Lessons from history

It is said that the first word chosen by S. Francis X. for God is Dainichi Nyorai 大日如来(Vairocana). Probably a suggestion from Anjiro or from the people he met in Japan. Dainichi Nyorai can be translated "Cosmic (the big sun) Such-ness" or "The cosmos as-it-is". It is the representation of Buddhist emptiness and at the same time a pantheistic deity sometimes connected to Amaterasu.

When S. Francis realized the difference with God, to avoid any kind of misunderstanding, immediately changed the word in the Latin Deus (Deusu). After not so many years the word was distorted, as the report goes by malevolent Buddhist clergy,in the Japanese word "Dai-uso", meaning "big lie".

The lessons I obtain from this episode are:

1. Not necessarily the people you are try to evangelize will help you find the best words
2. You can make mistakes in choosing the words, and the earlier you realize that the better.
3. All neologisms must gain the right of citizenship

After the year 1600 the word Tenshu 天主 was adopted probably by suggestion from Valignano who was in contact with Matteo Ricci in China. Ricci in the preparation of his catechism did all the work necessary to transmit in an unequivocal fashion the real meaning of the God of Christianity, which was a complete novelty in China as in Japan. The title says it all, 天主実義 "The real Meaning of the Lord of Heaven".

Lessons to be obtained

1. evangelization is a linguistic battle field
2. You must struggle to get the right words through to your audience. (By the way I think the level of inculturation, as far as the kanji cultures, China, Korea and Japan are concerned, reached by Ricci stand unsurpassed to this day).

"Ricci is adding another dimension to the five relationships of Confucianism among human beings (king and officials, father and son, husband and wife, brother and brother, friend and friend): the relationship between human being and their Creator."

(CHUNG-YAN JOYCE CHAN, Commands from Heaven: Mattoe Ricci's Christianity in the Eyes of Ming Confucian Officials, Missiology vol. XXXI, 3, July 2003, p. 284)

The catechism by Ricci was widely circulated and the word Tenshu is still used today in China and in Korea. In Japan it has been used until the 1960s when it was changed for the word use today namely "Kami".

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