著者

井本 英一

出版者

桃山学院大学

雑誌

桃山学院大学人間科学 (ISSN:09170227)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.13, pp.1-43, 1997-09-30

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A man who has had a near-death experience tells us; he passed through a dark, long tunnel at the end of which a dim light was seen; before entering or leaving the tunnel he saw a river or Styx, a flower garden or a vast field, an old man standing there, and a young girl leading him (the man of near-death experience); he saw a sacred prostitute at the entrance of the tunnel; the old man gave him instruction to go back home or someone from behind called him to go home and get his work done. King Gilgamesh of the Sumero-Akkadian Epos passed through a pitch-dark, long tunnel to see Utnapishtim in order to get an eternal life; Utnapishtim persuaded him to go home though giving him a present of herbs; on his way home from Utnapistim's land a snake stole his herb and got an eternal life for itself. Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden after eating fruit given by the snake: from Eden a river streamed out from something like the grotto of Pan forking into four rivers; in the times of paganism Adam was Gilgamesh and Eve was a sacred prostitute and the god was Utnapishtim. A Chinese fisherman after sailing upstream found a tunnel at the source of the river in the forest of peach trees in full blossom; he walked into the tunnel and got out of it to find a utopia; an old man told him of the history of the utopia; the fishrman returned home never to come again and find it. Koga Saburo of Japan went through 73 subterranean tunnels and 72 countries; he saw many rivers, gardens, old men (a Buddhist statue), young girls and ancesters; eventually he appeared on the ground transformed into a snake.