THRESHOLD RELIGION THRESHOLD Th reshold Religion ed. by Tiziano Tosolini Th reshold Religion Aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh Tosolini Tiziano jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee ff f ggg hhh jjj iii lll mmm nnn ooo ppp qqq rrr sss ttt uuu vvv www yyy zzz Asian Study Centre Study Asian tudy S C n en ia t s r e A Xaverian Missionaries – Japan threshold religion Asian Study Centre Series FABRIZIO TOSOLINI. Esperienza Missionaria in Paolo. 2002. Sergio Targa, Fabrizio Tosolini, Tiziano Tosolini. To What Needs are Our Cultures Responding? 2003. Sergio Targa, Fabrizio Tosolini, Tiziano Tosolini. Culture and Alterity. 2004. Sergio Targa, Fabrizio Tosolini, Tiziano Tosolini. Experiences of Conversion. 2005. Fabrizio Tosolini. Th e Letter to the Romans and St. Paul’s Grace and Apostleship:Towards a New Interpretation. Edited with Fu Jen Catholic University Press, Taipei, Taiwan. 2005. Tiziano Tosolini. Controstorie dal Giappone. 2006. Sergio Targa, Fabrizio Tosolini, Tiziano Tosolini. Faith and Money. 2006. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Women in Context. 2007. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Mission and Globalization. 20o9. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Th e Other Within. 2010. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Church and Culture. Selected Texts (1965–2009). Foreword by Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifi cial Council for Culture. 2010. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Chiesa e Cultura. Testi Scelti (1965–2009). Prefazione di Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, Presidente del Pontifi cio Consiglio della Cultura. 2010. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Death and Th ose Beyond. 2011. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Th reshold Religion. 2012. Published by Asian Study Centre Ichiba Higashi 1–103–1 598–0005 Izumisano (Osaka), Japan Private edition, 2012 Printed in Taipei (Taiwan roc) Th reshold Religion edited by Tiziano Tosolini tudy S C n en ia t s r e A Xaverian Missionaries – Japan Contents Introduction 3 Bangladesh – Sergio Targa 7 Shaping Modern Bangladesh: Th e Ideological Confi guration of the Pala Empire from 750 to 1162 ad and the Islamic Irruption from the xiii Century 9 From British India to Pakistan and to Bangladesh: Between Core and Th reshold Religion. Th e Political Maker of National Identity 18 Th reshold Religion: Practices from a Lost World 26 Conclusion 33 Indonesia – Matteo Rebecchi 39 Arat Sabulungan 40 Other Spirits 42 Ancestors 44 Sanitu 46 Bajou and Kina 47 Human Souls 48 Shamanism 49 Disease and Healing Ritual 52 Black Magic 54 Divination 56 Puliaijat 58 Conclusion 60 Japan – Tiziano Tosolini 65 Th e New Religions 69 Shugendō 74 80 Fortune-tellers and Chiromancers 85 Conclusion 89 Philippines – Eugenio Pulcini 90 Quiapo Case-Study 95 Folk Religion in the Philippines: Old and New Shamanism 99 Folk Religion in the Philippines: Practice and Practitioners 103 Conclusion 111 Taiwan – Fabrizio Tosolini 113 Divination in the Maze of Cosmic Symbols 123 Listening to the Answers of Gods 125 Actively Seeking the Responses of the Gods 139 Trying to Make Some Sense of the Th reshold Crossing 145 Conclusion 151 Cumulative Index Introduction S. Targa, F. Tosolini ontinuing the series of phenomenological pre- sentations of cultural aspects of the Asian cul- Ctures in which we live, this 2012 issue of the Asian Study Centre tackles the ubiquitous and evasive topic of forms of religiosity which are not easily classifi ed under the umbrellas of established religious systems and practices. As the title Th reshold Religion suggests, these forms are already part of the house, while they are not yet its interior. Nobody lives on a threshold, although a threshold must be crossed if one wants to enter a house. Th e paper on Bangladesh focuses on the historical and political factors that have determined the modern religious con- fi guration of the country. Pre-Hindu and, obviously, pre-Muslim religious traditions are highlighted as the cultural cradle where both Hinduism and Islam have nested. Born in pre-state societ- ies, these ancient religious practices have survived despite the advance of those larger religious traditions, albeit marginalised and confi ned to the private domain. However, if on the one hand they have been pushed back to the threshold, on the other hand 4 | Th reshold Religion they still maintain great importance, even politically, as markers of a deeper identity which cannot be controlled or manipulated by established orthodoxies. Conversely, the tradition of the Mentawai Islands, in Indonesia, has not been his- torically aff ected by encounters with Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam or Christianity. In this context, threshold does not point to marginalisation, religious or otherwise. Rather, it identifi es the whole religious experience of an Aboriginal community as a very imme- diate perception of the closeness of the invisible world. Religious practices aim here at fostering harmony within oneself, among individuals, clans, society and the cosmos. In Japan, yet a diff erent meaning of the idea of threshold religion comes to the fore: in order to attract people, a religion needs miracles. Such is the case of the advance of Bud- dhism in the sixth century ad. Even aft er the prohibitions from the Meji era to the end of the Second World War, threshold religious practices such as divination, fortune telling, magic and the like, have surfaced again and again. Th ey have not only found their place in the established religious systems, but have also taken on the forms of new religions, all of them trying to secure their niche in the market of the sacred. Th e Philippines on their part show the chameleonic dimension of threshold religious practice. In spite of more than four hundred years of Catholic evangelisation, some basic traditional religious beliefs and rituals are still in place. Th ey have been blended with Christian doctrinal principles, curiously reminding us of the crowds’ reactions to Jesus’ thaumaturgic activity. It is undeniable that, regardless of many shortcomings, some aspects of folk religion have brought the Christian faith closer to the soul of the Filipino people. Finally, Han Chinese folk religious practices reveal yet another way in which threshold religiosity has been able to market itself as a neutral, immanent doctrine of harmony, without obliterating its beliefs in gods, ghosts and spirits. In Chinese tradition, divination practices, besides being omnipresent and multiform, have also been raised to the level of a combinatory science. Under this form, they are able to interpenetrate all the aspects of life and even other religions. Th ese fi ve papers are not exhaustive of the multifaceted reality they try to classify: some aspects presented in one paper could also be part of some of the others; what is lacking in one essay is present in another and becomes a suggestion for further research. Nevertheless, the mere juxtaposition of the fi ve contributions with their diff erent, yet complementary, approaches, off ers an overview of the topic under study. We wish to thank the Xaverian Missionaries for their support, those who helped us in the research, among them Siprianus Sokkot Ogo Sagoroujou and those who helped us to revise the English texts: Fr. Steve McKend sx, Fr. Michele Davitti sx, Shukuru B. Valentin sx, Fr. John Fagan sx, Brian Reynolds, Sr. Nancy Murphy rscj and Alberto Bertozzi. A special word of thanks goes to the Xaverian community of the csam in Brescia for hosting our yearly meeting in July 2012. Th reshold Religion Bangladesh Sergio Targa pparently, to speak of threshold or border reli- gion might imply the defi nition of religion as Aa clear cut space where rituals and beliefs con- stitute its ideological borders. What trespasses such borders becomes other, diff erent and alien. Yet threshold religion does imply also a space which at the same time is “within” and “with- out” those same borders as against, perhaps, established ortho- doxy but nevertheless experienced by people as meaningful. As a matter of fact “threshold religion” turns out to be a historical and political construction as much as the religion or religions1 against which it is considered “threshold.” Th reshold religion thus cannot but be analysed or understood without reference to its specular and hegemonic other. In this respect religion as ideology plays a signifi cant role in as much as it becomes the distinctive marker of national identity. 1. See T. Asad, Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam (Baltimore: John Hopkins 1993), 27–54.