The Shadow of Luther in Japan. On "nembutsu" according to the Missionarie’s Vision in the 16th Century

Abstract

The first real approach between Buddhism and Christianity took place in sixteenth century Japan during the attempted evangelization of that country by European missionaries. In that period several several factors, such as Jesuits’ thought and formation, the influence of the Counter-reform in Europe, and last but not least the impulse created in previous centuries of a Christianity backed Empire, drove religious European orders to pagan lands to proselytize natives and in the case of Japan to identify and compare Buddhist sects with Protestant doctrines, and mainly with the Lutheran doctrine. Through an analysis of Jesuit documentation founded, this article examines one of the comparisons that the first missionaries explained in their reports, i.e. analogies between Buddhism of the Pure Land sect, or Jōdo Shinshū, with the theories of Luther. This paper discusses in detail how the Jesuits evaluated ejaculatory prayers used by main Buddhist sect, such as it was the nembutsu, or the repetitive recitation of Amida Buddha’s name, and it also delves in their research and the interpretation of such prayers.