Cosmic Sage: Imaoka Shin'ichirō, Prophet of Free Religion
Description
Cosmic Sage attempts to weave together Imaoka Shin'ichirō's life story and his message. It will reveal the spiritual pilgrimage of a Bodhisattva-Kami-Christian-Unitarian-sage, the Emerson of Japan. Each chapter will provide a setting from which Imaoka's thought and insights can be understood. However, his thought and their expressions were never put together in extended studies or systematically developed. Metaphor, paradox and wordplay merit him being compared with Emerson. This book has been written to explore his influence on liberating religious traditions of Japan, to probe the paradoxes in having multiple religious identities, to follow the faith journey of a "student of life." Each segment of his life was "like a school, a place of learning with its time for graduation," as Imaoka-sensei would say. Each graduation was to be valued as it had contributed to one's life and growth.
Table of contents 24 entries
- Preface 1
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Section One: An Introduction
6
- 1. Such a Responsibility 6
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Section Two: As a Japanese Christian
17
- 2. Converting to the "Devil's Religion" 17
- 3. At the Imperial University as a Christian 35
- 4. Pastoring a Kumi-ai Church (1907-10) 47
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Section Three: Japanese Unitarianism
73
- 5. Joining Unitarians 73
- 6. American Unitarians in Japan 89
- 7. Japanese Unitarians: Their Perspectives 121
- 8. Japanese Unitarianism, Period Three 153
- 9. Closing of the Unitarian Mission 183
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Section Four: A Life Assisting Others
203
- 10. Assisting Prof. Anesaki Masaharu 203
- 11. Assisting in Education 231
- 12. Assisting Mason: The Quest to Know Shinto 251
- 13. Seeking a Cosmic Community 276
- 14. Epilogue 307
- Appendix A: Selected Writings 321
- Appendix B: Varieties of Religious Experience 361
- Glossary of Key Terms and Figures 375
- About the Author 383
- Index 384