.

43. Ibid., p. 311.

44. Sufism

and Taoism,

p. 136.

45. Ibid., p. 292.

46. Ibid., p. 81. 47.

Volume

2

of Melanges posthumes sur

Le laoisme 48.

(Paris: Ci\ ilisations

“Henri Maspero

Laoisme, 49. Sufism

dn Sud,

premier

Fkistoire de la Chine:

S.A.E.P., 1950; rept. P.U.E., 1967).

et, jusqu’iei, anssi

bien en Oeeident

on presque a avoir entrepris la prospeetion seiende Phistoire et de la litterature du Taoime a eette epoqne,” Le

qu’en Orient, tifique

etait le

les religions et

le

seul

p. 9.

and Taoism,

p.

290.

50. Ishiki to honshitsu: seishinteki

Toyo o motomete (Conseiousness and

essenee: In seareh of the spiritual Orient) (Tokyo: Iwananii Shoten,

"^80

NOTKS

218-224

I'O I’AC'.KS

1983), p. 196. Kept, as Ishiki to houshitsii: Idyoteki

and essence:

gdsei o iiiotoinete (Consciousness

tnral integration of Oriental thonglit), 138. (

I’hc

rhe

“nuiddy and tnrhid”

plirase

Fisherman) attributed

6

l'l'C> is

In

search of

tlic

(Chnd Kdronsha,

taken from

to Cdi’ii Viian, cited

Das

journey: Mytliopoesis and Metaphysics,” in

no kdzdteki

sliii

tlie

])ocin

by Izntsn

sei-

strne-

1992), p. “'iii

Fn”

in “Ckdcstial

Spiel der Cotter

iiiul

des

Mensehen/'lhe Play of Gods and Men/Le jeit des lionnnes et des dieux. Franos jahrhneli 31 (1982), cd. Rudolf Kitsema (Frankfurt am Main: Insel 449-477; rept. in llie Structure of Oriental Philosophy: Collected Papers of the Eranos Conference 2 ('Ibk^o: Keio Unixersity Press,

\ erlag, 1983), pp.

2008), 51.

pj).

187-214, at 194.

Ishiki to honshitsii, ])p.

193-196

198

(rrC

6: 160).

33. Ibid., p. 193

(fre

6: 137).

32. Ibid., p.

(I l’Cy

6: 138).

34. Ibid. 33. Ibid., p.

206

36. Ibid., p.

207 (FI’C

57.

(I'l’C 6: 166).

6: 166).

Cbnd Kdronsha,

Koshi den (Fife of Confneiiis) (dokxo:

Cbuokoron-Sbinsba, 2003),

1972; rept.

p. 223.

38. Ibid.

39. Ishiki to honshitsii, p. 3ioff (kl'C 6: 246ff).

CHAPTER EIGHT Franos — Dialogue 1.

Izutsu’s lectures

in the

have been published

Beyond

in

The Structure

Philosophy: Collected Papers of the Eranos Conference, 2

\

of

ols.,

Oriental

'Die Izntsn

Library Series on Oriental Philosophy 4 (Ibkyo: Keio Uni\crsit\- Press, 2008).' 2.

kanshusha no kotoba” (On the publication of the Franos yearbooks: Words from the editor), in Toki no genshdgaku (In time and out of time), FTanosn sdsho (Franos year“Eranosu sosho no hakkan

ni saishitc:

book) (Tokyo: Ileibonsha, 1990), 1: 11-20; rept. in Yoniu to kaku, pp. 392-600. An excerpt from Izntsn’s preface to this book has been translated as

“Reminiseences of Ascona” and published

Structure of Oriental Philosophy,

1:

found on pp. 288-289. 3.

“Reminiseences of Ascona,”

p. 283.

4. Ibid., p. 284.

^81

as the

Appendix

to I'he

283-289. I'he passage cited here

is

NO TES TO PAGES 224-23O

5.

In

Roger Godel,

“The Time

De rimmanisme

a Vhiimain (Paris: Belles-Lettres, 1963);

of Eranos,” in’foseph

Campbell

Wan and

et ah, ecL,

Time:

Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, trans. Willard R. drask (Prineeton: Princeton Universitv Press, 1957; rept. 1983), pp. xiii-xx. A revised version with additions translated by Lee B. Jennings is found in Eranos and Its

Meaning (Aseona: Eranos Eonndation,

1978), pp. 7-16.

6.

“Reminiscences of Aseona,”

7.

Preface to Isurdmu shinpishugi ni okerii perusona no rinen (The idea of

p.

286.

personality in Islamic mysticism), a translation of R.A. Nicholson’s Idea of Personality in Sufism by Kiyoshi 1981), pp. 1-9; rept. in 8. Ishiki to

Yomu

Nakamura

to kakii, pp.

The

(Kyoto: Jinhnn Shoin,

above,

212-219, ^1

p. 67.

honshitsu: seishinteki Toyd o motomete (Consciousness and

essence: In search of the spiritual Orient) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1983), p. 208; rept. as Ishiki to honshitsu: Toyoteki shii sei 0

motomete (Consciousness and essence:

integration of Oriental thought), in I'PC 6

no kozoteki seigd-

In search of the structural

(Chno Kdronsha,

1992), pp.

167-168. 9.

“Tetsngaknteki imiron” (Philosophical semantics), Keio Gijukii Daigaku

Gengo Punka Kenkyujo Shohd and Linguistic Studies) 6

(Bulletin of the Keio Institute of Cultural

(1967), 2-3; rept. in

Yomu

to

kaku, pp. 414-416,

at 416.

10.

11.

The World Turned (Woodstock,

CN:

“Eriade

dndo

aito:

Inside Out:

Henry Gorhin and Islamic Xlysticism

Spring Journal Books, 2003), taiken’ o

p. xii.

megutte” (Mourning Eliade:

experiences”), Yuriika (Eureka) 18 (1986), 68-76; rept. in

On

his “Indian

Yomu

to

kaku,

pp. 5:^5-540^ at 530. 12.

“Anri Koriiban no Sdzdteki sdzdryoku ni tsnite”

(On Henry Corbin’s

Greative Imagination), in Toki no genshdgaku (In time and out of time),

Eranosn sosho (Eranos yearbook),

1:

270. Also worth

mentioning

is

Shin

Nagai’s “Imaginarn no genshdgaku (Genshdgaku to 4 oyd shisd)” (The

phenomenology of the imaginal [Phenomenolog)' and Oriental

thought]),

Shisd 4 ’hought) 968 (2004), 23-39. (

13.

“The d ime

14.

“Reminiscences of Aseona,”

13. “ d’he

Time

of Eranos,”

of Eranos,”

p. 9.

p. 7.

16.

Eranos and

17.

“Reminiscences of Aseona,”

18. In

Its

Meaning,

Polaritdt des

p. 285.

p. 5. p.

285.

Eehens (Polarity of

Lafe),

Eranos Yearbook 36 (1967), ed.

Adolf Portmann and Rudolf Ritsema (Zurich: Rhein-Yerlag, 1968), pp. 379-441;

rept. in

The Structure

of Oriental Philosophy

382

1:

1-74.

PACKS

NO'I'F.S I'O

19.

“naiikkyu no kokusaijin” (A

2-^0-2-^:5

blurb for Suzuki

first-class cosinoi^olitan),

Daisetsu Aenslul (Complete works of l^aisetz Suzuki) ('Ibkyo: Iwauaiui

Shoteu, 1981); rept. 20.

“Zeuteki isbiki

Yoniu

iu

kozo”

110 fTruclo

ucss), Shisd (d’boiiglit)

to kciku,

770

(

field

strueturc of

Zeu eouseious-

(1988), 4-37; rept. iu Kosuiiiosu to uuchi kosu-

(Cosmos and auti-eosmos),

uiosu

hc

I

4:^9-440.

|)j).

pp.

189-246

(I'l’C 9: ^08-^557). d’lie

wbieb tbe cssa\' is based is “ I'lie Striieture of Sclfliood iu Zeu Buddbism,” iu Siiui uiid Waudluugeu des Meiisclieuhildes (Mcauiiig and

Iceturc

oil

Image of Iumauit\'), k’.raiios Yearbook 38 (1969), Adolf Portmauu and Rudolf Ritseuia (Ziirieb: Rheiii-XYrlag, 1972), pp.

'I'rausforuiatiou of the cd.

93-150; 21.

rc])t.

Nihonteki

1

iu I'he Structure of

Oriental Philosophy

1:

75-135.

Daitd Sluijijiausba, 1944;

reisei (d’okyo;

Cbikugei Sluippaii, 2010); Japanese Spirituality, traus.

Kadokawa Norman Waddell rcjit.

(dbk\o: )apau Society for the Promotion of Seicuec, [1972]; rept. '\brk:

Creemvood

22. Shinran's

Press, 1988),

])]).

New

11-16.

Kyogydshinshd: Ihe Collection of Passages Expounding the True

Teaching, Living, Faith, and Realizing of the Pure

Land

(K\oto: Sliiushu

Otaiiiha, 1973; 2ud ed. Oxford; Oxford Uui\ersit\- Press, 2012). 23.

Sengai: The Zen Master (Loudon: Faber and Faber, 1971).

24.

“Ydzai buuka

(Fast- West cultural exchange),

110 kdryfi”

(\Iita Re\ iew) 723 (1973), 16-22; rept. iu Yonn/ to kaku,

pji.

Mita Hydron 561-573.

25. Ibid., p. 567.

26.

Suedenhorugu (Tokyo:

I

leigo, 1911; rept. Iwauaiui

Shoteu, 2001); Daisetzs

Japanese biography of Swedenborg has been translated by Andrew Bernstein and published as Swedenborg: Buddha of the North (West Chester, PA: Swedenborg Fouudatioii, 1996). 27.

soupsme d'lhn 'Arahi (Paris: Flaumiariou, Faiglish translation. Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination Sufism of Ihn Arahi, traus. Ralph Maubeim, Bolliugeu Series 91

Imagination creatrice dans 1958); in the

le

(Prineetou: Priueetoii Uuixersity Press, 1969; rept. 2008), 28. dVaus.

Phis

Leonard

is

the

“Mnndus

p. 354.

(Wbst Chester, PA: Swedenborg Fouudatioii, 1995). of the Fiiglish translation of two of Corbin’s essays,

P"ox

title

imaginalis” and

“1

Iermenentic|ue spiritnelle eomparee,” pub-

under the title Lace de Dieu, Lace de I'homme: soufisme (Paris: Flammarion, 1983). lished

I

lermeneiiticiue et

Masahito Senoiie, Meiji no Suwedenhorugu: Osui Arinori Shdzd o tsunagu mono (Swedenborg in Meiji Japan; What eonnects [y\rai] Osiii, [Mori] Arinori, [and d’anaka] Shdzo) (Yokohama: Shunpnsha, 2001).

29. Cf.

30. Creative 31.

Imagination,

p.

355

“Idaiikkyn no kokusaijin,”

]).

1141.

439.

383

NOTKS ro PAGES 233-239

32.

“Hie Origins and Opus

of Eranos: Reflections at the 55th Conference,”

in W'egkreiizunoenl Crossroads ! La croisee des

34. 33.

Eranos Yearbook 56 (1987) (Erankfnrt

“Reminiscences ofAscona,”

Shnpjiankai, 2010),

33. Ibid.

36.

(

ITC

p.

Insel V^erlag, 1989), p.

vii.

(Philosophy of mysticism: ddie Greek rept.

Keio Gijnkndaigakn

140; rev. ed., 2 vols. (Kyoto: Jinhnn Shoin, 1978);

(Chno Koronsha,

1

hii

Tetsngakn Shndoin, 1949;

part) (Tokyo:

rrC

Main:

p. 287.

Shiupi tetsiigaku: GirisJiia no

rept.

am

chemins, ed. Rudolf Ritsenia,

1991), pp. 318-319.

319).

1:

“Otto no vedanta tetsngakn e no shiza” (Perspectives on Otto’s \Adanta philosophy), in Indogaku shoshiso

to

sono shuen: Bukkyo Bwika Gakkai

jisshuneu Hojo Kenzo Hakushi koki kinen ronhunshu (Ideas on Indian

and

studies

their dissemination: Gollection of essays in

anniversary of the Research Society of

honor of the tenth

Buddhism and Gnltnral Heritage

and Dr Kenzo Hojo’s 70th birthday) Tokyo: Sankibo Bnsshorin, 2004), pp. 55-73. Sawai is a religions phenomenologist and also an outstanding Otto scholar whose scholarly exchanges with Izntsn were mentioned earlier. Izntsn thought highly of Sawai’s work on Indian philosophy. (

37. “Ji-ji

Hinge

iiinge: sonzai kaitai

/ ri-ri

no ato”

('Plie

world of ‘non-hin-

drance’: After/traces of ontological deconstruction), Shiso (Thought) 733

and Shiso 735 (1985), 17-37; 1-102 (ITG 9: 117-195).

(1985), 1-31

mosu, pp.

38. West-ostliche

Bertha L.

Kosumosu

to

anchi kosu-

and Vnterscheidiing ziir Wesensdeutung rept. Mnnich: Beck, 1971); Mysticism East

Mystik: Vergleich

(Gotha: Leopold Klotz, 1926;

and West:

rept. in

A

Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism, trans. Bracey and Richenda G. Payne (New York: Macmillan, 1932;

rept. 1976), p. 15.

39.

“Otto no vedanta tetsngakn e no shiza,”

40. Ishiki to honshitsu, p. 235 41.

“Kosnmosn

42.

Gioacchino da times, his rept.

43.

to

life,

(

ITC

6: 188).

anchi kosnmosn,” Fiore: his

I

p. 55.

rept. in

tempi, la vita,

il

ITC

9: 124.

messaggio (Joachim of Eiore: Mis

message) (Rome: Collezionc meridionale editrice,

1931;

Gosenza: Lionello Giordano, 1984).

Onr knowledge lations of these

no kenkyu,

of Joachiniisni in Japan

is

two works: Chusei no yogen

trans.

mainly dependent on transto

sono eikyd: Yoakimushugi

Yoshiynki Ohashi (’Tokyo: Yasaka Shobo, 2006) and

Fiore no Yoakimu: Seio shiso to mokiishiteki shumatsuron (Joachim of k’iore: (

Implicit eschatology

I’okyo:

I

and Western thought),

trans.

leibonsha, 1997).

44. “Eriade aito: ‘Iiido taiken’ o mcgntte”; see above

384

1111.

Yoko Miyamoto

NO TKS

41;.

I'O I’AC.KS

2:^9-244

Willard K. IVask, All

Kliacle coni])lctccl three xoliiines, trans.

and Hiane

llilteheilel

Ap()st()l()S-Ca])]XKlona (Cdiieago: University of Cdiieago I’ress,

1978-1985). 46. “Isriade aito,”

527.

]).

47. Ibid., p. 5^4.

no kankd

48. 'X'Jiosakushu

works), in ri’C

make up

rept. in ri’C 2:

50.

its

the jnihlieation of

in\'

seleeted

472.

1:

49. Isunmui huuka: sono koiitei ni aru that

(On

ni atatte”

foundation)

mono

('l’ok\o;

(Islaniie enltnre:

Iwanami Shoten,

elements

I’lie

1981; rept. 1994);

189-761.

Serious study of the dVaditionalist sehool has \et to he undertaken ja])an. Islamie seholar

dVaditionalist sehool

heeome w

Masataka d’akeshita (1948-

at a relatixely

)

in

took note of the

early date, hut that interest did not

idespread. dVanslations of Nasr’s works ha\e been i^nhlished in

name

Japanese, hut e\en though his

never disenssed as a

member

has

heeome

well

know n, he

is

almost

of the IVaditionalist sehool. Reeenth', in

“Fnritehofn Shnon to Izntsn 'Ibshihiko” (Krithjof Sehnon and dbshihiko Izntsn), Journal of Religious Studies 87,4 (2010), 1422-1427, Kdjird

Nakamura (1976-

)

eonsidered the similarities and differences between

the ideas of these two men. in the first half of the

wo hooks

1

b\'

Coomarasw anw w ere

translated

twentieth century, hut they were regarded

time as studies of Indian

at

the

not as works on dVaditionalist thought: Indo

art,

oyohi lonan Ajia hijutsushi (History of Indian and southeast Asian

art),

Indian and Indonesian Art (1927) h\' Chikvd (Ibkyo: Uokkai Shnppansha, 1944); and Indo hijutsushi

a translation of History of

Yamamoto

(History of Indian

Roknrd Sohn and Masiimi Iwasaki (dbkyo:

art), trans.

Kdryfisha, 1916); rept. Bijntsn sdsho (Art series) 51.

7

(dbk\’o: Kankdkai, 1970).

“Kaikyd tetsiigakn shokan: Kornhansho Isuramu tetsugakushi hdyakn

shnppan no kikai” (Perspeetixes on Islamie philosophy:

On

the oeeasion

of the pnbheation of tbe Japanese translation of Corbin’s Histoire de la philosophie islamique), Tosho (Books) 294 (1974), 78-42; rept. in Yoinu to

kaku, pp. 485-492, 52.

57.

Prefaee to Isuramu shinpishugi ni okeru perusona no rinen

in

Yomu

to

p. 217.

Ihree

Muslim Sages: Avicenna, Suhrawardl, ihn Arahl (Cambridge, MA:

larvard University Press, 1964; rept. Delinar, N^':

p. 120.

On

Ashi-l\ilaeios

the

aceessed 55.

e,

kaku,

I

54.

at 492.

Sehnon 21

is

mentioned

xvebsite,

xx

in a

footnote to

Caraxan Books, 2007), this sentence on p. 169.

xvxx.frithjof-sehnon.eoni/interx iexx’.htm,

January 2017.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

p.

46 (Pl'C

1:

277, xvith

385

minor

rex isions).

NOTES TO PAGES 247-257

56.

Rene Guenon: Some Observations (Cihent, NY: Sophia perennis, 2004).

57. In

Search of the Sacred:

“

Conversation with Seyyed Hossein Nasr on His

and 'Hiought (Santa Barbara:

Life 58.

A

Modern World,”

1974 and reprinted in Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions: Essays in Comparative riic

Occult

in the

Religions (Chieago: Unixersity of 59.

Praegcr, 2010), p. 92 a

paper given

Chieago

in

Press, 1976; rept. 1995).

“Creation aeeording to Ihn ‘Arahl,” in Seeing

God

Everywhere: Essays on

Nature and the Sacred, ed. Barry McDonald (Bloomington, IN: World

Wisdom, 2003;

rept. 2005), pp. 137-159.

60. hni no kozo: Koran ni okeru shukyo dotoku gainen no hunseki

ture of meaning:

An

(

Phe

struc-

analysis of ethieo-religions eoncepts in the Koran)

(dbkyo: Shinsensha, 1972), a translation hy Shinya Makino of TVie Structure of the Ethical Terms in the Koran: A Study in Semantics; authorial

61.

FPC 4

editions to rev. ed.

(Tokyo:

Chno

Koronsha, 1992),

p. 14.

Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of the Key Philosophical Concepts Fokyo: Ivvanami Shoten, 1983; Berkeley: University of (

California Press, 1984, rept. 2008), 62. Imi

no kozo,

FFC

p.

469.

4: 19.

63. Ishiki to honshitsu, pp. 131-132

(FFC

6: 108).

CHAPTER NINE Consciousness and Essence 1.

motomete (Conseionsness and Orient) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1983),

Ishiki to honshitsu: seishinteki Toy'' 0

essenee: In seareh of the spiritual

430; rept. as Ishiki to honshitsu: Toyoteki shii no kozoteki seigosei o motomete (Consciousness and essence: In search of the struetural integrap.

tion of Oriental thought), 2.

“Ishiki to honshitsu:

FFC

6 (Chno Koronsha, 1992),

Toyo tetsugakn no

(Consciousness and essence: For

a

kyojiteki

p.

340.

kozoka no tame ni”

synehronie structuralization of

Oriental philosophy). Serialized in Shiso (Thought), jiine 1980 to February 1982. Shiso 672 (1980),

673 (1980), 86-99; ^ 7 ^ (1980), 1-19; ^90 (19^0 88-107; 691 (1982), 44-67;

1-13;

681 (1981), 68-87; ^^7 (0^1)’

692

(1982), 1-24.

3.

Ibid.

4.

Foreword

to the revised edition

1978), rept. 5.

Afterword

FFC to

1

of Shinpi tetsugakn (Ibkyo: Jinbun Shoin,

(Chno Koronsha,

hni no fukami

e:

1991), p. 14.

Toyo tetsugakn no

meaning: Fathoming Oriental philosophy) 1985), p. 301; rept. in FFC 9 (Chno Koronsha,

^86

suii

(To the depths of

('Fokyo:

Iwanami Shoten,

1991), p. 612.

NO'I

6. Ibid.,

^02 (Id’C 9: 612).

)).

7.

Ibid.

8.

“Sbisd to rcpt in

10. Ibid., 11.

12.

rrC

pp.

Bekkciii e,

Introduction

Mita Biingakii 67,15 (1988),

tliought),

(Cdino Kdronsba, 1995),

302

j).

527-368,

j))).

at

22-^'j;

334.

(I'l'C 9: 612).

302-303 (bl’C

9: 612).

433

to Kydcid

(I'l’C 6;

342-343).

gensoron (On collcctixc illusion),

Aen chosakusini

('Tokyo: Keisd 13.

]).

Ishiki to honslutsii,

I'akciaki

and

gcijiitsii” (Art

no fukami

9. Inii

ES ’K) PACKS 2157-266

(Cvollcctcd works of I’akaaki Vosbiinoto),

Shobd, 1972),

“Tsnini to batsn ni tsnitc

in Yosluinoto

IT’

11

p. 10.

(On Crime and Pnnisbnicnt

llideo y.enshu (Comj)letc works of

1

lidco Kobayashi)

II) in

Kohayashi

Tok\o: vSbincbdsha,

(

2004), 6: 224. 14. Ishiki to Iioushitsu, p. 15.

433 (TTC 6: 343).

qnc nons attendons dc Ini, cela proinc, le pins soiu ent, qn’il est deponr\ ii de \ ic j^roj^rc et qnc nons n’avons entre les mains qiTimc deponillc.” Le Romancier et ses personuages (Paris:

“LorscpTil se plie docilenient a ce

Kditions R.-A. Correa, 1933), pp. 126-127. tetsugaku,

16. Shiiipi 17.

pp. 3-4

‘“YomiT 2-8;

20.

(TTC

Ishiki to houshitsu, p. 211

18. Ibid.,

19.

p. vi

(TTC

to ‘kakiT”

rcpt. in

Yoinu

(TTC

197). 6: 170).

6: 9).

(“Reading” and “writing”), Riso (Ideal) 600 (1983), to

kaku, pp. 417-425,

“Derida no naka no A’ndayajiiT” 711 (1983), 21-37; ’’^P^ 61

21.

1:

(d’lie

“Jew”

hni no fukami

Izutsn translates “nothingness” in the

at 422.

in Derrida),

e, |)p.

title

w

Shiso ('Tliongbt)

87-120 (TTC;

itli

9: 361-387).

the Japanese word

kyomu

(li^; nihility) rather than the more usual uni (^). 22.

“Mita

jidai:

Sariitorn tetsugaku to

no deai”

(d'be

Mita

\ears:

Wv

eneonn-

with Sartre’s philosophy), Mita Bungaku 64,3 (1985), 12-13; r^pt. in Yomu to kaku, pp. 496-499, at 497. ter

23. “Izutsii

2-

3

Ibshihiko no koto” (About Toshihiko

Izntsii), insert to

TTC

1,

pp.

Direetions, 1949),

p|).

-

24.

Oto (Nausea),

25.

“Mita

jidai,” p.

trans. Kdji Sbirai ('Tokyo: Seijisha, 1947).

497.

26. Ibid., p. 498. 27.

Nausea,

trans.

Lloyd Alexander (Norfolk, CTT:

New

126-127. The translation in the Japanese essay was by 28. Ishiki to houshitsu, pj).

7-8 (TTC

6: 12).

387

Iziitsii

himself.

NOTES TO PAGES 267-276

29.

“Mita

498.

jiclai,” p.

*

30.

(k

The Concept and Reality of Existence CFokyo: Keio

Institute of Cultural

aucl Linguistic Studies, 1971), p. 132, citing L’Etre et I'essence

Vriu, 1948),

essence) (Paris:

J.

31.

“Mitai

498.

32.

“Buugaku

jidai,” p.

p. 301.

no shiuso” (The depths of

to shiso

(Being and

literature

FPC Bekkau,

Sekai (World) 470 (1985), 230-258; rept. in

and thought),

pp. 7-53, at 10.

33. Ihid., p. 11.

34. Ibid. 35. Ishiki to

honshitsu,

36. Ibid., p.

4 (FFC

37.

“Hue

p. 3

(FFC

6: 9).

6: 10).

idee foudauieutale dc

la

pheuoiueuologic de Husserl: Fiutcu-

tiouualite,” in Critiques litteraires (Situations 1947), pp. 29-32, at 30; “A

I)

(Paris: Calliiuard,

Kuudaiueutal Idea of IIusserFs Philosophy:

luteutiouality,” trails. Chris d’uruer, in Critical Essays (Situations

(Loudon;

New York:

Seagull Books, 2010), pp. 40-46,

(Metaphysical time),

38. “Keijijogakuteki jikau” (

39.

Fokyo: hvauaiui Shoteu, 1980),

Sonzai

at 43.

Kuki Shuzo Zensini

in

I)

3

p. 192.

to jikan, traus. Jitsuuiu "Ferashiiua, 2 vols.

(

Fokyo: Mikasa Shoho,

1939-1940). 40.

“Tetsugaku shikeii” (My personal view of philosophy),

Zenshu 41.

3:

in

Kuki Shuzo

106.

“Odoroki no

jo to

guzeiisei” (Coiitiiigeiicy

Kuki Shuzo Zenshu

and the feeling of surprise),

in

3: 175.

42. Shinpi tetsugaku, p. 19

(ITC

214).

1:

43. Ibid., p. 20.

44. Ishiki to honshitsu, p. 22 45. Ihid.

(FFC

(FFC

6: 23-24).

46. Ibid., p. 153

(ITC

6: 125).

47. Ibid., p. 211

(ITC

6: 169).

48. Ihid., p. 210

(ITC

6: 169).

49. Ihid., p. 251

(FFC

6: 200).

50. Cf.

Chapter

12

Sufism and Taoism:

Philosophical Concepts Uiiiversit)' 51.

6: 23).

(

A Comparative Study

52. Ihid., p.

256 (I'FC 6: 204).

53. Ibid., p.

255

(FFC

Key

Fokyo: Iwaiiaiiii Shoteu, 1983; Berkeley:

of California Press, 1984).

Ishiki to honshitsu, p. 255

of

(FFC

6:

203-204).

6: 204).

"^88

NOTKS TO

154. Il)id., p.

Ibid., p. ^6

.

101 (rrC> 6: 85).

190

(I'l'C"

6:

(Fl’C 6:

Ildd., p. 125

1157).

10^5).

no keijijogaku: ''Daijo kishinrou" no

57. Ishiki

sciousness: (

Tokyo:

'I'lic

Chnd

61. Ibid.,

62.

329 (I'rC

6: 130).

p. 101 (i

rC

6: 83).

222

rC

6: 178).

|).

(i

(i

Shinpi tetsugaku,

p.

269

(I'l’C

63. Ishiki to honshitsii, p. 128

64.

“Zen

(i

okeru gengoteki

ni

(Mctaplp sics of con-

of Faith in the

Mahaydna)

Koronsba, 1993).

rC

39. Ibid., p. 186

tetsiigakii

Awakening

philosopliy of the

38. Ishiki to honshitsii, p.

60. Ibid.,

PAC;KS 276-284

1:

rC

iini

6: 261).

83).

6: 106).

no inondai” (Problems of

linguistic'

mean-

ing in Zen), Riso (Ideal) 301 (1973), 8-17; rept. in Ishiki to honshitsii, pp.

367-389,

at

377 (PPC

6:

297-308,

63. Ishiki to honshitsii, p. 222

66. Ibid.,p.

77-78 (FFC

6: 178).

6: 67).

Minwa no

68. “Imiron josetsu:

With

semantic' theory: (

299).

8o(ITC6:68).

67. Ibid., pp.

shiso

(FFC

at

a

no kaisetsu o kanete” (Introduetion to eommentary on Minwa no shiso), in Minwa no shiso

Intelleetual aspeets of folktales) (lbk\’o:

247-271; rept. in Yonni

to kakii, pp.

69. Ishiki to honshitsii, p. 234 70. Ibid., p. 78

(ITC

71. Ibid., p. 231

72. Ibid., p. 8

6: 200).

74. Ibid., p. 241

(FFC

6: 193).

240 (ITC

6: 192).

77. Ibid., p.

(FFC

6: 191).

240 (FFC

6: 192).

(ITC

6: 192).

78. Ibid., p. 241

6: 188).

6: 13).

(ITC

76. Ibid., p. 239

at 319.

6: 200).

73. Ibid., p. 231

73. Ibid., p.

Koronsba, 1990), pp.

6: 67).

(FFC

(FFC

(FFC

306-327,

Cbud

Clung Mandala and Confiieian Metaj^bysies,” in Einheit and Verschiedenheit /Oneness and Variety/l 'iin et le divers, Fbanos Jabrbucb 43 (1976), ed. Adolf Portmann and Rudolf Ritsema (Leiden: Brill, 1980), pj).

79. “d’be

/

363-404;

rept. in I'he Structure of

80. Ishiki to honshitsii, p. 239

(FFC

Oriental Philosophy

6: 191).

389

2:

39-81,

at 38.

NO I’KS TO PAGES 284-290

81.

“Cengo

tetsiigaku toshite iio

Shingon” (Shingon:

A

philosophy of lan-

guage), Mikkyogaku Keukyu (Journal of Esoteric Buddhist Studies)

Yomu

kaku, pp. 251-286, at 254. I’his lecture was later rex ised and expanded into an essay and published under the 17 (1985),

1-29; rept. in

title “Iiui

buusetsu rirou

to

to

Kukai: Shingon luikkyo no geugo tctsuga-

kuteki kauosei o saguru” (Kukai and the theory of sciuautie articulation:

Exploring the liuguistie philosophical potential of Shingon esoteric Bnddhisni), Shiso (Thought) 728 (1985), 1-21; rept. in Imi no jiikami

258-278

e,

pp.

76-105).

(I'l’C 9:

82. Ishiki to honshitsii, p.

238

rC

(i

6: 191).

83. Ibid.

84. Ibid., p. 241

(ITC

6: 193).

85. Ibid.

CHAPTER TEN d’he Philosophy of 1.

Sliinsd ishiki e no michi (d'he road to depth consciousness) (Tokyo:

Iwananii Shoten, 2004), 2.

Mind

Kawai

p. 158,

see also 185.

liayao: shinri ryohoka no tanjo (Ilayao Kawai:

The

genesis of a

psychotherapist) (Tokyo: Toransnbyu, 2009), p. 338. 3.

Shohakusha, 1987; rept. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995); English translation. The Buddhist Priest Myoe: A Life of Dreams,

Myoe: yuine 0 trans.

ikiru (Kyoto:

Mark Unno

4.

A

5.

Ibid., pp. 129-130.

Life of

Dreams,

(Venice,

CA: Lapis

Press, 1992).

p. 120.

6. “Ji’ji nuige/ri-ri iiiuge:

sonzai kaitai no ato” (The world of ‘non-hin-

drance’: After/traces of ontological deconstruction)

two installments

first

came

out in

Shiso 733 (1985), 1-31, and 735 (1985),

in the journal

anchikosumosu, pp. 3-102 and PPC 9: 117-195. Izntsu’s 1980 Eranos Lecture, “The Nexus of Ontological Events: A Buddhist VTew of Reality,” was first published in Grenzen und Begrenzung/Extremes and Borders, Eranos Yearbook 49 (1980), ed. Adolf 17-37; rept. in

Kosumosu

to

Portmann (Erankfurt am Main: in I'he Structure of

Kauai’s

summary

Insel Verlag, 1981), pp. 357-392; rept.

Oriental Philosophy

of Izutsu’s ideas in

A

2:

151-186.

Life of

“T’he

Nexus of Ontological Events,”

8. Ibid., p. 176.

9. Ibid., p. 180.

890

translation of

Dreams, pp. 192-195, uses

slightly different terminology. 7.

The

pp. 175-176.

NO

10.

I

KS ro

Kawcii Uayao: uiouogatari o (

I’okyo:

11. IsJiiki

Ibid.,

|).

ikirii (llaN'ao

Kawai: laving the

102 101

tbongbt)

6: 85). (

rrC

6: H^).

trails,

Bekkdii

(

dbvoko

d oNO sbisd” (jungian ])syebolog\' and Oriental Iziitsn, Sliisd

I'bonglit)

(

Cbnd Kdronsba,

Ibkvo:

Cbadnate

Ilillnian Cbeeklist” at tlie Ikieifiea

Dr

the Ililbnan pajiers.

Sliaron

thank her

16. 17.

A

18.

her

is

[

IVanslator’s

listed in the “jaines

Institute,

wbieb bouses

to loeate

it.

I

would

OPUS

like to take

efforts.]

pp. 235-256.

Life of

Dreams,

Re-visioiiiiig 1

for

(1983), 1-35; rept. in

exeentive direetor ot the

was unable

.\rebives (X Researeb Center, tins o|)portnnity to

l^ossi,

708

1993), pp. 2415-30:5.

note: Altbongli a transerijit of this eollocpiy

15. Ibid.,

stories)

101 (TlX" 6: 85).

j).

14. “’^iingu sliinrigakii to

rrC

291-298

'Ibransubyn, 2010).

to honshitsii,

12. Ibid., p.

I’AC.KS

p. 47.

Psychology

larperColbns, 1992),

“Ynngn sbinrigakn

19. Ishiki to

houshitsu,

to p.

(New

dork: Harper and Rowe, 1975; rept.

p. 9.

Tdvd 233

sbisd,” pp. 247-248.

(lYC

6: 187).

Sdgensba, 1959); rept. in Kohayashi Wideo (Complete works of Ilideo Kobayasbi, supplement 1)

20. Kaiisd (Impressions) (dbk\o:

y.enshu, Pekkaii

1

(Sbinebdsba, 2002), 21. Ishiki to

22.

houshitsu,

p. 28.

p.

234 (PPC

6: 187).

“Nijisseikimatsn no yami to bikari” (Darkness and light

at

the end of the

twentieth eentnry). Child Kdron (Central Rewiew) 108,1 (1993), 222-240; rept. in PPC Bekkau, pp. 369-399. 23.

“Arabesnkn: Izntsn dbsbihiko-shi o itanin” (Arabestjne: Mourning dbsbibiko Izntsn), Child Kdron 108,4 238-248; rept in furokii no hanashi (Sixteen talks) (Tokyo: Cbnd Kdronsba, 1993), pp. 45-64.

24.

Kukai no fukei (Knkai’s landseape) (dbkyo: Cbnd Kdronsba, 1975; 2005); Knglisb translation, Kukai the Universal: Scenes from His trails.

Life,

Akiko Takenioto (New York: ICC^ Muse, 2003).

25. “Nijisseikiniatsn

no yami

26. ‘“Hirakareta seisbiiP

to bikari,” in I'PC

to

kaku,

pji.

Bekkan,

p. 397.

no sbisdka” (d’be thinker with an “ojien mind”),

blurb for Purotinosu /enshu (dbkyo:

Yomii

rept.

Cbnd

Kdronsba, 1986-1988);

rept. in

446-447.

27. Ibid.

28.

Kosumosu

to

anchi kosumosu:

I'dyd

tetsugaku no tame ni (C^osmos and

anti-eosmos: For a philosophy of the Orient) (dbkyo: Iwanami Sboten, 1989).

NOrtS TO PAGES 298-303

29.

“Cosmos and Anti-Cosmos: From the Standpoint of Oriental Philosophy,” given at the d'enri International Symposium 86, held in dbnri, Osaka, and

December 1986, and published in Cosmos, Life, Religion: Beyond Humanism (d’enri: d’enri Uni\’ersity Press, 1988), pp. 99-123.

d'okyo, 12-18

30. “Ji-ji muge/ri-ri

mnge: sonzai

mosu, pp. 4-5 (Id'C 31.

1

-

53

no

ato,” in

Kosiimosu

to

anchi kosu-

9: 119).

The Lives

In Neoplatonic Saints: trails.

kaitai

Mark Edwards

of Prochis

and

Plotinus by llieir Students,

(Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2000), pp.

-

32. Ibid., p. 26. 33. Ibid., p. 17.

34. Ibid., p. 24.

35.

“Tosotsnten no junrei” (The pilgrimage of heaven), in Kindai Setsuwa (Modern folktales) 2 (1937); rept. in Shiha Ryotaro Tanpen ( dbkyo: Bungei Zens/iO (Complete short stories by Ryotaro Shiha) 1

Shnnju, 2005). 36. ‘dzutsn

(On

nchn no shuen

de:

Choetsu no kotoha Izntsn dbshihiko o yomu”

the fringes of the Izntsn universe: Transcendental

(New Currents)

ing Toshihiko Izutsu), Shinclid

WORDs,

read-

88,8 (1991), 178-185.

Choetsu no kotoha: Isurdmu Yiidaya tetsiigaku ni okeru kami to Into (dranscendental WORDs: Cod and men in Islamic and Judaic philosophy) was published by Iwanami Shoten in May 1991. 37.

Furansu runesansii dansho (French Renaissance

literary

fragments)

(dbkyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1950); rept. as Furansu runesansii no hitohito (d’he people of the French Renaissance) (Tokyo: Hakusuisha, 1964; rept. 1997)38. “Izutsu

nchn no shuen

de,” p. 179.

39. Ibid., p. 181.

40.

Hino Keizo

jisen esseishu:

Tamashii no kokei (Selected essays of Hino

Keizo: d 1 ie landscape of the soul) (Tokyo: Shueisha, 1998). 41.

“ligataku yutaka na sabakii in insert to

42.

“Dangai

ni

ITC

8, pp.

no

3-5, at

yurameku

shiroi

Into” (A

tanagokoro no mure” (A cluster of white in

Hino Keizo

jisen esseishu:

Tamashii

kokei, p. 213.

43. “ligataku

yutaka na sabaku no Into (A

insert to Id’C 8, pp. 3-5, at

44.

of the ineffably fertile desert),

3.

hands flickering on the precipice), no

man

“Bmika

man

of the ineffably

fertile desert,”

3.

gengo araya ishiki: ibunkakan taiwa no kanosei o megutte” (Culture and linguistic dlaya-consciousness: On the question of the to

392

NO'I KS

I'O I’AC'.KS

possibility of cross-cultural dialogue), iu Geiulai hiiuniei

no seishin times)

I’lic crisis

rok\’o:

(

fukann

(

of coutciu|)orary civilization and the

Iwauaiui Shotcu,

i9(S4),

])]).

e (do the dcj)ths of lucauiug), pp.

89-124,

46-83,

at

kiki to jiclai sj^irit

of the

iu lini

rc|:)t.

no

73 (ri'C> 9: 63).

at

and excess) (dokvo; Kawade Shoho

43. Seiniei to kajo (Life

no

Sliiiisha, 1987),

]).

81.

46. Ibid. 47. Ibid., pp.

48. Sei

86-87.

no enkan undo

be cyclical moveiueiit

(d

ot life) (d'ok\'o: Kiuokuiiiya

Shotcu, 1992).

no

49. Huiika

Shoho,

fetishiziinni (d'be fetishism of culture) (d6k\’o: Keiso

1984), p. 9. 30. L'autre sonnneil (Paris: CLillimard, 1931); rc])t. (Kiivres completes,

1930-J934, Denise de l^raxura, cd. (Paris: Plou, 1933), Sleep, trails, hdiaii Cameron (London: Pushkin, 2001),

Bunka no fetishizumu, 31.

Bunka no fetishizumu,

3:

62,

and

'The

quoted

in

32.

Seimei

to kajo, p. 216.

33.

‘'Eranosu sosho no liakkan ui saishite: kaushusha

Yomu

Vhe Other

48; quoted in

Other Sleep,

p. 103;

pp. 8-9.

puhlieation of the Eranos Yearbooks: (In

p.

29.

p. 8.

L'autre sommeil, in CEuvres completes,

genshogaku

3:

Romans,

time and out of time)

Words from (dd)k)'o:

no kotoha” (On the

the editor), in Toki no

Heihonslia, 1990),

1:

11-20;

kaku, pp. 392-600, at 393. dVaiislated as “Reniiniseeiiees of Aseona,” in The Structure of Oriental Philosophy 1: 283-289, at 283-284. rept. in

to

54. PsychG. inventions

de l'autre

(ILiris:

Editions Gallilee, 1987;

rev. ed.

2003), pp. 387-393; English translation, Psyche: Inventions of the Other, ed. Peggy Kamnf and Elizabeth Rotteiiherg (Stanford, CA: Stanford Unixersit}' Press, 2007),

2:

1-6.

been translated into Japanese,

Although most of Derrida’s works have

for

some

reason, no translation of Psyche

has yet been published. 33. “‘Kaitai is

36.

kdehikn’: Deeonstrnctioii to

wa nani

ka” (“Deconstrnetion”: what

deeoiistrnetion?) Shiso (Thought) 718 (1984), 19-29.

Bunka no fechishizumu,

Marnyama

p. 175.

Kaitai kochiku (l^fd^l#^), the expression

uses to translate deconstruction, predates datsukochiku

(

15^, 1

^

H), whieh has heeonie the established Jajianese translation of this teehnieal term, 37.

and represents Marnyama’s “reading” of Derrida.

“Eranosu sosho no hakkan eenees of Aseona,”

58.

]).

ni saishite,”

]).

283.

“Letter to a Japanese k’riend,” in Psyche

2: 3.

392; translated in “Reniinis-

NOl’ES

I'O

PAGES 307-313

59.

As was noted

earlier, Derrida’s

eore eoneept deconstruction

Japanese as datsukozo. Izntsn translates

in

it

as kaitai.

is

expressed

He presumably

felt

was incapable of adequately expressing the word’s mean-

that datsukozo

ing as a radieal and/or dimensional ehange in the basis of existenee that

Derrida intended. Marnyama’s translation kaitai kozo also seems \

isihle

behind

Izntsn’s choice of words.

no naka no ‘Yndayajin’”

60. “Derida

(d’he “Jew” in Derrida), S/i/so (’rhonght)

fukami

711 (1983), 21-37; 61.

he

to

e,

pp. 87-120

(PrC

9: 361-387).

“Watashi no sansatsn” (My three hooks), Ihsho (Rooks) 434 (1988), pp. Ibkyo: 11-12; rept. in Yomu to kaku, p. 448. Nisliida’s Zen no kenkyu (

Kodokan,

1911; rept.

Iwanami Shoten,

Abe and Christopher

I\es as

University Press, 1990; 62.

new

An

2012) has

been translated by Masao

Inquiry into the

Good (New Haven:

"idle

ed. 1992).

(Why

“Ima, naze ‘Nishida tetsngakii’ ka”

“Nishida philosophy” now?),

hlnrh for Nishida Kitaro Zenshu (Complete works of Kitaro Nishida) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1988). 63.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

64. In

what

its

follows,

I

p. 18

(Il’C

1:

212,

follou' Izntsn’s

with minor revisions).

usage

Japanese counterpart Kegon,

in referring to

to the

i.e.

I

Ina

Yen rather than

organic synthesis produced

by the complex intertwining of three elements: the Avatamsaka-sutra (Carland Sutra) as sacred tion that

it

has gi\en

text;

rise to;

the

Hna Yen

school and the spiritual tradi-

and the teachings about

deepened by, among others. Fa Ts’ang (643-712), the of the Chinese Hna Yen school. 65.

As noted

in

it

that were further

greatest philosopher

Chapter One, “Girishia no shizenshinpishngi: Girishia

tet-

sugaku no tanjo” (Greek nature mysticism: The birth of Creek philosophy) would he published as an Appendix to Shinpi tetsugaku. 66. Cf.

“One world system

d’heir substances

enters all,/

And

all

completely enters one;/

and characteristics remain

Incomparable, immeasurable, they

all

as before,

no

different:/

perxade every where.” The Flower

Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatainsaka Sutra, Thomas Cleary (Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 1984), 1: 215. 67.

An

68. Cf.

Inquiry into the Good,

Zettahnu

ingness:

to

p. 57.

kami: Kyoto gakuha no tetsugaku

The philosophy

trans.

(Cod and

absolute noth-

of the Kyoto School) (Yokohama: Shunpusha,

2002).

69. Nishida Kitaro Zenshil

Iwanami Shoten, 1948;

(Complete works of Kitaro Nishida)

rept. 2003), 8: 363.

70. Preface to Jikaku ni okeru 1917); rept. in

(d’okyo:

chokkan

Nishida Kitaro Zenshu

m

to 2;

hansei (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, English translation. Intuition and

NOTKS

Reflection in Self-conscioiiHness,

rakcuchi and

72. Ibid., 7:5.

Rene

to

78 (krC

|).

Cdiil’s I'raite

79 (I'TC

]).

II.

Vigliclnio, Vosliinori

New

6: 67). 'I'lie

referenee

is

to

Mallanne’s

jiref-

Verhe (1886; 'Treatise on the Word).

clii

6: 68).

Hikari no genshdgaku I

Valclo

p. wiii.

71. Isliiki to honshitsii,

aee

trails.

Stephen O’Leary (Albany: State Unixersity of

)()sc])li

York Press, 1987),

^^-^22

I'O PAC’.KS

likarisha, 200:5),

(

The ]:)henoinenology of

light)

(

Tokyo: Mioya no

42^.

|).

Mugekd (Unhindered light: BeiTnei’s sxstein Moknsha Tanaka, ed. (Izinni, Saitaina: Mioya no

74. Ben'nei shdja kdinyd taikei

of the light of graee), I

likarisha, 1956),

'Ldies.

:57-34,

])j).

75. Baslioteki ronri to sinikydteki sekaikan

partial Faiglish translation in

“The Logie

77.

Shinpi tetsugaku,

78.

“The Logie

79.

“Banyn seikiron” (On the

of Topos,"

j)p.

2^6 (TTC

p.

1:

“Rinne

419).

ofl’opos," p. 106.

origin of

things), in Ben'nei shdja kdinyd

Mioya no Hikarisha,

tensei kara jnnsni jizokn

509-525 (TTC

all

system of the light of graee: The innneasnr-

able blessing of light) ('Tokyo:

81. Ishiki

19,2 (1986), 1-29,

20-21.

taikei nniryd kdju (BeiTnei’s

pp.

The Logie of Topos and the Religions

20,1 (1987), 81-119.

76.

80.

Tokxo: Iwananii Shoten, 1949);

Miehiko Ynsa, Eastern Buddhist, ns

W'orldyiew,’’ trans.

and ns

“

(

e’’

(Lroiii

1931), p. 84.

metenipsyehosis

to

dnree pure),

175-189).

1:

no keijijdgaku: "Daijd kishinron" no tetsugaku (Metaphysies of eon-

The philosoj^hy of the Awakening Chno Koronsha, 1993), pp. 182-183.

seionsness: ('Ibkyo:

of Faith in the

Mafuiyana)

Afterword 1.

Shinpi tetsugaku: Girishia no hu ((Philosophy of inystieisin: 'The Cheek part) (Tokyo: 'Tetsugaku Shfidoin, 1949, rept. Keio

Shiippankai, 2010),

p. 121; rev. ed.,

Jinbnn Shoin, 1978,

Chjnkn Daigakn re])t. TIC (Chno 1

Koronsha, 1991), pp. 302-303. 2.

“X^eiTei no

Into’:

Ikeda Yasabnro o onion’’

Ikeda, “the phantoin

344-348; phantoin

Yomu

rept. in

man

.

.

.

“No

Reineinbering '^’asabnro

Child Kdron (Central Review

)

98,2 (1983),

kaku, pp. 514-521, at 521. 'The phrase “the holding up a flower” is taken from 'lahihito kaerazu:

Nishiwaki funzahurd lation,

iiian’’).

(

to

shishii ('Tokyo: 'Tokyo Shiipj^an, 1948);

Traveller Returns,” in Gen'ei: Selected

393

Poems

Knglish transof

Nishiwaki

NOTES TO PAGES 322-324

JuiizahurOy 1894-1982, trans. Yasiiko Claremont, University of

East Asian Series no. 4 (Broadway, 3.

VTenei no

Into,

NSW: Wild

Sydney

Peony, 1991).

P- 515.

4. Ibid., p. 521. 5.

“‘Yoinn’ to ‘kakii’” (“Reading” in

Yomu

to

kaku, pp. 417-425.

6. Shiiipi tetsiigaku, p. 323 7.

and “Writing”), Riso 600

(ITC

1:

21).

Biichertagehuch (Book diary) (Bern: Francke, i960),

m

p. 6.

(1983), 2-8; rept.

WORKS

1.

works arc

Izutsu’s

listed

BY rosniniKO izinsu

chronologically and arc divided into jDcriods

lowing the contents of the Nohnnes of loshihiko Zenshn;

12

his coni):)lctc )aj)ancsc

vohnnes phis supplement)

hy Keio Unixersity Press. Articles preceded hv an

nninhers the

in Yoiini to

Appendix

at

ciirrentK'

asterisk”^

kaku (Reading and writing) gi\en

The

the hack of that hook.

works (l/ntsu

being j^repared

and

v\

the page

ith

found

in italics arc

abbreviation

ITC

fol-

in

refers to Izutsu’s

collected Japanese works {Izutsii loshihiko Chosakushil) j^nhlished hy

Chno

Koronsha, 1991-199:5. 1935-1948, period covered in Iziitsu Tosliiliiko Zenshu (Complete works of Tosliiliiko Iziitsu) 1: Arabia tetsugaku (Arabic philosophy)

“Philosophia haikdn” (Philosophy d oshihiko-kim to

is

no kdsai” (Mv

d’asabiird Ikeda, Tegaini

image). Hito (193$). Cited in “Izntsn friendship w ith loshihiko Izntsn). In

no tanoshimi d'hc pleasures of letters), (

Bimgeishnnjfi, 1981. Rept. Yonni

p. 34.

kaku (Reading and writing),

to

j).

Tokyo:

331.

“Ddza Gengo chirigaku ni tsuitc (Matsnhara llidcji-shi yakn)” (On Dauzat’s La geographic linguistique [trans. Hidcji Matsnhara]). Mita Hydron 497 (1939),

42-44. Rept. Yornu

to

kaku, pp. 459-463.

"^“Shinkan shdkai” (A review of recent publications). of the Linguistic Society of Japan)

1

Gengo Kenkyil

(Journal

(1939), 128-136. Rejit. Yonui to kaku,

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La

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Kornhan no Sozdteki sdzdryoku

Corbin’s Creative Imagination). In ot time).

Icrniann;

Michigan Studies

on Sound and Meaning.

Ibess, 197S;

Kajiura

I

Ibindoin.

yXrhor: University of

Masaynki. iohiiro no

moon: Masaynki

l'KI)

the l)cvc'l()|)incnl of Semiotics.” In

at

I'rans. Patricia

son

rept. 1991. Six l.eetures

CI

and Landolt,

Ibsliiliiko,

l/Aitsii,

Jakobson, Koinan. “A C’.lancc

Framework

WORKS

ni tsnitc”

(On

llenry

no genslidgaku (In time and ont

I'oki

Kranosn sdsho (Kaanos Ncarhook),

2^9-273.

1:

'lok\’o:

I

Icihonsha,

1990.

Kanaknra, Knshn, and Iwasaki, 'I'sntonm. Indo tetsugakiishi, Girishia tetsiigakushi (Indian philosopln’, C»reek |)hiloso))hv). Sekai I'ctsugakn Kdza (Lectures in world ])hiloso]Dhy 1). Pokyo: likari no Shoho, 1947. 1

I

Kant, Immanuel. Kanto junsui

risei

hihan chushakit: yasashii junsui

Reason with annotations: Critique

hilian (Kant’s Critique of Pure

Reason simplified). dVans. Mitsno Ueda. dbkyo: Kawai, Ilayao. Myde: yume o

ikiru.

Shinsd

ishiki e

no michi

(

likari

no Shoho,

Pure

1947.

Kyoto: Shohaknsha, 1987. Rept. dbk\'o:

Kodansha, 1995. I ke Buddhist Priest Myde: Unno. VAnice, CA: Lapis Press, 1992. .

I

of

risei

Phe road

to

A

Ldfe of

Dreams.

Mark

'I’rans.

depth eonsciousness). d’okyo:

Iwanami Shoten, 2004. .

I

See also under Izutsu, d’oshihiko, and Hillman, James, and Kawai,

layao.

Kawanami,

Akira. Hikari no genslidgaku ('Phe

phenomenology of

light).

Ibkyo: Mioya no Hikarisha, 2003.

Kawashima, 'Tokyo:

Daijird. fonasan

Gdhuru kenkyu (Study

of Jonathan C»ohle).

Shinkyd Shuppansha, 1988.

fonasan Cdhuru yaku Matai fukuinsho no kenkyu (Study of Jonathan

.

Ciohle’s translation of the Ck)spel of

Neisan Buraun

.

to shin'yakii

zensho [New Testament .

“'Tsuitd Izntsn

Matthew). Tokyo: Akashi Shoten, 1993.

zensho (Nathan Brown and the shin’yakn

in romaji]).

Tokyo: Shinkyd Shuppansha, 2008.

Toshihiko: Sarntorn o koenasai” (An obituary for

'Toshihiko Izntsn: Surpass Sartre). Cenryii 10 (1996),

Kazamaki,

Kcijird. Cliusei

no hungaku dentd: waka hungakuron ('The

ary tradition of the Middle Ages:

Shnppan Kydkai, 1940;

27-:^:^.

re])t.

On

waka

literature). 'Tokyo:

Iwanami Shoten,

427

i98t5.

Nihon

liter-

lldsd

BOBI.IOGRAPHV

Dawn

Keene, Donald.

to the

& Winston,

Holt, Rinehart

West

2:

Drama, Criticism. New York; Columbia University Press, 1999.

Poetry,

19S4; rept.

Kobayashi, Hideo. Dosutoefusukii no seikatsu (Life of Dostoevsky). Tokyo:

Sogensba, 1939;

Gohho no

.

rept. .

rept.

Sbinebosha, 2003.

tegami (Ybe Letters of Van Gogb). Tokyo: Sbinebosha, 1952;

2004.

Kanso (Impressions).

"Tokyo; Sogensba, 1959; rept. Sbinebosha,

2002. Rept. Kobayashi Hideo Zenslni hekkan

1

(Complete works of Hideo

Kobayashi). Tokyo: Sbinebosha, 2002. .

“Tsnmi

to

batsn ni tsnite

IT’

(On Crime and Punishment

Kobayashi Hideo Zenshu 6 (Complete works of Hideo Kobayashi Sbinebosha, 1978;

rept.

"Tosni

6). "Tokyo:

Osiiman teikoku, Nihon Japan: Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Japan). "Tokyo: e

no

tahi: Roshia,

Sbobo, 2008.

Kotsnji, Setsnzo

(Abraham; Abram

York; Bernard Ceis, 1964. Rept. .

In

2004.

Komatsu, Hisao. Ihurahimu, Nihon (Ibrahim’s journey to

II).

Hihuriigo genten nyiimon

Hebrew language).

Setsiizan). [S.I.]: (

From Tokyo

"Toratb

Haadam

to

Jerusalem. Ne\\’

Institute, 1975.

Introdnetion to the original text in the

"Tokyo; Niebieido Sboten, 1936.

2nd ed. Seisyo C^enten

Kenkynjo, 1984. Origin and Evolution of the Semitic Alphabets. D."Tb. thesis, Pacifie School of Religion, 1931. "Tokyo: Kyobimkwan, 1937. .

.

“Yndaya minzokn no kobo” ("The

rise

and

fall

of the Jewish people). In

Cbisbo Naito et ah, eds., Seinan Ajia no susei (dVends in southwest Asia). Ajia Rekishi Sosho 10 (Asian TIistory series 10). Tokyo: Megnro Sboten, 1942. .

Yiidaya minzoku no sugata ("The true character of the Jewish nation).

"Tokyo:

Megnro Sboten,

1943.

Knki, Shfizo. “Iki” no kozo (The structure of

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Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten,

Kadokawagakngei Shnppan, 2011. Reflections on Japanese Taste: Yhe Structure of Iki. "Trans. Saknko Matsiii and John Clark. Sydney; Power

1930; rept.

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Propos sur

le

temps: deux communications fades a Pontigny pendant

la

decade 8 = 18 aout 1928 (Considerations on time: Two essays delivered at Pontigny during the decade 8-18 August 1928). Paris: P. Renonard, 1928. “Considerations on Sartre: Influence

"T

ime.” In Stephen Light, Shuzo Kuki

and Counter-influence

in the

and Jean-Paul

Early History of Existential

Phenomenology, pp. 41-67. .

Shuzo Zenshu Twanami Shoten, 1980.

“Keijijogaknteki jikan” (i\Ietaph)sical time). In Kuki

(Complete works of Shnzo Knki)

3:

177-197. "Tokyo:

428

O'lUF.R

2.

.

“Ocloroki no

jo to

WORKS

CITKI)

giizcnsei” (C/ontingency and

(lie

feeling of snrj^rise).

In Kiiki SliOzo '/.enslni y. 142-176. .

“d’etsngakn sliiken”

Aeiislnl

Series

Way ami

on Oriental

Its

view of

jDliilosopliv). In

Virtue. IVans. I'o.shiliiko Izntsn.

Pliilosojiliy

Lerniontov, Mikhail. lehijd.

j^ersonal

Kuki

Sliilzo

106-120.

3:

Ihe

l-ao-tsn.

(My

Miitsiiiri;

1.

and

Light, Stephen. Slnlzo Kuki

d’okvo; Keio University l^ress, 2001.

Akuina

dbkvo: Iwanaini Shoten,

Izntsn Library

I'lie

(d

he no\iee; neinon). IVans. Masaini

1951.

ami

fean-Paiil Sartre: liiflueiiee

Couiiter-

iufhieuee in the Early History of Existential Phenomenology. Ckirhondale:

Southern

Illinois Uni\ersit\- Press, 19

1

uaii)

xiii,

Communism,

47 -i 49 152-153. 296, 313, 333 Ch’eiig Ch’uaii (fMf|ijl|, Cheng Yieh145.

mean) 36

Commentator,

81, 115-116,

35, 106, 141-142,

Zhong yong; T he doe-

135-140, 148, 150, 156, 175-176

127-153 passim, 229, 235, 237, 239, 246, 375;

“Chuang-tzu,

Corbin, Henry

297

Chekhov, Anton 72-72, 78

137, 158, 191,

210, 212, 232-233,

440

31,

242, 247

201-202, 205,

247-248; and Eranos

INDKX

6(S, 1159,

224-22S, 229-2:50,

NAMK

Ol'

2:52-2:53,

F.

ranos C'onferenee 68, 140-141, 130,

and Massignon 67-69,

239, 293;

224-227; and imiiiclus

iiiiagiiialis

206, 229-230, 234, 287, 294, 303-307;

“time

226,

234, 261, 278, 280, 291, 301

Ousade, Second

237, 338.

C>nrtins, iMncst Robert 138-141, 323

Eranos” 224-223, 228-229,

and Daisetz Suzuki 232-234,

239;

130, 132, 139

ot

See also Chirbin,

1

lenry;

Eroebe-Kajiteyn, Olga; Izntsn Toshihiko,

I)

at I'.ranos

C'onferenee, Eaanos

lectures

l')ante Alighieri 12, 72, 107, 130, 173;

and

Eire

Islam 63, 130-133, 209-210, 243, 301

naodcjing. See

'>“>

I'do I'e Cliiiig I'

A

Ea

Derrida, )aet|nes

Dharmakaya

Eazang)

'I’s’ang

Sigmnnd

Erend,

49, 66, 108, 160, 210,

xi,

306-308

238, 263,

(Being and Nothing-

ness) 143, 263, 268, 271

n’Arcy, Martin CAril 148-130, 229, -»->r

E

neani,

el le

dhanna

lit.

394

80, 172, 241, 271, 293

Eroebe-Kapteyn, Olga

(ri#, hossliin;

233,

xii, 141,

Ihisus al-llikam (Bezels of

232-233

W'isdom) 204,

body) 317-318 Dioiivsns 13-16, 110

Comedy

Divine

G

129-130, 132-133, 173,

209-210, 243,

See also Dante

301.

Alighieri; Ashi Palacios,

G. abriel,

Migncl

doctrine of the mean, 'The. See

Chibricli, k'raneesco 132

Chung

(hitelcss Chite, Ebe.

Yung

Dogen

angel 119-120

See \Vu

Men Kuan

Chlson, Iftienne 267

Cod and Man

(it^) 6, 210, 291

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

xii,

Koran

137, 164,

337

C>oetbe, jobann W'oltgang \on 107,

42, 72, 73-83,

92-93, 96-97, 99-100,

in the

122-123, 163, 199, 324

116, 140, 233,

Chispcl 63, 133, 161, 3731122; according to

Duino

jobn 161-162,

Elegies 321, 323

171,

178

Careen, Jnlien 133, 303-306

E

Chienon, Rene

East Asian

Economic Research Bureau

2, 54, 101,

l.lallaj,

Eckhart, Meistcr 36,

63-67, 70, 93, 104-

113

“Elegies of Ch’n.” See Ch’u Tz’u

W

Eliade, Mircea

1

xi, 112, 116, 141,

224, 227, 232, 237-241; 111,

and shamanism

206,

and history of

lilhnan, Janies 229, 293-296, 344

llhiaydna

tbc lesser vehicle) 30, 63

Keizd

260, 296, 301-303

229, 234-233, 241, 338;

1

lino,

110-112, 118, 247, 263

1

loboken, E\a van 231-232

Eliot, d'.S. 40, 140, 243, 331

Endo,

al-

242, 243-247

106, 113, 143, 147, 132, 233

332

religion 93,

Mansur

31,

Shfisakii 147-148, 130-133, 191,

1

loly S|)irit 80, 166, 169, 234, 238, 313

1

Ilia

\En

I

liiayan;

J.

Kegon)

xii,

260, 288, 296, 301; colloquy with

223, 233,

Izntsn 43, 144, 133, 268, 343

393-394; and modern philosophical

441

288-290, 299, 312-313, 340,

INDEX OF NAME

prohleniatique 299; four

Domains

Institute of Pliilologieal Studies (Keio)

of

289-290, 298. See also Avatamsaka-sutra I

ix,

lumboldt, W^illielm von 107, 164-168,

199, 332-333, 337

Institute of the Islamie

Iran 53, 64, 121, 155, 158, 248, 256-257;

199

Iranian revolution

Husserl, Kclniuiicl 241, 270, ^08

Ishiki to

Ching xii,

Y'l

]Tug;

Book of Changes)

112,

bn

Rnslicl.

See Av erroes

ix, xi,

34, 40, 108,

150-151, 155-156, 176, 180, 184,

253-286 passim, 287-288,

102, 152,

291,

294-

296, 298, 302, 307, 314, 323, 341-344;

and Eranos

Ibn Snia. See A\ ieenna Ibn ‘Arab!

x, 2, 6, 11, 25,

202-203, 218, 222, 239, 247, 250-251,

22^, 275

lamhlielius 24, 261 I

248, 255-257

x, 155,

honshitsu (Conseionsness and

essenee)

I

/

Area 54, 332

223-224, 253-255;

xii,

and Oriental philosophy

206-215 pas-

xiii,

258,

WORD 49, 121, 162, 168,

sim, 230, 232, 258, 261-262, 275, 284,

260-262; and

290, 303, 310, 312, 339; and Arabic'

282-283;

mystieisni 64-65, 106, 159, 200, 202,

xii-xiii, 160, 168, 259; as spiritual

209-211, 215; and Being 163, 202, 204,

biography

Izntsn’s

xii, 2,

magnum

opus auto-

264-270 passim. See

251, 254, 277, 317;

and Divine Comedy

also eonscionsness, essence; lingnistie

132, 210, 243, 301;

and unity of exis-

dlaya-consciousness

V5

tenee 99, 163, 212-213,

Ishiki

-

See also Sufism and Taoism Ibrabini,

eonscionsness)

Abdnr-Rasheed (Ibrahim,

Imi o fiikami e (To the depths of

331,

Islam 61-69,

X,

Academy

^^

5

’

125-126, 129,

192, 201, 227, 235,

343

mean-

262, 311;

ing) X, 156, 162, 174, 298, 303, 308, 345

Imperial Iranian

277, 286,

Mahaydna

of Faith in the

21-22,

39-40, 180-181, 184, 309, 322,

xi, 9, 163,

318-319, 347-348. See also Awakening

Abdiirresld) 30-54, 297, 331-333 Ikeda, Yasabnro

no keijijogaku (Metaphysics of

50,

243-246, 248, 256,

and japanese

54-61 passim,

131, 134,

interest in 36,

101, 104, 116, 197,

290, see also Izntsn, dbshihiko, and

of Philosophy

Islam; Islamic mystieisni 64-65, 67,

247-248, 255, 257, 340

Inagaki, 'I'arnho (fiatlS^) 26-27, -9

99, 142, 158-159, 200, 202, 206, 208-

Inatonii, Eijiro

213, 215, 217,

Inone, Yoji

(^±#^)

30 106, 147-148,

xii, 7,

57-58,

267; Islamic philosophy 61, 156, 160,

206-207,

214, 261, 333; Islamica 54, 332, 3601138.

152-153 Institnt International

See also Arabia shisoshi; Arabia

de Philosophie

tet-

sugaku; Sufism and Yaoism

160, 248, 339 Institute of Biblieal Researeli (later. Insti-

Ismailis 159, 345

lebrew Culture) 42, 44, 331 Institute of Cultural and Lingnistie

Isurdmu bunka (Islamic civilization)

tute of

1

155,242,343

Isurdmu seitan (The birth of Islam)

Studies (Keio) 200, 337-338 Institute of Islamie Studies

(MeCill)

x,

x,

121, 155, 157,

341

Isurdmu shisoshi (History of Islamic

336-338

thought)

Institute of Ismaili Studies 199, 345

442

61, 121,

206, 334, 340

x,

1,

INDF.X Ol

huraiini tetsiigaku no geiizo

image of Islamic

inal

'

NAM

passim, 193-194, 199, 223, 223-226,

orig-

('I'lic

])liilosopli\

241-242, 233, 280, 284, 296-297, 336;

x,

)

works of see under individual

xiii, 1^0, i5S-isf>.

Iwami,

I’akaslii

"> “V

Izutsu, 'I'oyoko

^26, :^29, ^^77

Mh—

Iwashita, Soiclii

:^c;, )

Ilisanosukc

l/iii,

titles

186-

30, 32-33,

(

187, 283, 297, 326, 333,

144

141,

343-343, 348

108, 199,

—

*>>/

)

l/iitsu,

Shinko

jakohson,

^5^4

:5,

Izutsu, Shintard

xii, 10,

and Bud-

49, 127,

1151,

160, 163,

Jew ishness, of Oerrida 49, 263, 308; of

Marx 73-74;

268-269, 330, 334; and CJrcck philosophy 1-38 fjcissiiii, 40, 46, 102, 233,

297, 331;

I

10, 160, 163, 233, 261;

and Islam

39-60,

42, 48, 30-34,

Jodo

and the Orient

xiii,

See Chingehiao k'iore

238-239

Pure Land)

(r1^±.

Shinshii

ix, xii,

Jodo

19, 113, 313;

dVnc Pure Land)

117, 119, 127,

John luiugena

133-160, 163, 193, 230, 233, 268, 301, 331;

jiao.

Joachim of

xii,

of Sartre 263. See also

lehraism; Judaism

jTng

160, 162, 211, 230, 261,

and Indian philosoplu'

126

113, 120,

24, 33, 36, 126, 134, 147-133, 138,

113, 127, 136,

203

Jesus Cdirist 19, 62, 64-63, 69, 74, 108,

272-273, 290; and Christiaiiitv xiixiii,

167, 173-174,

jesnits 28, 148, 229

Izutsu, 'Ibsliihiko

dhism

Boman

Jarnllah, Mfisa 30, 32-34, 297, 332, 334

:^-8, 11, 14,

21, ^9, 74, 162, 186, :5:50,

2,

Is

xiii,

24, 36-37;

John of

naniascns 36; John of the Cross

2-3, 38, 73,

127,

139-160, 210, 230, 242, 260-262; and

129, 143-146, 261;

d aoism xi-xii, 40, 112, 159, 163,

See also (jOSj^cI according to John

203-

Judaism 32-33, 42-44, 46, 49,

204, 210, 213-216, 220-221, 223, 231, 284; at Kranos 141,

Confcrcnec

68, 112,

x,

101, 113-116, 126, 192, 243;

millenarianism 74; Jew

236-237, 239-240, 233-233, 283,

293; Eranos lectures

xii, 139,

36,

63.

73-74,

Jew ish

ish

nnstieism

223-223,

Jnnayd of Baghdad 63-64

230, 289-291, 298, 329, 338-343, 346,

348; as literary critic

John the Baptist

121, 136, 241,

Jung, Carl Cmstav 130, 163, 172-173,

260;

and

facility

with languages 40-42, 48, 68,

263, 273, 277, 289, 291-293, 293;

94-93,

107, 142, 138, 177, 249, 238, 266,

h’.ranos xii, 68, 130, 139, 229, 233, 240;

Keio years 136,

ix,

20-21, 39,

31,

169-170, 180, 199-200,

293, 309, 330-339;

Jimgian psychology

72, 94, 211,

on culture

266,

x, 107,

87, 202,

K

and studies of Koran

Kaikyo gairon

333, 337;

Introduction to

Islam) 33-36, 61

119-120, 137-158, 161, 164, 183,

189-206 passim, 302,

260, 263,

293-293

241-244, 248-231, 261, 274-276, 281, 292; translations

xii, 131,

view

Kaikydken

(LJltdl, Islamic

Area)

of scholarship 6, 22,41, 93, 186, 192,

work on semantics

Kant,

Immanuel 26-27,

88, 156-159, 161-168 passim, 180-188

Katd,

Morio

222, 233, 241, 293;

443

(/jili^Sfit)

233

21-22, 331

2,

34,

INDEX OF NAME

Kawai,

1

layao (H-n

^ 41

Language and Magic

260, 286-294,

)

«

135, 156, 169, 172,

ik

176-178, 180, 184, 190, 199-200, 203,

Kawashima,

I^aijiro (jll^UnBI^) 169-171,

225, 336,

187-1S8

Kazaniaki, Keijiro

Kegon (H)^) 288-290. See

also

Keio Univcrsitv 191, 223,

139 203-204, 210, 213-218, 221, 223,

112,

Hua Yen

xi,

326-327. See also

Tosliiliiko,

Laozi) xi-xii, 36, 40, 89,

Lvao-tzu

174, 326, 3731122

349

251

Lauf, I 9 etlef Ingo 233-234

148,

Lenin, Vladimir 73-73, 79, 93; Lenin-

Iziitsu,

Keio years

ism 73

Klioiiieini, Ruliollah 133,

Lermontov, Mikhail

233-236

72, 73, 78,

83-93

penetrations) 138, 341. See also Mnlla

un ami japonais” 306-307, 344 Levi-Stranss, Claude 202-203, 301

Saclra

Levinas,

Kitah al-Maslunr (Book of metaphysical

Klihansky,

Raymond

“Lettre a

79-82,

Li Sao (^11, Li Sdo) 219, 221

121,

Lin Chi Lu

145, 148, 131, 239, 293, 301

Lfnji lu; d'he Say-

ings of Master Lin-Chi) 4, 330

Kojiki (fi'Vlti, Records of ancient matters)

308

Li Er. See Lao-tzu

160, 248

Kobayashi, Hideo

Emmanuel

264

M

Collection from

Kokinshu ancient and

modern

times)

xii,

Maejima, Shinji

167,

Mahayana

180, 184, 187-188

Kongzi. See Confucius

Koran (Qur’an)

xiv,

(:^^, greater vehicle) 30, 53,

232, 273, 291, 298.

131,

See also Awak-

Mahayana Mahoinetto (Muhammad) 1-2, 106, ening of Faith

48, 32, 37-59, 61,

103, 117-120 126, 206, 223, 302.

30, 332, 337

See

in the

also Iztusu d’oshiliiko, translations

117-126 passim, 130, 136, 193-194, 300,

and studies of Koran

302, 329, 333, 347

Koran o yomu (Reading the Koran)

Maimonides, Moses

x, 59,

Makino, Shin’ya

120, 130, 136, 190, 249,

Kosumosu

to

344 anchi kosumosu (Cosmos

and anti-cosmos)

x,

thousand leaves) 179, 187, 192,

187,

Kuriyagawa, Fumio Kyoto

(;^IP)

183,

112, 140, 148,

268

Maruvama, Keizaburo (^ili^H^l^) 260, 296, 303 - 807 844 894 ii 89

342

42-43, 289; Kyoto School

142; Kyoto University

167, 178, 180, 183-

Maritain, jacques 103, 144-145

141-144, 270-271 (®jll:5:^) 331,

of ten

249

Marcel, Cabriel

282-284, -91- “97> 800 Knki, Shfizo

40, 160, 176,

Manyoshu {75MM, Collection

331

Kukai (^M) 160, 162-163,

xii, 11,

340

268, 280-282, 313-314

181,

Abraham)

42-46, 48-49, no,

(^5tifff-t&) 137, 168,

Mallarme, Stephane

298-299, 338, 347

Kotsuji, Setsuzo

102, 339

>

«

Marx, Karl 73-74, 88, 93, 238; Marxism

108,

199-200, 330

58,

78

Maspero, Henri 217-218

L l.andolt,

Massignon, Louis 64-70,

llermann 202,

103, 113, 140,

143, 147, 163, 204, 217, 223-227; influ-

223, 337, 343

444

INDKX OF NAMK

encc on Izutsu 240,

\i,

66-69,

Myoc

--S-

288-290, 294

24:5

Matsiiinoto, Nohuliiro

200,

N

199-

Nagarjiina 33-36, 102

:5:52, :5:;7

Matsuoka, >osiikc Mauriac, I'rangois 62, 140,

McCnll University

x. ii^S,

Nakayaina, Miki

44-4^ i!;o, 260

200, 202,

198; Nakayaina,

Nasr, Seyyed

221;,

1

197-

101, 192,

Shozen

101

lossein 242-244, 247-248,

3831130

Meaning

of

Meaning,

Natsnine, Sdseki

ilie 171-17:5

Merezhkovskv,

/a) 216

l^initrv

330

Nausee, La (Nausea) 263-271, 273, 282,

Mclkite C»rcck Catholic C^hiirch 66, 69

Mencius (^ 4', Meng

21, 171,

333

Neoplatonism

9^, 96,

7:5,

176

297—298,

24, 88, 163, 187,

339

Mcrlcan-Pont\', Manriee 108, •508

Songs

Mikagura-uta

Ncstorianism

New

tor the

d’cstanient 42, 62, 77, 161, 3731122.

See also Bible; (Gospel; Old restanient

service) 197, :524

Mind and Heart

300

37, 187,

of Lore,

The 148-1:50,

Nicholson, R.A. 63, 243, 343 Nishida, Kitard

87-88

Minra, Kaziio

Mo-tzn

(Mi'%

Mohaghcgh,

Mozi) 216

Nishitani, Keiji

Melicli (Mnliac|c|iq, Mahcli)

Nishiwaki, jimzahiird 22-24, 4O’ ’^ 3

Mori, Ariniasa (i^SWiE) 26^

M oroi, "I'oshinori

xi,

09

lyO’

^

93, 346

>

- 95

-

20,

3 ---

330-33^- 344

0

^24

Motoori Norinaga

89,

Oehi,

1:52,

144, 147-131

'\'asiio

Oe, Kcnzabiird

:50i

Mozi. Sec Mo-tzh ix, 1,

296,

300-301 Ofudesaki

38, 51, 56-^58, 62-6-5,

and divine revelation

Tip of the

I’lie

Writing Brush)

68, 115, 123-126, 130-133, 133, 136, 173, 193, 236;

xi,

101-120, 126,

145, 197-, 311-^12,

Miihamniacl

144,

291, 308-313, 316-317

200, ^^7-73^

26^-264,

xi, 142,

197,

324

Ogden, C.K. 170-173

37, 77,

Okakiira, Yoshisabnrd

104-106, 118-121, 126, 189, 193, 198,

222,260; Mnhaniniad-Rcality 214. Sec

171-172 _

also

Okawa, Shuniei

Mahometto

Miiliaqqic], Malidi. See

Mohaghcgh,

38-61,

Mehdi

101, 138, 193,

Okiiho, Kdji

Mnlla Sadra

138,

Murakami,

liroko

I

200-201, 341

4

(A:ill/^ii

)

xi, 2,

297, 332, 336 2,

34-33, 138,

332

Old

168-170,

'restanient 19, 33, 42-43, 63, 77, 130,

134, 136 173, 193, 222, 233, 278.

Miiraniatsii, I'akeshi

niatsn,

Mnrry,

j.

(htfel^ij) 61;

rsnneo

Middleton 80-81,

34-36,

Mnra-

See also

Bible

60-61

Orient, the 49, 66, 142-143, 199, 206,

116

218, 232,

445

234^-233, 240, 291, 309;

INDFX OF NAMF

Oriental pliilosopliy

xiii,

Portmann, Adolf 228-229, “Sd Proclus 24-25, 102, 261, 300

67, 127-128,

159-160, 187, 202, 204-205, 210, 221, 255, 255, 257-258,

Protestantism 42-44,

262-263, 266, 277,

81, 227,

229, 234,

280, 291-293, 309. See also Iziitsu, Ibshiliiko,

Pure Land Buddhism. See |odo

and the Orient; synehronie

Pushkin, Aleksandr 72-73, 75, 78-79,

strnctnralization

Shinohn

Oriknelii,

xi, 22,

82-83, ^5-86,

180,

Pythagoras

184, 199, 295, 309, 331, 335

Orpheus

16;

Orphisni-Fythagorisin

Orthodox, Russian 78,

10, 16, 201, 262, 318.

See also

Orphism-Pvthagorism

16,

o

81

Qahhalah

Otto, Rudolf xi-xii, 68, 229, 233-237, 240, 250

34, 49, 179, 247, 255, 283, 339,

342

Qu P

^uan. See Ch’ii

"liian

Qur’an. See Koran

P’eng

(IS,

Pahlavi,

Peng) 220

Mohainniad Reza,

II,

R

Shah of

Ramanuja

Iran 248, 256,

Parmenides

Patanjali 145-146,

W isdom. See

d'enri-kyo

Richards, l.A. 170-172,

240

Rilke, Rainer

Paul, Apostle 33, 46, 103-106, 120, 152,

Maria

xii, 11,

74, 89, 91,

160, 268, 321, 323

178

Perennial school

31,

Rimhaud, Arthur

242, 247-248. See

81,

88-91,

121, 167,

181-182

also philosophia perenuis; d'raditionalist

Ritsema, Rudolf 228, 233

school

Yen

235

Religion of the Divine

16, 18,

Pascal, Blaise 62, 117

Pi

91, 174

Biydn

Lai

La);

Roshia himgaku (Russian literature)

'Phe Blue

Cliff Records) 4, 330

72-73, 82, 87-88, 90,

121, 135,

Roshiateki ningen (Russian humanitv)

Plato 9-11, 17-19, 41, 62, 89, 134-135, 222, 251, 310, 318, 321; as mystic phi-

X, xii,

losopher

174, 176, 224, 260, 263, 335

ix, 13,

17-19, 32, 80, 91, 128,

71-100 passim,

122, 135, 156, 163,

ad-Dm Muhammad

139, 165, 185, 201, 211, 254, 262, 279,

Runn,

299-300; Platonism

Russia 42, 53, 71-100 passim, 163

32, 165,

190, 335,

9, 13, 17-18, 24,

jalal

36, 341

Russian Muslim League 53

297-298, 300. See also Neo-

platonism; Shinpi tetsiigaku

S

Plotinus 10, 134, 165, 168, 210, 236-237, 261,

297-300,

SabzawarT

310, 316-317, 346; as

80, 102, 127-128, 145, 299-300. See

Neoplatonism

Sapir-W'horf hypothesis

Pontignv 140-142

Porphyry

32,

200-201, 225, 337

Samhursky, Shmucl 229, 339 Sapir, Edward 164, 167, 173. See also

mystic philosopher 17-18, 24-26, 32,

also

142, 158,

299-300

446

INDKX OF NAMK

Sartre, )can-l\uil

xii,

manism

74, 142-14-5,

1159-160, 202, 2615-268, 270-271, -508,

Satakc, Akiliiro

dc 168, 304-:507

Saiissiire, lA'rdiiiancl

Sawai,

260, 299; as intelleetnal starting jioint

18:5-184, -547

(feUrligtz;;)

’^osliitsiigii

Liu Chi

I

part 32-33, 36, 46, 103, 133; re\

i.sed

(ti|i;fi)

See

-51,

242,

Masao

8-5,

98, 279

So\

-5-59

19, 42,

ict

Union 44,

Seinite/Seinitie 48,

156,

48,

Sjiaiii 129, 132,

2615,

14:5,

Rudolf no,

Koran,

Sln’a/SIn’ite seet

Mohaininad

201, 238, 339

I'he 137, 164, 190, 202, 336,

Sufism 36, 63,

Iran

143, 139,

192, 256,

1:59,

and Taoism

36, 69, 117, 132, 138--139,

2,

340

202-204,

221, 243, 246, 237; Sufisni

67-68,

261, 339

Structure of the Kthical iernis in the

221

Shah of

206-207, 243,

StrakhoN’, Nikolai 79, 3631134

271

62, 101, 106, 219,

ot Iran. See Pahlavi,

92, 94, 98. See also

Russia

244-248

Sein uud Zeit {Being and lime)

202-222

passim, 223, 229, 239, 249, 238, 298,

344 Shiha, Ryotaro

40-41, 50-51,

338;

Shih Chi (^Hd,

Shij}-,

Book of

SnhrawardT

History)

216

Shih-ching

and shamanism

112,

204, 210-211,

220-222, 260

60, 183, 296-297, :500, 522, 744, 747

112,

177-181,

(I'iJIhrld

S4

4 S.

Steiner,

II,

243

31, 43,

South Manehnria Railway Cximpaiu’

Seliiioii, kVitlijof

Reza,

127-129, 244, 233

183-186, 218, 221-222, 3761139, 3771138

Lu

Seliolein, Ck'rshoin 229, 276,

Shah

121,

Shirakawa, Shiznka

aii-Cdii, 'Hie.

Schelling, l*Viedrieh 26-27,

Sekine,

I

Shinto

104, 107,

lehrew

1-2, 33, 43, 73, 87, 121, 313; the

\ersion 36,

197, 2:55-2^6, :526, :58411^6

Sayings of Master

no, 112-113, 219,

13, 23, 32,

113, 201,

226, 234, 261-262,

274, 302, 313, 341 (ItIM, ShtjJug;

Book of Songs)

Suzuki, Daisetz 230-233,237,

178

Shin Ajia

New .Xsia)

2,

(ip>P:Ak'li) xi, 36, 73,

313, 338,

Swedenborg, Pmanncl

54, :5^2

91,

342 232-233, 239, 289

Shingon (SH, true language) 162-163, P

179, 192, 261, 276, 282-283, “85, 297,

300, 345. See also Knkai;

New

Shinkokinshu of

WORD

I'akahashi, Iwao

colleetion

poems aneient and modern)

180,

41, 339; I'aka-

hashi, 'Pakako

147, 133,

'Pakamiira, Richio

See

296

^bkemiira, ^bshitaro

183-185, 188

Shinpi tetsugaku (Philosophy of mysticism) ix-x,

(Sti^)

xiii,

'Pakenehi, ^’oshimi

1-38 passim, 48,

Pantrie

Buddhism

(Plt^ttf)

34-33

160, 187, 283. See also

Knkai

80, 87, 120-122, 144-147, 149, 156,

iao

163-166, 168, 170, 177, 183, 188, 203,

(iS,

Dao; the

Clung

W ay)

112,

204; I'ao

Daodejing; Book

211-212, 221, 231, 233, 263, 267-268,

'Te

271, 279, 301, 303, 308, 310, 312-314,

of Lao-Pzh) 216; Paoism 40,

316-318, 321, 323, 331, 335-^54; and

139-160, 187, 203-204, 213-218, 230,

nous 10-11, 46, 76,

91, 163;

and sha-

112, 128,

231, 261, 338; as religion 36, 213, 217.

447

indp:x

of name

Weisgerher, Leo

See also Izutsu, Ibsliihiko, and d’ao^ «

and

ism; Sufism l

I'aoism

180, 190, 278, 336

Whorf, Benjaniin

athagata 274, 276, 296

'lehran

x, 158,

also

255-257, 358-359, 341

'lenri University

Icnri-kyo

41, 157, 163-168, 177,

101, 104,

101-103, ^07,

164, 167, 173, 182. See

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Wu Men Kuan

346;

I’hc Oateless

113,

Wiiinen Gudn;

Gate) 4, 330

115-117, 192, 197-198, 324; denrikyol-

ogy

X

101, 103, 116, 3791118

7 ’cresa of A\ 'I’honias

ila 8, 153,

Aquinas 35-36,

138, 144,

Xenophanes

261 102, 120, 133,

209-210; lliomism

Y

102, 210;

Yanianioto, Kcnkichi

Neo-riioinisni 144 dblstoy,

Leo

Muncyoshi

'^anagi,

3851150. See also Perennial school;

(SoctsiiK

xi,

>

\'anagita, Kiinio (WPEflU^)

111,

Yasnoka, Shotaro

Trinity, the 80, 152, 313, 315 (itifiraSP)

148

27 34-38

Tradition, the

Naoshiro

(iLT^fii'n) 22,

'Viniazaki, Ben’nci (liiilif#^) 315, 317

72, 78, 85, 335

'IVaditionalist school 242-250, 276, 295,

dsnji,

10, 23, 311-312

200, 332-333,

180, 199 3, 21,

40,

88, 95, 257, 296, 346 Yi ling.

337

Sec

/

Cdiing

Yin (^) and Yang

Tyutchev, Fyodor 72, 75, 78, 82-85,

(Pi) 182

Yoga Sutras 240

96-98, 224

'^bgiicara (consciousness-only) xii, 151,

223, 268, 280, 290. See also

LI

Ueda, Mitsno

(±pE]7t£|)

291, 342

330 ^bshiniitsu, '\bshihiko

\ \

Shih

Yokeniiira, Yoshitaro (^Lt^TlBP) 92-100,

26-34, 3341

Ueda Shizntern

Weh

35,

144-148

airocana-Bnddha

Dainichi

Z

Nyorai) 283, 285

Zen

Valery, Paul 139-140, 170, 175-177, 233, \ atican

II

\brgil 72,

(tf )

3-6,

8, 41,

89, 160, 230-231, 240,

and Eranos lectures

69, 149, 247, 372

261, 273, 330;

80

223, 230, 290-291, 338-341,

\bzelay Ahhe\'

Zhong ydng. See Chung Yung

130, 139

Zliuzi. See Chii-tzu

W

Zhuangzi. See Chuang-tzu

W'ei Shill

(ntliSc,

Weishi; “consciousness

Zoroastrianism

only”) 261, 268. See also Yogacara

448

57,

65

346

xii,

Index SUBjECT INDEX

2.

\

Arabia tetsugaku; Islamic mvsticism;

A, lettcr/svllable 179,

2815.

See also

Islamic iibilosophv

letter

arcbetypes 150-151, 165, 225, 258, 275,

invsticisin a-tcinporalit\’ 198, 229, 24^, 263.

See also

296

time

articulation

ayaii thahitah (fixed entities)

See

271;.

282-285, 518; as semantic principle

al-qaiyiiii (eternal religion).

Sec

9, 162, 168, 184, 250, 267,

Vr religion advaita

505-504,

518-519, 545

monism

ascent 9,

2^1

'alani al-mitlial (world of figiiratixe

imaginal;

mundus

12,

206. See also anabasis;

fana

similitudes) 261. See also Corbin, Iienr\-;

167-168; as ontological

jirinciplc 168, 215-215, 251, 275, 279,

also arelietypes

ad-din

15,

asceticism 5-6, 14,

iniaginalis-,

145,

SnhrawardT

16,

65-64, 106-108,

240

attachment

usliin)

276

alaya-vijnana (Storehouse Consciousness)

151,

B

280. See also linguistic

baqa (subsistence) 206. See also kata-

d/cjyd-conscionsness

anabasis (ascent) 9,

basis

20^, 244

12,

analogia entis (analogy of being)

Being

31^, 1:58;

analogy 116-117, 281 9,

85-87

276, 296, 298, 502-505, 506-507;

angelology 120-121, 294-296; angels 85,

anima

10;

1-58,

consciousness

296

Being

150, 275

282-285;

262,

and animus

annihilation, of self 8-9,

12, 17,

57, 65,

Arabic literature

ophy

ix,

158, 551, ^56.

162-165, 206, 277, 279,

‘Arab!

on Being 202, 204,

165, 202, 207, 212-215,

189-190, 192, 249;

124; Arabic pbilos-

275, 279, 282-285, 285, 290, 292.

bija (seeds) 280.

48, 50-54, 107,

See ciho Arabia

See

also analogia entis (analogy of being)

;

ix, 2,

WORl')

184-185, 284-285;

wiijud; relation to beings 75, 84, 156,

207, 20C) Arahica 54; Izntsn as

student of Arabic

is

151,

and

212-215, 217, 251, 254, 277, 517, see also

106, 126,

206, 272. See also [ana

Arabic language

156-158, 142,

147, 149, 177, 219, 224, 255, 269, 272,

anamnesis (recollection)

91, 119-121,

8, 18, 72, 78, 82, 92,

shisoshi;

(7

449

See also linguistic

/r/y(/-conscionsncss

'

SUBJECT INDEX

hreatlu of

God

D

79, 99, 184. See also *

niercv/tlie Merciful, breath of

Knki’s translation of

datsuji

“ecstaey”) 270-272

C

dead, the

chaos, jDriiuordial 224, 279-280, 307

319, 321-322, 324, 3771158

death 214,

cimmos. See time, quantitative eoguitiou

13, 137, 147,

166-167,

WORD 163, 203,

depth conscionsness

111,

guistic 41, 167.

304; deptli-conscionsness philosophv’ of

See also sohornost

consciousness 109,

153, 168,

language 49, 168,

descent

270-279 passim; 172,

282-286,

9, 12,

205-206 sec also haqd;

katahasis; of the di\ ine

word 105-106,

194-195 see also revelation

276-277, 280,

291-293, inhercntlv ecstatic 270-272.

dialogue, inter-faith 57, 69-70,

See also n/c/yn-eonscionsness; Being,

247, 288; synchronic 46,

and conscionsness;

dialogue dans

dejDth conscious-

Domains

ness; Ishiki to honshitsu; linguistic

alaya-consciousness;

i\

See

301.

surface conscionsness

269, 280-281, 287, 289, 302-303, 319;

and |)syehology

179,

also conscionsness; A/n-eonscionsness;

184-186,

206, 220, 223, 241-242, 255, 258, 266,

185,

177, 184, 191, 220,

236, 276, 278, 280, 285, 287, 291-292,

204, 275, 281; faith-

114-115, 201, 245, 283; lin-

and essence

life after

266, 289

238. See also synesthesia

31,

See also

deconstruction 210, 306-308; ontological

color 167, 180-182; as

hased

321, 324.

death

171, 183,

206, 269, 277

coiimiunit\' 16,

14, 27, 110, 222, 227, 249, 301,

/-realm/

also

I

116,

205,

67-68; ime

la metahistoire

69, 205

of Realty, Four 289-290. See

Ina

Yen

duty, mystic’s sacred 13-14, 67, 107, 147,

region; j\/i/-eonscionsness; surface

conscionsness

196,

244

eontemj^lation 24, 106, 147, 153, 184, 298;

E

and Greek philosophy 7-9, 12-14, 18-19,

184.

See also

Ecclesia spiritualis

theoria; vita

contemplativa

com ersion

42-44, 62, 66, 69, 98, 102-

ecstasy, ecstasis [ekstasis) 15, 77, 106,

149, 187, 220,

asmos 8-9,

creation 10, 30, 49, 54, 136, 175, 207, 213-214, 243, 314; Greator 108,

crisis,

emanation

of European conscionsness

11,

15, 143,

enthousi-

272, 305.

See also

10,

299. See also Plotinus

energeia 165-166, 176, 184. See also

241;

flnmholdt, Wilhelm von

of philosophy 308; theology of 129

enlightenment

culture, clash of 133-134, 204, 308;

ix,

10-11, 15-16, 41, 48,

143-144, 240, 244, 272. See also satori

128, 174, 267,

enthousiasmos (being

278-279; cultural nniversals 75, 166, 243, 281. See also Izntsn Toshihiko,

266-267;

111,

datsuji

113, 116,

242

and language 48,

Spirit)

238-239

104, 114, 235

138,

(Ghnreh of the

on

8-9,

culture

15, 19, 143, 219,

also ecstasv;

450

filled

with

God)

271-272, 305. See

shamanism

SUB|KCr INDF.X

ergon 48,

i6t;,

W ilhelm

See also

184.

I

Cireek Ciod 46-47, 154, 249; language

lumholclt,

\()n

8, 41, 79, 89, 129, 161, 166, 172, 254,

essence 185, 242, 2so-2t;i, 267, 269,

270-279

fyassini,

pure

mysticism

281-282, 292, 296;

See also consciousness,

and essence; eternal

271; ('.reek literature 25, 127, C>reek

plnlosoiiby 24, 28, 50, 52, 56, 58, 145,

Ishiki to lionshitsu

life 12-1:5, 16,

47, 124,

1:54,

56, 127, 211; Cireek

ix, 2, 9,

149, 207; 217;

Cheek

s])iritnabty 15, 24, 52,

500. See also

115,

lebraism, and

I

1

Icl-

eternity 89, 110, 124-125, 159, 214, 229,

lenism; Izntsn rosbibiko, and (ireek

244, 265, 272. See also time

philosophy; Sliinfn tetsugaku

existence, pre\ ions 91-92, 518; iinitv of

99, 212-215, 246, 290, 515. See also

Ibii

li

‘Arab!

l.laqq (the Absolute) 215;

existential experience 85, 147, 201, 250,

258, 264, 266, 268, 271, 274; Izutsn’s

l.laqq

64-65, 67, 105

11,

1

144, 156, 185, 261, 279; cxistentiabsni 159, 200,

Anal

lebraism, and I

202

I

Icllenism 45, 154, 158;

lebrew Chid 42, 45, 47,

249;

1

128, 154-155,

lebrew language 42-45, 49,

551.

See also Judaism; Qabbalab

K

Inkinat (divine w isdom) 201; IJikinat

fana 206. See also annibilation, of self

forms

185, 215; of

meaning

al-Jshraq (Pbilosojibv of Illumination)

226, 262, 541;

284, 505, 506,

201.

si4

homo

See also SuhrawardT; theosophy religiosus 116, 265

xing

hsing ch'i

c;

Gnosis 67-68,

God, agent

201, 228

115, 126, 147,

219;

I

immanence

ichi

names

God

117, 515, 518;

59, 117, 152; 116, 126;

and

and

111,

15,

l

(»reek

God; Hebrew God; One,

oreksis-,

grace 4,

Koran

likniat al-lshrdq

280, 292, 519. See also Gorbin,

I

lcnr\';

nnindus imaginalis

-,

imagination creatrice (ercatixe imagina-

the;

persona

14, 59, 115, 150,

Philosophv of see

iniaginal 191-192, 220, 22(')-22j, 256, 261,

See also Allah; Being; enthouin the

7, 11,

17-18, 62, 91, 99, 147, 185-185, 222,

514; Illmnination,

161-162, 178-179,

God and Man

512.

illmnination {ilhnninatio, ishraq) 84, 201,

114-

nature of 128-129, 154-155, 194-195,

siasmos;

One)

-

244, 251, 279

196-197, 222, 282-285; unitary

212, 511.

in All, All in

Idea of the Chiod 18; Ideas, Platonic

75, 79, 128, 165,

religion/s 50,

soku ichi {— fip— 13

See also Avatamsaka-siltra

paternal nature of

WA)RD

issai, issai

One

249, 276-277, 511-512, 518; the

Parent

191,

of

soku

152, 255, 272,

516-517; maternal nature of 19, 59, 68,

171,

arising of the

of wise love 511-512; as

of 50, 57, 64-67, 105,

117, 152;

qi;

Buddha-Reaht\’) 290

subject of mystical experience 57,

109-110,

Hikmat philosophy 200-

tion) 191,

imam

192-195, 258, 515

451

227-228

51, 55,

192, 256

SUBJPXT INDF.X

immanence

MIND)

kokoro (3=10,

65, 152, 290, 314, 316-317.

See also panentheism

293. See also

komyo

Indian philosophy 28, 36-58, 89, 107,

276;

(z:

3.€>, psyche)

WORD; shin

light of grace

emanat-

145-146, 200, 234, 240, 298, 377, 345.

ing from the Buddha) 4, 14, 315;

See also Izntsn, I'oshihiko, and Indian

Komyokai (^ 04 ^)

philosophy

kii.

See nous

Intellect.

298. See also

See k'ung

ku/k\ing

interpenetration, mutual 285, 289-290,

315

(?^,

kong; void, nothingness)

266, 290

Hna Yen

L

intuition 83, 138, 165, 183, 217

land of matutinal

light.

See Orient, the;

Snhrav\ardT

I

langage 177- 281, 306

jahihyya pre-Islam ic period of “igno(

language, absolute 176, 281, 314 see also

rance”) 62, 124-125 jalcil

and jamal

59.

See also God, mater-

metalanguage;

nal/paternal nature of

WORD;

spirituality 48, 136, 164-168, 172-174,

i79> 182, 199,

japanese literature 188, 261 see also

Verhe; and

23, 160, 163, 183,

186-

240-242, 244, 285,

296, 313-314. See also culture, and

Kokiushu; Manyoshii;

language; depth-consciousness phi-

Nishivvaki, Junzaburo; Shinkokinshu,

losophy of language; mother tongue;

waka; Japanese philosophical lan-

Izutsu, 4 'oshihiko, facility with lan-

guage, development of 34-37,

guages; Language and Magic;

172,

mysticism 49, 179

270-271, 310-315, 3931156, 3941159;

letter

japanese philosophy

life after

xi, 2, 261, 271,

jitsuzon

(^#, Kuki’s

death 14-16,

71, 91, 124, 141, 192,

207-209, 211. See also eternal 178- existence vious

309; Japanese spirituality 75, 186, 315 translation of “exis-

tential”) 271

light,

WORD

divine 25,

31, 37,

life;

pre-

84, 109, 117, 120,

298-299, 324 see also komyo; metaphysics/philosophv of light 115,

Jnngian psychology. See Jung, Carl

214, 291,

Ciustav

254, 262, 302 see also

K

rciq;

kahin (shaman) 194-195, 198. See also

Hikmat

al-lsh-

SuhravvardT

linguistic d/dvd-consciousness 51, 151,

shaman

179, 236, 254, 280-281,

284-286,

kairos.

See time, qualitative

292, 301, 303. See also consciousness;

karma

241, 281, 318-319

depth consciousness

katahasis (descent) 9, 12-13, 205-206,

linguistics 59, 108, 148, 163-165, 184, 193,

203, 262, 304, 306; “Introduction to

“44 seeing the Buddha)

kenhutsu

Linguistics” lectures 80, 156, 168-180

41.

See also enlightenment

kensho (^ 14 seeing one’s true nature) ,

277. See also kishitsii

passim, 184, 190, 326, 334-33S literary criticism.

41,

enlightenment

See Izutsu, d’oshihiko,

as literarv critic 121, 156, 241,

temperament) 37

logos 135, 172, 221

452

260

SlJB)KCr INDKX

M M -rcaliii/region

monotheism 278-280. See

2:^6, 2:54,

512, 516-517, 550; ys.

also linguistic c/Zc/ycz-consciousncss;

muiKlus inandala

Many,

16:^, 20:5, 2158,

See One,

274-276,

s

theon- of

151, 161,

168,

WOK 10

C>orhin,

melete thauatou (training for death)

imsticism,

mercy/

115, 128,

144,

211, 215, 217, 219, 255,

272-275; mystical cxjjerience

244,

12, 57,

64, 84, 104-105, 109-110, 115-114, 126,

God, maternal nature of 157,

See also

definition of 9, 12-15,

19-20, 57, 78, 106-107,

211,

the Merciful 166, 215, 512. See also

meta-historv [metahistoire]

{‘irfan) 208.

Iziitsii’s

146-147, 177,

59, 117, 214-215; breath of

146-147,

211, 219; religious

mysticism

104-105, 108-110, 114, 145. See also

191-192,

Christian mysticism; Circek mysti-

205, 224

metalanguage

cism; Islamic imsticism;

174, 199, 226, 256, 249,

294. See also language, absolute 182, 217,

225, 229;

)c\\ ish

mys-

shamanism;

via mystica

Mystik 146-147,

myth

water 152; of wind 166, 169

metaphysics

ticism; letter mysticism;

274-275; of ink

mirrors 212; of tree 280; of

212-215;

255.

151, 178, 191,

220, 275; mythology,

(»rcck 15-16, 110,

6, 26, 65, 80, 147, 200, 205,

115

and metaphysical experience

X, 142;

and theologv/triie philosophy

18, 51,

46, 80, 157, 245. See also light,

N nadhir (admonisher) 125-126. See also

Muhammad

metaphysics of

MIND.

14, 16-17,

Islamic mysticism

See also death

metaphor

lenry; imaginal

mystery religions

inccliocosinos 254. See also Al-rcalin;

janial;

I

mystic philoso])hy

nnindus imagiualis; Zwischemeelt

timaginal world)

itnagiiialis

226, 254, 261, 278, 291, 501. See also

19:5, 2!;o,

See also linguistic cT/dyd-conscions-

mercy

(M, Non-Being, Nothingness) 292;

imnulus

264, 266, 27^, 278-281;, 296, :502-^o:5.

:;2i.

294

also consciousness; nnconscions, the

1115

170-171, 177-179, 184-186,

ness;

167, 177, 198, 258,

i\/i/-conscionsness 281, 292-295. See

tlie

inartyrcloin 64, 70, 77, 79,

meaning, Izntsn

lint

28:5

polytheism 65,

116-117, 154-155

mother tongue

iiiiagiualis

the.

59, 101-102, 115, 219, 221,

nagame

Sec kokoro\ shin

(Bilt-iit))

185-186. See also miyu

miracles 62-65, 157

no-mind

mission, definition of 515-514; of Kranos

uoesis noeseos (thinking about thinking)

255, 255; of

philosophy

19, 201,

205,

mushiu) 276

7

20S, 244, 522; of poets 156-157, 176;

Non-Being (M, mu) 266, 505

of prophets 126,

Nothingness

155,

262; of scholars

of religion 56, 251; of Russian vyriters 77.

miyu

517.

nous

84 seeing) 185-185. Sec also

nagame; Satake, Akihiro;

.synesthesia

5,

266, 282, 289-290, 292,

See also kil/k'ung

(Intellect) 10-11, 46, 76, 165,

255-254

Numinose, das (numinous) 254, also Otto, Rudolf

256. See

SUBJECT INDEX

()

23,

One, the

15,

109,

254, 272, 311,

11:^,

:5 i

8;

Many

302-303, 314-313; poets and prophets

208,

of Plotinus 10-11,

212, 217, 251,

176, 184-183, 188, 268, 274, 280-281,

128, 133, 196, 207,

and the

23, 79, 136-137, 175-176,

i‘54,

ontology 40, 149, 164, 168, 204,

211,

219; poet as

220,

shaman

218-219; poets’

influence on Iziitsn x-xi,

280, 285, 291, 304

on (true

260; jmets

as forerunners of philosophers 23-24,

299, 316-317.

oiitos

83-86, 90-91, 136-139, 167, 173-

reality) 18, 212-213.

See

136, 176, 308;

also llciqq; true reality

239,

oreksis (instinetive desire for the

Abso-

11,

22-23,

poet-philosopher 156,

299

possession

106, 146, 219. See also sha-

13,

manism

lute) 19, 30, 123

pratltya-samutpada (^1^, yiian ch'i

P

[yudiiqi],

j)anentheisni

vs.

j^antheism 63,

chi

parallelism 233-236, 244, 230 297. See also Otto,

Man

prophecy 106,

116, 128, 130, 196,

personalism 74-73

116, 139,

13, 17, 23,

prophets

19, 79, 84, 92,

237-238, 260, 263, 278, 313;

134-137, 193, 222, 278. See also poets

26,

See also Greek philosophy

and prophets psyche

203, 242, 243,

249. See also metaphysies; Traditionalist

Prophet, the see

of the Old d’estament 46, 77, 103-106,

pre-Soeratie philosophers

31,

137, 238;

Muhammad;

47,

322, 323

pliilosophia pereunis,

144

192; poetry as prayer 23-24, 91, 173,

and enltnral differenees

“phantom man”

17, 19, 23,

prayer 61, 66, 76-77, 96, 106, 128, 179,

214, 230

39, 134, 231, 311-312;

312.

praxis 6, 8-9,

Rudolph; synehronieity

persona, di\ ine 75-76, 216, 228,

Sec also yiian

ination) 273, 290, 312.

132,

316-317

Perfect

engi; interdependent orig-

J.

3, 10, 172, 231,

288, 293

psychoanalysis 27, 229, 276-277, 280;

school

psychology

philosophy. See Arabic philosophy;

10, 31,

80, 139, 172, 229, 238,

280; dej)th psychology 233, 286-289, 291,

depth-consciousness philosophy of

293-294; Jimgian psy chology see jnng.

language; Greek philosophy; Indian

Gad

Gustav. See also Kavvai, Havao

|)hilosophy; Islamic philosophy;

Japanese philosophy; metaphysics;

R

mission, of philosophy; Oriental

reader, role of xiii-xiv, 3, 71-72, 238-260,

philosophy; poetry, and philosophy; religion,

and philosophy;

272-273, 291, 308; reading, as creative

WORD,

act xiv, 8, 27, 30, 43, 119, 160-161, 186,

philosophy of

pneuma poetry,

(breath, spirit) 10, 79, 163, 166

and philosophy

Realitdt

11,

82-84,

23, 83, 133, 138,

176, 186, 268, 273, 281, 314; Izntsii

poetry 22, 24,

296-308 passim, 323 Real Wbrld 9, 11-12, 14,

193, 198, 264, 266,

and

91;

W’ 8-3

rebirth/reincarnation 91,

See also

33, 40, 61, 83, 124, 136;

pure poetry (poesie pure) 24, 174-176;

life after

rectification of

poets, as conduits of revelation ix-x.

Gonfnciiis

454

211,

318-319.

death

names

222, 231. See also

SIIH)KC'I

religion, :50-^i,

:5:5,

INHKX

219-220

self-deification

^8, 6^, 73, ys, 10:^,

109, 111-112, 114-1115, 122, 128, 235-2:56,

selt-manifestation, divine 59, 212-216,

244-246, 250-251, 274, 316; rigidity of

234, 246, 274-275, 285, 318. See also

existing religions 34, 56, 65, 78, 126,

articulation, as ontological ])rinci])lc;

227-228, 239, 249, 308; and inystieisin

tajalll

107, 116, 210, 219;

and

16-17,

149- -07’ ^00, 317;

world religion/s 56, 135.

semantics

pliiloso]:)liv

Ibshihiko, work on semantics

semiotics 223, 273

Cliristianit\';

shaman

Islam; Indaisni; mystery religions;

laoism; d’enri-kyo; theosophy; d'radi-

shamanism

211,

revelation

60, 75, 89, 102, 105-106,

249, 324

36, 103, 128, 198, 215,

108-117 passim

203, 238. See also

deseent, of the di\ ine word;

mad; poets

15,

219-221, 223; and mysticism, 105,

resnrreetion

116, 162, 175, 197,

81, 110-111, 128, 191, 194, 198,

263; j)hilosopher as 25, 32, 216-222;

tional sehool; Urreligiou

7,

semantic principle; Izntsn,

lation, as

101, 103, 110, 116,

See also Buddhism;

See also arlien-

175, 266, 269.

shin

Mnhani-

(/Ci\

mind)

See also

10, 276.

Ishiki

no

keijijdgaku

as conduits of revelation

shinjitsuzai {U'Mtt, true reality) 310, 314.

See also true reality j

S

shin shinnyo

sagara-mud rd-sa in ad hi

EP

(

H

likeness) 163.

,

Ocean-Imprint-Contcmplation) 298 saj'

sohornost 74,

sahation 15-16, 31-32, 95, 99, 103, 109,

personal

vs.

13, 19,

See also

60, 63,

spirit, vs.

sanisara. See rehirth/reincarnation

S])irit

Sapir-W'horf hypothesis 164, 180. See also Sapir,

1

Kdward; Whorf, Benjamin

satori (tuO) 240, 318-319.

See also

death; sahation;

loly Spirit; Zeitgeist

8-9, 15-16,

73-76, 96, 108-

37,

vs.

-"57’

soul 10-11, 108,

150-152; spirituality

15, 37,

48,

58-59, 65, 68-69, 72-73, 97, 108-109,

Islamic 202, 337

117, 138, 145, 192, 219,

seeds 178-179, 280. See also hija; lingnis-

220-231, 236,

250, 281, 283, 308, 315; Christian 129,

tie 5 /cyva-conscionsness /

148, 152-153, 172, 227, 238, 242; at

(

hranos

seeing, mystical experience of 37-38, 41,

xii,

105-106,

183-186, 272, 292, 295

68, 141; of

115, 126,

Muhammad

132-133; Oriental

S])iritnahty 117, 274; Russian spiri-

Seieude, die (beings) 202. See also Being, relation to beings (

311.

soul

253-254, 306;

scholasticism, Christian 114-115, 209;

Sein, das

life after

of Kranos 224-225, 228-229,

See Izntsn, I'oshihiko, \'icw

113,

76-77

109, 136, 167, 211-212, 214, 315, 321;

of scholarship

84-85,

keiji-

75, 151, 231, 238-239, 299. See also

spirit 6,

enlightenment .scholarship.

no

89, 102, 112, 114, 137, 146-147, 235,

76-78, 217

72,

Ishiki

soul 8-9, 14, 46-47, 62, 80, 83-84, 87,

239-240, 310;

universal

See also

Knkai

jdgakir,

195-198

117, 125, 153, 212, 235,

spiritual true

tuality 73-75, 81, 86, 88, 95 see also

Japanese spirituality; language, and

Being) 202. See also Being

455

SUBJECT INDEX

theology

166 see also

S])iritiialitv; spiritus lo,

pneuma

23, 32, 37, 173, 201, 232, 324;

Christian 102, 114-113, 129-130, 138,

structuralism 200, 202-203, 262, 301

209, 313; dogmatic

subject, of mystical experience 37, no,

60-61,

sufi 63, 63, 67, 201, 206, 243, 246.

also Sufism

theosophy {theosophia) 200-202, 226-

46, 134

surface (ordinary) eonseiousiiess 179,

time, and eternity (quantitative

278-280, 283, 289, 292. See also

symbol, as passageway of

See also hikmat

227, 262.

depth consciousness

WORD 83,

139, 214, 263, 272; ecstatic 142-143;

of Kranos 223-233 passim. See also

synchronic structuralization of Oriental

Dogen; Kuki, Shuzo;

a-temporality;

68, 89, 202, 210, 223,

synclironieity; Zeitgeist

238, 261, 263, 274; synclironieity 236,

d'radition, the 31, 188, 242,

xiii,

vs.

qualitative time) 72, 89, 113-116, 123,

220-221, 274-273, 278-279

244-243,

246-247, 249-230; tradition primor-

263-264, 289, 324

diale 243. See also Perennial school;

synesthesia 181-183

I

T t'o

contem-

plation

Supreme Being

philosophy

23, 179

theoria 8-9, 18, 128. See also

See

Islamic

metaphysics/

143, 132, 206, 332;

philosophy as 18-19,

146-147, 202, 219

184,

101, 116-117;

132,

raditionalist school

training for death. See melete thanatou jan

kuan t'ung

tuoran

translation of the

giiantoug; sudden breakthrough) 272

tasawwuf

63, 118. See also

tions

Sufism

and studies of the Koran

transmigration

technical terms 34, no, 119, 201, 242,

16, 91, 143, 211, 318.

See

also death; rehirth/reincarnation

true reality 73, 83, 183, 308-319 passim

246, 277, 293, 3721163, 3931136 see also datsuji; imaginal; jitsiizou;

189, 196-197.

See also Izutsu, dbshiliiko, transla-

See also self-manifestation

tajallJ 213.

Koran

mimdiis

truth 16-17, 77, 81, 107, 188, 193, 243;

and

imaginalis; Numinose, das; philosophia

essence

pereunis; theosophy; true reality; via

gious 206-208; pursuit of truth 4, 6,

mystica; and development of metalan-

16, 33, 37, 63,

guage 226, 236, 242, 270-271, 294, 304,

130, 144,

310, 313-314; Izutsii’s technieal 2,

9-11,

13, 143, 162, 168,

vs. reli-

78-79, 93, 98-99, 107,

300

U uneonseious, the

274-277, 279, 281, 283-284, 296, 304

27, 173,

273-277, 280,

291-292. See also A/n-consciousness

see also anabasis; archetype; articula-

union with

tion; consciousness; culture; ekstasis;

euthousiasmos; essence; katahasis;

God

114, 129, 219; vs.

unity

213

mean-

unity of existenee 99, 212-213, 246, 290,

ing; nous; Orient, the; praxis; syn-

chronic;

philosophical

terms

230, 242, 271,

linguistie j/rmi-eonsciousness;

231, 273;

313.

\\X)RD

See also Ihn

‘.ArahT

ur-experience 48, 104, 236, 234, 330

456

SUBIKCr INDKX

other world

ur-lanclscapc 87, 167 (./rgri/nc/

(primordial nature) i^, 126

15,

80-81, 85-86, 90-92,

121-123, 138, 167, 194, 197, 244, 262,

267-268, 299, 303, 306; jdienonie-

Ihreligiou (ur-rcligion) 115-116, 126, 245

nal world 9, 11-14,

47» 57»

^^2,

\

74, 76, 83, 85, 98, 124, 137, 139,

151,

X'cdaiita philosopliv 225, 234

153, 164, 173-174, 182-185, “Oi,

206,

Verhe,

210-212, 216, 224, 232, 243-244, 246,

le

176, 281, 314

via pliilosophica 19, 33

250, 263, 267, 272, 275, 289, 293, 295,

X’illagc of 'riicrc-Is-AhsoIutclv-Nolliing

306-307,

w'u

he you zhi

ho yu

xiaiig])

world

220

vision 72, 77, 81, 91, 120, 138, 206,

inetapIiN'sieal

9, 11-12, 27,

seeing,

11, 13, 18,

experienee of

122.

world of Ideas

91, 202, 244; W'orld

Soul 83,

;

117, 142, 173,

180-182, 184-188, 297

272, 316; Koranic-

language and workK iew

54, 59, 164;

167, 169, 184

wu

Revolution. See Iranian revolu-

See

(u’u).

mu

wujuci (Being) 204. See also Ihn ‘ArahT

tion

WX)Rn

121, 156,

203, 242, 254,

Being

258, 264, 266, 301, 306, 308;

X

is

WORD 162, 206, 277, 281-282, 284, 313;

147, 173-174,

W orld 7A\'ischem\'elt

\\

W hite

213, 254,

See also muudus imagiualis; Real

workK iew

(fnIJ:) 178,

47-48,

192, 224, 254, 293, 317;

vita coutemplcitiva 7, 14

waka

11,

273-275, 280-281, 285; transeendental

chill hsiaiig |\vii

216-217, ^95’ ^9^-

313; sensible

xhig

ql.

See hsiug

ch'i

philosophy of W'ORD 49, 165,

168, 178-179,

293, 322;

279-286 passim,

W^ORD, and words

183-184, 199, 203, 282, 296;

\

291,

yoga 56,

168,

W^ORD

yuan

145, 235, 240; "tbga Sutras

ch'i (^1^, ynanql,

j.

240

eugi;

as origin of all things 48, 161-163, 166,

interdependent origination). See

183-184, 236, 275-276, 279, 282-283,

pratJtya-samutpada

285, 303-304;

W'ORD

of God 49, 126,

yugen

11,

47, 54,

and profundity)

185, 188

176, 191, 195-197, 220, 222, 283

world, and reality

subtlety

62-63, ^5»

75, 83, 91, 124, 129, 138, 263, 272-274,

Z

281-286, 304; intelligible see non-

Zeitgeist

menal world;

zero point 281, 284-285

lotus repositorv world

298; metaphysieal 82, 98,

13, 31, 57,

60, 78, no, 141, 227

Zwischeiiwelt 166, 254, 278. See also

137, 191;

iionnienal world 9, 11-12, 32, 165, 227,

j\/-reahn;

232, 244, 246, 250, 253-254, 263, 295;

gerber,

457

mundus

Leo

imagiualis; W'eis-

I •ft.

v

'Mrl

.i

I

f,Jr*