一燈園の現在的状況

その生活と世俗化

抄録

　The Ittoen community was established by Nishida Tenko about fifty years ago in order to realize the ideals of a collective, Utopian society.　At that time, the members of the community took Tenko's teachings seriously and practiced the "life of repentance". When the community was first established, members worked outside of Ittoen and lived from hand to mouth. But now, compared with the early Ittoen, the community is very much changed. Ittoen has gradually accumulated considerable property so that members have a safe and secure livelihood. The community itself engages in printing, agricultural sales, publishing, construction work etc. and members can work within the community. This has had a direct impacton the daily and spiritual life of members. Still, members insist that Ittoen's situation has not changed since the time it was founded. In this paper, which grew out of my own participation and observation, I want to show that, contrary to the belief of some members, the Ittoen community has in fact changed considerably. I shall discuss the social background of Ittoen, its belief system and way of life. I shall also discuss the question whether Ittoen is a religious community or not. Finally, I shall approach the changes in Ittoen from the viewpoint of secularization, the decline of religion, the routinization of charisma (Veralltaglichung des Charismas, etc. The conclusion of this paper is that the influence of Ittoen's belief system is weaker than in the past and that the community has changed very much.