HERMES UND BUDDHA: DIE NEURELIGIÖSE BEWEGUNG KŌFUKU NO KAGAKU IN JAPAN . By Franz Winter . Edited by Michael Pye and Monika Schrimpf . Religiöse Gegenwart Asiens/Studies in Modern Asian Religions Volume 6 . Wien : LIT Verlag , 2012 . Pp. 383 . Paper, €34.90 .
摘要
Kōfuku no Kagaku (“Science of Happiness”) ranks among the most remarkable new religious movements (NRMs) in contemporary Japan. Established by Ōkawa Ryūhō (b. 1956) in 1986, the group has aroused wide public interest since its inception—be it involving the long‐lasting dispute with Kōdansha, the severe opposition to Aum Shinrikyō, vast multimedia campaigns, or most recently, the foundation of a political spin‐off (Kōfuku Jitsugentō). Winter, a docent of religious studies at the University of Vienna, presents an elaborate critical account of this multifaceted religious organization, based on extensive field research and an in‐depth investigation of a variety of source material (movies, manga, and texts). He draws on a wide array of Japanese and Western scholarship (including the valuable PhD dissertations of Baffelli, Huhtinen, and Fukui), primarily employing a historical and doctrinal approach, the latter being most refreshing given the majority of mainly sociological research in the field. Winter is largely interested in exposing the traditio‐historical localization of key doctrines in Ōkawa's thought, and thus—taking into consideration both Western and Japanese formation histories—provides an impressive contextualization of various central elements including the lost continents, the ancient astronauts, the Jesus in Japan narrative, or the image of Hermes. Skillfully weaving together a comprehensive background in the study of esotericism, and detailed knowledge of modern Japanese religious history, Winter sagaciously traces the doctrinal evolution and history of one of Japan's most prominent religious traditions. This work is, therefore, a must‐read for all those interested in Japanese and East Asian NRMs in general.
