The term "Existence" used by the contemporary Existential Philtmphy is known to he originated from the theological usage, which makes it a correlative concept to
"Essence". The latter always involves the former in the case of God, while such is not the case with ordinary things. But Kant maintains that Existence cannot be deri vet1 from Essence alone even in the case of God and denies the validity of the demo nstration of the Existence of God in Anselm's sense. Schelling on the contraryconsid ered E%.ience obtained by reason, while Existence by the experience of will, so that G od's Existence is based upon will, which tranxencls reason, free and unfathom-able, y et quite real and individual. Such a concept of God's Existence is also mutatis mut- andis applicable to human existence and here arises that special meaning of Existence in Kierkegaard, i. e. the pure unreplaceable individual inner Self in the presence of Go d, to which contemporary philosophy owes its concept of Existence.
In spite of its origin, the concept of Existence in contempoary Existential Philoso -
phy is not altogether religious. In the case of Existential Philosophy without God Existence is revealed through the experience of love and death, as we find it in Sortre and Heidegger. And this is not without reason, for love and death are nothing but such a deep and fundamental phenomena of human esistence, through which our original .Self manifests itself. Rut such a trial of revealing Existence isconsidered only half -way to the goal, to which we can attain only through religious experience, because the question concerning love and death finds its ultimatc solution in religion, where Exis tence reveals itself in its whole a v b .
Such a concept of Existence is also applicable to oriental religions. Here the author makes clear that the concept includes not only the religious individual in the faith of Jodo-slzu, but also of Zen- Buddhism; moreover it can be extended to the One in the philosophy of Laotse and Tsuangtse, whose standpoint is very near to what Heidegger intends to attain in his latest philosophy.
Finally, Existence must be clarified through its relation to the historical world, to which Existence gives so to speak its very meaning by two ways : 1) by changing our inner attitude to this world, getting the new view that everything is allowed as it is, o r : 2) by confronting with and reforming this world's way of life, going hand in hand with the ethical standpoint. By the former ic meant rather contexnplative attitu-.
de of the religious. standpoint proper, by the latter the active one, witho~ft which
religion loses its actuality and effectiveness.
The Religious Thought of Vladimir Soloviyov
S a d a o TAGUCHI
Vladimir Soloviyov (1853 -1900) was the greatest Russian religious thinker of the ,
19th century. The final aim of his endeavour was to realize the all--embracing unity of the universe and the God-manhood. For this purpose, he insisted on the necessity of communion of God and man and of the faith in Christ the God-.man as the con- crete means for the realization of this ideal. He called the all-uniting function in Go d and the Christ, the God Incarnate, logos (Divinity) and what is thus united sophia (Humanity). 'l'his idea of an intimate communion of God and man, as exhi- bited in Soloviyov, is one of the outstanding features of the Russian religious thought.
In his old age, however, he was disappointed to know that his ideal was difficult to be realized. According to Berdyaev, who inherited the idea of God-manhood from Soloviyov, the failure of this idea wm its rather passive character and its lack of a due appreciation of human liberty.
The religious thought of Soloviyov shows some characteristic Lrait.5 of the pemonality of its author. From childhood, he wa5 deeply pious and anti-secular and had several mystical experiences which Left their marks on his it1t.a of sophia. This he descrihecl symbolically aqthe "eternal womanhood'' in his pcxm~s.
Hi ideas were the source of inspirations for the religious awakening in Russia which took place around the turn of the century as a reaction against the materialistic tend- ency of the preceding age.
The Spread of the Custom of Pilgrimage to the Ise Shrine in Tokugawa Period
Tsunezo ARAKI
Since the beginning of the modern age in Japanese history, especially during the Tokugawa Period, the cult of the Ise Shrine has become increasingly popularized owing to the activities of the oshi (@~ITI). Along with this, there came into existence , a very interesting custom of nukemairi (%f 4 escape-pilgrima&) and of okage-
(
@ @ ~ P T
thanking-pilgrimage ) . The former means that a person starts for pa- ilgrimage to the Ise Shrine without giving any notice to his relatives or the local au- thorities, whereas the latter refers to the same kind of pilgrimage on a larger scale.During those days of feudal government when the political control over every mem- ber of the society was strictly carried out, this was an antinomian behavior violating the social order. However, from the documental evidences (e. g. the repeated pro- hibitions issued by feudal lords), we can conclude that the custom has become increas- ingly widespread. Cases of nukemairi, for instance, can be found all over the coun- try, but most frequently in the areas of central Japan near Kyoto. And okage- moode, a kind of socio-religious epidemy in which hundreds of thousand of people participated within a span of a few years or even months, took place rather regularly every 50, 60 or 70 years.
On examining the evidences, however, it becomes clear that the majority of the participants consisted of housewives, children or servants and the like-persons who were usually placed under the control of their superiors or belonged to the socially under-priviledged class. This was all the more so with okage-moode than with nukemairi. From this, we can see that these sudden outbursts of religious fervour served as a kind of social ventilator for the frustrations accumulated in those days of strict regimentation. And the general attitude of the society, too, was instrumental in bringing about these pilgrimages. For the feudal authorities, though officially condemning them, actually overlooked or even encouraged such customs, and the population along the road to Ise supported the pilgrims by providing them with alms and financial resources.