This article treats the thought of Faustus who was a Manichaean teacher in Roman Africa during the 4th-5th centuries. In Augustine's time, Manichaeism was a very popular religion in Roman Africa. However, this popularity rapidly decreased after the 5th century. Sunaga Umeo had regarded Manichaean eclecticism as the cause of this decline, and claimed that an excessive Christianization deprived Manichaeism it's originality as an organization. Based on this point of view, we discuss the marks of this excessive Christianization which can be found in Faustus's thought, especially in his theory of veritatis secta. At first, we give an outline of Faustus's thought and clarify some features of his understanding of law, which is at the basis of his thought. Secondly, we deal with his theory about veritatis secta and erroris secta which derives from his own interpretation of law. Finally, based on the two above-mentioned discussions, we shall examine Faustus's view about Manichaeism. From all this investigation, we will show that Faustus's theory on sects, by strengthening the continuity between Christianity and the Manichaeism, reduced the role and the importance of Mani, the founder of Manichaeism.

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This paper discusses the disputes between Buddhists and Christians in the Ming Dynasty, China. Specifically, it examines the ways in which Buddhists responded to the Christian concept of monotheism. In the seventeenth century, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), the Jesuit missionary, in his doctrinal treatise Tianzhu shiyi (The meaning of "God"), defined Tianzhu (God) as the existence of the universal and the creator of all things. In response, Yunqi Zhuhong (1535-1615) argued that Tianzhu means only one of myriad gods in the universe, moreover, it was just the abstract principle which never changes any real things. Secondly, Miyun Yuanwu (1566-1642) argued the internal truth of "the Great Way" (Dadao) in all phenomena as a representative of the Chan monks of the Linji school. Thirdly, Feiyin Tongrong (1593-1662) further discussed their view of the world depending on Dadao. He thought that Dadao bears a close resemblance to empty space in that it contains and penetrates all things, and the human-self is originally integrated with the universe whether or not one attains Buddhahood. Their critiques showed the process by which Buddhists became conscious of their original universality through their encounter with the religion of Christianity.

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Honen Bo Genku (1133-1212), the founder of the Pure Land Sect in Japan, insisted that we ordinary men should enter the Gateway of the Pure Land, and concentrate on the nenbutsu practice which was Amida's Original Vow. Many researchers have, without great clarity and precision, understood that he rejected the Gateway of the Holy Path and other practices as useless and inferior. In this article, however, I argue against this commonly-held opinion. Genku stated in his major work Senchakushu as follows: Because the Gateway of the Holy Path and other practices are not open to all types of people, it is never impossible but difficult and uncertain to attain Enlightenment through the former, and to be reborn into the Pure Land by the latter. In short, the Gateway of the Holy Path and other practices are useful and profound. The reason why ordinary men should reject them is that only the nenbutsu practice of the Gateway of the Pure Land is a certain way to be reborn in the Pure Land. In conclusion, Genku did not threaten that all Buddhists have no option but to devote themselves to the nenbutsu practice. The results of the present study would suggest that his distinction in Senchakushu was rather less extreme than has been previously imagined.

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In this article I will use the attached description to prove that The Record of Shinran's Three Dreams is a forgery. The Record of Shinran's Three Dreams is considered a forgery by many scholars due mainly to issues of writing style; I will instead demonstrate this by examining Kakushinni's mental state, as hypothesized from a letter addressed to her from Eshinni. I will then show clearly that Kannon's prophecy to Shinran at Prince Shotoku's mausoleum in Shinaga (in 1191, when Shinran was 19 years of age) is also not a historical fact. In doing so, this will expose as questionable the accepted notion of Shinran's name change from Shakku to Zenshin in the second year of the Genkyu era (A.D. 1205).

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The Japanese philologist Tomobayashi Mitsuhira (1813-1864) was a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest originally with the name "Shuei." Mitsuhira experienced "Genzoku," which is a return to secular life, twice in his lifetime. Therefore from reading his works, his ideological transformation process leading to his secularization can be traced. In his work Nageki no omoni (1858), Mitsuhira was expecting Buddhism to play a role as a barrier against the invasion of the Western powers behind the propagation of Christianity. This was a claim within Buddhist apologetics that was common in this time period. After writing Sono no ikemizu (1859), and finishing his second time of secularization, he wrote Omoidegusa (1862). In this work, he claimed that even the social role of Buddhism as a barrier to Christianity is unchanged, and the social conditions for Buddhism to exist have become severely limited. As the result, as long as there is no damage to the Kokutai or Japanese Constitution, Buddhism came to be positioned lower than Shinto. This change in his evaluation of Buddhism came from functionalism, where Buddhism is evaluated on whether it is useless or useful to Japanese society. At the same time, this new idea is remarkable in terms of predicting the history of Japanese modern religion that would continue after this period.

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