JAPANESE BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVES AND COMPARATIVE THEOLOGY: SUPREME WAYS IN INTERSECTION RUBEN L. F. HABITO [Adherents of a particular religion consider their own tradition as absolutely authoritative for them in regard to ultimate destiny and norms for human living. The author here examines three views of the Supreme Way in Japanese Buddhism, namely, of Ku ¯ kai, Do ¯ gen, and Nichiren. He then sets these views in conversation with Catholic perspectives on key religious questions about final destiny and de- mands of human living. In the process, he demonstrates how en- gaging in comparative theology can deepen one’s understanding of one’s own religious tradition seen in intersection with other forms of the Supreme Way.] T O PROFESS ADHERENCE or commitment to a particular religious tradi- tion is to take the teachings of that religion as absolute truth and its prescriptions for living as absolutely authoritative. The question thereby arises as to how adherents of a given religious community are to regard or relate to other religious traditions that, needless to say, present views on ultimate reality different from their own. In our contemporary world, an acute awareness of this situation of conflicting absolutes has emerged more than ever before. This issue has been taken up by philosophers, theologians, and practi- tioners of different religions especially in the last two or three decades. From a Christian perspective, the theology of religions, as an area of in- quiry on the role of the world’s religious traditions in salvation history or on the way that these religions can be understood vis-a ` -vis the gospel message, has become an area of lively discussion. There have been signifi- RUBEN L. F. HABITO is professor of world religions and spirituality at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He completed his doctoral studies at the Department of Indological and Buddhist Studies, Tokyo University, as well as a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Sophia University, Tokyo. His publications include Healing Breath: Zen Spirituality for a Wounded Earth (MKZC Publications, 2001), Ministry and Theology in Global Perspective: Contem- porary Challenges for the Church, co-edited with Don Pittman and Terry Muck (Eerdmans, 1996), and Originary Enlightenment: Tendai Hongaku Doctrine and Japanese Buddhism (International Institute for Advanced Buddhist Studies, Tokyo, 1996). He is currently working on a research project on the religious thought of the 13th-century Buddhist prophet Nichiren. Theological Studies 64 (2003) 362