I am the Life and the Resurrection [1910]—An early essay by Imaoka Shin’ichirō (1881-1988)

Imaoka Shin’ichirō (1881-1988) some time in the late 1920s or early 30s

Given that we are at the beginning of what, in the Christian calendar, is called “Holy Week”, my mind is slowly turning to what thought for the day I might offer on Easter Sunday to the liberal, free-religious community in Cambridge to which I belong. Inevitably, and despite my own complete disbelief in its literal possibility, the idea of “resurrection” has to be taken into account. Now, as I write these words on the morning of Monday 30th March, I still have no idea about what I may actually say this coming Easter Sunday; all I am doing right at this moment is casting a few lines into the river to see what bites. Well, one bite that has already come is in the form of the following, early essay by Imaoka Shin’ichirō (1881-1988) written in 1910 whilst he was still (just) the pastor at the Hyogo Kumi-ai (Congregational) church in Kobe. I first worked-up a translation of this back in 2022, but this morning—thanks to the “bite”—I have just worked-up a revised translation, and I thought some of you might enjoy reading something Imaoka-sensei wrote on the very cusp of joining the Japanese Yuniterian (sic) movement. 

A fuller selection of Imaoka Shin’ichirō’s essays in English translation can be found at this link.

I am the Life and the Resurrection [1910]

15 January, Meiji 43 [1910], originally published in the journal “The Living Person” [『活人』]
56L - 58R

It is self-evident that religion [宗教] is not merely a collection of doctrines [教理]. Religion [宗教] is that which satisfies the needs of the whole person [全人]; it is not a playground for the intellectual games [知識的遊戯] of dogma. One might say that religion [宗教] resides in the very personality [人格] of a great founder [開祖] like Christ [基督] or Śākyamuni [釈尊]. While this is true, it becomes a profound error if it means simply studying the Christ [基督] or Śākyamuni [釈迦] of millennia ago. To do so is to remain bound [囚はれる] by them. As Emerson [エマルソン] put it, such an approach is effectively spiritual suicide [自殺]. True religion [宗教] is not established upon such objective elements [客観的要素]. Just as the finest delicacies of land and sea [前山海の珍味佳肴] fail to become part of one’s own flesh and blood [血肉] if they are merely set before us, external facts do not constitute one's life.

By its nature, religion [宗教] is subjective [主観的]. It is one’s own life [生命] and one’s own living [生活]. It is not another’s concern, an ancient story, or a matter for the afterlife [後生の沙汰]; it is the reality of one’s own life [現実の自分の生活] here and now. Religion [宗教] cannot exist apart from a rich and fulfilled real life [豊富なる充実せる現実生活]. Some may argue that such fulfilment [充実生活] depends upon God [神], a founder [教祖], or theology [神学], but such words come from those who do not realise that life [生命] is spontaneous [自発的] and innate [生得的]. Life [生命] can never be bestowed from without. Even the almighty Jehovah [エホバ] could not breathe life into a mere stone [石塊].

In truth, we often view the law of cause and effect [因果法], the moral law [道徳律], God [神], and all other laws of truth [真理法則] as external authorities [権威] bearing down on us. Yet, if they remain merely objective [客観的], they have no connection [没交渉] to us; they are at best a kind of ghost [妖怪]. Before looking up to any objective authority [客観的権威], we must first bow [額づきたい] to our own internal, subjective Great Life [自家的主観的大生命]. Indeed, “facts” [事実] are created by the subject [主観]. What we usually call facts are not the sum of every event on the globe [渾円球上一切の事実], but only those that touch our own interest [興味関心の対象]. No one names every grain of sand [真砂] on a beach or tracks every passing second; to us, those things are as if they never happened. The same is true of the law of cause and effect [因果法]. Objective reality [客観の事実] is simply a sequence of events; it is our subjectivity [主観] that binds them to create the concept of “cause and effect.” The moral law [道徳律], too, is a product of our internal life [内部生命]. The moral “ought” [当為 / in German Sollen] is nothing but the demand of the true self [本我]. It is not a command from heaven, but a law we create ourselves. This is what Scotus [スコトウス] meant when he said, “God does not will it because it is good, but it is good because He wills it.” Even God [神] can be seen as a product of internal life [内部生命]. Whether God [神] exists objectively [客観的] is not our problem; we find satisfaction in the soul-shaking fact [驚心駭魄の一大事実] that we are currently creating and envisioning God [神] ourselves. As Kant [カント] found, reason [理性] fails to prove God [神] objectively, yet through practical reason [実践理性], we must postulate Him. Our unavoidable inner feelings [やむにやまれぬ衷情] compel us to envision the ideal as God [理想即神]. Even if that ideal is but a subjective shadow [主観の空影], there is a great authority [一大権威] in the fundamental life [根本生命] that drives us to pursue it. This is our God [神]. We should worship [拝まう] this subjective Great Life [主観的大生命] first, for within it lies the most profound objective authority [客観的権威]. Just as the ancient Greek [古希臘] sculptor Phidias [フィヂアス] is said to have knelt before the statue of Zeus [ツォイス] he himself had carved, we too can transcend external laws. In doing so, we can proclaim with Śākyamuni [釈尊], “Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am honoured” [天上天下唯我独尊], and declare with Christ [基督] that “All authority... has been given to me.” We can share the Zen [禅家] insight of “Blue mountains, white clouds arise; at the bottom of the well, red dust gathers” [青山白雲起、井底紅塵藹], and enter the mystery of Christ’s [基督] words: “Before Abraham [アブラハム] was, I am.” The criticism that religion [宗教] makes people small is a mistake made by those who see it only as an external authority. Our religion [宗教] is the flourishing of life [生命の発展]; it is a life [生活] that generates its own laws and its own God [神], and is thus bound [囚はれぬ] by none of them. It is the gospel [福音] of freedom and life [自由と生命]—the truth that sets us free [自由を与ふる真理].

From this standpoint, when we look at scriptures [経典], doctrines [教理], or founders [至開祖], we do not revere them simply for what they are, but because we discover within them the sacred activity of the Great Life [大生命] of our own hearts [自衷心]. This brings a ceaseless, leaping gratitude [感激心跳]. Our own life [生命] develops and ascends; the original texts of the scriptures [経典] and the Bible [聖書] within our own souls [衷心] are read clearly. The inner, spiritual Christ [内的霊的基督] is revealed, and we ourselves become Christ [基督]—or at least a “Little Christ” [小基督]. What joy and fulfilment [充実] this brings!

I hear that Rev. Abe Seizō-kun [安部清造君], pastor [牧師] of the Okayama Church [岡山教会], has been lecturing on the Analects [論語] at the Okayama Medical College [岡山医学専門学校] to great acclaim. Through Abe-kun’s [安部君] religious life [宗教的生命], the Analects [論語]—which could easily have remained a “dead book” [死書]—has been resurrected [復活]. He found his own life within those pages and shared it with his audience. In this sense, I wholeheartedly support such a Confucian revival [儒教復興]. I also hear of a monk [僧侶某氏] from Mii-dera [三井寺] whose charitable work [慈善事業] was a constant failure until, following an inner prompting and despite the protests of his parishioners [檀家], he took a Christian woman [クリスチャン婦人] as his wife. Her religious life [宗教的生命] breathed vitality [活] into his failing Buddhist [仏教徒] enterprise. These examples show that religion [宗教] is not about labels like “Confucianism” [儒教] or “Buddhism” [仏教], but about the power of personality [人格の力] and the fulfilment of life [生命の充実]. These stories are not intended to prove Christianity [基督教] superior. To debate the superiority [優劣] of these faiths in the abstract is utterly meaningless; it is a comparison of doctrines [教理], not a discussion of the essence of religion [宗教の真髄]. That essence is life [生命] and personality [人格]. The question is not which religion “wins,” but the scale of one’s personality [人格の大小] and the authenticity of one’s life [生命の虚実]. To ignore this and waste time on sectarian strife [宗派争ひ] is to bind people with the chains [鎖] of dogma. Religion [宗教], which should be a gospel [福音] of liberation [解放], is instead made narrow and bigoted [頑迷偏狭] by those who lack understanding [没分暁漢], ultimately leaving the progress of civilisation [文明の進運] obstructed [阻害].

Let us take Christ’s [基督] words—“I am the life and the resurrection” [我は生命也復活也]—and make them our motto [標語] for the coming year.

 —o0o—

A note about the title and end-quote

In 1910, the standard, authoritative Japanese Bible was the Meiji-yaku [明治訳] (the New Testament was completed in 1880). This version was ubiquitous among Japanese Christians of that era. In that text John 11:25 reads:

「イエス言いけるは、我は復活（よみがへり）なり生命（いのち）なり...」
(Jesus said, I am the resurrection, [I] am the life...)

Imaoka-sensei knew his Bible well, so by inverting the quotation and placing Life first, he is aligning Jesus’ words with his own statement: “Life, no matter what happens, is not something that can be bestowed from the outside.” The point is that if Resurrection came first, it might imply an external act performed upon a person. By putting Life first, he is, I think, suggesting that the power to “arise” comes from the innate, spontaneous power already dwelling within the subject.