Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle

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Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle

Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle (born November 11, 1898 as Hugo Lassalle on Gut Externbrock near Nieheim / Westphalia; † July 7, 1990 in Münster / Westphalia ) was a German-Japanese Jesuit and Zen master . Lassalle can be seen as a pioneer of understanding between Zen Buddhism and Christianity ( Christian-Buddhist dialogue ).

Life

Hugo Lassalle passed the war maturity examination in 1917 after his school days from 1911 to 1916 at the Petrinum grammar school in Brilon . Due to an injury in World War I Hugo Lassalle was the 1917 hospital admitted Brilon.

In 1919 he entered the novitiate of the Jesuits in 's-Heerenberg in Holland and, from 1921 onwards, went through the scholastically shaped Jesuit training in philosophy and theology in Valkenburg, which was then typical for the order . After being ordained a priest on August 28, 1927, he completed the tertiary education , in which he a. a. was introduced to Christian mysticism ( Teresa of Ávila , Johannes von Kreuz , Thomas von Kempen ).

In 1929, Father Willhelm Klein SJ sent Lassalle to the East Asia Mission to Japan , which was supposed to preach the Gospel through social engagement . In addition to his work as administrator of the Jesuit building of the Catholic Sophia University in Tokyo , Lassalle therefore also campaigned for social issues through aid organizations and tried to understand Zen Buddhism as the spiritual basis of Japanese society. In 1935 he became a mission superior and superior of the Jesuits in Japan.

In 1939, before the Second World War , he moved to Hiroshima , where he came closer to Zen through meetings at the Bunrika College (広 島 文 理科 大学, Hiroshima bunrika daigaku). Since 1943 he was taught Zen by Shimada . He survived the American atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. In John Herseys report Hiroshima, his experiences are described from the perspective of his friar Wilhelm Kleinsorge. Lassalle took the crisis of the self-image of the Japanese after the lost war as an opportunity to increase the spread of democratic social structures and Christian approaches. From 1947 onwards, through his commitment to ancient Japanese culture, he tried to lead people to Christ through Buddha , giving a series of lectures with Zen monks.

World Peace Church in Hiroshima

He became a Japanese citizen under the name Makibi Enomiya ( 愛 宮 真 備 ). In 1948 he became Vicar General of the Diocese of Hiroshima . On August 6, 1954, the World Peace Church he built in Hiroshima was consecrated. Because of disputes with the bishop, he did not become pastor there, but coordinator of missionary activities in the area around Hiroshima, and in the following years tried to spread Christianity through the Zen experience.

In 1962, one year after the death of his Zen master Harada Daiun ( 原田 大 雲 ), Lassalle gave retreats in combination with zazen for the first time in the new training center . In the same year he spoke at the Second Vatican Council in Rome about new forms of pastoral care and liturgy .

Time and again his approach was highly controversial among Christian theologians as mixing Christianity with approaches of Buddhism that were regarded as incompatible. In 1973 Lassalles Kenshō was recognized by Yamada Kōun and Lassalle became a Zen master. Thus, for Lassalle, the double path had become one, which he underlined with his double name (Hugo-Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle). The last years of his life are characterized by the attempt to penetrate more deeply Zen and mysticism in Christian and extra-Christian experiences and the endeavor to convey the unity of the path as "Christian Zen" through meditation courses (including in Germany). To this end, he founded the Dietfurt Monastery Meditation House in 1977 . It is considered to be the oldest “Christian Zen monastery” in the German-speaking area. Lassalle suggested u. a. Willigis Jäger , Niklaus Brantschen and Johannes Kopp .

On July 7, 1990, Lassalle died after several operations in Münster, Westphalia, after returning to Germany due to illness.

Christianity and Zen

Since 1929 Lassalle worked as a missionary for the Jesuit Order in Japan . He was attracted to the culture and religion of his host country and soon found Zen Buddhism. Since 1943 he practiced intensively in Zen practice .

Unlike other mediators of Zen Buddhism in the West (e.g. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki ), his focus was on the similarities with Christian mysticism. This seeks primarily the mystical experience of the unio mystica with God . The necessary letting go of the worldly and material, the collapse of opposites ( Coincidentia oppositorum ) into the indifferent finds its parallels in Zen.

The great interest of Western people in Zen is not only the result of the Japanese mediation of a “Neo-Zen” shaped by Western philosophy , but also the spread of the Christian-tinged interpretation of Zen by Lassalle.

Lassalle's vision

In his writings and in his practice as a Zen master, Enomiya-Lassalle is again and again concerned with the future, already announced new, new thinking, a new person. He placed his hopes in the youth, of whom he believed that they must - and would - shape the world anew.

In his opinion, the individual consciousness of the individual and the collective consciousness of humanity are in a great process of change. The new emerging consciousness become a mystic , aperspectival (d. E. Absolute ) and to experience a founding his.

Works (selection)

  • Strength from silence. Practice in Zen meditation. 6th edition Patmos Verlag der Schwabenverlag AG, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-8436-0183-2
  • The sinking path. Zen meditation and Christian mysticism. Herder, Freiburg i.Br. et al. 1992, ISBN 3-451-04142-1
  • Zen meditation for Christians. 2nd edition. Barth, Bern et al. 1995, ISBN 3-502-64396-2
  • Zen and Christian mysticism. 3rd edition Aurum, Freiburg i.Br. 1986, ISBN 3-591-08236-8
  • In the morning of a better world. The human being in the breakthrough to a new consciousness. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1984.
  • Zen, path to enlightenment. Help to understand. Introduction to Meditation. 5th edition. Herder, Vienna et al. 1976, ISBN 3-210-20115-3

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Der Petriner, Volume 47, 1989, page 38
  2. ↑ John Hersey : Hiroshima ; Vintage Books , New York 1989, p. 11 u. a. - PT20 books.google
personal data
SURNAME Enomiya-Lassalle, Hugo Makibi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lassalle, Hugo (maiden name); Makibi Enomiya (Japanese name); 愛 宮 真 備 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Japanese religious, Jesuit and Zen master
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Externbrock near Nieheim , Westphalia
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1990
Place of death Munster , Westphalia