Various methods and activities aim to support the rehabilitation of former prisoners. High recidivism rates, however, suggest that careful consideration is needed when it comes to assessing the efficacy of these programs. In practice, it appears to be difficult to rehabilitate those who once carried the stigma of criminality. The increase in severe cases of relapse into criminal behavior among the elderly and among persons with disabilities indicates a negative spiral of recidivism due to weakened community ties and a lack of places to go after release from prison. This paper takes up the case of the NPO “Olive House,” a rehabilitation facility under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice that was designed as a preparatory home for former criminals who learn to become self-reliant after prison. The choice of this case study is motivated by the NPO's low recidivism rate and the fact that its founder is a former inmate and a religious man who gained his faith in prison during his incarceration. This paper examines the characteristics of the personal assistance at this institution through the therapeutic community model and the narrative approach, as well as describes some of the ethical considerations that religious people can bring to the field of personal assistance. In doing so, the paper aims to contribute to the field of rehabilitation assistance, which has been the subject of only few case studies in extant research on religion as a social contributor, and to examine the inherent value of religion.

This paper clarifies early Nishida Kitarō's philosophy of religion, referring to his Lecture Notes on Religion, a text that was recently discovered and published as a separate volume of his complete works.

In Nishida's view, individual things arise by self-division and development from the original unity of “pure experience.” Nishida looks for “God” in the ultimate unity of pure experience. From this standpoint, Nishida evaluates diverse discourses about religion and finally shows sympathy for mysticism. In the Lecture Notes on Religion, we can clearly see this attitude of Nishida through his examination of Western studies on religion and history of thought.

This text also enables us to reveal the background of another thesis Nishida posited about religion. In his first published work, An Inquiry into the Good, Nishida claimed “pantheism.” Referring to the Lecture Notes on Religion, we can now understand that Nishida was trying to defend Buddhism, which was regarded as pantheistic by some Western researchers.

Hence, as a “Western philosopher” in Japan, Nishida read Western literatures extensively and sought to criticize them from within to establish an original philosophy of religion that appreciates Buddhism.

This paper examines the reasons why Shinran, the founder of Shin Buddhism, describes the concept of Leaping Lengthwise as “the true teaching of the Mahayana” in his distinctive classification of Two Pairs and Four Levels.

Shinran's method of interpreting sutras is based on a doctrinal classification that distinguishes between Two Pairs and Four Levels. Within this framework, the Crosswise Leap (ōchō) derived from the “Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life” is considered to be the true and most important aspect. Other sutras are widely known to be understood as upaya (skilful means) in the True Pure Land Buddhist sect and beyond. However, Shinran himself, in the “Shinnomaki” section of the Kyōgyōshinshō, describes Leaping Lengthwise as “the true teaching of the Mahayana.” There has been a contradictory understanding that even this statement was an expedient means.

In this paper, the author sheds new light on Shinran's interpretation of the doctrines, by examining mentions in the following texts and passages: 1) the Bodhicitta (Bodai shinshaku) and Ōchō danshiru (“Leaping crosswise and cutting off the four streams”) 2) the Gutokushō, 3) the “The True Realizing of the Pure Land Way” (volume four of the Kyōgyōshinshō), and 4) the Bendō miroku (“Being the same as Maitreya”), among others.