Monjes y herejes

De martyres
Ir a la navegación Ir a la búsqueda

Monjes y herejes (PDF), artículo de Ramos, Bibliografía Japón

The Monk and the Heretics: A Reappraisal of Sessō Sōsai’s Anti-Christian Documents (Mid-Seventeenth Century)

(p. 60) In 1642 and 1643, the Society of Jesus sent two groups of priests, brothers, and catechists to Kyushu (the Rubino groups), whose aim it was, among other things, to revive the Japanese mission and make contact with the apostate Jesuit Cristóvão Ferreira (ca. 1580–1650). Last but not least, on the other side of the world, the Iberian Union ended in December 1640, and the King of Portugal decided to send an official embassy to the bakufu; it arrived in Nagasaki in July 1647.

Buddhist studies specialists have thoroughly examined the arguments of the anti-Christian treatises written in the 1640s by the Zen monks Suzuki Shōsan 鈴 木正三 (1579–1655) of the Sōtō 曹洞 sect and Sessō Sōsai 雪窓宗崔 (1589–1649) of the Rinzai 臨済 sect, locating them within the context of seventeenth-century Japanese religious thought.2 The former penned Ha Kirishitan 破吉利支丹 (Christians countered) in the 1640s (published in Kyoto in Kanbun 寛文 2 (1662));3 the latter wrote Taiji jashū ron 対治邪執論 (A refutation of the evil teachings) in Shōhō 正保 5 (1648).4 Kiri Paramore, in his study of anti-Christian discourse in early modern Japan, has emphasized the political nature of such discourse and argued that it was primarily aimed at asserting the legitimacy of the Tokugawa.

(61) in the years following the revolt, the bakufu systematized, on a national scale, the religious inspection system centered on Buddhist temples (tera’uke 寺請) and the “five-household groups” (gonin-gumi 五人組).

the bakufu was convinced that the enforcement of formal control over religious affiliation was not alone sufficient to solve the “Christian issue.” Instead, what was now required was a better understanding of Christian tenets. For both the first and last time during the Edo period, Baba Toshishige 馬場利重 (?–1657; governor of Nagasaki from 1636 to 1652) and the aforementioned Inoue Masashige endeavored to use their knowledge of Christianity to influence directly the inner beliefs of the remaining hidden Christians.

(62) some of my conclusions differ from those of Elison, the author of Deus Destroyed. The main difference between us lies in our perceptions of the bakufu authorities. For Elison, they were all-powerful and seemingly implemented the anti-Christian measures according to an established plan.10 By contrast, I will argue that they were far from sure about the effectiveness of their policies, and remained wary about the possible reaction of the hidden Christians.

Sessō Sōsai. The Nagasaki authorities summoned him to preach in front of the port town’s inhabitants around the fifth & 6 month of Shōhō 4 (June-Julio 1647), ante la inminente llegada de una embajada portuguesa.

the bakufu leaders considered the ordinary citizens of Nagasaki, a majority of whom were apostate Christians (korobi Kirishitan 転びキリシタン), as a potential threat that needed to be tamed. They were unsure about the real feelings of Nagasaki’s citizens towards the forbidden religion.

In order to reveal the falsehood of Christianity, they resorted to a counter-narrative of the history of this religion, and concentrated their attacks on God’s alleged omnipotence.

(63) 76 páginas. La obra de Rinzai era para ser leído por monjes budistas (se entiende que esta en cambio para más gente). 4 sermones. Después del 1er sermón recibieron los "preceptos" 1.520 personas y después del 3º 21.300. O sea asistió la mayoría de los 30.000 habitantes de Nagasaki.

(64) Mientras que están escritas en kanbun (chino clásico) las partes que explican el budismo Zen, Nichiren y del País Puro, hay 10 páginas escritas en japonés sobre cristianismo, para que todos lo entiendan.

El 17 de julio de 1647 visitó el barco de los holandeses en Deshima para explicarles que había venido a convencer a los seguidores del Papa que quedaran.

(65) Es predicador de su majestad en la corte, era gordo como un buda viviente.

Sessō was, for sure, no ordinary monk.25 Born in Bungo in Tenshō 天正 17 (1589), he initially trained in the True Pure Land tradition in the town of Usuki, but became dissatisfied with the exclusivist stance of his sect. In Keichō 慶長 18 (1613), he joined the Rinzai sect temple, Tafukuji. From the first year of Genna 元和 (1615), in order to complete his training, he started to travel around Honshu beginning with Edo. There he met monks like Suzuki Shōsan, and promised to strive for the revival of Zen Buddhism. He became abbot of Tafukuji in Kan’ei 8 (1631). At that time, his fame was already established. He not only had contacts with prestigious monks but also with important figures like Hoshina Masayuki 保科正之 (1611–1672), the daimyo of Aizu 会津 domain from 1643. In Kan’ei 17 (1640), the imperial court even summoned him to preach to the retired emperor Gomizuno’o 後水尾 (r. 1611–1629), probably the “Majesty” mentioned in the office diary of Deshima.

(66) “[Missionaries] preach that those who believe fervently in the Lord of Heaven (Tenshu 天主) and do not regress in their faith (shinjin 信心), will be reborn in heaven (ten 天) after death, where they will enjoy unlimited bliss.” Missionaries, he affirms, do not understand the eternal nature of the Tathātā (shin’nyo 真如)—the ultimate reality—or of the karmic law (inga 因果). Therefore, they mislead ordinary people (bonbu 凡夫) with a counterfeit doctrine (gihō 偽法), and the converts end up helping the missionaries to conquer new lands. Sessō then explains that the founder (shoso 初祖) of Christianity, Jesus, learned the Buddhist Law (buppō 仏法) from a monk (shamon 沙門), but intentionally changed its nature to accomplish his plots (keiryaku 計略). Christianity, argues Sessō, is rooted in the teachings of the Six Heretical Masters (Rokushi gedō 六師外道).29 These masters and thus the missionaries, too, are at fault for “not understanding the principle that the Three Worlds are [the emanation] of one’s heart,” and for inciting their followers to believe in things exterior to them such as a wondrous heaven (shōmyōten 勝妙天) or a creator. The ideas expressed in the preface are similar to those in Ha Kirishitan. Sessō Sōsai and Suzuki Shōsan both contend that Christians perceive the phenomenal world as the single reality and thus search outside themselves for the means of salvation. For these monks, however, only the improvement of one’s mind (kokoro 心) and the detachment from material reality can bring relief in this world and lead sentient beings to salvation. What is more, in seventeenth-century Japan, a growing number of Confucian literati and Zen monks also partook of the discourse on the perfection of the mind.30 Nor is the idea of Christianity as a deviant law (gedō 外道), or a Buddhist heresy, an invention of Sessō Sōsai. Suzuki Shōsan also devotes a long passage to this topic.31 In this regard, Sueki Fumihiko 末木文未士 has argued that the two monks denied Christianity its distinctiveness, and transformed it into a familiar and easy-to-refute doctrine.32

(67) The missionaries criticize Zen for its lack of a creator, and Nichiren and Pure Land Buddhism for the fact that “the Pure Land of the West and the blissful Land of Tranquil Light are part of the lower world, and that [A]mida and Shaka are [mere] humans.”35

He refers to the original sin committed by Adam and Eve; he says the missionaries link it to the descent of Jesus Christ (Zezu Kirishito ゼズキリシト) into the lower world (gekai 下界) for the salvation of humans (shujō 衆生). He contends that the church manipulates the minds of ordinary people through its discourse on Paradise (Haraizo ハライゾ), Hell (Inuheruno イヌヘル野) and Purgatory (Furukatōriya フルカタウリヤ). Sessō’s understanding of Christianity is accurate so far as it goes.

La apostasía (escribe en kanbun para que solo entiendan los monjes) no basta, hace falta que la gente crea el budismo.

(68) son inútiles los de las sectas Pure Land y Nichiren, que se dedican a discutir cual de las dos es mejor, así no enseñan la “correct law” (shōbō 正法) of Shaka. Vuelve al japonés para explicar el origen del cristianismo: Italia, donde vivía María, madre de Jesús, que estudió budismo con un monje y luego predicó para conquistar países. En uno de ellos, Judea, las autoridades se enteraron del golpe (hakarigoto 謀) que Jesús preparaba. Las autoridades lo mataron, los discípulos se escondieron y animaban a la gente a seguirles, así conquistaron Roma y otros países con ayuda de las conspiraciones que esta religión permite, incluso en cuatro o cinco ocasiones trataron de conquistar Japón. Nació hace 1.600 años, cuando en India India (Tenjiku 天竺) el budismo había caído en decadencia. Lo que el monje enseñó a Jesús combinaba el budismo con el camino torcido y Jesús no fue capaz de distinguirlos, solo entendió la superficie y no la esencia de la ley budista.