Last August/September 1996 I've got an oportunity to round the earth, but not for the purpose of getting frequent flier miles. First, attending "Conference 1996 Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies", then I visited Shin-Buddhist temples in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, more over, in Geneve and Duesseldorf. During these days I experienced some new (for me) aspects of(shin-)Buddhism and cultural relations.
April 1996: I have studied Philosophy of religion, especially one of german idealism(Hegel) at Kyoto University(1968-75)under Prof.Takeuchi,at Basel(75-77)Univ.Switzerland under Prof.F.Buri, being interested in the relation between philosophy and (not only christian but buddhist)theology, especially existential philosophy and systematic theology (on the christian side,ones of F.Schleiermacher, P.Tillich and W.Pannenberg). Born and now also living in a Shin-temple, being engaged in the life of university and temple. I am interested not only in philosophical studies but also in the "theological", namely "theology of religion". How can we (shin-)Buddhists interpret and practice under Shinran-shonin's teachings in our modern situation? We should consider visible and invisible things not only inside but also outside of (Shin-)Buddhism. Although we, generally speaking, now live in a borderless-world, there still exists many different religious-cultural traditions. We should perhaps visit and communicate with people in many places. During encounters with different cultures and faiths we could find ourselves from some new view-points.
