Most of the kabbalists had affirmed the idea of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of the human souls, as one of the most significant facets of the divine mysterium since the early developmental stage of kabbalah. The doctrine of the transmigration developed especially in Safed in the sixteenth century, and henceforth showed some intriguing interpretations in Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. On the one hand, the Safedian kabbalists eagerly endeavored to elaborate upon the creation of the world and the history of the earthly creatures by means of symbolic terms in order to argue the fate of the human souls in the kabbalistic mythologoumenon. In addition to the fact, they invented new types of literature in which the doctrine was depicted as actual and visible phenomena within the context of religious life and observation of halakhic commandments. On the other, the cases of Amsterdam present us the idiosyncratic attitude of the Marrano toward Judaism. They applied the doctrine to the justification of their own spiritual and social identity so that they could assure the salvation of their sinful souls. The interpretations the Marrano provided are invaluable examples of kabbalistic metempsychosis.

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This paper considers the foundation of ethics for a community in Spinoza's thought. The focus of this argument is a comparison of Spinoza and Hobbes. Though both agree at acknowledging the opposability of human beings, each theory of community is very different in the way it developed. The former is a political theory based on joy accomplished by the speculation that contemplates the absolute as non-object, not as object. The latter is a political technique constructed of fear that reveals a superb secular opinion. On the face of things, the two assertions stand in opposition. However, judging from Spinoza's natural thought, the relationship of "others and self" in nature, which was extracted as human affairs specifically by Hobbes, is reconsidered in the field of "a being absolutely infinite" that can no longer be expressed as "One." Its problem, namely, is "whether or not the chance of the encounter of human beings can contribute to cultivating the living or not?" In conclusion, ethics for a community in Spinoza's thought is a science for dealing with reality, which functions as a theory of religion that desires to realize the absolute God in the relative world.

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Charles de Brosses (1709-1777), inventeur de la notion de <<Fetichisme>>, etablie comme la plus ancienne des religions dans son oeuvre Du Culte des dieux fetiches (1760), fait partie des philosophes des Lumieres qui se sont interesses a l'origine des langues. Son oeuvre intitulee Traite de la formation mecanique des langues a ete publiee cinq ans apres les Dieux fetiches, ce qui pourrait nous conduire a penser que l'interet de Brosses pour l'origine des religions est bien anterieur a celui pour celle des langues. Pourtant, son veritable interet porte, de fait, originellement, sur l'origine des langues. Nous nous proposons d'abord d'elucider la nature de son traite sur l'origine des religions, afin de verifier l'hypothese d'apres laquelle la notion de fetichisme avancee est intimement liee au contexte philosophique, c'est-a-dire a l'empirisme et au materialisme du 18^e siecle. Puis, en nous fondant sur l'analyse de sa deuxieme oeuvre, nous comparerons cette theorie du fetichisme avec les theories de l'etymologie qui ont ete appliquees a la mythologie d'anciens peuples, de facon a pouvoir determiner les raisons pour lesquelles de Brosses utilise la notion de <<Fetichisme>> et non celle d' <<Idolatrie>>.

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In the world of Jodoshin thought, the change that would be summarized by the phrase "from philosophy to experience" took place in the Meiji 30's. This article reconsiders the meaning of the change brought about by this thought, by reexamining thought and practice of Chikazumi Jokan (1870-1941), a priest of the Shinshu sect Otani faction. Chikazumi devoted himself to the study of philosophy in his university student days, but later he abandoned it, and became a religious person who values the experience of the individual. However, his method of grounding his personal experience of salvation in the universal elements of the history of Buddhism was consistent before and after that change. When Chikazumi talked about his religious experience, his self-experience overlapped with the experience of supreme existence in the history of the Buddhism with figures such as Shinran or Buddha. He also had his followers speak from their own experience. Chikazumi's narratives became the center, and one speaking from experience inspired others to speak of their experience. Through the thought of Chikazumi, the conversion that occurred to the thought of the Shinshu sect in the Meiji 30's brought about the creation of an original language and space of experience.

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The relation between Nishida's Philosophy and Zen Buddhism has often been discussed. I will show that his philosophy is more similar to the traditions of the Chan Master Ko-tse Shen-hui than to other sects. First, carefully considered, Nishida's metaphysical thinking differs from that of Ma-tsu Tao-i and the Rinzai tradition. While these traditions see the total activity of the Buddha-nature in daily life, Nishida always thinks of the metaphysical transcendent principle of beings. Second, Nishida's philosophy is characterized as "holistic monism." This monism stresses a transcendent single principle which, never losing its transcendence, develops itself by arising within itself. It is a logic that transforms all things from within, and is also a wholeness from which all originations are derived. In other words, this principle is well-named as a logic of "substance" (t'i) and "function" (yung). Nishida regards the transcendent t'i as the open place of absolute nothingness, comparing it to a clear mirror which lights itself up. This reminds us of the teachings of Chan Master Ko-tse Shen-hui, which compared the Buddha-nature to a clear mirror, and which also emphasized sudden enlightenment. Thus, Nishida's logic of open space shows a clear similarity to this Zen sect.

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Jean-Paul Sartre unterscheidet zwischen atheistischem und theistischem Existentialismus und behauptet, der atheistische, fur den er steht, sei konsistenter, weil der Existentialismus sich auf die Existenz des Menschen konzentriere und es ihm gleichgultig sei, ob Gott existiert. Warum redet dann Karl Jaspers von Transzendenz, obwohl er sich auf die Existenz konzentriert? Ich mochte ihre Untrennbarkeit in ihrer Einheit im Sinn seiner "Chiffernmetaphysik" untersuchen. Wer die subjektive und freie Entscheidung, das Eine aus Vielem zu wahlen, vollzieht, der bringt sein Selbstsein zur Einheit und gewinnt sich selbst. Die Einheit stellt sich ihm als das Hauptmerkmal der Existenz dar. Und er schrebt: "Die Transzendenz ist das eine Sein als der Grund von allem." Er sieht in der Einheit das Hauptmerkmal auch der Transzendenz. "Ich finde im Einen der Transzendenz mein eigentliches Selbstsein." Hier sind Transzendenz erfahren und Existieren ist dasselbe. Verwirklicht sich die Existenz, so ist ihre Untrennbarkeit in ihrer Einheit evident. Aber die Einheit der Existenz und die der Transzendenz sind voneinander wesensverschieden. Die Untrennbarkeit von Existenz und Transzendenz besteht in dem Paradox jenes Zugleich ihrer grossten Nahe und ihrer grossten Ferne.

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