10:05 AM - 10:30 AM
[O05-04] Man cannot Live apart from the Earth: An Exploration of the Intersection Between D. T. Suzuki's Religious Philosophy and Geology
★Invited Papers
Keywords:earth, D. T. Suzuki, Geology, Life
The purpose of this presentation is to show the Japanese view that human beings have lived in great relationships and are kept alive by these great relationships, and to introduce specific examples of this view from the Japanese view of religion and the idea of “Daichi” (the earth) by D. T. Suzuki, an international religious scholar.
In one Japanese area hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, it is said that the spirits of many victims were seen walking toward the sea. In the past, there was a religious belief in this region that beyond the sea was the other world where the spirits of the dead went. It was believed that life returned to the other side of the sea and rested there.
However, while the image of the other world is a distant one, such as beyond the sea, Japanese people also have the image of the other world as being close to him, as those who have passed away are with us and watching over us. These two seemingly contradictory views are easy to understand if we consider that the other world encompasses our living world, the present world. In this view, the other world and this world are not positioned as two worlds with different locations. Rather, they are seen as a two-layered structure within a single world.
Moreover, the relationship between the other world and this world is not simply a two-layered structure, but also a movement back and forth between the two layers as life returns from this world to the other world. This means that the other world, which is supposed to envelop this world, is not merely located outside of this world, but permeates its workings into this world. Examples of the permeation of the other world into this world include the feeling that the dead are watching over their descendants, the blessings called “okage” coming from the other world, and the idea that gods, Buddha, and spirits come from the other world to this world and return to the other world again.
If this is the case, then the border between this world and the other world is equipped with a doorway through which this infiltration occurs. If we look at the locations of sacred and spiritual sites, which are considered to be places where penetration from other worlds occurs, many of them are located on rocks or mountains around human settlements, i.e., in the mountains. Even when they are located in the city, they are sometimes referred to as “ubusuna,” a name associated with the earth. In other words, when we consider the penetration from the other world into this world, attention to things such as soil and rocks is not lacking. This is precisely the point of cultural contact between Suzuki's religious philosophy about the earth and geology.
Suzuki says that “the earth has the mystique of religion,” and that “man cannot live apart from the earth”. On the other hand, Suzuki points out that in modern life there is a noticeable tendency for people to retreat into themselves, away from the earth, which is not only a good thing, but also makes people feel unknowable anxiety and suffocation. Suzuki attributes this anxiety and suffocation to the fact that people have come to think only within the framework of the present world, without considering the two-layered structure of the world. Therefore, Suzuki argues as follows. In order for modern people to have religious security and to be able to escape from anxiety and suffocation, they need to be reminded that there is a layer of the other world that extends beyond the layer of this world, and that human beings live in this dual-structured world. We need to be reminded that many things from the other world permeate our lives in this world, and that our lives are supported and enlivened by these things.
In attempting to find the connection between Suzuki's religious philosophy of the earth and geology, this calls for an examination of the ways in which the Japanese have traditionally included otherworldly penetrations in their religious culture, and how to reconstruct them in ways that are accessible to contemporary people.
In one Japanese area hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, it is said that the spirits of many victims were seen walking toward the sea. In the past, there was a religious belief in this region that beyond the sea was the other world where the spirits of the dead went. It was believed that life returned to the other side of the sea and rested there.
However, while the image of the other world is a distant one, such as beyond the sea, Japanese people also have the image of the other world as being close to him, as those who have passed away are with us and watching over us. These two seemingly contradictory views are easy to understand if we consider that the other world encompasses our living world, the present world. In this view, the other world and this world are not positioned as two worlds with different locations. Rather, they are seen as a two-layered structure within a single world.
Moreover, the relationship between the other world and this world is not simply a two-layered structure, but also a movement back and forth between the two layers as life returns from this world to the other world. This means that the other world, which is supposed to envelop this world, is not merely located outside of this world, but permeates its workings into this world. Examples of the permeation of the other world into this world include the feeling that the dead are watching over their descendants, the blessings called “okage” coming from the other world, and the idea that gods, Buddha, and spirits come from the other world to this world and return to the other world again.
If this is the case, then the border between this world and the other world is equipped with a doorway through which this infiltration occurs. If we look at the locations of sacred and spiritual sites, which are considered to be places where penetration from other worlds occurs, many of them are located on rocks or mountains around human settlements, i.e., in the mountains. Even when they are located in the city, they are sometimes referred to as “ubusuna,” a name associated with the earth. In other words, when we consider the penetration from the other world into this world, attention to things such as soil and rocks is not lacking. This is precisely the point of cultural contact between Suzuki's religious philosophy about the earth and geology.
Suzuki says that “the earth has the mystique of religion,” and that “man cannot live apart from the earth”. On the other hand, Suzuki points out that in modern life there is a noticeable tendency for people to retreat into themselves, away from the earth, which is not only a good thing, but also makes people feel unknowable anxiety and suffocation. Suzuki attributes this anxiety and suffocation to the fact that people have come to think only within the framework of the present world, without considering the two-layered structure of the world. Therefore, Suzuki argues as follows. In order for modern people to have religious security and to be able to escape from anxiety and suffocation, they need to be reminded that there is a layer of the other world that extends beyond the layer of this world, and that human beings live in this dual-structured world. We need to be reminded that many things from the other world permeate our lives in this world, and that our lives are supported and enlivened by these things.
In attempting to find the connection between Suzuki's religious philosophy of the earth and geology, this calls for an examination of the ways in which the Japanese have traditionally included otherworldly penetrations in their religious culture, and how to reconstruct them in ways that are accessible to contemporary people.