A Message from the Editor
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niting the variety of articles in this third issue of the Institute for World Relgions’ annual journal, Religion East & West, are reflections upon the meeting of cultures and of religious traditions. Some meetings amplify resonances and invite adaptations; others are blurred by misunderstandings. In the article which begins the issue, Anthony Yu argues that the monotheistic West has erred in supposing that Confucianism is not fully a religion, and as one result of this error, the West has not recognized the enduring theocratic nature of the Chinese state. Professor Yu’s article is followed by a response by Henry Rosemont Jr., another American scholar in Confucianism. Martin Verhoeven extends the theme by describing distortions that can ensue when cultures borrow from one another. In “Western Science, Eastern Spirit,” the third article in this issue, Professor Verhoeven examines the Japanese effort to maintain its cultural core while appropriating Western technology and the corresponding attempts by Americans to adapt Buddhism to a materialistic, postmodern worldview. In both cases, he argues, the spiritual has lost ground. By contrast, an important and successful instance of cultural borrowing is the context of John Thompson’s article on Daoan, the fourthcentury Buddhist monastic who played a major early role in the interpretation, translation and assimilation of Indian Buddhism into Chinese religious and intellectual life. The commonality that underlies the variety of spiritual traditions is also illustrated in the next article, by Michael Nagler. Professor Nagler finds close parallels between the teachings of the seventh-century Christian monastic Isaac of Syria and the modern master Sri Eknath Easwaran, both of whom were adepts in the recitation of sacred text as a spiritual practice. In other cases, similarities are assumed in the face of actual differences. Professor Kenan Osborne, O.F.M., a participant in many interfaith dialogues, shows how translations often distort the concepts they are meant to clarify, especially when abstract terms drawn from Western philosophies are used to render Asian concepts that are embedded in practice and action. Finally, in “Interfaith News,” a new feature for Religion East & West, we return to the need to continue striving for understanding, respect and mutual esteem between the world’s religious traditions. —David Rounds
issue 3, june 2003
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