Monjes y herejes

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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.

1) Jesús y María eran descendientes de reyes 2) usaron la religión para conquistar países 3) tras su muerte sus seguidores continuaron su obra maléfica, 4) él distorsionó el budismo para forjar su credo. Es una copia errónea.

(69) Principal acusación: los cristianos ignoran la ley del karma y buscan fuera de sí mismos (confiando en Dios) la salvación.

El primer sermón vuelve al kanbun para criticar el nichirenismo (por el monje Nichiren del siglo XIII, según el cual todos los seres sensibles poseen una naturaleza búdica y pueden alcanzar la budeidad en esta vida) y el de Tierra Pura (o "campo de Buda", reino no samsárico, no terrestre, donde se puede alcanzar la budeidad). [Solo queda como bueno el budismo zen o arte de ver en la propia naturaleza la vía hacia la perfección]. En consecuencia 1.520 ciudadanos, aspirantes a la iluminación (hotsubodaishin 発菩提心) recibieron los 5 preceptos tras el sermón.

9 días después de la mención a Sessô en el diario de los holandeses, el 26 de julio de 1647 (Shôhô 4.6.24) llegaron dos carracas portuguesas con 400 personas, primera embajada oficial dirigida por Gonçalo de Siqueira de Souza (?–1648), nombrado embajador en diciembre de 1643 por el nuevo rey Juan IV (1640-1656). Desde 1642 había tregua de 10 años con los holandeses, lo que preocupó en Japón, pues esperaban venganza por lo de 1640.

(70) El bakufu había enviado instrucciones en 1640 a los señores para estar armados en caso de que los portugueses suscitaran levantamientos de cristianos ocultos. Matsuo Shin’ichi 松尾晋一 estima que el bakufu movilizó 50.000 soldados en torno a Nagasaki. En agosto el gobernador cerró la bahía con un puente de barcas. Se prohibió a los habitantes salir de sus casas y preguntar a los portugueses sobre los signos cristianos de sus barcos. La reacción fue de pánico: la población huyó a los montes. En 1658 el gobernador escribirá a los jefes de Edo que había que evitar que los barcos pasaran más allá de la isla de Iōjima 伊王島, porque los habitantes del puerto de Nagasaki "eran todos cristianos apóstatas" y ante la mera vista de un barco portugués se volverían "locos" (kichigai 気違い = enojados). 28 de agosto se negó la reapertura del comercio con Macao, en respuesta firmada por todos los jefes del bakufu, que criticaban al cristianismo por:

-Su propensión a organizar revueltas.

-Sus tendencias imperialistas. La religión era un pretexto para conquistar países y los jefes lo sabían gracias a la confesión (hakujō 白状) of the “Southern barbarian apostate priests.” This might be a reference to the apostate Jesuit Cristóvão Ferreira or to the members of the two Rubino groups, the majority of whom renounced (71) their faith under torture.51 On 4 September, the governor of Nagasaki instructed Gonçalo de Siqueira de Souza and his men to leave Japan.

(73) entre la documentación que consultó Sessô está el Kirishitan kanagaki y dos rollos; el primero tiene 50 argumentos contra el cristianismo; en el segundo hay una vida de: Marcello Mastrilli (1603– 1637), a Neapolitan Jesuit who died as a martyr in Nagasaki in the fall of Kan’ei 14 (1637). Mastrilli, who believed he had recovered from a severe wound thanks to the intervention of Francis Xavier, made a vow to reach Japan and preach the Gospel there like his eminent predecessor.57 The author of the scroll saturates his story with reports of divine interventions and miracles; it seems to be a Japanese translation of a hagiography compiled by Mastrilli’s fellow Jesuits after his death.58 The second part, which is incomplete, claims that Mastrilli’s story is a lie propagated by the Jesuits. The author explains that the four catechists (dōjuku 同宿) and the brother (iruman いるまん), who had accompanied the priests of the two Rubino groups in 1642 and 1643 before apostatizing under torture, testified to this fact.

El Kirishitan kanagaki tiene 230 páginas, 50.000 caracteres. Like the well-known Kirishitan monogatari 吉利支丹物語 (Tales of the Christians; Kan’ei 16 [1639], reprinted in Kanbun 5 [1665] with illustrations), it amounts to a compilation of short stories on the (wicked) deeds of the Christians. 60 For an English translation, see Elison (1973) 1988, pp. 329–374. Elison has argued that the Kirishitan monogatari was part of a propagandist strategy on the part of the Tokugawa regime to instill the idea among the lower classes that Christianity represented a foreign threat. On the contrary, Jan Leuchtenberger has defended the theory that this text was linked to the blossoming commercial publishing industry of the mid-seventeenth century and thus reflected the image of Christianity in Japan at the time (2013, pp. 45–49).

(74) Refieriéndose a la tercera parte del Kirishitan kanagaki, única conocida hasta que Ôkuwa Hitoshi descubrió los documentos de Tafukuji: Sakamoto Masayoshi 坂本正義 considers the text, despite its fictitious elements, as a more or less reliable source on the Jesuit presence in Japan, as well as evidence that Christianity projected a negative image there in the early seventeenth century. For him, it is proof that many Japanese saw missionaries as the forerunners to a territorial invasion by the “Southern Barbarians.”63

The Kirishitan kanagaki manuscript held by Tafukuji is in three parts. Only the second bears a title: Kirishitan jūni monpa no koto きりしたん十二問派之事 (About the twelve orders of Christianity).64 The first and the third parts recount, chronologically, both fictive and actual events related to Christianity, from Adam and Eve to the first decade of the seventeenth century.65 It contains long passages on the life of Jesus, Mary, the apostles (Peter, Paul, John, James, and Matthew), and finally saints (Lucy, Clare, and Lawrence, for example). After describing four fictive attempts by the missionaries to conquer Japan— note that the same number occurs in the first sermon of the Nagasaki Kōfukuji hikki—the manuscript ends by mentioning the ban on Christianity in Ōmura in Keichō 11 (1606).66

(75) The Jesuits were highly successful there in the latter part of the sixteenth century, winning the conversion of its lord, Ōmura Sumitada 大村純忠 (1533–1587), who subsequently spread the new faith among his retainers and subjects.67 The author also explains, with some accuracy, certain doctrinal aspects of Christianity, like the creation, the redemption, and the seven sacraments. The second part concerns, as its title suggests, various real and fictive religious orders or religious organizations within the Church. Among those which exist in reality are the Jesuits, the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Augustinians, and the brotherhood system. The orders of Saint Michael (San Mikeru), Saint Lawrence (San Rorenso), and a certain Santa Narisha are however, fictitious. In comparison with the first and third parts, the second is mostly imaginary. The author of the Kirishitan kanagaki is unknown. Jurgis Elisonas attributes its authorship to Chijiwa Seizaemon 千々石清左衛門 (1569–1633?), better known as Miguel Chijiwa, one of the four envoys of the Tenshō embassy, sent to Rome and the Iberian Union by three Christian feudal lords of Kyushu under close Jesuit supervision.68 Unlike the other envoys, Miguel left the seminary and renounced his faith at the beginning of the

(76) seventeenth century.69 However, none of the evidence Elisonas provides is decisive, and there remains no consensus among scholars about the authorship.70 Whatever the identity of the author, we can say with certainty that he possessed an extensive knowledge of Christian doctrine, its hagiography, and the Portuguese language. The Kirishitan kanagaki mimics the hybrid style of the Jesuit press in Japan (Kirishitan-ban キリ シタン版) brilliantly.71 Furthermore, the author knew the names of many Jesuits active in the Japanese archipelago, from the pioneers of the mission such as Francis Xavier (1506–1552) and Cosme de Torres (1510–1570) to Japanese priests and brothers like Lourenço Ryōsai (1526– 1592), Vincente Tōin (1540–1609), Sebastião Kimura (1565–1622), and Fukansai Fabian.72