Zen thought and history, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoist thought, Christianity
Zen, derived from the Zen sect of Buddhism, is a form of Buddhism that developed mainly in China and Japan, and also refers to a system of thought and practice with its own unique training methods and philosophy. Zen aims to understand Buddhist teachings through direct experience and to realize one’s true nature.
Zen Buddhism is a religion that aims at enlightenment, and what is important in Zen Buddhism is not knowledge of the Buddha’s world, which has been the main focus of religions in the past, but enlightenment through daily practice. In Zen Buddhism, enlightenment means “to become aware of one’s Buddha nature, which is the true nature of all living things,” and Buddha nature means “the ability to recognize things that are beyond verbal understanding.
Furthermore, in recent years, Zen has come to be used as a tool (replaced by the term “mindfulness” by Google and others) to rethink the way we live as human beings, focusing on its effectiveness in changing the way we view the world and adjusting the rhythm of our lives.
One of the characteristic practices of Zen is zazen. Zazen, also called zazen, is the practice of sitting quietly with one’s sitting bones steady and concentrating on one’s breathing to quiet the mind, observe oneself through direct experience, and look at one’s true nature. Zen also has a unique question-and-answer method called koan, which encourages transcending thought and direct experience through dialectical questioning.
The philosophical approach of Zen emphasizes direct experience and intuition rather than reliance on words and concepts. In Zen, universal truths cannot be captured by words and concepts, but must transcend the limits of language and concepts. The purpose of Zen is to quiet the mind and realize the truth of the self and the world through direct experience, and it aims to achieve deep insight and enlightenment through direct experience that transcends language and concepts.
Zen is also known as a unique cultural and philosophical tradition with profound influence in a wide variety of fields, influencing religions, philosophy, psychology, art, and artificial intelligence technology outside of Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism, on which Zen is based, is one of the most expansive of the Buddhist schools. Mahayana Buddhism aims at a higher state of being in contrast to the early Buddhist teachings of the Buddha, and has a deeper philosophical and practical background than any other branch of Buddhism.
The central teaching of Mahayana Buddhism is the Bodhisattva path. The Bodhisattva path is to cultivate a mind of compassion to save all sentient beings and to continue to practice it at the expense of oneself. This can be said to be the practice of “altruistic acts” that avoid self-centered thinking and behavior, treat others with good will, and act to help others. At the root of this idea of altruism is the basic Buddhist idea that the distinction between self and others is blurred, and to put these ideas into practice, we are offered teachings from various sutras and practices such as contemplative meditation and recitation of the Heart Sutra and others.
This altruistic behavior has been proven to be the optimal strategy from the perspective of game theory, which is a theory of maximizing one’s own profit, as a model called “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” and experimental results have also confirmed that altruistic behavior generates social trust and brings long-term benefits. The results of experiments have also confirmed that altruistic behavior creates social trust and brings long-term benefits. In other words, Buddhist thought and practice is one of the strategies to make society happy (maximize benefits).
The term “Dao” in Taoist thought refers to the laws of the universe and nature, and represents an ever-changing principle or reason with infinite change and flux. The Tao is considered to be nameless, intangible, and infinite, and to give rise to and encompass all things.
Taoist thought emphasizes the pursuit of the Way and respects the natural state of human beings, with the concept of mui-gen-nature. Mu-jis-nen refers to respecting the natural way of being and avoiding futile efforts and meaningless conflicts. It is believed that when people live as they naturally do, it promotes personal growth and social harmony.
Taoist thought is also characterized by its emphasis on nonresistance and flexibility, which emphasizes following the flow and responding flexibly to situations without using force. This is said to avoid unnecessary confrontation and conflict, and pursue harmony and peace. This way of thinking in Taoist philosophy is also referred to in the field of modern leadership and management.
Furthermore, this blog discusses Christianity, a religion on a global scale, as a contrast to Zen/Buddhist/Daoist thought.
Christianity will be one of the world’s largest religions, with Jesus Christ as its savior. The teachings of Christianity are found in the Bible (Old and New Testaments), and at its core are the teachings and life of Jesus Christ. Christian teachings include many elements such as “the existence and oneness of God,” “belief in salvation,” “love and mercy,” “eternal life and heaven,” and “ethical teachings.
In the bandit problem described in “Theory and Algorithms of the Bandit Problem” and in reinforcement learning described in “Theory and Algorithms of Various Reinforcement Learning Techniques and Their Implementation in Python” it is stated that in order to obtain an optimal solution, it is important to balance “search” for better strategies and “knowledge utilization” to find an optimal solution with the selected strategies. It is important to balance “search” for better measures and “knowledge utilization” to find the optimal solution with the chosen measures in order to obtain the optimal solution, and it is stated that a bias toward either of them will result in a local solution, and a global solution will not be obtained. The aforementioned ideas and practices of various religions can be seen as measures to help people live happily. Learning about and understanding each of them can provide hints for a better way of life.
In this blog, we discuss these Zen topics below, as well as other religions (Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity) to provide information that will allow you to think deeply about their ideological backgrounds. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Zen Philosophy and History
The history of Rinzai Zen, one of the pioneers of Zen in Japan, and the temples in Kamakura, where many of these temples remain, will be introduced (Kamakura Gozan). First, I will talk about Eisai’s Rinzai Zen and the five temples of Kamakura (Kenchoji Temple, Engakuji Temple, Jufukuji Temple, Jochiji Temple, and Jomyoji Temple), and describe the characteristics of each temple from the perspective of tourism.
As described in “Zen Philosophy and History, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity,” Zen is a religion whose goal is enlightenment. In Zen Buddhism, enlightenment means “to become aware of the Buddha-nature, which is the true nature of all living beings,” and Buddha-nature is “the ability to recognize things that are beyond verbal understanding. Here I would like to discuss meditation and enlightenment, which occupy an important place in Zen.
As described in “Meditation, Enlightenment, and Problem Solving,” mindfulness meditation and Zen vipassana meditation are “insight meditation” that emphasize “awareness” and “attention as it is,” an approach that focuses on developing concentration and observing things as they are. A similar approach is also described in “Invitation to Cognitive Science. In cognitive science, which is also discussed in the “Reading Notes,” it is called “metacognition,” which refers to an individual’s way of thinking and perceiving knowledge, and is thought of as an understanding of what one knows and understands.
AI technology offers a feasible approach to various aspects of such metacognition.
In Zen Buddhism, enlightenment is “the realization of the Buddha nature, which is the original nature of all living things. It is said that Buddha nature is “the ability to perceive things that are beyond the scope of verbal understanding. Enlightenment is passed on from master to disciple, not through words (logos), but through sensory and physical experiences such as zazen and koans. It is said that the state of enlightenment can be expressed in various ways, and in Japan in particular, enlightenment is expressed in poetry, painting, architecture, and other fields.
In 2016, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno held a special exhibition entitled “Zen: Shaping the Mind,” commemorating the 1150th anniversary of Rinzai Zenji and the 250th anniversary of Hakuin Zenji. Zen: Shaping the Mind” held at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno in 2016.
Sesshu was an ink painter active in the Muromachi period (late 1400s), about 600 years ago, and a Zen monk trained at Shokokuji Temple in Kyoto. Sesshu traveled to China (1468) on a Ming Dynasty ship sent by the Ouchi clan of Yamaguchi, as described in “Kaido yuku – Choshu Road,” and had the opportunity to experience the real world of ink and wash painting for two years. After returning to Yamaguchi, he is said to have completed Japanese-style ink painting based on Chinese painting.
In the chapter “Enjoying Fluctuation” in his book “Zen-teki Seikatsu,” Munehisa Gen’yu, the priest of Fukujuji Temple in the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism and an Akutagawa Prize-winning author, says that “furyu” is “fluctuation” like a willow swaying in the wind, and the ability to enjoy this fluctuation is the highest pleasure that only humans have.
“No matter what” (neither possible nor impossible). In Japanese usage, this word is used to mean “not particularly good, but not particularly bad either. In the Zen world, it means “what you should or should not do, or what is OK and what is not OK.
In the world of causality, Zen, and philosophy, the phrase “don’t decide what you should or should not do, or what is OK and what is not” is used.
The phrase, “Seeing is believing,” means that no matter how many explanations you give in words, there is no substitute for seeing things once.
The phrase “cold and warm are self-evident” tells us the same thing, and comes from the saying, “Drink water and you will know cold and warm. It means that you can understand the warmth or coldness of water only if you drink it and see for yourself.
From the book “Gakko no kibon: Buddha ga shimputo jolly ikikata” by Soto Zen priest Fujita Kazuteru.
What exactly is the “joyful way of life”? And what does it have to do with Buddha’s teachings? In this book, I focus on the “Buddhist way of learning” rather than the basic knowledge of Buddhism as an answer to these questions, saying that “learning” is a great joy for human beings and that it brings us closer to a “joyful life.
This “Buddhist way of learning” refers specifically to “asceticism,” and “asceticism” does not aim to have a special experience such as enlightenment or liberation by doing something difficult, but to “learn” from the very act of living, from all the daily activities that we do with our whole body and mind. This “practice” is called “action” in Buddhist terminology, and Buddhism is defined as a “religion of action.
As Hakuin Zenji said in his book, “Ingenuity in motion is ten thousand billion times better than stillness,” one can enter the state of “enlightenment” by immersing oneself in the work one is doing and remaining in a state of seriousness (maji) where there is no space for delusion to enter.
However, if you continue to do something but are strongly attached to it, you will fall into the world of vexation and fall into a negative spiral. In the Zen world, we use the phrase “as a fait accompli” for this. In the Zen world, we use the phrase “as a fait accompli” in response to this, meaning that it is not true, but we should do it for the time being. By making it a fait accompli, we can take a form of non-attachment, as if we are doing it for the time being, but we can stop at any time.
An introduction to early dialogue engines (artificial incompetence) that do not understand the meaning of Eliza’s lineage, and an analysis of the relationship between the meaning of words and dialogue through an introduction to Wittgenstein’s philosophy of logic, James Joyce’s meta-literature, and the Ten Ox Diagrams leading to Zen enlightenment and Zen questions and answers, as well as an introduction to the recently developed BERT-based BuddhaBot.
Paul Nurse, the author of this book, saw a butterfly fluttering into his garden one early spring day and felt that, although very different from himself, the butterfly was unmistakably alive, just like himself, able to move, feel, and react, and moving toward its “purpose. What does it mean to be alive? WHAT IS LIFE” is a tribute to the physicist Erwin Schrodinger’s “What is Life?
One test for determining that a machine is intelligent is the Turing Test, described in “Conversation and AI (Thinking from the Turing Test).” The basic idea of the Turing test is based on the hypothesis that if an AI is so intelligent that it is indistinguishable from a human in a conversation with a human, then the AI can be considered as intelligent as a human. In contrast, Searle argues, “Computational systems that follow algorithms cannot be intelligent, because computation is by definition a formal process. Computation is by definition a formal symbolic operation, and there is no understanding of meaning.
In this article, I would like to discuss the history of emotion recognition and its relevance to Buddhist philosophy and artificial intelligence technology.
The world is changing, and the types and orders applied to the world should not be operated without thinking, but should be changed in accordance with the changes in the world. In order to do so, it is necessary to consider the meaning of order and type in the first place, and furthermore, in considering the meaning, it is important to consider the purpose, as described in “Life as Information – Purpose and Meaning”. Order to organize a chaotic world and freedom to change it are both important elements.
In the Zen world, being caught up in causality is seen as a form of vexation. There is a teaching that says we should consciously ignore things we cannot understand without trying to understand them all, subjectively/emotionally extracting and emphasizing only some of them, or forcibly giving meaning to things we cannot understand. (不落因果)
However, this is not to say that causality is completely unnecessary. For example, in the world of philosophy, causal semantics is discussed, where the existence of causality in things defines what it means to be what you are.
How can we be trapped in causality and not ignore it? For example, as expressed in the phrase “Nichi nichi ze koi nichi,” one should live a carefree life enjoying each independent day without falling into the trap of cause and effect. Various ways of life have been advocated.
From “Dogen Zenji” by Wahei Tachibana. An introduction to this epic novel about the life and thought of Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen, the root of Zen Buddhism in Japan along with Eisai. It describes the turbulent times from the Heian period to the early Kamakura period, and introduces words from various Zen sayings about Zen Buddhism (Soto Zen), a religion that emphasizes enlightenment rather than knowledge, and the “Shobogenzo” written in his later years.
- Breathing (Zen and its relationship to cognitive activity and sport)
Breathing is the only organ in the internal organs that can be consciously changed. Various phrases such as ‘breath matching’, ‘A-Un breathing’, ‘drinking breath’, ‘holding breath’, ‘holding breath’, ‘draining breath’, ‘long breath’ and ‘hiding breath’ indicate that breathing is closely connected to the mind and body. In this article, I would like to discuss the relationship between Zen and sports, focusing on this breathing.
Mahayana Buddhism
Buddhism, one of the world’s three major religions (Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism), was founded by Sakyamuni (Gautama Siddhartha) and is believed to have originated in India around the 6th century BC. Mahayana Buddhism is one of the major schools of Buddhism, which spread mainly in East Asia from around the 1st century BC. Mahayana Buddhism inherited and further developed the teachings of the Buddha, offering a wide range of teachings and practices.
This section describes the teachings of the various schools of Mahayana Buddhism and the sutras on which they are based.
Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi, was a monk in the early Heian period (around 800 AD) and the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. The Shikoku Pilgrimage is a 1,400-km pilgrimage that circles the four prefectures of Shikoku, following in the footsteps of Kukai’s ascetic practices. In contrast, the pilgrimage to Santiago in Spain, described in “Kaido yuku Nanban-no Michi (2): Spain and Portugal,” aims at the cathedral of Santiago de Convostela, and is similar to the “mairi” or “moude” in Japan.
In this article, we will discuss the Tendai sect and Mt. Hieizan, the largest academic center in the Middle Ages, which was founded by Saicho and gave birth to Dogen, Honen, Shinran and other schools of Buddhism. In Sakamoto, a town at the eastern foot of Mt. Hiei, we will focus on the stone walls that reflect the high technology of the E-anataishu, and we will also pay a visit to Hiyoshi-taisha Shrine near Honzaka, where Saicho is said to have climbed the mountain, to consider the historical connection between Mt. Then, we visited Akayama Zen temple, which is associated with Ennin, recalling Ennin’s arrival in Tang Dynasty China. We will also visit the ruins of Manjuin Monzeki Temple, which is located near Unmo-zaka, a slope at the western foot of Mt. After visiting the summit of Mt. Hiei, Ryotaro Shiba will visit Mudoji Valley, the home of the 1,000-day Kaiten Gyogyo, and finally, he will see a ceremony of the Hokkekai, a secret ceremony of the Tendai sect.
This trip will take the Koyasan Road. Koyasan was founded by Kukai, and Ryotaro Shiba and his party drove from Osaka to Kutoyama at the foot of the mountain, crossing the Kimi Pass to the south. At Mt. Kudozan, the group drove south over the Kimi Pass from Osaka and entered Kudozan at the foot of the mountain. At Mt. The town stone road leading up to Koyasan from Kutoyama was in disrepair at the time, and was almost as abandoned as the road itself. At the entrance to the road, we felt a sense of awe as if we were being drawn into a deep mountain valley. Next, thinking about the connection between Koya Sage and Kukai’s Pure Land faith, I visited the Shinbetsudo, a place where ascetic monks dedicated themselves to the practice of nenbutsu (the recitation of the Buddhist prayer).
Kuya, Honen, Shinran, Ippen, and others, who questioned the existing religions, returned to the original Mahayana philosophy that all people can become Buddhas, and established and spread Buddhism for all common people except for the aristocracy. In this article, I would like to discuss these Pure Land philosophies.
Nichiren was born in Kominato, facing the Pacific Ocean in Awa Province (present-day southern Chiba Prefecture), in the early Kamakura Period (1222), the year after the Jokyu Rebellion that symbolized the end of the court nobles’ rule, as described in “Kaido yuku – Miura Peninsula Ki”. At the age of twelve, he entered a local temple, Seichoji, and at the age of sixteen, he officially became a monk, spending ten years from twenty-one to thirty-two studying at Kamakura, Hieizan, Koyasan, Shitennoji, and other temples before returning to Seichoji. Nichiren likened Mt. Mishuku to Mt. Reishi, a holy place in India where the Buddha is said to have preached the Lotus Sutra, and Kuon-ji Temple, the head temple of Nichiren Shoshu, was built on this mountain.
Buddhism was originally created in India. Various kinds of sutras were created in India, which were then introduced to China, and then to Japan, so various kinds of sutras were created in China and Japan, and many sects that follow each of them were born. It is said that there are two types of Buddhism, the Lesser Vehicle Buddhism and the Mahayana Buddhism. The Lesser Vehicle Buddhism is said to mean “a small vehicle that can save only a limited number of people,” while the Mahayana Buddhism means “a big vehicle that can save all people.In Sakyamuni’s Buddhism (Mahayana Buddhism), ordained practice is the most important aspect of Buddhism. This is because the Buddha himself believed that “one can only attain true peace of mind by becoming ordained and devoting oneself to ascetic practice to eliminate vexations, which are the source of suffering. Mahayana Buddhism, on the other hand, is the same as “Sakyamuni’s Buddhism” in that it considers nirvana, where one can never be reborn, to be the goal, but it differs in the method used to attain it. While “Sakyamuni’s Buddhism” thought of eliminating vexations through self-discipline, Mahayana Buddhism thought of “external power” as the basis of salvation, assuming the existence of a transcendent being or mysterious power outside of ourselves that can help us.
From NHK 100 de Meisaku: Mahayana Buddhism: How Buddha’s Teachings Were Transformed. In the previous article, I described the flow from the Hinayana Buddhism (the Buddhism of the Buddha) to the Mahayana Buddhism in terms of the Prajnaparamita Sutra. This time, I will discuss the Lotus Sutra, which was composed in northern India 50 to 150 years after the Prajnaparamita Sutra. The Lotus Sutra is an evolution of the Prajnaparamita Sutra with some modifications to the teachings of the Prajnaparamita Sutra.
In this article, I will discuss Pure Land Buddhism. Jodo-kyo teaches that one should “go to the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha,” and is also called “Amitabha faith” because it is based on belief in the power of Amitabha Buddha.
The most famous Jodo sects in Japan are the Jodo sect taught by Honen, the Jodo Shin sect by Shinran, and the Jishu sect by Ippen. Ryonin’s Yutsu Nenbutsu sect and the Tendai sect also incorporate Jodo beliefs into their discussions. Three well-known sutras are the “Muryōju Sutra,” the “Kanmuryōju Sutra,” and the “Amida Sutra,” which are collectively read in Japan as the “Three Pure Land Sutras. The difference between the three is that the teachings focus on belief in Amida Buddha rather than the power of the sutras themselves, as in the case of the Hannya Sutra and the Lotus Sutra.
The Kegon-kyo Sutra is said to have been composed in Central Asia in the third century AD. The Great Buddha of Nara is closely related to the Kegon Sutra. The official name of the Great Buddha of Nara is the seated statue of Rushanabutsu, which means “the magnificent assembly of countless Buddhas.
In the past, the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, and other sutras focused on the time axis in order to meet Buddha, who could not be met in person, and thought that we had already met Buddha in the past.
Unlike them, the worldview of the Kegonkyō is the same as that of Jōdoism in that it believes that there is another world outside this world where Buddha exists, but Jōdoism taught that we meet Buddha after we die, while Kegonkyō taught that we can meet Buddha while still alive in this world without dying. The Pure Land teaching is the same as the Pure Land teaching.
Most Buddhist sects in Japan now teach that anyone can become a Buddha if he or she realizes the Buddha nature within himself or herself and lives righteously as a human being. The first Mahayana Buddhist scripture to explain “Buddha-nature” was the Nirvana Sutra, which was written much later.The Nirvana Sutra does not say that we are already enlightened, even though we have the qualities to become a Buddha. The phrase “all sentient beings have all the qualities of Buddhahood” can be understood as a statement that “all people can become Buddhas if they have the right conditions,” without any external help. The “conditions” here are strict observance of daily discipline and living while confirming that “one’s true nature (Buddha nature) as a Buddha exists within oneself. With the emergence of this Buddha-nature philosophy, the fundamental hurdle that the Mahayana had faced, that “in order to become a Buddha, we must encounter another Buddha,” was resolved.
Next, I will discuss Zen thought. Zen is a philosophy that originated not in India but in China. It is said to have originated in China, where a community of ordained practitioners based on Taoism and other religions first existed, and then combined with the practice of zenjō (meditation to concentrate the mind), one of the practices of “Shakyamuni’s Buddhism,” to become a Buddhist group.
The Vimalakaya Sutra was introduced to Japan at an early date and is considered important in Buddhist circles as a scripture that had a profound influence on later Japanese Buddhism. However, it is not familiar to the general public, in part because it did not become the fundamental scripture of the mainstream Buddhist sects that followed.
The unique feature of this sutra is that while most other sutras depict the Buddha teaching in a style in which his disciples and bodhisattvas listen to his teachings, the “Korema Sutra” is a unique sutra in which the teachings are given by “Korema,” an old man who is a lay believer in Buddhism.
The form in which a zenke (lay believer) preaches Buddhism is characteristic, but the character of the old man is so powerful that in the sutra he upends the standard doctrines and ideas of Buddhism from the very foundation. The story of how Korema confronts head-on the disciples of the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, who are supposed to be the objects of respect for the lay believers, and asks them, “Are you sure what you are saying and doing is right?
Tannisho” is said to have been written by Yui En, a disciple of Shinran Shonin, the founder of Jodo Shinshu, to correct the distorted and different teachings of Shinran Shonin after his death. It consists of two parts: one part is a direct speech of Shinran Shonin’s teachings as if they were still in his ears, and the other part is a rebuttal by Yui En of the heretical theories and objections to the “status quo” that became the teachings of Shinran Shonin.Shinran’s teaching is a more popular and generalized version of the Jodomon teaching of Senshu-Nenbutsu, which was initiated by Honen. The term “Oujo” refers to the process of studying difficult Buddhist scriptures and interpretations and finally attaining enlightenment and going to the Pure Land where enlightened beings, buddhas, and nyorai (buddhas) exist, and practicing to attain such a state is called “bodhisattva practice. However, if such a life of rebirth is possible only for a few extremely learned monks and practitioners with the self-discipline to endure hardships, then it is absolutely impossible for ordinary people to attain such a life.
The three-dimensional mandala in the auditorium of Toji Temple in Nara was conceived by Kukai (Kobo-Daishi), who traveled to China as an envoy to the Tang Dynasty in 804, to visualize the teachings of esoteric Buddhism, which were invisible to the naked eye.
Each of the 21 statues is a buddha image of the five wisdom buddhas (esoteric Buddhism has two worlds: the Taimang-world, which represents the truth of Dainichi Nyorai, the master of Buddhism, and the Vajrayana-world, which represents wisdom).
The word “mandala,” from which the mandala is derived, originally means “round thing” in Sanskrit, and “mandala” is not the Sanskrit word for essence or quintessence, but rather simply a symbolic design. Mandalas are pictures that originated in esoteric Buddhism for enlightenment (ascetic practice). It depicts various Buddhas.
- Buddhism in Japan
- Mahayana Buddhism and the Prajnaparamita Sutra
The Idea of the Tao
The ancient Chinese book of thought “Laozi” was written by a man named Laozi, but his career is shrouded in mystery, so much so that there are theories that question whether this man actually existed.
Chapter 21 describes the “Way” that gives birth to heaven, earth, and all things. The word “ecstasy” has two meanings: “a feeling of entranced fascination” and “vague and ambiguous. The reality of the “path,” which is the beginning of everything, is not clear, but he is saying that there is a certain “something” there.
Zhuangzi is a book of thought that is said to have been written about 2,300 years ago, in the middle of the Warring States Period in China. The author’s name is also Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou), and this book and those written by him and his disciples were combined into one. Looking at thinkers who have left their mark on history, neither Confucius, Buddha, nor Socrates left their own writings. In the case of “Zhuangzi,” it is clear that Zhuangzi himself wrote the book, which is a rare style of joint work by a master and his disciples.
The “Zhuangzi” uses many allegories to explain the idea that true freedom exists when one accepts everything as it is. This idea had a great influence on the later formation of Chinese Buddhism, or Zen.
Christianity
Christianity arose out of the Jewish tradition and the culture of the Roman Empire, beginning in the first century A.D., and became a religion with its religious beliefs and teachings centered on Jesus Christ. The central belief of Christianity is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of mankind, and Christians believe that they obtain salvation from sin through His death and resurrection.
This section includes the Old Testament, the New Testament, Augustine’s Confessions, and other older books, as well as Christian books published in recent years.
Christianity is one of the three major monotheistic religions in the world (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Considering the “scriptures” of each religion, the Jewish scripture is the Old Testament, the Christian scripture is the Old Testament plus the New Testament, and the Islamic scripture is the Quran. (The name “Koran” is more familiar, but these days it is called the Qur’an in deference to the original sound of the Arabic language.)
The holy books of these three religions have something in common. Judaism and Islam are drawn from languages that are very close in linguistic lineage, while Christianity and Judaism share the Old Testament scriptures in their entirety.
What all three religions have in common is the understanding that the scriptures are not merely the carved insights of man’s deep consideration of what God is like, but what God has revealed to him that he is like.
The New Testament consists of four parts: the four “Gospels,” the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Revelation.
The Gospels are documents that deal with the life of Jesus. The Gospels are not biographies of Jesus, but rather focus on the last few years of his religious activity before his death on the cross in his early thirties. The word “gospel” (euangelion) means “good news” in Greek, and it is the good news of the Savior’s coming into the world.
The Acts of the Apostles describes the activities of Jesus’ disciples after his death, who, in despair over his tragic death on the cross, once scattered and fled, but were reassembled after the event known as Jesus’ “resurrection” to preach his teachings. activities are described.
The Book of Letters is a collection of letters exchanged in the early church, many of which were written by the famous apostle Paul. The Book of Revelation is about the so-called end of the world, the weekend.
In this article, I will discuss Augustine (354-430), a representative of Christians who lived their lives as “travelers,” a keyword that has appeared up to the aforementioned point. Augustine lived in the Roman Empire in late antiquity and became one of the Church Fathers who created the foundation of Christian teaching. He is the man who laid the foundation for the theological and philosophical direction of the western boundaries (Catholicism and Protestantism), and he continues to be a man of great influence to the present day.
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), one of the leading philosophers of the 20th century, was greatly influenced by Augustine’s theory of time in his major work, “Being and Time. Philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-75), who was also a student of Heidegger, wrote her doctoral dissertation entitled “Augustine’s Concept of Love.
Here, we will discuss Augustine’s autobiographical work, “The Confessions. Augustine’s “Confessions” is the original autobiographical literature, and in the history of philosophy as a whole, there are not many books that develop such profound philosophical ideas in an autobiographical manner.
Previously, we have discussed the Bible and the classic Confessions. In this article, I will discuss the theme of building a bridge between these classics and the present. This does not necessarily mean to evaluate Christianity from a modern point of view, but rather, from a Christian point of view, how the current situation looks like and what Christianity can do in this situation.
The clue in all of this is the vision of “building bridges. This is a phrase often used by Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, who states
Fusion with Philosophy
Kitaro Nishida, active in the early 20th century, became the first Japanese philosopher to focus on ethics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of mind. Nishida’s study of the good occupied an important place in Japanese philosophy. Nishida’s conception of the good has become an attempt to integrate Buddhist thought and Western philosophy from a more fundamental point, based on modern philosophy.
- Deconstruction and graph neural networks
In philosophy, ideas have been presented in response to dynamic frame changes. One of them would be what is called poststructuralism. Post-structuralism recognises dynamic elements as differences that could not be seen in static pattern recognition, and by considering changes in patterns, deviations from patterns and deviations from patterns as problems, it discusses the dynamically changing world and tries to describe something like human creativity. This approach is similar to the world of graph neural networks in terms of artificial intelligence technology. In graph neural networks, embeddings are not only the characteristics of the network itself, but also incorporate the topology of the relationships with other entities to which they are connected, which are the characteristics of the network itself.
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